Never Leave a Safe Port in a Storm!
On the north coast of France, 50km east of Cherbourg, is a small fishing village with the rather inappropriate moniker “GRANDcamp-Maisy”.
The harbour is nestled safely, behind the beach, protected from the weather and currents of the English Channel, at the end of walled entrance canal. At low tide the water would recede completely, leaving all the boats aground, if it were not for the massive, lock-style gates that close before the ebb tide reaches its lowest point.
The harbour is home not only to the fishing fleet, but also to a number of local and visiting, small sailing vessels. And I do mean small – the docks are very close together and it is an extremely tight space within which to manoeuvre.
Grandcamp-Maisy is directly south across the English Channel from Southampton in the south of England – OK for you navy and geography experts, you would have to go around the Isle of White, but essentially you hit open water and head south, taking care to avoid the commercial traffic that travels eastwards and westwards – and seems, at times, to aim directly for small vessels!
One sunny afternoon, a motley crew of 11 friends boarded a Westerly 39 – a broad tub of a sailing boat, 39 feet long; it was well supplied with beer and Gin & Tonic, bare-boat chartered under the expert command of our intrepid skipper, Captain John.
We were headed for a few days in France, filled with anticipation of savouring the delights of French coastal cuisine.
Once across the Channel, we sailed from port to port along the coast; in each village we sampled freshly caught, succulently cooked fish, accompanied by superb French wines, all at very reasonable “prix-fixe”.
Then came the storm! It wasn’t exactly hurricane Juan, but it was packing a punch with sail-ripping, gale-force winds and stirring up heavy seas.
We headed for safety in Grandcamp-Maisy. At 39’ we were by far the largest boat in the harbour; but with help and the deft helmsmanship of our captain we were soon securely tied up at the dock.
Oh – there was the small matter of the line that had become entangled around the propeller, but thanks to our one bi-lingual sailor and a couple of aptly-named French frogmen – that would soon be sorted out.
In the meantime, the rest of us set off to explore the village and the coastline, dressed in our “vacation-sailor” foul-weather gear and sou’westers.
Sitting in a coffee shop, we watched in amazement as sailboarders took advantage of some of the best winds of their season. They affixed tiny storm sails to their boards, donned thick wet suits and were whipped quickly away from shore.
“Look, there’s one there – oh – no, over there now!” in a blink of an eye they passed completely across our filed of vision.
We, on the other hand, were going nowhere! We quite enjoyed being “stranded” in Grandcamp-Maisy: the food was at least as good as any we had tasted so far and the wine plentiful.
The storm raged on – the fishing fleet stayed home that night; and the next; and the next.
Fresh fish was the mainstay of the restaurant menus and it soon began to run out and meals became a Spartan affair. And even though the wine stilled flowed, eventually the crew became restless.
The vacation was supposedly closing to its end – there were places to be, commitments to keep, jobs to return to, flights to be caught.
The storm raged on – but we learned that the ferry from Cherbourg to Southampton was still running. Pressing appointments overcame the anticipation of a very uncomfortable journey and 7 of the 11 decided to go for it.
Four able and willing sailors stayed with the boat to wait out the weather and then sail safely home.
After all – you never leave a safe port in a storm.
No comments:
Post a Comment