Channel Isles, hints tips and warning's

[steve yates]

There's an outside chance I might bring jojo back from Penzance via these en route to Essex in the next week or two, and a very good chance that I will take her there from Essex in the summer for a week or two.

So, looking for any advice, the good bad and ugly , good places to stay, ports, marinas and anchorages; what to look out for, anywhere to avoid etc.

Also, which nearby Britannia ports are best to visit from here.

I will get the pilot book and charts, but just curious as to the opinions and ideas of the folk on here.

Thanks, steve

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I suspect that you won't want to go past Alderney as going to Guernsey or further will add significantly to your journey. If that's the case then Braye and the harbour are your best options and the best tip is to avoid the sunken section at the end of the breakwater (leading lights) Buoys and anchoring inside the breakwater.

 

[Bobc]

Alderney is lovely (except in NE winds). Cheapest fuel is in Jersey (or on Sark). Sark is lovely. Guernsey is good for the town (shops, restaurants, etc.), and you can take the bus right round the island for £1.

Enjoy.

 

[[70521]]

I like Alderney, Sark is a gem.

 

[Tranona]

Great place to visit, but not a sensible stop on the way from Penzance to up the channel!

It is probably the most written about cruising area accessible from the south coast, partly because of its popularity but mainly because of the impact of the tides and the abundance of hard bits of real estate that get in the way of straightforward navigation.

Get a conventional pilot book covering the islands and a navigation guide using marks and transits such as Robson before you work out a plan for a visit.

 

[Lucky Duck]

It can also be a long old slog against the prevailing winds if coming from the East Coast

 

[lw395]

Alderney is a favourite place.
I can see the temptation to skip the Solent and go perhaps Salcombe/Dartmouth, Alderney, St Vaast then maybe Brighton?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Great place to visit, but not a sensible stop on the way from Penzance to up the channel!

It is probably the most written about cruising area accessible from the south coast, partly because of its popularity but mainly because of the impact of the tides and the abundance of hard bits of real estate that get in the way of straightforward navigation.

Get a conventional pilot book covering the islands and a navigation guide using marks and transits such as Robson before you work out a plan for a visit.

If there is any significant Easterlies then it might be worth Dartmouth - Alderney- South coast (IOW or Eastborne) rather than a slog to windward across Lyme Bay.

 

[guernseyman]

Make sure you have adequate waypoints in case of fog.

 

[RIBW]

.....So, looking for any advice, the good bad and ugly , good places to stay, ports, marinas and anchorages; what to look out for, anywhere to avoid etc......

Steve, you are going to receive a hugely differing set of answers. Mine is purely a personal view based on many years as a visitor (only) by sail, ferry for family hols and the Grey Funnel Line.
First, I love doing the west to east Channel trip via the CI usually by arriving in Guernsey which is the easiest/nearest of the landfalls (round its south coast) and offers plenty of facilities to easily recover/replenish after the longish haul. Jersey is a fair stretch further and you need to get the tide right for longer. Landfall at Alderney from Cornwall requires good timing for the tide and, of course, visiting the other islands then means sailing in the opposite direction to Essex.
From Guernsey, Alderney is relatively simple (providing you get the tides right) and en route .

When you buy the pilot book, make sure it is an up to date edition. Mine has so many corrections in it.

My views on each main island:-
Guernsey: A really excellent service stop - cheap fuel, excellent heads & showers, food stores, interesting round island bus tour but dull restaurants except breakfast with the locals at the greasy spoon close to the ferry terminal.
Herm: Very pleasant, walkable, good beaches and pubs/restaurants. Not to be missed.
Sark: Unique and some people love it, I'm told. Ashore, I find it a little unfriendly (the locals only seem interested in taking money from the tripper boats) but the buoys on the west side provide a beautiful setting for an evening in the cockpit (as long as nothing - wave or wind - from the west is happening).
Jersey: If you have never been, then go for it. There are many 'attractions' inland. For me the big attraction is the many (failed up to now) attempts to get to the Minkies and the Ecrehous. St Brelades Bay anchorage is another of my failures - beautiful beaches and plenty hostelries a dinghy ride away.
Alderney: My all-time favourite. Very hospitable, plenty of interest to see, good chandlers and excellent hostelries. Also makes the cross channel shorter.

Nearby on the French coast, my favourites are St Malo (A long way south but very interesting and good restaurants and facilities) and Carteret (a welcoming village with a good walk to the nearest town and plenty of good seafood). Cherbourg is what you'd expect in a medium size city. Granville is a long way SW and is nothing special. Dielette was somewhat desolate last time I was there (a long way from anything except one restaurant).

Have a good passage
Bob

 

[johnalison]

All the above. We used to do the CIs and back in three weeks from the East Coast regularly in a Sadler 29. Normandy is a bit of a cruise in itself, so Cis, Cherbourg and home would be my plan. As far as I remember, the tides from St Vaast don't work out so well if you want the easy hop to Brighton.

Unless it is foggy, which I last did in 1999 with a crude GPS, it is easier to enter Alderney's Braye harbour using the visual transit, which is the end of the old German breakwater, showing dark against the beach, in line with the church spire. You may be pointing at 30 degrees across the tide when a mile or two off, and this is easier than trying to follow instruments.

