The Race to Alderney

A water taxi charged us 2 pounds per person to take us to the dinghy dock in Alderney. I was flustered – 1. Because the taxi was crowded with sailors (all men) talking about their sails, 2. I thought 2 pounds was too much for a dinghy ride (especially when we already had our own dinghy, 3. It was getting dark, and so on.  When we arrived, a British man stood on the dock, in my path of exit and asked me to give him the “painter.”  Of course, I didn’t because I didn’t have a painter, nor did I have any idea why he was asking me for an artisan of sorts. Finally, after several attempts and no reaction whatsoever from me and at least 10 people waiting to exit and enter the dinghy, he pointed to the rope under my feet!  A ‘painter’ is a dock line for a dinghy’s bow. Now I know.

Earlier we sailed from Cherbourg to Alderney, one of the Channel Islands.

The wind was absent in parts, but there was a light breeze of 6 knots at times as well, which made for a relaxing close hall and then beam reach.  With the strong currents we had to steer well off the direct rhumb line to end up where we wanted.

When passing Cap de la Hague, the current was true to its’ reputation- strong and producing a confused sea.  Thankfully with the light wind it was not nearly as rambunctious a sail as the previous one we did with Pete around Cap de la Hague to the fantasy beach.  On the way back from that sail, I felt pretty seasick.

Anyway, we made it into and out of the Alderney Race without a problem.  This is something I had been pretty worked up about as I read in our pilot guide that the Race was nicknamed a graveyard of sorts.  Once in Braye Harbor we were lucky to grab the last visitor mooring left.  It was near the shallow area, good thing for the lifting centerboard.

By the way, I like cooking on the boat, but the showers are not comparable to land.