Bay of Biscay in a motorboat ?

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Can anybody tell me what its like to cross the bay of Biscay in a motorboat Ive heard a few horror stories but it is a lot quicker to bring a boat back from the Med this way.
Does any body Know how much it would cost in fuel( twin Yanmar 250 DTE) from the med to the Bristol Channell

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Save yourself the fuel, engine hours, breakdowns and 2-3 weeks, stick it on a lorry. A Broom should'nt even need much in the way of preparation as its fairly low

 

[Gludy]

I know folks who have left Swansea and gone straight across the Bay of Biscay - I would suggest that anyone attemting this have at least a sat phone, otherwise you will be out of touch for a long time.

They did it in a 60 foot Princess.

 

[tcm]

I've done, it , tho in a bigger boat than you plan. Essentially, it's a long long drone. If you aren't prepared or go in the wrong weather (and most of the prep is waing for the right weather) then the nightmares begin cos the prevailing wind is onshore. It's vair trendy to spin yarns about serpents and so on, esp in the bar (any bar) to people who have not often been to the tidal thames from Sunbury. Mind you the non-tidal thames is a nightmare as far as i'm concerned cos you are always about 3 second from a crash, whereas in Bisacy you can plonk along at about 230 ish degrees give or take and sort out the fine detail in about 10 hours or so, ignoring any buouyage or passage planning whatsoever cos there isn't anything at all.

It wd be a shame if you didn't visit ports along the way. Mind you, i didn't visit very much, just blammed along, so what the heck. Main experience required is spening lots of money in diesel. If you haven't got decentish mobo experience, take along a instructor which might cost about a grand or so to gibraltar, but will make it more enjoyable imho.

Overall it might be a load cheaper by truck, really, but you boat will definitely "make it" by sea around Gib - it's just a bunch of day trips, without the returns.

I wd gues it wd be MORE expensive in frustration, boat walloping and engine overheating probs (if you have turbos) thro the canals - lots of boat-crunching opportunities as above. However, there's a load less chance of the aargh dying after been thorwn clear of the boat on a 90foot waves on the high seas on the canals. We saw hardly any waviness, altho i did drop a biscuit at one point.

The truck is the better way for a 35 footer imho.

 

[robind]

approx a gallon a mile, to be safe, plus Skipper and port fees plus insurance and crew fees.plus.
if boats 40 feet ish ship it by road for 3 grand its got to be cheaper.
Regards
Rob

 

[steverow]

It is do-able, as Gludy says a 60ft Princess was taken from Swansea to Southern Portugal last Summer.
Main problem is fuel, they had several one hundred gallon drums in reserve lashed on the bathing platform....and used them.
The other issue is comms. You will need SSB/HF radio or a Satphone and preferably both. If you go straight across you will be out of VHF range by a large margin for most of the time. There are no hugely busy shipping lanes with other ships to contact to rely on either.
The atlantic swell even in relatively settled condx can be challenging.
If you do do it, hire an experienced skipper that has done the trip before, preferably more than once.
Dont take chances or shortcuts. The middle of biscay is a very lonely place.

Steve.

 

[studgies]

Matt

Does this mean I will not be able to call my mum on my Vodafone mobile on the way over!!!???

 

[Renegade_Master]

Cant "cross the Biscay" in one, as its about 350 miles dont think you'd have the range.

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
There are no hugely busy shipping lanes with other ships to contact to rely on either.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes there are. I went "across the bay" on a cruise ship a few years ago and was surprised by the number of other ships we saw. TCM, can you confirm this?

 

[TigaWave]

you can day hop all the way to Gijon quite easily, then one overnight should do it to La Rochelle. With short trips you'll just have to possibly wait for settled weather, but the coast of Northern Spain is well worth taking your time over. Some of the best cruising areas of Europe, and you can catch Tuna on the way.
There are quite a few ships around, we were in VHF contact even in November, when it seemed at times a little rough for my liking. But you are only out of radio contact for a few days.
That was in a yacht but at least in a mobo you can almost gurantee your passage time and hence weather.

 

[Swagman]

Seems from others 'in the know' that shipping by truck is safer for both boat and crew, and also better value.
However, have sailed it on a yacht, and as all the traffic from the Channel going south follows the same direct path round Ushant and onto Cape Finisterre- please ignore the chap who says you need not worry about bashing into other vessles.
A 35 footer will not be easily seen (if at all) in 20 foot seas and frankly, at certain times during early morning and twilight, you seeing even a big freighter from the deck of a small boat is almost as difficult.
Finally - if you do choose to go - then maybe hire a sat phone rather than buying one?
Once you are over you'll have no future use for it as long as you are closer than 30 mile to shore, when your good old roaming mobile is much cheaper to use.
Good luck.

 

[tcm]

um sorry pete, i can't. Didn't se a thing the entire way. I did think that a 747 was landing on us but turned out to be a fender on the foredeck causing me to lean forward and then freak out att the rteflections of dashboard lights in the windscreen. Other than that, sod all, not even a fishy boat. The shipping lanes run well outisde a mobo's route of brest-coruna. Saily boats should be further out again, to stay off the continental shelf.

I think it perfickly posibble in a sub-30 footer tho - it's just a bunch of hoppity hoppity along. I mean, there's 30 footers in every port, each capable of making the next port. Ergo, quite possible - in the right weather.

