Arriving at Alderney

[smert]

I'm idly planning a first trip across to Channel Islands for some point in the future.

Is it best to arrive at Braye on a West bound tide or East bound?

 

[johnalison]

I'm idly planning a first trip across to Channel Islands for some point in the future.

Is it best to arrive at Braye on a West bound tide or East bound?

I'm not aware that it matters much, with modern GPS and no risk of ending up in the wrong place or worse. I have entered Braye in fog almost crabwise with the tide, so it is just a matter of paying due attention. The traditional transit of the old German pier and the church tower is as good a way of steering in as any.

 

[Tranona]

I'm idly planning a first trip across to Channel Islands for some point in the future.

Is it best to arrive at Braye on a West bound tide or East bound?

Surely depends on where you are coming from. If from Cherbourg you would be on a west going tide anyway and challenge would be to avoid going down the Race by steering a heading to the north of Alderney. coming from the north it does not matter provided you make the necessary allowance for the strong cross tides as you approach Alderney.

 

[DJE]

Coming from the Solent I would prefer to arrive in Braye sometime near the end of the west-going tide. The east-going tide runs NNE up the race and has a strong northerly component a long way out onto the channel and I would rather not be fighting against that in the last part of the crossing.

 

[ryanroberts]

Main issue with Alderney is getting Wickermanned due to COVID.

 

[Laminar Flow]

The tidal run past Alderney is rather impressive. On our first trip, indeed our first trip ever with our current bit of flotation, from Dartmouth to, originally, Guernsey we were no longer able to lay a course around the southern end at Les Hanois and decided to go around the northern end instead. As we approached the area between Alderney and Guernsey the sea was white with breaking waves and overfalls. That is when my wife and I decided to extend our mutual sailing careers and we changed course for Alderney instead. The west going current was so strong at the time, that although our log clocked us occasionally doing 8kts as we slid down the rollers, we only just made it into Braye as we crabbed towards the entrance at 0.8kts. The harbour master, who had apparently watched us come in, later commented on it and figured we must have been doing 9-10kts to have made it at all (we wish).

We have been back since, but I like to arrive near slack water now, if at all possible.

 

[RJJ]

I'm idly planning a first trip across to Channel Islands for some point in the future.

Is it best to arrive at Braye on a West bound tide or East bound?

I've been there perhaps half a dozen times.

As others have said. If coming from the Solent, slight preference for west-going tide - but it's not a big deal, depending on your speed through the water.

Just don't end up downtide. Especially if you're a bit of a snail, it's highly advisable to use the tidal flow chart defined by the local coefficients rather than the Admiralty (spring,neap) format.

Easy way to put more in the bag is: as you're doing your tidal offsets, add an extra knot or two over the final couple of hours. That should put you uptide by a couple of miles - barely ten minutes worth. With 4/3/2 hours to go, monitor your COG and see how the tide you expect compares to the tide you observe, and only in the last hour consider adjusting onto course.

 

[johnalison]

In strong currents it is much easier to steer to a transit when in visual range than to the compass or GPS and easier to keep to the track, which is why there are so many marked on the charts in this area. Braye is a good place to practice this with the transit I mentioned. It looks like this very old picture. The RH end of the beach lines up with the church spire if you are on track.

 

[Laminar Flow]

I forgot to mention, that while most other ports present you with a glossy brochure by the local chamber of commerce to show you all the fun things you can do while in town, Alderney hands out an A4 chart on how to get away from the place ...

 

[dom]

As nobody seems to have mentioned it, there are excellent leading lights/land-beacons marking the entrance into Braye, one just above sea level and the other a little way up the hill. It is well worth acquainting oneself with them well before departure.

Second, avoid in N/NE winds of any strength as the swell comes rolling straight into harbour which can get very rough.

And finally, I wouldn’t worry too much about the derring-do stories, avoid the Race of Alderney and the Swinge in any weather and all will be fine.

 

[Tranona]

Every time I look at this thread it brings back memories of my first visit to Alderney over 40 years ago. Left Cherbourg to catch the west going counter current inshore as far as Omonville then spent the night there while a front went through. Left as the tide turned the next morning just as the front moved east and the clouds lifted to let the sun shine on our destination. We were able to lay a course sufficiently north of the island such that when we met the south going current in the race to slide neatly into Braye Harbour. Very satisfying, but note I was not in charge - just learning the ropes!

