Day 42 – Crossing to England, 75nm

Wednesday 14 August

We got up at dawn, well it was still dark at 5.30 as we have come much further South since we set off 5 weeks ago yesterday! By 6 we were leaving the cliffs of Dieppe. As we left, the night fishing fleet came in.

There was absolutely no wind but we optimistically put up the mainsail. After an hour or so the wind got to the heady heights of 5 knots and we motor sailed with both sails for a couple of hours. I need to be back for the weekend so we needed to leave today.

Then the wind dropped completely. It was a beautiful sunny day but, like all sailors, we yearned for some wind.

The sea was undulating glass and the sky a friendly blue with scattered cotton wool clouds.

We saw no other yachts (sensibly waiting for wind I expect) and only a few small fishing boats. France disappeared and from more than 30 miles out we could clearly see Beachy Head on the other side.

We took down our 6th and last courtesy flag

And put up our yellow Q flag – Q is for quarantine and you need to put it up when you come from abroad – so that the customs officials can check you when you come in.

In the middle of the channel are two shipping lanes with all the big tankers and cargo ships in them. The first goes left to right, then there’s a gap and the other goes right to left. It is navigation regulations that you cross them at right angles.

Sadly you can see exactly where the shipping lanes are due to the yellow haze above them caused by the toxic fumes (sulphur dioxide) they pump out. Something we should remember when we buy pretty much anything, unless it is locally sourced.

We had good visibility and the motor on; we have our AIS showing us where all the boats are, how fast they are going, the closest point of contact, how big they are and even what their names are. If you’ve read Harry Potter it’s like a marauder’s map for boats!

We generally like to go behind them but obviously you do need to eventually go in front of one as there is a constant stream. It is quite tense.

About 2 hours off Brighton the wind kindly grew to 6 then 7 knots and we quickly turned off the engine and enjoyed a lovely sail only going a knot slower than we had been on the engine.

We arrived into Brighton around 4.30 and most fabulously my friend Lesley, who lives here, was on the dock to meet us!

She has been my great friend since we were 8 years old and we haven’t seen each other for a while so it was a wonderful welcome home to England.

We drank wine while the boys sorted the boat.

We had a very nice Italian meal at a nearby restaurant, and, slightly sun-frazzled, we snuggled to sleep in our cabins. Tomorrow it’s windy so we’ll hang out in Brighton and sail to our final port, Lymington, on Friday.