However, lots and lots of ships in the shippy lanes - loads all the way up portugal. But as above, a motorboat frm brest wd not happen acrossem until off the west coast of spain. All the channel ships - loads of them are off down to portugal, so it's a lot.

 

[ClassicPlastic]

There's an essential distinction to be drawn, between yots and mobos.

Most decent yots (above about 20ft, say) are capable of crossing Biscay: they're built to take rough weather, do so well, and do so simply.

Most mobos are capable of crossing Biscay in the absolute optimum conditions, provided that nothing goes wrong on the way. 'The absolute optimum conditions' are subject to forecast errors, skipper's judgement, and pressure of time. Yes, I'd do it again, very, very, carefully, in a big mobo, but no-where near as happily as I'd do it in a Contessa or a Nich. However, mobos are not built to take rough weather (Life boats are - and look how completely different their design is to your 'cruising mobo'), don't take bad weather well, and don't do it simply...

The coast-hopping option is an attractive one, but not without its pitfalls...

...and I'm left wondering why Mr Lymington is so keen to be running back and forth to the Med so often..?

 

[Gludy]

"then maybe hire a sat phone rather than buying one? "

Sat phones are down to £165 and £14 per month on a 12 month contract, calls £1 per minute - the calls are cheaper from overseas than the standard cell phone that costs more like £1.65 per minute.

Anyway, each can judge what is best given the figures.

 

[tcm]

the mobo was 76 feet long, forty tons and took a head sea at 20 knots whilst one crew slept for 8 hours solid. I'd fancy it over a 30 foot sailyboat but then i spose it's a mobo forum innit...

 

[tcm]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

um, outside ushant would be the correct route for a long distance tanker or sailing boat, not for a powerboat: first job is to find a load of fuel somewhere in Brest/Camaret, and then aiming for somewhere on the north coast of spain such as Gijon or la coruna to refuel- shorter hops needed such as from la rochelle with smaller range. The route between any two french-spain biscay ports puts you at least 50 to over 100 miles inshore of the direct shipping route ushant-finsterre . Hence no major traffic. Well, actually, we saw no traffic at all not a single boat beyond small fishing vessels ten miles out.

Doesn't mean you don't watch the radar like a hawk, but perhaps it means that perhaps somebodty who's done it on a motorboat *might* have something to contribute if the alternative is a raggie who didn't bother to read the question and praps thinks mobos would trundle straight down to Gib on a single fillup....

 

[hlb]

My "mates" in the pub used to ask me regularly. Why dont you whip down to the med, only take a couple of days! Well I said, theres loads to think about and maybe it would take a bit longer concidering etc, etc. Wimp they said, it's easy, whats up with you. If I had a boat like yours, I'd go every weekend!!

No longer sure about this yacht better than mobo in rough weather, might have been true once. Ok if theres a break down, we're in [censored] street and they only have to tie a few knots to get going again. Suspect that the only difference is, we expect to be doing 20 knots and them 4. Once I'm down to 8 knots in real crap, they seem to be struggeling much more than me!!!

 

[BrendanS]

Hee hee! nm

.

 

[Trazie]

From what I remember the said member of crew who slept for 8 hours was sarcastically asked if he needed to go and sleep some more - to which he duly obliged /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have also done the trip from Southampton to South of Porugal in a 45ft Motorboat, so long as you know your range and plan properly its no problem.

 

[steverow]

Re: it\'s a mobo tho...

I think a lot of people replying to this post seem to have missed the point.
The original poster wants to *cross* the bay of biscay, obviously to bring a boat back to the Bristol Channel from the med.
I dont think he wants to meander around the French and Northern Spanish coasts because this costs time and money.
The shortest crossing therefore is La Coruna to Camaret or Brest.
Tcm is absolutely correct in everything he says, and mirrors exactly the comments of our freinds taking a 60ft Princess from swansea to portugal.

They saw very few vessels, and were rather suprised by this, they also heard very liittle VHF radio traffic once out of sight of land at each end.

For this reason alone, I would want to take an MF/HF radio, because at least most of the Spanish fishing vessels which could come to your aid carry this.
SSB is still used extensively in this area, simply because of the distances involved.
A Satphone is useful as a back up but only to contact Cross Corsen or maybe Falmouth CG. It is really a bad idea not to have direct contact with vessels around you, bearing in mind that your nearest vessels are likely to be outside of VHF range, which of course vessel to vessel can be as little as 15 to 20 miles.

If you were in the middle of Biscay with a problem would you be within Round trip Helicopter rescue distance?? I dunno, maybe someone could enlighten us.

Commercial traffic, as tcm says will be about another 60 or so miles out of the direct route across the bay, and the only traffic likely to be seen is that which is bound for Bilbao, Santander or one of the French ports, so not a lot of it.

So it's do-able as people have proven, but not to be taken lightly. It aint like going across the english Channel.
You will need lots of spare fuel lashed to the cockpit, because the crossing is at least 100 miles longer than the average mobo's range, and if things cut up rough, that will reduce your range substantially.
Our freinds crossed at an average of 15 knots to conserve fuel, but even this was outside the fuel capacity of a Princess 60.
You may have to hang around at La Coruna for a bit to get a decent weather window, which is crucial.
It did work out about £2000 cheaper than trucking it, but the impression I got was that they wouldnt do it again, certainly as delivery crew anyway.
Says a lot really when they are having their own 47 footer TRUCKED down to the South of France in April..doesnt it,even though they've got loads of time to go by sea.

Steve.