Day 1 Gosport to Cherbourg
Friday 21st August 2015
Current Position : 50 47 40 N
01 07 15 W
We left Haslar Marina, Gosport at 2.50am - our destination, Cherbourg. Our departure was in the dark with no moon! The wind was in completely the wrong direction to sail (SSW) so very reluctantly we had to motor sail. However, we did have a real good weather window to get across the Channel. We watched the sun rise above the horizon and both agreed that a sun rise had more of a "feel good" factor than a sun set - the start of a brand new day maybe?. The sun shone and the sky was gloriously blue all the way across the Channel. By mid morning we took it in turns to have a snooze down below as the early start was making itself known. It was a nice change to do the crossing in daylight - so often we do it at nightime. There is something very special about being on your own boat, with no land in sight - a feeling of true freedom. There was quite a swell running for the first few hours and then, when the wind dropped completely, the water became as smooth as olive oil and the most beautiful colour of indigo. Hourly plots kept us on course, using the tide to take us initially West and then pushing us to the East allowing us to get the entrance to Cherbourg bang on the money. Monitoring the big ships whilst crossing the shipping lanes with my hand bearing compass (something I particularly enjoy) kept us well out of their way. Finally, an hour from Cherbourg, the wind picked up and switched round from the West and so up went the Genoa and off with the engine, and we finally got to sail!!. On arrival we chose a west facing berth, and enjoyed the sunset with a sun downer before supper.

Incident Of The Day: Running over a very dead, very large, very inflated Seagull. Can you believe it? In all that space - in all that water - it went straight under our boat???!!!

Thought For The Day: Open water brings the feeling of freedom -brings the feeling of joy

Song Of The Day: Sun is Shining by Bob Marley