Channel Islands

This trip was meant as a test trip for the boat. The journey took us from Ostend to Jersey, and back, in 9 days.

I decided to go straight to Jersey first and then come back with some stop-overs. We (Frank, Kris, Pierre and myself) left Ostend on saturday 13/7 morning at 9h30 under rain. Our trip started well... There was a good wind NW wind (5-6Bft), the sea was a bit agitated and it kept raining. In the afternoon, the sky cleared up and we had lot's of sun although the wind disappeared! Not only had we sun, but just after Calais, we met a dolphin! He played with us about 2-3 minutes and then left.

We had a smooth and calm journey to Jersey. There were several periods of calms and had to use the engine regularly.

Frank meditating under the spi	Cap Griz Nez	Frank's new meditating method

Alderney Race

After 2 days and half at sea, we finally arrived in St Helier (Jersey).

Harbor Entrance St Helier	Waiting for higher water to pass the sill	Rush hour !

St Helier	Castle protecting St Helier

The next day, we left for Guernsey. It was, again, a beautiful day with a nice wind. We personally preferred Guernsey to Jersey as it seemed to have more charm, "greener" and more authentic. We went to St Peter Port.

Approaching Guernsey	Approaching Guernsey

Castle protecting St Peter Port	Guernsey

Our next leg was a longer one which brought us from Guernsey to Honfleur (France). It took us about 24h to get there. It was again a lovely night which made the approach of Honfleur and the nearby busy harbour of Le Havre a snap. Honfleur is really a lovely harbour (specially the old internal one). We had a small incident in the lock to get to Honfleur: because of a wrong manoeuvre of a fishing vessel (we were the only sailing yacht in the lock...) we were smashed between the wall and 3 fisher ships. Not a very pleasant experience...

The lighthouse at Pointe de Barfleur (near Cherbourg)	Kris enjoying his first sail trip on sea	The village of Honfleur

Leaving the lock	Part of the inner harbour

Medieval Honfleur	Medieval Honfleur

For the next to final leg we would have liked to get till Dieppe, but due to the contrary wind direction and the fact that we wanted to have a drink ashore we had to stop earlier. We had a lovely rest at St Valerie en Caux.

Approaching St Valerie en Caux	Harbour entry	St Valerie en Caux

Our final leg brought us back to Ostend. As we neared our home port, the temperature lowered and we even had some rain... We arrived in Ostend at 5h30 in the morning after a 19h sailing trip. We had a very nice journey and the boat handled quite well. The test was successful!

The team (from l to r): Frank, Kris, Pierre and myself