Bay Of Biscay

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ctelfer38

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www.classic-cruising.com
A possible sailing yacht crossing being planned from Falmouth in late August/early September with an onward passage to Estepona in Southern Spain. Any views on weather patterns etc in August/Sep? Any tips or comments welcomed. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Some insurance companies want you out of Biscay before mid-August, which probably says it all regarding what the weather is likely to be like, i,e. changeable and possibly violent, if you get the remains of hurricane form the west.

That said with the better weather forecasting these days, weather windows do pop up and plenty of people have crossed in the period you are looking for
 
Other insurers stipulate the end of Oct., +2 crew for straight across, 1 for round the edge.

Weather delayed my crossing until late Oct and we paid for that! The boat in company with me was lost, along with five others. August would have been OK.
 
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2 crew for straight across, 1 for round the edge.

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When are they ever going to acknowledge the edge is the dangerous bit. I would love to see their actuarial figures.
 
It is very poorly described in my blog, but we were hit by a secondary depression which caused all the problems. My guestimation of wave/trough heights were a based on my mast height. Happily, friends Darren and Vicki have crossed Biscay again and are now cruising the Med in their new boat.

Sorry OliveOyl for distracting you from your work!
 
Can you clarify please? Are you saying that 5 yachts were lost? Does that mean that they all sank with no survivors? Or did they founder and all crew were picked up? Are there any published reports of these losses?

My reason for asking is that events of this nature and on this scale tend to hit the headlines, and I don't recall seeing anything in the media.
 
Thank you all for input. The passage will be Falmouth to Coruna , then onwards to Estepona as quickly as possible; but again with weather windows being the governing factor. Boatbuilder, were you bound for the Med on your passages? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
What I'm saying is that Falmouth Coastguard told me on the phone that 5 boats had been lost. No mention was made of casualties until I heard from others who had made La Coruna next day, then I heard two men had been drowned...but I cannot confirm that story. I did not see any press reports of the storm at all and because of insurance problems elected not to say anything until friends had resolved their issues.

Apologies to CBT for this sidetracking of his original post. Let's have some more information for him!
 
It can get pretty rough, don't rush, wait for a good window but be prepared and set up to handle anything. That should be the approach for any time of year really. We were hove to for two nights on the last trip, storm sails and all went below for a rest. No damage apart from all the gps systems gave up.

And good luck, that seems to play a part.
 
All good advice.
I have crossed north to south in April,August and late October..
My only advice would be to consider staging yourself somewhere like Audierne in S Brittany,topped up and ready to go but patient too...From Falmouth your weather window would have to be 36 hours longer.
I have left from Belle Isle which puts you 'inside' most of the shipping traffic.
As you approach the Spanish coast you can always bear off more to the South and duck into one of the rias east of Cabo Estaca De Bares if you get an unexpected and building swesterly 'showstopper' and you are confident to get in before it veers to blow a possibly hard nw'erly..
Be patient and prepared,you will be fine.
You dont say what size of boat or what diesel range....
 
As with the general consesus wait for a good weather window of about four days then go.
Remember last summers weather? we crossed last year leaving Scilly on the 9th Sept and had a fair wind all the way, I later met boats that went during the 'summer' that had horrendous trips across, according to them. Another guy I met left the solent in October and went straight across and down the Spain and Portugal coast to Lagos in one leg and then on to Gran Canaria and was there two weeks after he left the solent, singlehanded.
It is definitely all about picking your weather window.

Have a good trip. A bit of westing early on might help.
 
Quote: My only advice would be to consider staging yourself somewhere like Audierne in S Brittany....

From our experience, if you're not sailing with time constraints (the root cause of most problems!) I'd suggest this is good advice - you only need to find 72 hour weather windows, which tend to be more gaurenteeable than 4/5 day slots.

Belle Ilse/La Rochelle are worth a visit for their merits and only 48-60 hours from La Coruna, with plenty of all weather refuges if it does turn (Gijon, Santander, Bilbao) If you've time Bilbao is another top-spot to visit and only 160M from La Rochelle.
 
All useful info and many thanks to all. North and Baltic Seas are my usual sea areas so very glad to hear from those of you with experience of the SW. Boatbuilder - to answer you, the yacht is a 50ft Gaff rigged schooner, a classic yacht and well equipped for blue water passages. I am moving it from London ( non-commercially) for the owner in readiness for a later crossing to its home waters in the USA. Just 'squeezing' this trip in after my return from the Baltic in mid- July; but as you have all said not letting anything other than the weather determine the timings. Any other remarks will be welcomed. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
I "done" Biscay 3 times 2 solo. No problems, no traffic. The last time in the tail end of a westerly storm big rollers coming in from Atlantic. Each time from Cameret nr Brest striaght to La Coruna. Bon Voyage
 
I am also contemplating a first crossing of Biscay, probably some time next year, so I would also like to thank everyone for their posts.

Just one other question though. If leaving from Falmouth, is it wisest to go west into the Atlantic further, even if it puts another few days on the trip?
 
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