The S and CA's
spring rally at St. Vaast, France, is early enough in the season
for it to be one's first foreign trip, unless you happen to be a
very hardy sailor, For those of us in the Solent it is a
distance, about 70 miles, which can be covered in a long day
(weather permitting) or, like Judicious, made into a overnight
voyage with the pleasures (or otherwise) of watchkeeping. The
1998 rally was over the weekend of 23rd May. Judicious set out at
dusk on the Thursday night and we had to motor to nearly dawn,
with the Isle of Wight still disappointingly close, until the
breeze started. It was kind to us and within a couple of hours we
had the spinnaker up, and although it never matured into a good
sailing wind, we had a pleasant crossing of the English Channel
in good sunshine.St Vaast harbour is gated and we timed our arrival for the late afternoon opening. As we gentle reached down the coast we could see the masts of the waiting boats starting to move as they raised their anchors and we followed them through the entrance to find a space in the crowded harbour. This is particularly pleasant, one side being lined with houses and restaurants overlooking the fishing quay, the other looking out over the oyster beds to the forts on Ile de Tatihou.
On the Saturday
morning there was an excellent street market with the most
wonderful food stalls. Why cannot the fish shops in England have
the same selection of produce, after all it is the same stretch
of water? We purchased baguettes, pate, cheese and wine, and
then, it being low water, took the causeway across the oyster
beds to Ile de Tatihou and had a picnic lunch on the beach in
this nature reserve. Large gulls had nests every few yards in the
low scrub and were being very protective of their eggs, and the
small spring flowers were in bloom.During the day other S and CA boats had arrived and n the evening we assembled in the Hotel Vauban for the excellent 4 course FF99 (US$16) dinner. There was plenty of time to exchange sailing tales, and to enjoy the wine, as the service was a mite slow, and I am sure during the course of the evening the waves got higher and the winds got stronger. We were entertained by an Irish folk group (in a French restaurant!) who provided a jolly backing.
The next morning saw the fleet stocking their wine cellars at M Gosslein - it is truly astonishing the capacity of S and CA yachts for cases of wine and beer. We departed at midday, just before the harbour gates closed, and thought we would have a beat home, but whoever controls these things was smiling and within a couple of hours the wind had backed, the spinnaker was up, and we had a glorious sail, reaching the Isle of Wight at sunset. By midnight we had anchored in the lee of the island. A short beat the next morning took us up the E Solent back to our mooring on the Hamble. It had been a four day break, but felt almost like a week's holiday.