 

[dom]

Unless it is foggy, which I last did in 1999 with a crude GPS, it is easier to enter Alderney's Braye harbour using the visual transit, which is the end of the old German breakwater, showing dark against the beach, in line with the church spire. You may be pointing at 30 degrees across the tide when a mile or two off, and this is easier than trying to follow instruments.

Good advice as tides can be strong and liable to set one onto the sunken end but of the breakwater. There are however two leading daymarks with red triangles on top; one almost on the shore and a second about halfway up the hill to St Anne. Both are lit at night. Easy to identify as one enters and as you say, well worth following.

 

[dunedin]

Great place to visit - we particularly enjoyed Guernsey (great walks round the island) and Sark.

But also a warning. A strong NE can drive waves into the visitor marina at St Peter Port. We took a real pasting in there, resulting in being up all night tending ropes and fenders and some boats damaged. We had to bale out into bad weather to protect the boat. Great in other wind directions though.

 

[guernseyman]

snip.... Dielette was somewhat desolate last time I was there (a long way from anything except one restaurant).
/QUOTE]

There are four restaurants; used to be five but Hotel du Phare has closed.
All the port buildings have been re-built, timber framed, including L'Escale restaurant.
The only snag at the moment is that the sill has been replaced by a coffer dam (temporarily I hope), so you may have a bigger wait to enter the marina. The waiting pontoons are completely sheltered and walk-ashore so it doesn't really matter.

 

[ANDY123]

Thought you were coming for a pint with me in Weymouth?

 

[LadyInBed]

Tide Stream Charts are here https://montymariner.co.uk/tide-stream-charts/
As to where to go, it all depends on draft and how much bottle you have

 

[steve yates]

Thought you were coming for a pint with me in Weymouth?

Aye, winds and tides depending Andy they may well take me to the other side, who knows? I don't even know when I'm leaving Penzance yet!
But if not, it's still all useful info for later in the year.

 

[Seajet]

If you're going to the East Coast from Penzance, it would be criminal to miss the true sailor's heavens of Falmouth, and then Fowey.

The Yealm is also lovely - and much easier than pilot books suggest - Salcombe and Dartmouth are lovely too and well worth a go especially for a first time.

After that if the wind suits - and it usually does - I'd be very tempted to slant off to Guernsey - hopefully a fast beam reach - the handiest and IMO nicest of the Channel Isles, depends how long you have to visit the others, all lovely in their way - the trick is to use the tide as a conveyor belt going at warp speed your way if you get it right, forget fighting it if you get it wrong !

Then I'd slant up to Studland & maybe Poole, which skips Lyme Bay & Portland ( boring & dangerous, not necessarily in that order ) then a very enjoyable daysail to the Solent with its many choices; my preferences would be Lymington, Bucklers Hard ( be sure to have your own food and booze stocked from Lymington ! ) then Chichester, then along East - in the name of all that's holy ( and practical too as last I heard virtually closed to yots, taken over by merchant ships for wind turbines etc ) avoid Newhaven; Brighton is a great lively place, but beware lobster pots along from Portsmouth all the way past t& inc the Looe Channel.

A, do not try to enter Brighton in a strong southerly - reflected waves off the breakwaters, also watch out for depth in the marina -

B, it's quite a long walk into town, prob' a taxi ride.

There's my two pennarth,

whatever you do, enjoy.

 

[Lucky Duck]

snip.... Dielette was somewhat desolate last time I was there (a long way from anything except one restaurant).
/QUOTE]

There are four restaurants; used to be five but Hotel du Phare has closed.
All the port buildings have been re-built, timber framed, including L'Escale restaurant.
The only snag at the moment is that the sill has been replaced by a coffer dam (temporarily I hope), so you may have a bigger wait to enter the marina. The waiting pontoons are completely sheltered and walk-ashore so it doesn't really matter.

We had a rather bumpy night in the inner marina once the 'wall' was uncovered in a brisk nwly, I assume the outer bit would have been the same

 

[Fr J Hackett]

If you're going to the East Coast from Penzance, it would be criminal to miss the true sailor's heavens of Falmouth, and then Fowey.

The Yealm is also lovely - and much easier than pilot books suggest - Salcombe and Dartmouth are lovely too and well worth a go especially for a first time.

After that if the wind suits - and it usually does - I'd be very tempted to slant off to Guernsey - hopefully a fast beam reach - the handiest and IMO nicest of the Channel Isles, depends how long you have to visit the others, all lovely in their way - the trick is to use the tide as a conveyor belt going at warp speed your way if you get it right, forget fighting it if you get it wrong !

Then I'd slant up to Studland & maybe Poole, which skips Lyme Bay & Portland ( boring & dangerous, not necessarily in that order ) then a very enjoyable daysail to the Solent with its many choices; my preferences would be Lymington, Bucklers Hard ( be sure to have your own food and booze stocked from Lymington ! ) then Chichester, then along East - in the name of all that's holy ( and practical too as last I heard virtually closed to yots, taken over by merchant ships for wind turbines etc ) avoid Newhaven; Brighton is a great lively place, but beware lobster pots along from Portsmouth all the way past t& inc the Looe Channel.

A, do not try to enter Brighton in a strong southerly - reflected waves off the breakwaters, also watch out for depth in the marina -

B, it's quite a long walk into town, prob' a taxi ride.

There's my two pennarth,

whatever you do, enjoy.

Yes all very nice if you have a few weeks to spare but it's a time limited delivery trip.