Friday, 8. August 2014

This day was simply a rainy day. And because there is actually nothing to do in Carteret on a rainy day I took the opportunity to lay new cables to the fore ship. The toilet, the wardrobe and most important the front cabin did not have any light any more because apparently the cable somewhere on the way by corrosion did not conduct any electricity any more. After all it took me 11 hours to put in the new cables and to connect the lamps. Many panellings (Wandverkleidungen) had to be removed, the insulation at the cable ends had to be removed and so on. And because it is a boat and not a house, most time I spent on figuring out on how actually to get to a certain spot or where the heck to lay the cable along so that afterwards it still looks nice. The actual cabeling was the least problem. But afterwards I was very glad that it all worked but I also knew why I had pushed it for so long. I knew that it would take a lot of time.

Saturday, 9. August, 2014

This day was nice and sunny again so I walked the 2,5, km to the supermarket in the next village to stock up for the week with Wilko. Because I bought a lot to drink I took a taxi back to the boat. Actually the best way to do big shoppings. It saves you the trouble with your own car.

Sunday, 10. August 2014

Today my friend Wilko from Hamburg arrived. Because Carteret is quite a remote holiday resort it is not well connected by public transport. He actually arrived the evening before but could only get up to Valognes, about 30 east of Carteret and the last bus went already at 17:00, so he had to spend the night there and take the first bus the next day, which was 13:00!

Sailingwise it did not matter because there was very strong wind out at sea and I was not in the mood to sail in it. Instead we did a beach walk and here you can see how strong the wind was at times:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked down to the beach and up the cliff to the Carteret light house which naturally makes a good land mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and got a phantastic view over the beaches, the harbour entrance and the harbour channel:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday, 11. August 2014

This day we left Carteret as soon as the gate was opened with destination St. Helier on Jersey. It was still quite strong wind and wavy water, but sunny and not cold. The Wind was alright and the currents did the rest so that we almost did not have to tack and got to Jersey quite quickly.

Here is a little video: From Carteret to St. Helier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived there in the late afternoon and went straight for a fish and chips but we picked the wrong fish and chip shop „Sunhill Fish and Chips“ I have to admit, it tasted from old frying fat“) and therefore needed a good English Ale afterwards.

There we met two nice guys who were there with their catamaran, a Wharram catamaran. After the pub I had some whiskies with them on the boat during which time they showed me their boat and we talked a lot about building boats, sea worthiness and anchorages.

Tuesday, 12. August 2014 and Wednesday 13. August 2014

This day we both were a bit sleepy and did not much except for walking around town, taking a shower and the like. On Wednesday we went on a bus tour around the island so to say together with our french neighbours who were rafted up (im Päckchen liegen) next to us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By conicidence they had the same idea. A generally speaking funny guide talked us around island. We again saw a lot of Wehrmachts-Bunker from WW II, more interesting were the unique Jersey towers all around the island, typical jersey style house and all the time I was stunned by the vast areas of seabed uncovered at low water. The water was literally miles away and although I knew it intellectually it is still a thing that amazes me everytime again that in six hours at the latest it will all be covered by water and the boats afloat again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 14. August 2014

This day we left at 7 am to go to Paimpol on the Brittany coast. The wind was still quite strong and we had over 40 nm to sail. At first we had the tide pushing us side ways in the same direction the wind pushed us against we sailed up. But after two hours as calclated we had slack water (Stillwasser / Tidenkenterung) and when the tide had reached its full speed it was pushing us back so that we could steer a direct course to Paimpol although our course to the wind was pointig much further east. But even though it was a long day, 13 hours. It rained quite a bit, we got many showers from the waves flying over the deck and we were very happy after arrival in Paimpol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as a reward for the hard sailing we treated oursevelves to a dinner in one of the many restaurants around the harbour.

Friday, 15. August 2014

We had to get up early because Wilko needed to catch his train at 8:35 to Paris. I afterwards cleaned the boat and walked along the cliffs at low water and saw what had been under our keel when we came in the day before.