The fisherman that got more than he asked for

Me and my fellow, singlehanded sailor, Nils on the sail boat Marzemino had decided to depart from Le Havre for Cherbourg. A good 70+ mn sail. A sail that really needed some serious considersation to the winds and tides. And i would like to emphasize, "serious"!

Wel'l, why you think? Well. To put it out "easy". No matter the terms used. My boat, in good winds, might be able to push about 6-9 knots of speed. That's great according to me. I am used to about 4 knots of speed(other boat, other time!). With the tides coming around the bend of Cherbourg there are water pushing in about 5 knots. Either west bound or east bound. So timing is of the essence..

Did we make it? Yes we did!

Did the calculations go well? Yes they did!

Did we arrive when we hoped for? Absolutely not in a million years!

Okay... that might make it a bit "blurry"... I'll try to give it away in a good way here. Really easy to understand. Might even "stupify" my crowd here. But anyways. Better that all understands!

Tides come and goes in cycles of 6 hours (give or take!). The moon and sun has their powers of the water. In some places more than others. English channel of course is one of the strongest of them in the world(my world at least right about now!). So calculations of when, how and where are of the essence. As mentioned we haven't really got this to the 100% mark yet. But after this day, we are well under way. However. Once you know how to calculate there are new things to consider (which we didn't!).

Cycles are of 6 hours. The distance I'm sailing is further away than 6 hours, no matter the current. This means you have both favorable current and not so good current. Right? (remember the 6 hours cycles?). We sailed out with the current with us. 2 knots of water pushing us further away than the sails (hmm... motor of course!) would do. Great! So if I were sailing 7 knots. The actual speed was 9 knots. Makes sense, right?

After 6 hours the current change. So of course you have the current against you. Problem is that around Cherbourg the current is about 6 knots... Which mean, pretty much, I was standing almost still for about a couple of hours! I did 7 knots through the water, great! But the current were pushing the opposit way for 6 knots. Meaning i am only doing 1 knot of speed. 1 knot of speed = 1,85 km/h. Great!

I am feeling already now this were more complicated to explain than i thought. Or perhaps the explanations are so bad because I really do not understand it at all myself... hmmm... Either way. I gave it a go..

So, with calculations at hand, learning how to go forth, a new way of thinking must be taken into account on longer passages. Would I like the departing areas current with/against me or would i like the arrival areas current against/with me? I haven't really been in this position before. What I can remember at least. So it just took very, very long time. I also think a lot of sailboats passing me on the path the opposite way must have thought that I was an absolute moron doing what I did. Which I of course was. But what was I suppose to do? Head back? Naaah. Sometimes it just take time. Sailing is not always for the incredible speed. Ehum...

I did my 70 nm in about 14 hours. Which is okay. Not at all great. But okay. Nils did it in about 17 hours. Which for some reasons might sound longer to You. But he got tangled in fishing gear after about 4 hours of sail. Still managed so well...

Funny stuff though. Nils got held up, by some fisherman's net somewhere. Nils needed to be rescued by divers to cut his propeller loose after about 6 hours. Still he managed to get there only 3 hours after me. My boat is much faster than his.

Remember the currents? Yeah! Can make a BIG deal! The fisherman most likely are not sharing my excitement about this discovery though...

Anyways. Had nothing better to do. Just sitting and listening to some music, trying to get all bilge-pumps to work properly... Might drag out for more work tomorrow. All fine. Weather looks like complete crap moving forward. 50 knots of wind coming in for the weekend. Might be here doing boat work for a couple of days... Much needed but still not what i would have liked to do. South bound sail is much needed! Just a little view of how much the tide/current actually can remake a "landscape"

High tide:

Low tide:

Observe it is the same spot, same place, just 6 hours apart and about 9 meters of sea level... Just an ordinary day here...

Otherwise, not doing much, just enjoying France - Over and out!

//Ludvig