Channel crossing - Queenborough to Calais

 Saturday 2 May 26

We woke early, keen to get the day underway.  A quick breakfast, checked the weather forecast and we were underway.  The Swale was calm in the early morning but the tide wasn't helping us as much as we had hoped.  Our view was mainly of mud but the bird life was amazing, even the odd seal was spotted.

Leaving our mooring in Queenborough

Calm waters of the Swale.  Mud everywhere.

It took around three hours for us to get through the winding Swale, entering the channel at Whitstable,  and once we were past the channel markers we turned east to follow along the North Kent coast.  The going was steady but sedate and by the time we had reached the Margate area, we needed to make a decision how to proceed.  The wind had been forecast as southerly, but as it blew up the channel between England and France, it turned easterly into the estuary so we had been chugging into it for hours with no outlook of improving conditions.  There were also storms forecast for the evening.

With the time we had lost to the tide and wind we realised that we would only arrive at Nieuwpoort in the middle of the night and with the weather threatening, it seemed the prudent decision was to aim for Calais so we started tracking south down the Kent coast in order to cross the shipping lanes at the correct angle.

Luckily Nathan had a warm waterproof that fitted me

By then it seemed as though we had been travelling for hours but the view of the English coast wouldn't leave us, and there was no sign of the French coast because of the low cloud and haze.  it was amazing to see how quickly the huge ships would move, but we were lucky in that our progress somehow threaded between all of them so we didn't need to deviate at all.

Unsettled sky

It was already late by the time we could see the coast and I got a bit disorientated when a DFDS ferry passed in front of us.  I was at the helm and had assumed it was going into Calais and would help me get my bearing on the harbour mouth.  Unfortunately it just passed by on its way to Dunkirk, leaving us rolling over it's wake.

Wake turbulence from the ferry

As we were approaching the channel we could see another ferry incoming and, although it was still some miles away, it's greater speed meant it was safely past and docking before we even entered the fairway.  We were then asked by the harbour-master to hold off to the south of the fairway as another ferry was en-route and we could enter the harbour after it.  By now we had already been through one rain shower and there was thunder and lightning in the air; we were keen to get into a mooring for the night.

Keeping well out of the way of ferry traffic who get preference here

When we finally entered the harbour and motored through into the basin we met the Australian couple again who gave us directions to moor on one of the buoys as we would only be able to enter the canal on Sunday at high tide.  Just as Charmaine and I went to catch the buoy and tie off the bow the heavens opened.  Luckily we were both in waterproofs or else we would have been soaked.

We all spent a sleep-disrupted night, every time a ferry entered or left the harbour we would get bounced around so it was a welcome relief the next day to get through into the start of the canal system.  Charmaine and Nathan went into the port to sort the customs paperwork and we were then invited to have a drink on the very fancy barge owned by the Aussies.

Calm waters of the Canal de Calais

The next morning I headed off to catch a train back home and Nathan and Charmaine headed off for some adventures in the canal systems.

A sad farewell after a fabulous trip

Well done Hendrina, excellent captaining by Nathan supported by Charmaine.  A real treat to cross the channel on a piece of nautical history with such an accomplished team. I had a brilliant time!

London - Queenborough 46 nm (85km) 8hrs

Queenborough - Calais 78 nm (145km) 15hrs

Hendrina's next night's mooring, happy sailing!