Gap Year. Part 1: Sailing from England to France
In September 2019 together with a group of friends I decided to take a gap year. We bought a 36-feet long sailing yacht, repaired it and made it comfortable for living. This is the first of the series of posts about my gap year.
England
The first step was to buy the yacht. In August we were a little bit behind the planned schedule, but it looked like we have finally found the right boat. After the initial viewing we decided to proceed with the survey and as a result we purchased 1996 Jeanneau 36.2.
It took us over a month to make all necessary repairs and adjustments to our new home. All of these works are well described on the Sailing Moonshine blog. Make sure to check it out!
Although we spent over a month there I didn't have much time for photography being busy with daily repairs on boat. Most of the photos I made are broken boat parts and crew photos. I dedicated some of the time to testing my new toy - DJI Mavic Air and getting used to a new perspective it offers.
Once the boat was ready we set sails. We left Burnham by the end of October and after a brief stop in Ramsgate we arrived to Dover. It was amazing to see the famous white cliffs of Dover. There we were getting ready to leave England and cross the English Channel.
France
Once we crossed the English Channel we arrived to France. The first stop was Boulogne-sur-Mer, then Dieppe and Cherbourg. I especially liked Dieppe with its old town and white cliffs.
Guernsey
On our way from Cherbourg to Brest we made a stop on one of the Channel Islands - Guernsey. It is exactly the type of place which I had in my mind when buying the boat - better accessible by yacht than by any other means of communication.
France again
After short stop in Guernsey we continued our journey along the French coast. We have arrived to Camaret sur Mer where we spent several days doing necessary repairs before crossing the Bay of Biscay. Camaret is located at the end of a beautiful peninsula with majestic cliffs and wide sand beaches. The weather finally showed some mercy and I managed to take several photos.
We are currently in Caramet sur Mer waiting for the weather window to cross the Bay of Biscay. It will be the longest leg of our sailing trip so far. Keep your fingers crossed and make sure to follow Sailing Moonshine. Make sure to check out our channel trailer on YouTube (with English subtitles).