First cross channel trip

May I suggest that you allow more than a long weekend for the trip, if you possibly can?

In my experience, pressure of time causes more problems than anything else. Especially if it leads to sailing in bad weather or when you are tired.
 
My personal advice would be as follows:-

1./Go on a neap tide in June/July, and ideally not with the wind on the nose (ideally a beam reach both ways if poss).
2./ Spend a day sailing up to the west of the IoW, and go out of the Needles.
3./ Leave at first light (5am) through the Needles. You will then get there before nightfall. Day crossing is much less stressfull for your first crossing.
4./ Don't fix your agenda. Make sure that you can stay another day if the weather doesn't suit.
5./ Assuming good weather, sail to Yarmouth Thursday, across to Cherbourg Friday, shopping and rest Saturday, sail back Sunday.
6./ Get an AIS receiver
 
Personally, I'd say weather is far more important than picking the ideal tide time.
Yes it will be a bit more lumpy near any headlands in Springs, for a given wind strength.
But you are going across the tide with no great need to get near any headlands.
I wouldn't suggest mucking about waiting off Bembridge or going to Yarmouth first.
Crack on with it if the weather looks right, then you have plenty of time to come back.
If you start dialling in spurious tide time requirements you will cut down the number of suitable weekends horribly.
You want F3 to F5 and not bang on the nose either way, ideally. You want good vis.
But even a dead beat is not so bad if you get the right side of the way it shifts over the crossing and use the tide to be mostly on the making tack. But TBH a dead beat towards Cherbourg is an invite to either St Vaast or Braye.
St Vaast is tidal, you need to be getting there while the gate is open, which tends to tie in quite well with being downtide of Cherbourg.

And take enough fuel not to worry about motoring. I like to sail as much as is reasonable, but it's annoying to be concerned about fuel range.
 
Kukri said:
This advice dates back a hundred years and more to the pre-electronic era, when we often needed to do this, but it is still good advice today because it reduces risk and adds confidence to the pleasure of a landfall.
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I'm now wondering how old are you.
 
Benny257 said:
Hi all,

Some time in 2020 I'd like to make my first cross channel trip as skipper. I've got a fair bit of experience of bashing up and down the Solent and bits of the South East Coast and have crewed and nominally skippered (professional instructor on board for back up) but this will be my first time as skipper cross channel without any backup. Boat is a Beneteau 25.7 based in Chichester though could equally easily go out of Gosport and would like to go to Cherbourg and back over a long weekend.

I know about the SRS original paperwork, VAT invoices etc, but any admin stuff appreciated

My question is really what is going to be the best tidal situation for a trip like this.

Thanks in advance.
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Hi Benny,

From Portsmouth, I reckon on 16 hours in my 26'er. I've done it in less and much more. You have to keep alert crossing the shipping lanes and on the approaches to Cherbourg you may encounter traffic from or to Le Havre making it's way too and from the Casquettes separation lanes. You've been recommended to go at neaps and the reason is that the cross tides on the Cherbourg Peninsular are fiercer than over the UK side. If you get it wrong, you can be whipped round Barfleur before you know it and the only solutions then are either try and anchor in the shelter of Barfleur and wait 'til the tide changes ( not my idea of fun) or potter on down to St Vaast. which is another couple of hours at least, depending on the tides. St Vaast is a lovely place but arrive at the wrong state of the tide and you'll be anchoring off 'til there's enough water to open the lock.

I hate motorsailing but if you want to do this in a long weekend and still be fit enough to go to work at the end of it, you must keep to your planned schedule, running the engine if the wind's not kind. There is no appreciable slack water over there between tides so get there before it changes. The East Entrance has a lot of rocks and debris and the channel is not well marked, but it's closer to both Chi and the Marina, once you're inside the breakwater. I allow four days, one to sail across, one to sleep afterwards, one to sightsee and one to come home. Keep an eye on the weather for the return.

My first trip in a small boat was in a Seal 22 as basic ballast, really. I knew how to steer a course and trim a sail but not much else. It's just as well the skipper knew what he was doing. It took 22 hours each way and I still get a kick out of sailing into a Foreign Port, even if it is Cherbourg and more like a milk run for me these days. Enjoy!
 
