OCC Flying Fish 2021-1

SAILING SWIFT ~ The French Canals, Part 1 Morgan Finley (Morgan and Melanie, and their daughters Isla (12) and Pippa (9), are from Victoria, Canada and have sailing in their blood. They spent years researching what boat would suit them for long-term cruising, eventually settling on the 1990s version of the Moody 44, a centre-cockpit design with a practical layout and solid build and finish. Having found one for sale in the UK, the purchase went through in November 2019 and they named her Swift. They had their eye on spring departure so hastily renovated, packed and rented out their Canadian home, but had a slow start from the UK due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

They share pictures on Instagram @sailing.swift and have a blog at https://www.sailblogs. com/member/sailingswift/ which they update from time to time).

Decisions It’s 5.30am and we’ve already been in Cherbourg, France for a week. It looks like it may be the best day for the next week to make a 90-mile run southwest, but the wind is still blowing 15 knots and will be right on the nose. The Channel Islands are still closed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions so we can’t shorten our day. We’re up early so we can catch a lift from the huge currents in the Alderney Race, but there’s no excitement for this morning’s adventure. We know Pippa will suffer from mal de mer, and I’m suffering from mal de biere. What are we doing? We hate beating to weather.

We’ve heard the French canals are open again ... Paris, vineyards, pastoral countryside, no slogging to windward and no crossing the Bay of Biscay? The decision is obvious, so next day the wind is at our backs as we slip eastward.

A week later we’ve pulled the mast in Le Havre and arrive in beautiful Honfleur at the mouth of the River Seine. We aren’t going into this completely blind. We had planned to use the French waterways to reach the Mediterranean when we found a Moody 44 in the UK with a shallow draft of 1∙5m. However, the spring COVID-19 lockdown in the UK derailed our itinerary, and the Using our folding bikes to collect timber to support the mast on deck 79