 

[Topcat47]

I LOVE Alderney. Someone once described it as 3000 drunks clinging t a rock. The Swinge, however, is not somewhere you really want to be except around HW/LW first time around. It's fine if you have a TSDY and about 300hp to play with but not in a 26'er with a 1GM10. Daylight, LW is probably best as you can eyeball the fearsome rocks to the south. They are sharp like canine teeth for the most part but they do get covered at HW. Again for a first visit, neaps rather than springs. Once you have the hang of it it's not really bad but I'd advise Neaps until you're real comfortable with the approach. From the South, the leading marks are a great help, From the North. not so much and the sunken breakwater extends much further out than you think. Have a pint in the Divers in Braye. It's gone upmarket since I first visited it in the '70's but the beer is good enough and the pub meals are good value. A blow out in the First and Last is worth the cash too, I understand it's reopened and trading again. I've not been here since the old owner retired.

As advised elsewhere, to be avoided in a N or NEerly, it's really lumpy in the harbour.

Unless you're French, don't pump up the dinghy, there's an excellent harbour taxi service which runs until the pubs shut and the locals like visitors who spend money on the island.

 

[capnsensible]

I've been there perhaps half a dozen times.

As others have said. If coming from the Solent, slight preference for west-going tide - but it's not a big deal, depending on your speed through the water.

Just don't end up downtide. Especially if you're a bit of a snail, it's highly advisable to use the tidal flow chart defined by the local coefficients rather than the Admiralty (spring,neap) format.

Easy way to put more in the bag is: as you're doing your tidal offsets, add an extra knot or two over the final couple of hours. That should put you uptide by a couple of miles - barely ten minutes worth. With 4/3/2 hours to go, monitor your COG and see how the tide you expect compares to the tide you observe, and only in the last hour consider adjusting onto course.

Admiralty Tide Stream Atlases all contain a simple computation of rates table inside the front cover for any tide between and even outside mean springs and neaps.

NP 264 for Channel Islands and Adjacent Coast of France.
Includes a section for Alderney and the Casquets.

My personal favourite in the years i sailed back and forwards across the Channel was the Reeves Faukes tide Stream atlas. Always appeared to be accurate.

 

[johnalison]

We were probably too young and stupid when we first did the Swinge in the early '90s. I can't say that I have ever found it particularly alarming, though we only used it in moderate summer weather and at the beginning or end of the tide.

 

[Laminar Flow]

We've been through the Swinge. Though we are quite familiar with the wind over tide concept, we were blown away by how little wind it actually takes, in fact much less than one would bother to get the sails up in. By the time we found out, we were already committed and, even though we steered as close to the Alderney shore as we dared going east, we encountered extremely steep 8'+ standing waves in very close succession. By the time we were through, down below looked as if we had been held up-side down and shaken.
Regardless, Alderney is still our favourite Channel Island, though Braye, as already mentioned, can be unpleasant in anything from the N/NW. In St. Anne we had a great time exploring the ruins of the old fort. Perhaps the only place better or more stunning is the anchorage among the cliffs at Havre Gosselin on Sark.

 

[dom]

........though Braye, as already mentioned, can be unpleasant in anything from the N/NW.

It's really winds from N to ENE that are seriously rolly if any sea is running.

N/NW is surprisingly okay, the more west in the wind, the better.

 

[Laminar Flow]

It's really winds from N to ENE that are seriously rolly if any sea is running.

N/NW is surprisingly okay, the more west in the wind, the better.

You are right of course; must have hit my head on the deckhead getting air time in the v-berth when we were there. I did ask the HM, when they came by to collect, in what context Braye qualified as a sheltered harbour.

 

[Topcat47]

I've been in Alderney during a Westerly Gale when waves were crashing over the breakwater and the boat was hardly moving. I'd call it sheltred in anything other than a N - Ne wind.

 

[johnalison]

I've been in Alderney during a Westerly Gale when waves were crashing over the breakwater and the boat was hardly moving. I'd call it sheltred in anything other than a N - Ne wind.

It may be smooth in a westerly gale but I would still want to check that my mast was not in line with my neighbour's on the buoy, at the risk of teaching a bunch of grandmothers to suck eggs.

 

[Topcat47]

Not too much of a problem in a Nic '26, the mast's not that tall.