Cherbourg (formally Alderney) | 12 - 15 May 2023

With NE winds over the weekend and strong winds due on the Monday, mooring in Alderney Braye harbour would have been unpleasant, and the trip back on Monday very challenging. The 3 participating boats (Edelweiss, Boni and Shogun) agreed to switch destination to Cherbourg, and shorten the trip to 3 days, returning on the Sunday.

The crew across the 3 boats comprised 6 people: five from the club (Rob Murley, Shaun Gould, Bob Footer, Nick Berry and Phil Wright) and 1 guest aboard Boni (David Harvey), who was a battlefield tour guide familiar with D Day landings.

The boats set out in a loose convoy at 6am Fri morning, sailing for the morning until the wind dropped around lunchtime. Engines were then turned on and part motor / part sail attempted for a while longer before the wind dropped further, requiring motoring for the rest of the journey to Cherbourg arriving between 6 and 7pm French time.

Rob cooked up a tasty chicken, dumpling, potato and bean casserole dish on the Friday night, with all crews eating onboard Edelweiss and celebrating a birthday amongst the group with wine. Strong winds hit the port around 11pm for the rest of the night, and boats were prepped for the windy night ahead.

Next morning, conditions had settled down, and guest David offered a personal tour of the American Utah beach landings and airbourne assault on the Cherbourg Cotentin peninsula. Whilst team Boni and team Edelweiss filled up with fuel; which seemed to take forever with the temperamental french fuel pumps; team Shogun went off to sort a hire van. After being sent all around Cherbourg town, they finally sourced a Carrefour decalled van from the big hypermarket and we looked like a team of shelf stackers on tour for the rest of the day!

The first visit location was Sainte Mere Eglise , where the airbourne troops landed just after midnight, followed by a visit to the location of the legendary 101st airbourne division assault on the gun emplacements at Brécourt Manor, epitomised in the HBO series Band of brothers, starring Damian Lewis as first lieutenant Winters. Then the group went onto Utah beach, with lunch in the American themed Roosevelt Cafe behind the beach, a tour of the beach itself and a visit around the big museum there.

After drinks by the marina in the evening, the group walked into Cherbourg old town for dinner at a typically French steakhouse Restaurant , with lots of red meat from the grill and genuine 5A sausage (legendary French stuff!)

Next morning the boats and crew woke to still air and dense thick fog, and the boats set out tentatively for home, with limited visibility. All the modern electronics were fully utilised to stay safe in the fog, with Edelweiss transmitting AIS positions and sweeping the sea ahead with radar and all boats continually monitoring the AIS data returns from other vessels. The fog never really cleared, and the boats had to motor the whole way back, passing key buoy markers without even seeing some of them in the fog. The biggest excitement on the trip back was probably Edelweiss encountering a suicidal fishing vessel intent on constantly steering towards it and a lively tidal stream at West Shambles buoy. After a tiring day on full alert, staring into thick fog and seeing things that weren't there, the boats and crew arrived back safely in Portland harbour late afternoon. A memorable trip, if NOT for the sailing!!

Penmanship: Shaun Gold
Pics: Shaun Gold