Biscay Inside

[Blue5]

Looking at crossing from La Rochelle to Santander or Gijon. is there any current to speak of or does it follow wind direction and any particular wind direction that should be avoided.

To clarify, we will be waiting for a settled period so no "on the edge" stuff

 

[jonjo]

A couple of Scuttlebutt ladies blogged about their similar route two years ago, so you might find useful pointers there.

Hopefully someone will be along in an hour or two with the blog's browser link.

 

[Plomong]

Looking at crossing from La Rochelle to Santander or Gijon. is there any current to speak of or does it follow wind direction and any particular wind direction that should be avoided.

To clarify, we will be waiting for a settled period so no "on the edge" stuff

Currents insignificant, but with a slight tendency to northerly. No need to consider it in your calculations of ETA, course to steer, etc.

Plomong

 

[alant]

Looking at crossing from La Rochelle to Santander or Gijon. is there any current to speak of or does it follow wind direction and any particular wind direction that should be avoided.

To clarify, we will be waiting for a settled period so no "on the edge" stuff

"any particular wind direction that should be avoided"

Any heavy W/NW/N, or anything you can't run away from on this lee shore!

Just check weather carefully & refuge port options.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Done that trip but went to Bilbao ( lovely place - would go back there) rather than Santander ( marina miles from the town and a bit of a dump) or Gijon ( nice small town).

Little current to worry about but watch out for the swell. The three names you have given are about the only safe places to enter with a 4 or 5 metre atlantic swell. And Bilbao is much the best entrance of the three.

 

[Signed Out]

Was the ladies trip to La Coruna? I recall something. That's a seemingly far more popular option for the Biscay crossing, and a nicer city than Santander by far (as is almost anywhere on that coast, particularly Bilbao).

There is a rather nasty catabatic wind up by the Pyrenees I believe- Bilbao Eastwards, but I can't recall the details.

 

[Csail]

Did Cardiff to La Coruna.....best tip is stay way off shore. ie a few hundred miles or look at the chart and go beyond the continental shelf.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

There is a rather nasty catabatic wind up by the Pyrenees I believe- Bilbao Eastwards, but I can't recall the details.

Yes but its predicatable and predicted. Happened to us when we were in Bilbao and as soon as the warning went out, there were teams of marineros putting missing cleats back on the pontoons ( dont ask me why they were missing!). Within an hour the wind peaked at 70 knots and an hour later it was gone.