East Coast to Cherbourg/Alderney non stop.

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Toutvabien

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Summer holiday planning.

Anybody done it in one hit? Obviously you get manky tide past N Foreland for a while, but I reckon Brightlingsea to Cherbourg is around 200 miles and if the weather serves then would want to keep going.
 
Toutvabien said:
Summer holiday planning.

Anybody done it in one hit? Obviously you get manky tide past N Foreland for a while, but I reckon Brightlingsea to Cherbourg is around 200 miles and if the weather serves then would want to keep going.
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IIRC wingdiver did something similar the year before last.
I guess weather would be the deciding factor - and with prevailing westerlies you might have to motor a lot (not something I fancy much).
 
I did Shotley to Eastbourne and Eastbourne to Cherbourg 3 years ago.... both almost exactly 100nm legs.... only broke the trip because of crappy weather (rain not wind!).... would definitely consider a single hit with good weather as per OR4751's advice.
 
In fact I did Woolverstone to Benodet non stop a few years ago 460 odd miles like anything if you are organised its perfectly feasible, if the weather is ok and the crew are up to it why stop?
 
OR4751 said:
IIRC wingdiver did something similar the year before last.
I guess weather would be the deciding factor - and with prevailing westerlies you might have to motor a lot (not something I fancy much).
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When we went to the Channel Islands in 2010, we went to Bolougne, Fecamp then Guernsey.
Last year we did Foxs to Gosport in one hit, getting the tide to Dover and then more tide from Dungeness meant a lot of fair tide in the 25 hour trip.
We are considering the Channel Islands again this summer (assuming the Dutch and Belgians are still red diesel no go areas :mad:) so I would be interested to know what others have done for longer trips. We are considering Gosport for the first leg and then the second leg via the Needles stright down to Guernsey or Jersey.
One thought - in a long leg straight to the Channel Islands, what is the best place to cross the traffic separation scheme at right angles?
 
My inclination is to cross around South Foreland/Dover as I seem to recall tides are less of a problem past Boulogne on the French side, but I guess that is the sort of question I am interested in hearing opinions from others about.

On previous trips we have managed to make Ramsgate to Weymouth in one hit and managed to carry tide all the way from Ramsgate to St Catherines Point, although when it ran against us we sat looking at St Cats lighthouse for about three hours as 2-3 knots of tide tried to take us back to Brighton. On the way back we did Dartmouth to Ramsgate in one leg which definately makes best use of the time away. However I seem to have a psychological block about not being able to sail past Ramsgate without stopping when I am heading west.
 
Have done this a couple of times. First time we were planning on going to the Solent but got headed somewhere off Brighton and decided a nice reach to Fecamp would be more pleasant! I still remember that night for the stars, never seen anything like it before or since.

Second time we planned to do it, stayed reasonably close inshore until past Eastbourne, then just headed across. Got the tide right off Cherbourg and got to Alderny in about 36 hours if I recall.
 
wingdiver said:
When we went to the Channel Islands in 2010, we went to Bolougne, Fecamp then Guernsey.
Last year we did Foxs to Gosport in one hit, getting the tide to Dover and then more tide from Dungeness meant a lot of fair tide in the 25 hour trip.
We are considering the Channel Islands again this summer (assuming the Dutch and Belgians are still red diesel no go areas :mad:) so I would be interested to know what others have done for longer trips. We are considering Gosport for the first leg and then the second leg via the Needles stright down to Guernsey or Jersey.
One thought - in a long leg straight to the Channel Islands, what is the best place to cross the traffic separation scheme at right angles?
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Why go to Gosport? you are heading away from the CI, if you must stop go to Eastbourne otherwise keep deep and follow the TSS and cross when the wind and tide is best for you
 
We get half price berthing in Gosport (amongst other places :cool:) so it makes sense to stop there. Also, having been toEastbourne Marina before, we found to be a miserable out of town place surrounded by flats, very expensive and with the added 'bonus' that there are locks to dela with........
I don't really want to go to Gosport again but it's somewhere we know now so would be easy to get in to. We can even fit in the finger berths.
Would prefer non-stop but, having made the right call to get the tide from Dover and then on from Dungeness, where would we go after that? If south of the Isle of Wight, there is then the need to find a suitable stopover to get the tide with you through the Alderney race.
Going slightly west of south to go across the TSS between the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg isn't too far out of the way given a right angle across the TSS is needed wherever you cross.
On that subject, when we last went into the marina in Cherbourg (another souless place) we saw yachts anchored just outside the marina but within the port area. Anyone know of the rules with regard to this. Makes a lot of sense to stop in the safety of the harbour whilst waiting for the tide........
 
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Not anchored in Cherbourg, but have waited for the tide anchored off of St Vaast when going through the Race. That worked very well if I remember correctly, as we were passing Cherbourg Harbour entrance a large number of boats were leaving to catch the same tide that we were riding.

In the final analysis I guess that passage making is all about options and being able to adjust the plans to overcome short term difficulties(weather tide etc) to achieve the longer term objectives (drinking decent cheap wine in the sunshine).

I do know that I have no particular desire to visit Ramsgate, Eastbourne, Brighton or anywhere in the Solent so if I do end up heading West in few weeks time I hope that we can pass them by.

Can I please book two days of NE 4-6 please for the last week in July??
 
wingdiver said:
Would prefer non-stop but, having made the right call to get the tide from Dover and then on from Dungeness, where would we go after that? If south of the Isle of Wight, there is then the need to find a suitable stopover to get the tide with you through the Alderney race.
Going slightly west of south to go across the TSS between the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg isn't too far out of the way given a right angle across the TSS is needed wherever you cross.
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The TSS finishes at almost between Brighton and Fecamp, so if you were to give it a few miles clearance crossing west of that line does not require a right angle crossing. I think if you wanted to cross before that then Dover or there abouts would be good as it is the narrowest part of the TSS
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