Eastbourne to Boulogne Passage?

[Mings74]

Hi all,
I'm going to do my first cross channel passage as skipper in a couple of months time. Last year I did this passage (Rye to Boulogne) on a friends yacht so thought I would do similiar myself.
Obviously it will depend on wind direction on the day, but would people out there recommend going east down the coast to Dungeness and maybe the CS3 buoy before hopping across at the required right angles through the TSS or do you think it is better to cross it further West and head East on the French side?. I appreciate tide is a factor as well. Just wondered peoples thoughts and previous experiences. Cheers

 

[H4B]

Tide is really important. Do not get south of Bologne on an ebb tide. You will end up sailing north going backwards until the tide turns. Therefore CS3 is the ideal crossing point or further east on the ebb. On the flood however you will be fine to the west, just be aware of the tide, and don't take any chances with ships. Its not the ones that you can see at any one time that will cause you trouble. The one which will mow you down, is probably over the horizon closing at 24 Kts and will be with you in under 20 mins.

 

[Mings74]

A sobering thought!. Cheers.

 

[Marsupial]

You have a good plan, I do this trip many times every year but from Dover which is a little easier in some respects. That said I would try to plan for arrival a couple of hours before high water in Boulogne and sail a course accordingly to acheive this.

The outer harbour looks big but its quite shallow I ve seen a few boats on their sides in there. Look at the latest charts for the transits for the dredged channel. Often at the entrance to the inner harbour my echo sounder reads zero, other forumites have also reported this, its because of churned up mud - apparently - lets just say that at that minute the pace maker earns its keep!!!

Also there is a lack of water as you pass the club house in side Boulogne at low water and the bottom is very unfriendly.

So there it is plan to arrive on a rising tide and all will be well, as a guess from Dungeness aim at Blerio Plage the tide will take you down. The trouble is you will have foul tide somewhere, so pick a neapy day and it wont be much on english side and you get to arrive in daylight around 16:00.

 

[Calao]

Eastbourne Boulogne crossing is not more difficult than Rye Boulogne..
I quite agree with CS3 as a crossing point as it give you time to do your own tide calculations, etc and in case of bad visibility, you can continue towards Dover without entering the TSS.
Welcome to Boulogne.