Anxious E. coast sailor

[Champagne Murphy]

Hoping to cross the channel to Cherbourg next week and then on to the CIs. We're Channel virgins although been round to Helford and over to Ostend etc etc on various trips in the past and in all sorts of weather. Despite this I find myself getting more nervous about this trip than ever before. I've grown accustomed to the idea that if I am daft enough to get it wrong I'll hit mud, not rocks.
Am I alone in this, and is it as bad as it looks on the charts?
Reassurance please!

 

[sailorman]

Hoping to cross the channel to Cherbourg next week and then on to the CIs. We're Channel virgins although been round to Helford and over to Ostend etc etc on various trips in the past and in all sorts of weather. Despite this I find myself getting more nervous about this trip than ever before. I've grown accustomed to the idea that if I am daft enough to get it wrong I'll hit mud, not rocks.
Am I alone in this, and is it as bad as it looks on the charts?
Reassurance please!

we were the same last year but there is plenty of room far greater than the CI charts lead you to believe.

Horror of horrors we entered the Alderny race in FOG, but we were in company with an old hand namely Kurrowong Kid whom we stumbled across in Cherbourg.
arrange to be entering the race at LW slack , there is a back eddy along the ccoast fron Cb, see Black Kippers thread on SB

 

[tidclacy]

Agree with Sailorman. I did the Channel and the CIs earlier this year. Get your tides right and ensure you have up to date charts and you wont go far wrong. I have charts for sale if you are interested.

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Agree with Sailorman. I did the Channel and the CIs earlier this year. Get your tides right and ensure you have up to date charts and you wont go far wrong. I have charts for sale if you are interested.

Thanks for the kind words! Portland race inside W. bound and outside E bound in a near gale held no terrors but I confess this seems to for some reason. Got an up to date chart of the area recently thanks.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Rocks are much easier..... they don't move, so tend to be better marked!

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Rocks are much easier..... they don't move, so tend to be better marked!

Yeah, but muds lovely and soft!

 

[sailorman]

Yeah, but muds lovely and soft!

LSH isnt

 

[Koeketiene]

Rocks are much easier..... they don't move, so tend to be better marked!

+1

Even with 10 year old charts, you'll be fine.
(fingers crossed - hope to go in July/August)

 

[FullCircle]

LSH isnt

But it does make that lovely crashing noise at LW......

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Also cataract done last Wednesday. I now have vision like a hawk, I can see the ants in the next county but dinner looks a bit vague! All seems very successful!

 

[sailorman]

But it does make that lovely crashing noise at LW......

it does nothing for one`s filling`s either, but your not an East Coast sailor, im told, until one has experienced it

 

[FullCircle]

it does nothing for one`s filling`s either, but your not an East Coast sailor, im told, until one has experienced it

In which case, I shall intentionally remain a River Rat.

Unintentionally, one can never tell.

 

[Athene V30]

I was once told you get South Coasts Yotties and East Coast Sailors. If those Yotties can do it you will have no trouble.

I can recall taking a Contessa 32 from Joint Services in the mid 80s and hit fog on the approaches to Guernsey. No fancy nav kit so we used the echo sounder to follow a depth contour and go mark to mark down the little russel.

 

[Koeketiene]

it does nothing for one`s filling`s either, but your not an East Coast sailor, im told, until one has experienced it

That's one accolade I could have done without.
Mentally scared for life - the most unpleasant four hours of my sailing life - bar none.

 

[CPD]

Hoping to cross the channel to Cherbourg next week and then on to the CIs. We're Channel virgins although been round to Helford and over to Ostend etc etc on various trips in the past and in all sorts of weather. Despite this I find myself getting more nervous about this trip than ever before. I've grown accustomed to the idea that if I am daft enough to get it wrong I'll hit mud, not rocks.
Am I alone in this, and is it as bad as it looks on the charts?
Reassurance please!

I have experience of that which makes you nervous. Having sailed for a few years on the east coast a couple of years ago I ventured to the South West coast ........ and met upon a rock near Falmouth. I knew I was in shallow water, and bounced the keel a little. No serious damage but boy it does make you realise the difference !!.

 

[LittleSister]

I find myself getting more nervous about this trip than ever before....

Am I alone in this, and is it as bad as it looks on the charts?

No, and no!

You'll be fine, in part because you'll be keeping a sharper than normal eye on where you are and what's around. It's not at all as crowded with hazards as it looks on the charts, and also when you read the directions/transits and marks for an entrance or passage, it's all compressed into one, whereas in reality it unfolds over a period of time (though in some places not much time at springs!).

Bear in mind also, that the pilots/directions tend to be written with being sued by complete nincompoops in mind. The advice is to be taken seriously, but in practice if you have reasonable visibility, a bit of experience, and a few ounces of common sense you would probably be fine any way.

The other thing about rocks is, although they are hard and sharp, unlike mud and sandbanks they have lots of gaps between them. So, in some ways there's more room to play with than our dear old East Coast. Add the fact that there are usually very prominent marks in profusion, and distinctive features on the shore (it's not at all like the uniform thin greenish/brownish/greyish horizontal band in the distance we call 'shore' round here!) and the odds are in your favour, really.

Have fun!

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Thanks to all. Will endeavour to report back at intervals

 

[sailorman]

Thanks to all. Will endeavour to report back at intervals

Tom Cunliffe`s pilot is good

 

[pioneer]

Many years ago I used the inshore back eddy and it was fine apart from being festooned with lobster pots, but they were all well marked (I guess if they weren't I missed them) and needed sharp lookout to pick a course between, but all doable. if you go via Cherbourg (why would anyone??) then the advice I read suggested leave the berth well before the tide stream sends you West as it's a long haul from mooring to entrance (1hour maybe more??) Enjoy your passage.

 

[James_Calvert]

If it looks a bit tight between the rocks - eg in the Little Russell - get a larger scale chart! Seriously, when you see the ferries coming down the same route you realise there's loads of room for you, and them. And whilst the various pilot books will give you all the correct transits etc to approach on, in good visibility all you've got to do is keep the things that should be to port, to port, and the things that should be to starboard, to starboard.

Cross tides, and bad visibility used to make things difficult in the past, but if you set up your GPS to identify a safe line of approach, and more or less stick to it, you won't come to any harm.