Biscay Inshore Passage

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Budgie

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Our plan for this summer is to coast hop from La Rochelle to Lagos or Gibraltar, starting in early May. The boat is a 40 sloop, and the crew is self plus wife. We are in no rush, and can afford to wait for good weather windows.

I have not decided whether to route via Hendaye (or somewhere in that area), or to take the longer passage from Rochelle to Gijon. Insurance may also be an issue.

I would appreciate comments from anyone who has sailed in this area.

Is the Landes range activity promulgated anywhere on the internet?
 
Looking at the chart I'd say that Hendaye is a no-no, on two counts. 1 you'd have to go about 120 miles along W France, one of the few ports of call is in the Gironde estauary which if there is any kind of sea is a non-starter so you might well have to carry on to Hendaye regardless not to mention the fact that the whole area is fairly shallow and exposed to Atlantic rollers which has the real potential for a fairly bumpy ride. 2. for a few miles more you'll go straight to Gijon (or you might like to think about La Coruna which will give you some extra westing). I've not been to any of the places you mention but went straight to Bayona which is a bit further but infinitely more interesting.

With the more reliable forecasts these days it is not unreasonable, if you have the time and from what you say you have, to wait for a good 3 day forecast and go for it from La Rochelle straight to La Coruna or Bayona.
 
its a while back but I have hopped from Belle Isle straight over to Gihon and then visited just about every Ria from there west,may,June.If you like daysailing and are not demanding of marinas,shorepower etc,it is very pleasant when the winds are not from nw! I understand that development is creeping in now.Funnily enough with the exception of Cabo Estaca de Bares,the only really windy bit is to the west of Coruna until you 'turn the corner',just leave very very early in the morning..
Beautiful and clean coastline imho.
 
Yes the range is active, but less so in summer than winter. The narrow inshore passage is more hazardous than sailing off shore if the weather does blow up.
We sailed La Roch to Santander (early April 2003) to facilitate dropping off friends who were sailing with us. Little between there and Gijon that can't be missed, other than spectacular views of the snow covered mountains in the background. Loved Gijon, the Rias B and all points down the Spain/Portuguese coast though. Don't miss the Isles Cies - they're great.
We wintered in Portimao which was extremely sociable.
Enjoy yourselves.
 
If you have navtext on board it will tell you if the range is active. If not ask at Les Minimes marina office.

I really would not go into the Gironde estuary - Royan or indeed Arcachon. You should be able to make Cap Breton marina in a day night day which is not too bad, although LWS would not be a good moment but anything else is OK. Alternatively San Sebastian is a good anchorage and available at any state of the tide but makes the trip possibly a bit to long for day night day...

As posted above it is a great shame to miss the Ria of North Spain. Absolutely wonderful cruising ground -and it can all be easily day sailed with lots of excellent anchorages, ports, marinas - when you get to the Med you will wish you were back there.

Michael
 
We asked ourselves the same sort of questions in 2004 before crossing La Rochelle to Bilbao (160M/38 hours) in our 27 footer. La Rochelle is a great place to get all the weather forecasts, so allows you to choose a departure date/time with plenty of confidence that you won't get a hammering enroute.

If you choose the coastal route; you've obviously got a much longer passage (not a problem there are some nice places to visit along the route).

The Landes Firing Range is I understood, closed completely during August and lightly used during June/July too. Navtex provided up to date details. Like everyone else, the soldier and sailor boys like to work a five-day 40 hour week and I would suggest that if you were to plan for undertaking this part of the route on a Sunday at more or less any time of year, the chances are that they'll not be firing.

The main warning I would give is not to choose the inshore passage because you'll feel less exposed. If the wind picks up to F6 (possibly even F4/5) blowing onshore, you are unlikely to be able to get in anywhere between Royan and Hendaye and even those two won't be a lot of fun in the approach. Offshore is IMHO the 'safer' option.
 
Tried going as far South towards the Algave as possible doing coast hopping but found once in Hendaye the wind was always West making the long hops along N Spain coast unpleasant. Only got as far as Santander. Other boats trying for la Caruna kindly joined us in Santander as they failesd to make enough Westings. 2004 was a bad year with one depression after another often giving F8 to 10 and very rough conditions in the bay of biscay.

Found Royan and Arcachon (in fact whole coast) great with festivals that seemed to follow us round France from Bastille day. Taught me that the French know how to party!

Trust you enjoy the trip whichever way you go.
 
Did what you're planning a couple of years ago, but got the weather wrong due to crew timetable pressure(twas ever thus). Left LR early May, with previous bad weather, in F6 forecast F5>4>3 which never happened. At one point we had 50knots over the top but never felt in any serious danger. Were v. happy to put into Bilboa though as opposed to Gijon, which is a must. The whole coastline is quite spectacular and have spent the two years cruising all of it over a series of different weeks. Still only as far as Galacia.! Pm me with your phone if you want to talk. www.franksingleton.clara.net/biscay.html is worth reading.
Best of Luck
 
Did Plymouth to La Coruna last May (end of). Only took 3 days 20 hours (had 1 day of fog and motoring and one night of F8/9 but still managed 50 miles south). REALLY liked La Coruna. The went to Vigo. Fantastic sailing - northerly F5s. Then did Vigo to Oporto. Again great sailing but Oporto marina was "closed". Let us stay for free but no electric/water following a big fire! I don't know if it's up and running now.
If I was doing it again I'd put a week or two aside to explore the Spanish Rias - they look very interesting.
 
You could consider Ile d'Yeu to Ribadeo which is shorter than from La Rochelle I think.

We set off from Ile d'Yeu last Aug bound for Gijon, with a fall back to Santander if it got rough from the west but finally diverted west to Ribadeo (no wind so engined to make westing). Took 48 hrs.

From Ribadeo you still get to see most of the interesting ria's
 
I sailed from Ile d'Oleron to A Coruna in 1994. As a matter of fact I just left, with a WSW-wind and should find out where I would hit the N-coast of Spain. The first day it looked like Santander, the second day it looked like Gijon and the third day i managed to go to A Coruna. All this due to changes of the direction of the wind. During the trip down to Ile d'Oleron I checked regularly the distance to Coruna and found out that from Audierne to Ile d'Oleron it was always more or less 300 miles. If it is your idea to go to the N. of Spain just sail along the S.coast of Brittany and as soon as the weather looks Ok, go across Biscay.
 
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