After a good night of sleep we get up around 7 am to leave Cherbourg with the outgoing tide. It’s another cold day, but for a few hours the sun almost comes out and we’re motoring quietly around the headland, doing a good 8knots as the current is helping. The sea is flat like a mirror and the haziness in the sky around us makes for a beautiful surrounding where birds are reflected in the sea as they fly around us, just skimming the water. In the afternoon the slight sun that had been trying to get through left and a drizzle started to accompany us, but also a little bit of wind from a useful direction. So we hoist all the sails and turn off the engine for almost 5hrs before the wind gives up again. It’s so nice to glide along under sail in completely silence along flat water – a rare circumstance at sea. We are now almost at point Gris-Nez and the tide has just started to turn, it will be with us soon, which is great because this is the most narrow point of the channel and currents can easily be up to 6-7knots. After rounding the point we will be navigating some sandbars before getting into the busiest shipping area of the channel and the last stretch of open water to cross before the Netherlands. 

Laura