Catherine OLeary

Not much to report: F2/3 from west but we just motored. Fighting 1.5kt tide. Rising tide so on alert coming through the eye of the needle. Tied up well with assistance of Stephen ashore.

Having freed the prop we were relieved to be able to set off. Wind F2-3 most of the way, mostly from the west. No adventures this time. Just good sailing.

We set off well though I was nervous as a new skipper and unfamiliar crew, I wasn’t entirely sure which line was which. We had a good F4/5 wind from SW so beating. However we had a tide initially W to E 2kt so had to take a bearing of 110 to ferry glide. Started with a reef. The wind dropped after an hour so we decided to shake the reef out. Unfortunately we mistook a reef line for the Genoa halyard and half the Jenny ended up in the water. Which was a good learning point. Then Stuart became seasick and not able to help. However we still had a crew of two. So we were sailing well and had made good progress to the west coast of Jersey when we noted what appeared to be a fishing boat but turned out to be a trawler. We made as good a detour as we could. As we neared Corbiere we weren’t making much progress so we turned on the engine but it wasn’t running well, quite a judder and little thrust. We tested this a couple of times, attempting to reverse, go into wind without success. So in the end abandoned this and continued under sail. We discussed what to do and took advice from friends, and contacted Jersey coastguard to advise them of our difficulty. We felt we could continue to sail and did, they would monitor our progress. After about an hour, the wind disappeared and the tide picked up and we started to drift so we updated the Jersey Coast Guard who advised they would attend. However they were going to take time. In the interim another boat Atlantic Isle arrived on the scene and discussed the situation with us. Initially they advised they couldn’t help us as they had passengers, but they would stay with us to see if we could maintain a southerly bearing as Corbieres rocks were to the east and the tide was pushing strongly 2kt south east. They stayed with us for about 20 minutes, and eventually decided they would tow us. Stephen made a great cradle for the tow, and I learnt more about helming under tow. After about 40 minutes under tow the coast guard arrived and took over. They took us under tow to the harbour, though we had to coast for 20 minutes waiting for a very large vessel to leave port. We were towed alongside to to a berth past the St Helier Yacht club which was a bit embarrassing but everyone was very kind. Amazingly, one of the crew John is a free diver going down to 15m, and the following morning he was able to take large amounts of fishing line off the prop, so we were able to race back.

Moving The Dreamer from Beaucette to St Peter Port in advance of the trip to Jersey for the race back. After work. Wind from the west about 15kt, high tide with a strong current against us pushing 4.5kt against us. Racing the sunset and dark. We should have raised sails to give us more speed. All was well at the end.

Wind was from the North west and a bit strong, so some swell at the marina entrance. Tide was falling, but still against us. There were dolphins that came with us for at least half an hour and played with us. Magical. I was worried about the tide falling and locking us out of the marina so we turned back. We didn’t get the sails up as we were a bit of an inexpert crew.

There was a gap in the weather. We were to be helped by another crew member who left at the last minute. Wind NNE about F4 at HW. We just motored. A little swell before the marina but plain motoring in.

Set off from La Collette Marina at 10am; wind south east, beating tide. Turned north at Corbiere at 11am, wind est south east F4 gusting 5. Average speed 6kts, some swell midway. Arrived after 4.5h, another half hour to tie up at Victoria marina

Fair wind about 15mph wsw little swell. We messed up the turn at Terres.

Cold, wind from south east about F4-5, about 1m swell. We came 3rd