Although this was the 50th Anniversary of the Race, I am writing this from the point of view of a non-competitor, a motor boatist and a first time Channel crosser. Crossing the Channel for the first time was an exciting prospect. We were crossing in our motor boat, ‘Bold Lancer’, a Nelson 42, and were going for the experience, to stretch our sea legs and to greet the competitors, amongst them my brother Edd, competing in his first Race in ‘Dee Dee’. The 50th Anniversary could not have been a more fitting occasion.
On Friday 26th June at 06.00 sharp, the engines roared into life and we left our mooring in the Helford, although the racing yachts were not due to leave until later in the morning. Two loud blasts from our horn let the crew of ‘Moonshadow’, Allan Carey’s Hardy 42, know that we were off. We were planning to travel in convoy with them catching us up. We headed for the mouth of the river. We had experienced a messy Easterly sea the day before whilst fuelling in Falmouth, but today was glorious. The sun was rising with not a breath of wind. The sea was oily, in JB’s words, as flat as a ‘witch’s tit’. Of course these conditions, while perfect for us, were to prove nightmare-ish for the sailors. At 12 knots we passed the Manacle Buoy.
We had anticipated the crossing would take about 9 hours, and within the first hour we had all settled down well. Our crew consisted of John and Wendy Moore, JB, Jack and myself. Everything was going well and conditions were perfect. The crossing proved invaluable for honing my navigational skills. After about 2.5 hours, I was in the bow cabin when I felt the whole boat shudder. We had picked up a net on our port propeller which brought the engine to a standstill. At the same time ‘Moonshadow’ was approaching, and JB had to make a quick decision. ‘Moonshadow’ launched their tender and 2 of their crew came aboard. We could have done with Edd to go underneath and remove the net, however a diver from ‘Moonshadow’ volunteered to take the plunge and try to free us. We had no diving equipment on board but I managed to find a face mask. Had the sea not been so calm we would have had to continue to France with only one engine as had been done before. After several attempts, the net, which turned out to be from a trawler, was removed. In the attempt, the diver unfortunately caught his foot on the propeller and had to have treatment in France.
After this incident, we continued on our way in convoy with ‘Moonshadow’ on our starboard side. The rest of the crossing was, thankfully, uneventful and very pleasant. It was hard to believe we were in one of the busiest shipping channels. We encountered large patches of fog from time to time, but apart from the odd seagull, there wasn’t much to see. As we neared the French coast, we spotted Allen Benney’s yacht, ‘Privateer’, in the distance, which had left Helford in the early hours. Nearer the coast, the wind picked up a little, and the sea spray made it too wet to sit on the upper deck.
Although the Libenter Buoy was not visible, we approached L’Aber Wrac’h at about 16.30, the first vessel from Helford to do so. We were allocated a mooring place on the new pontoon rafted up with ‘Moonshadow’. ‘Privateer’ was the next to arrive.
The following day, the sailors started to arrive, along with Edd in the afternoon. The festivities during the next few days were very enjoyable. Even though we did not take part in the Race it was good to support the competitors and to be part of this Anniversary. It was a great way to start our holiday, and although, as a motor boat crew, we were extremely lucky with weather conditions on the crossing to France, this was certainly not the case during the return crossing!
Victoria Bolitho