RoRC report from the Channel Islands
by RoRCs Reg & Nicky Barker 18 Jun 2021 14:43 UTC
Our last RoRC report detailed our sail back across the Atlantic prompted by the Covid crisis.
At the time we did consider that we might be being a little pessimistic about Covid but took the favourable transatlantic weather window to be on the safe side. Little did we know that 10 months on, instead of setting off long-distance cruising again, the world is still in turmoil and our freedom of movement is still severely curtailed.
We have always cherished that special privilege of yacht ownership that, at pretty much the drop of a hat, you could point your bow towards the horizon and set sail to almost any destination you wanted. Whilst severely missing that ultimate freedom, we are watching with extreme interest as the world starts to think about opening up travel and possibly implementing such things as vaccination passports to enable that.
We shall keep our fingers and toes crossed that whatever procedures or documentation are settled upon, they both facilitate that freedom to cruise internationally but also that they are flexible enough to enable yacht crews to refine departure or arrival times to avoid last-minute weather difficulties.
In the interim, whilst Nicky and I are waiting to receive our second Covid vaccinations, we have started a refit of Blue Velvet of Sark and are enjoying the freedom to sail within our small group of islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. There is currently just one known Covid case in the Islands picked up by testing upon arrival, so there are no restrictions when you are here but you must comply with the arrivals procedures, which currently include a 14 day self-isolation period with tests on days one and 13.
It is hoped that there will be a less stringent arrivals procedure that will enable yacht crews to visit this summer. With mainland Europe reported to have a slow vaccine programme rollout and potentially to be on the brink of a third Covid wave, it may well be that the Channel Islands become an even more popular cruising destination for UK yachts in 2021.
We were blessed with fabulous weather for the Alderney Week celebrations so Blue Velvet of Sark took up residence in Braye Harbour whilst we hiked all over the island enjoying the beautiful beaches and wild tranquillity.
It's probably fair to say that the celebrations and events were a little more subdued affairs than normal but the organisers had managed to pull an awful lot of fun events together at the very last minute after the Bailiwick came out of Covid lockdown.
Sadly, fellow OCC members Hagen and Inga Voehrs and their children Beeke, Wencke and Frithjof (Salmón), who used to live on Alderney just missed the fun, arriving from the USA via Canada, Greenland and Iceland the day after the festivities ended. We sailed out to meet them as they rounded St Martins Point to welcome them to their new home on Guernsey. After completing their required self-isolation they, like us, spent the rest of the summer enjoying the beautiful cruising grounds of the Bailiwick. We saw them quite frequently as well as Allan and Linda Fraser (Stravaig), who spent the summer based out of Guernsey's Victoria Marina. They too enjoyed the local cruising as well as taking the opportunity to carry out some final fettling on Stravaig, prior to heading south to the Canaries and then across the Atlantic.
At the end of August, we sailed back up to Alderney for the annual Alderney Regatta, once again meeting up with Salmón and her crew on the island. The races to and from Guernsey were hard-fought in both the out-and-out racer's class, as well as our more relaxed cruising class. Aside from the fun parties, the highlight for us was the Round Alderney and the Casquets race which saw us tacking close inshore to beat the tide and seeing parts of the south side of the island that we had never seen that close up before.
Who knows exactly where we will be over the coming months? Certainly, sailing the local islands and, we hope, southwestern England and perhaps Southern Ireland. Sadly, our desire to visit Brittany, one of our favourite cruising grounds, is looking less and less likely in the short term. But, by the time Blue Velvet's refit is finished and other tasks completed we will be raring to head off further afield again.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of Ocean Cruising Club.