Preparing for Leg 1

Today, on the 28. of September I’m starting on Leg 1 which leads us from the Netherlands to Brest in France. But the weather wants so otherwise. The first named autumn storm “Aito” just hit the Dutch coast. To avoid that I stayed two days longer in Amsterdam than anticipated upfront. But now it is time to say goodbye to the Netherlands and embark on the first leg. That is 500 nautical miles and about 4 days.

Overview

The first leg leads us from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Brest in France. That means sailing down the infamous English Channel which means very little sleep. The English Channel has a lot of shipping traffic, currents, and navigational aids such as TSSs. Being solo there isn’t much possibility of getting a decent sleep. Last year I sailed the same route to the Channel Islands and slept in 15-minute intervals every night which worked pretty well. Even though it gets tough after two nights.

Weather Chaos

Even though storm “Aito” has passed over, the weather is still tricky. For the first few days, I will have perfect sailing conditions with around 15-20 kt of beam reach and even a low-wind problem in the first night. But that will quickly come to an end. Another strong low-pressure system is moving north from the Atlantic into the English Channel with SW winds up to 35 kt and 50 kt in gusts. To avoid getting that from the front, I will probably seek shelter in Dover or Calais for a day until that has passed over. Then the way should be free to go to Brest. Of course, rain will accompany us all the way and the temperature of around 10 degrees at night could also be higher. But that is the Netherlands 🙂

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