Advice re Landes Firing Ranges

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CJ13

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Boat in S Brittany at present and we'll be heading for N Spain next summer. The present plan is to do the leg from the Gironde River to Capbreton in one hop.
Does any-one have recent infomation regarding the best stratergy for transiting the Landes Firing Ranges?

TIA,
John
 
if you have navtex, they send detailed information a couple of days in advance, with areas, coordinates, times, etc

otherwise all ports receive a fax with the announcement and schedule and they usually show it nearby the weather charts, or you may ask about "zones de tir"
 
And another thought - the one hop idea is a good one if you are marina-reliant. Arcachon is a complete nightmare - you can't book in advance and when you get there, it's full and you have to find somewhere to raft up - it's the only place where someone objected to us rafting against him.
 
JFowler said:
Boat in S Brittany at present and we'll be heading for N Spain next summer. The present plan is to do the leg from the Gironde River to Capbreton in one hop.
Does any-one have recent infomation regarding the best stratergy for transiting the Landes Firing Ranges?

TIA,
John
Click to expand...

I did the trip both ways - Royan to Honderibbia and Cap Breton to La Rochelle. During the official holiday period in France the range is closed... At other times the activity is posted 24 hours in advance normally at marina offices or you can telephone the range or the coastguard which is better cos they speak good English.
Full details of phone numbers etc etc here:-
http://www.michaelbriant.com/north_spain.htm

I had reservations about the southern route out of the Gironde estuary and would not consider Arcachon but that's me - my log as above may be of interest...

Michael
 
Les Landes

The inshore passage is OK on your route, it is either that or stay well off shore. Currently there is little firing from the range, but check on Navtex. No firing at all on national holidays or in August that I know of.
 
I'd agree with Michael - we opted to cross from the Gironde estuary to Bilbao which is an easy entrance in all weather.

Allegedly, you cant ignore the French ranges like you can the British because the French simply keep on firing

The Yacht Club marina in Bilbao is a good place to stay. HM used to be called Alvarro
 
I agree with Bosun Higgs, Bilbao is a good all weather entrance and if in at night you can easily drop the hook off the excellent yacht club then park up at dawn... Only difference is that it is probably nearer a 40 hour trip - depends on the boat of course... You can meet a very nice group of cruising folks in that yacht club and the 'marinheiros will help you park up...

Hondarribia the first Spanish port in Northern Spain is also an all weather marina + any state of the tide and pretty easy to enter - if you do go in at night I would turn hard left after the marina entrance and park up on the long fuel berth until dawn.. Royan to Hondarribia is a day - night - enter the next day trip...

To get back on thread the range is actually very active but I do not know what happens if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time but it is better not to be I suspect.

On the French language VHF weather Channels they broadcast firing times and the area. Not all the area is fired over at once so the French break it down to smaller areas.. Then broadcast the coordinates - in French.. My French is possibly above average but I found the onslaught of 3 different sets of 4 lat and longs beyond me - partly because I did not understand that they were talking about 3 different areas in the 'firing range'... Louise got down most of it and we were able to work out the areas and plot a 'safe' course however she has lived in France for 20 years and speaks almost perfect French - so what I am saying is that although the info also comes over the VHF it is somewhat challenging to 'understand'...
 
We left from Port Medoc on a friday last July. A nice lady in the office telephoned and checked for us. The range usually stops firing friday afternoon to monday morning. In our case we were told not to pass south of Arcachon until after 1600. Leaving late morning, all went to plan and we were in Hondarrabia marina for a late breakfast! The inside passage is easy in quiet weather, we had a gentle N wind and little swell, plus mobile phone reception the whole way. We met people who had strayed into the range and they were warned to keep out by helicopter.
 
We did Royan to Hondaribbia in one hop during a weekend. They don't (usually) fire at weekends.

The nice lady at the marina did phone up for us to check in advance, but it was one of those situations where I wasn't sure she understood what I'd asked, and I wasn't sure I understood her reply.

So, we went overnight at the wekend. It was horrid! Nasty confused swell and chop, mostly on the quarter. Unpleasant, but quite do-able.

Hondarribia is great (watch the tide as you swing into the marina entrance) especially if you are feeling a bit dazed after the overnighter.
 
PawPaw said:
so what I am saying is that although the info also comes over the VHF it is somewhat challenging to 'understand'...
Click to expand...

agreed 100%, I may say I am bilingual in French but when they give coordinates on the VHF it is not easy to understand

remember also that if one has any doubts and is not in a port, details can be asked to the Signal Stations ("semaphores") ch 16 then another working channel, or directly to the Firing control Centre (ch 11 or 13?), they both speak English
 
Ional said:
We left from Port Medoc on a friday last July. A nice lady in the office telephoned and checked for us. The range usually stops firing friday afternoon to monday morning. In our case we were told not to pass south of Arcachon until after 1600. Leaving late morning, all went to plan and we were in Hondarrabia marina for a late breakfast! The inside passage is easy in quiet weather, we had a gentle N wind and little swell, plus mobile phone reception the whole way. We met people who had strayed into the range and they were warned to keep out by helicopter.
Click to expand...

Small world, we spent 2 great weeks at Port Medoc in July last year. Loved it there. Maybe we saw each other?
 
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