Page 56 - Cormorant 2023

PAGE 54
Exercise CORMORANT FINALE (by sea) Emily Tithecott, Civil Servant
THE SAILING TRIP KICKED off with an extremely cramped minivan and some windy weather which had the group pondering whether this was actually the start of July.
The weather meant that only 2 boats sailed over to Cowes for a few pints, which they may or may not have regretted after a few instances of sea sickness in the choppy water. The Tuesday began early with
all 3 boats setting sail before 5am to make the crossing to Ouistreham which took a speedy 23 hours with all boats safe in the harbour in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The trip across was a great success which included a ripped sail, almost ferry collision, a few tactical chunders, some slightly terrifying moments but mostly loads of hilarious ones.
On the Wednesday, part of the group headed to the pub for a few well deserved pints and others headed up the river to Pegasus bridge where coffees, pastries and good stories were provided by Madame Gondree at Café Gondree. Wednesday was change over day so in the beautiful sunshine that group 1 hadn’t seen in the last 2 days, they got the boats ready for the return journey and group 2.
Group 2 left Ouistreham at 8pm on the Wednesday and had, by comparison, a perfect sail back across the channel which nobody in the first group was bitter about (at all). 2 of the boats stopped at Cowes and an early morning swim in Osborne Bay, whilst the final boat enjoyed a leisurely sail in the Solent
in the sunshine. Overall, the groups had a 10/10 experience, absolutely would repeat again!