Sandy said:
I'm now wondering how old are you.
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I’m 67. But I had an Aunt who said she was never more impressed by her husband - and they were married for more than sixty years - than when he took her with him on his boat, the smack yacht ‘Alanna’, on a trip from Burnham to Holland, in 1920 and, he having told her, “We should see the loom of the high lighthouse on Westkapelle shortly, right ahead” it duly appeared in that place.

(That made up for him having forgotten to tell his sailing friends that he was married, and had been for four years...)

Here’s the ‘Alanna’ sailing in the Pin Mill Regatta in 1938. ‘Typical 37ft cruiser racer of her day’:

 
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First, do it, a great trip. Cherbough is friendly, spacious for manouvering, and (despite other post) fuel not really a problem. Expect the pontoon fingers to be short. As others imply, tides on that coast are fierce, keep an eye on your likely arrival and aim uptide. If you have a planning chart (eg Imray C12) you can join the Dover TSS to the casquets and this will allow you to plan when to meet the shipping. One option is to leave Chichester on a late evening tide, arriving at the first shipping lane at dawn and Cherbough in the early afternoon. Prevailing wind is a pain from Chichester, if you have the luxury of choosing a weather window them exploit any wind that is not SW.
 
Bobc said:
My personal advice would be as follows:-

1./Go on a neap tide in June/July, and ideally not with the wind on the nose (ideally a beam reach both ways if poss).
2./ Spend a day sailing up to the west of the IoW, and go out of the Needles.
3./ Leave at first light (5am) through the Needles. You will then get there before nightfall. Day crossing is much less stressful for your first crossing.
4./ Don't fix your agenda. Make sure that you can stay another day if the weather doesn't suit.
5./ Assuming good weather, sail to Yarmouth Thursday, across to Cherbourg Friday, shopping and rest Saturday, sail back Sunday.
6./ Get an AIS receiver
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I'd second all this advice, especially a day crossing as this will avoid excess tiredness due to lack of sleep.

The other thing that a lot of people do is see a Channel crossing as a delivery trip, so use the motor if necessary to maintain a minimum passage speed. Needles to Cherbourg is 60NM so that's 12hrs at 5kts (which your boat should easily do), plus an hour to get there from a Yarmouth buoy; I'd typically wake at 0400 for tea and some grub and to get ready etc, drop the mooring at 0500, clear Needles at 0600 and arrive at Cherbourg entrance at 1800 and be tied up and beered by 1900.
 
I'm not a great fan of trying to cross in daylight.
One delay and you start to think you'll be rushed to find somewhere decent to eat.
But I guess a lot of people are talking about crossing singlehanded, which is a different game?
Being a member of a half-decent sailing club, we can normally find someone to come along for the ride who will stand watch for 3 hours while I get some kip. That makes an overnighter so much better. Leave after a decent meal say 9 or 10 pm. Into watch system once clear of the harbour, rock into Cherbourg before lunch, wine buying, siesta, decent dinner at leisure.
With no time pressure to arrive, if there's not much wind in the morning, there's no panic t okeep to a schedule, leisurely breakfast before sighting land is rather fine.
Singlehanded, I find a 15 hour leg a bit dodgy on a weekend, unless I've had an easy time the previous two days. Committing to two crossings in 'a long weekend' needs more stamina and 'sleep management' than I want to depend on these days. FTAOD, if you don't have a crew who you trust while you sleep, you're effectively singlehanded.
In my youth, I used to dabble with JOG racing, often ended up sailing the boat home while the other buggers slept. In those days I could get home at 4AM Monday and pass muster at work at 8:30. These days work involves a commute and I'd be dead before I got there. I'd do it as a part of a fortnight's amble around the channel, not a long weekend.

So, invite a mate or two for a 'wine run'. It's the whole point of a weekend to Cherbourg. Even if you're as lucky as I am, having a SWMBO who can aim the boat in broadly the right direction and not hit any ships, an extra body to make the coffee is worth considering.

But the wine-buying is better in St Vaast....?
 
We leave Chi at HW and get the tidal lift to yarmouth.

Leave at 0445. Aim for uptide of entrance.

Go to studland if weather has too much south.

The above assumes no time pressures. If so, head direct from Chi to uptide of entrance. Slog past IoW is a pain. