A First Sail Across The Channel With Friends

Brittany is a fabulous cruising destination, but there are lessons to learn along the way for Terysa Vanderloo and her crew.

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Sitting in a pub in Dartmouth, the four of us excitedly discussed our imminent departure for France over beer and burgers.

Our friends Matt and Kaitlyn had traveled down from London for a week on board, but had little sailing experience. Nick and I tried not to show it, but we were slightly nervous about the passage across the English Channel. We assured Matt and Kaitlyn that if they were seasick or weren’t enjoying it, we would make landfall in Brest instead of Concarneau further south, as intended. The truth was that Nick and I weren’t certain that taking two novices on a 48-hour passage was a good idea, and quietly agreed that we might curtail the journey either way.

We set off, making the error of leaving in the late afternoon in order to get the night sail out of the way. We had failed to take into account, however, when we would cross the shipping lanes. Nick took the first watch, and then stayed up until 0500 at which point we finally left the shipping lanes behind us. The sea state had been uncomfortable and Matt and Kaitlyn had felt seasick, teaching Nick and me a second lesson: always give out anti seasickness tablets.

Eventually, as dawn broke the sea flattened, the wind dropped off and everyone except me went to bed for some much needed sleep. I had the pleasure of watching the beautiful sunrise instead.

That day was far more pleasant than the previous night. We motor-sailed across flat seas under a warm, blue sky and everyone was in far better spirits. We decided to continue for Concarneau in North Biscay, which meant that we were able to sail around the outside of the Chenal du Four and the Raz de Sein, making navigation considerably easier.