Our plans are changing rapidly, just like everybody else’s in all walks of life in Europe. Sailing now has to be a peripheral concern, but we still have to work out what to do with the boat, and indeed whether we can sail it at all this year.
No sooner had we decided to go to southern Brittany rather than our original destination of Spain than the fight against the Covid 19 virus made that new plan difficult and probably impossible. It is only a couple of weeks since we applied for a 12 month mooring for Spring Fever at Arzal on the lovely River Vilaine: not surprising we haven’t heard back, because southern Brittany has a local concentration of infection, and the marina is now preoccupied with far more urgent matters. It has announced a strict plan to protect its staff and customers.
In any case, the outlook now is for a continuation of virus defensive measures right through the summer and into autumn. Even if there is a relaxation after the first three months of restrictions, current official projections suggest that there is a high likelihood that it will be temporary, with a further set of measures later. There is a strong probability that the emergency will last a year.
So even if we were welcome in France – which we certainly would not be during this next three month phase of the virus – we could never be sure of getting back to the boat from England after we left it there.
One fall back plan is to have a nostalgic sail up the channel and round to Essex and Suffolk, and keep the boat there for a while, if conditions ease.
A sail up channel is enjoyable (you scoot along, riding the flood tide, for a full 11 hours from Beachy Head if you time it right) so fingers crossed that we can at least go sailing at some point. It will be quite a while before we’ll know whether that is achievable.
In the meantime, there is no point in rushing this spring’s work programme, and some of it could wait till next winter.
Footnotes
(1) An email 24 March from Cowes Harbour Commission saying our boatyard, Cowes Marine Services, is closed indefinitely to customers and contractors. So are Shepherds marina and Cowes Yacht Haven, which made the announcement earlier. Terrible news for the people earning a living from working on our boats, but expected.
(2) One reason for wintering on the continent was to keep our EU status at the end of the transition period on 31 December. Will Boris Johnson’s government stick to its pledge not to ask for an extension, given everything else that is happening? If they give in and ask, we’ll have more time to get to France – next year.
tide by tide 