sailing to France

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The English Channel between England and France is roughly triangular. At the east end, between Dover and Calais, it is only 22 miles wide. Then it widens to about 60 miles between the Solent and Cherbourg. But it is over 100 miles from Plymouth to Roscoff at (my) western end, which is, for example, twice the Florida - Bahamas distance.

The weather rolling in from the Atlantic is unpredictable, the tides have to be treated with respect, not just for their strength - up to 8 knots in places, but also their height, for there is a 12m/40ft range on the Brittany coast, 5m/16ft in Plymouth. And of course there's lots of shipping making its way up and down the Channel. Did I mention fog?

So crossing the Channel can be tricky! Especially if you want to do it in a beachcat!!!

But that's exactly what Matt, Brendan, Enora and Daniel planned to do. A fund raising event for a local sailing charity back in 2019.

Wisely they had a escort boat - the Dazcat1495 (50ft) "Hizzy Fit". Matt and Brendan both work for MultiMarine, the Dazcat builders, and I was asked to go on Hizzy Fit as crew.

As I said, the English Channel weather is unpredictable, so in the days before the trip we were all checking the forecasts hourly, trip on, no it's off, no, on again. Finally the evening before leaving we got the go-ahead. Then lots of last minute planning getting crew and boats organised.

At 5am Saturday morning I met Matt on the beach and, together with his girlfriend Enora as crew, we sailed the couple of miles downriver where I left them to board Hizzy Fit. At 6am the two Hobies and Hizzy Fit were reaching in a gentle NW wind out past Plymouth breakwater heading to Ploumanac'h, a small village on the Brittany coast.

As predicted the wind slowly built to a perfect NW 12-15 knots. Fortunately it wasn't as hot as it had been, but was still warm and sunny. So we all headed south, tacking downwind under spinnakers, the two Hobies staying a few miles ahead and thus too far away to video. We would catch them up as they had a break every hour and changed helms. And once when they both had to stop to let a ship pass by. They were keeping close company and were always just hull up as we sailed along behind them at a steady 10-11 knots.

As we approached the French coast the wind increased and the Hobies started to pull ahead, merging into the land behind making it harder to see them. At 6.30pm they stopped to get their bearings and then headed into the big sandy beach at Ploumanac'h.

So after 13 hours and 115 miles sailed (max speed 16.5 knots) they had arrived in France!!!

30 minutes later we entered the harbour and picked up one of the mooring buoys and saw both Hobies had already derigged and were waiting for the beach trolley that we had on board.

After congratulations and drinks all round it was an energetic half hour moving the two Hobies up the beach and into the dinghy park where they would stay for a few weeks. Followed by a great BBQ on the shore with friends.

Back to Hizzy Fit for a few hours sleep and then, less than 12 hours after arriving in France, we were off again, heading home. The wind had picked up and was now 15-18 knots - close hauled to begin with, but fortunately it slowly shifted west and we ended up close reaching and then a broad reach for the last few miles into Plymouth.

We were all pretty tired - we didn't see the Hobie crews all day! So the autopilot steered us, that is whenever 10year old Arthur could be coaxed from the helm. The AIS was going full blast. At one time I counted over 30 ships on the display (shown as triangles on the chart plotter), of which 11 were in visual range. But with all round visibility from the saloon that was no problem.

Eventually we decided it was too nice a day to stay inside. So, with the Eddystone lighthouse in sight, we all moved on deck for the final 15 miles. We passed the Plymouth Breakwater at 4.30pm, 10 hours after leaving France. Only 100 miles sailed this time, as we didn't need to tack downwind. Then clean the boat, pack it up and head home.

Of course such a trip is now impossible. With the UK out of the EU we are no longer able to just sail anywhere in Europe. Instead we have to clear in and out of specific ports. And we certainly aren't able to just leave a couple of boats in France - nor arrive back in Plymouth with more crew than when we left! Sad and depressing times lie ahead.