During the long weekend 11- 14 October, seven blokes from the Club and the skipper from Lloyds of London Yacht Club (LLYC), took LLYC’s X-55, Lutine, out for a sailing adventure. Leading up to the weekend, the wind was looking a bit iffy for the planned trip to Guernsey, the chosen destination for previous years for the Club charter on Lutine, but which never came off due to the weather.  However, this year, in the end, the wind looked good by the end of the week to make the trip across the Channel; first stop Alderney, then down to St Peter’s Port, Guernsey.

The Club members comprising the crew for the trip included Howard R, Richard A, Jeremy T, Mark K, Graham B, Peter P, and yours truly, your Commodore, Kevin R.  LLYC skipper for the weekend was Mick Brown.

The weekend started on Thursday night when the majority met in Gosport for a meal at the Castle pub.  I arrived later on in the evening travelling down by train after attending an event in London.

Friday morning was an early start to catch the tide for the cross-channel passage to Alderney.  The sea was relatively calm and the winds were initially light, so the engine was required to make way.  However, later on in the morning the wind filled in and we got Lutine underway with a full set of sails up. We even tried the cruising chute for a while as the wind was out of the NE.  This lasted until the wind picked up and became squally and rainy, which persisted for most of the crossing but made for some excellent sailing.

Landfall on Alderney was made about 10 hours after leaving Portsmouth, with the crew picking up a buoy in Braye Bay, it being dark by now.  After relaxing with a couple of drinks and a meal onboard, kindly previously prepared by Richard, it was time to hit the bunks for another early(ish) start the next morning for the approximate three-hour trip down to St Peter’s Port on Guernsey, arriving around 11.00 am.  This was another pleasant sail and we ended up on the visitor pontoon in the main harbour.

Showers ashore were the first priority, followed by refreshments in the Guernsey Yacht Club, and a catch-up on the Ladies America Cup final (Great Britain vs Italy… alas, we know the outcome of this race) and one of the British Men’s challenge races against New Zealand.

The evening was spent in the Ship and Crown by the main harbour to celebrate Richard’s birthday, with plenty of wine and good food.

The destination for Sunday was back across the Channel to Studland Bay, just outside Poole.  This was a more leisurely start as we needed to catch the tidal race between Alderney and the Cherbourg peninsula, which we did under full sail in light winds but still made 11+ knots over the ground.  The sail across the Channel started with mild SE winds, which filled in during the day, requiring the first reef in on the main sail.  This turned out to be another excellent day’s sail, making the approximate 80 Nm crossing in around 10 to 11hours.  Getting the main sail down was a little fraught in the dark and late in the evening with a heavy swell, but we eventually managed this and dropped anchor (just outside the restricted zone, as planned).  It was gone midnight by the time we hit the bunks, having had the evening meal on the go during the crossing.

Monday was another early start to get back from Poole to the Solent via the north passage through Hurst Castle.  Unfortunately, we had light SE winds which required the engine on all the way back to Portsmouth, but with the sun out, this was quite pleasant and enabled us to finish up the provisions with breakfast and lunch on the go in relative calm.

Our thanks go to LLYC for the charter of Lutine, and special thanks to our skipper for the weekend, Mick Brown, who joined in the fun as much as we enjoyed his company, and being the first time out with us, let us sail Lutine how she should be.

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