An early Lymington start to St Peter Port

The forecast was very tempting. Gentle winds, little swell and a sunny weekend ahead to enjoy once we get to Guernsey. The only slight issue was the timing of the trip. To take best advantage of the tides, we would need to set off well before daylight, As there are often pot markers around Hurst Castle at the entrance to the Solent, that would not be smart, So, we prepared to leave at first light meaning a 3:30 alarm call. Lovely life this cruising one.

The route looked like:

and it is about 87 nautical miles. We had rocket assistance from the tide as we headed down the side of the Isle of Wight. We also had a call from the Saga Sapphire, a small cruise liner which was heading into Southampton to agree tactics for the narrow channel near the Needles rocks and lighthouse.  She looked quite ethereal in the first morning light:

if a little bit elderly (very Saga liner-ish!). Since her launch in 1981 she has enjoyed 6 different names with various operators and was infamous for having a major mechanical breakdown on her inaugural cruise for Saga after a refit. That was followed by an electrical fire a couple of years later that meant anchoring with a load of passengers whilst repairs could be completed. Probably one to avoid when booking our next cruise.....

The Needles were looking mean and moody too, even the lighthouse seemed to have a red beam:

Running across the channel was pretty calm. No big dramas. We allowed the west going tide to take us that way and had a roughly calculated course that should have brought us nicely back to our intended waypoint as the tide turned, Unfortunately we had to divert even further west to avoid a commercial ship so that upset the calculations a little - you can see the result on the track above. We then nicely just avoided the corner of the traffic separation zone and amazingly didn't have to divert for any ships in the shipping lanes - we just sped up a little once to give plenty of clearance (1 mile) ahead of a tanker. As you can see, a gap opened up nicely for us:

Heading past the Casquets and down the Little Russel channel was lovely. Sun out, little wind, sitting on the flybridge and enjoying the ride. As we approached St Peter Port we saw the regulation liner (Queen Victoria this time) anchored off:

Their radio conversation with Port control was interesting:

Queen Victoria: Yes, hello port control, we were trying to call the pilots to confirm that we would like them to board at 17:30 as arranged  (it was around 17:20)

Port control: Well, they are not on the pilot boat yet so unsure of their timing

Queen Victoria (somewhat huffily) : Thank you for that information......

Even the might of Cunard cannot get people working on "Guernsey time" to conform to their wishes. We doubt they got a discount because of the pilot's late arrival either!

There was space for us on the outer harbour pontoons and we happily moored on the end of one. The crew then noticed that the water tap was laying flat on the pontoon and clearly had not been connected (our pontoon was the only one not linked to the shore either). She suggested we move. A tired captain declined. Then the harbour guy came over in his dory and told us that they hadn't got any water connected yet, even to the taps that were standing up. Guernsey time at work again perhaps.

During the evening, after falling on food, we admired the usual views from the pilothouse across to Castle Cornet:

Andrew and Linda on Zephyros made the same trip at the same stupid time. They had intended to hit Dartmouth but decided to make it a Nordhavn Rally and come over to Guernsey instead. Andrew's mum who was on board with them and expecting a ride to Dartmouth might have felt kidnapped but didn't show it. We haven't spotted her making a run for sanctuary or the Condor ferry back so we assume that all is well.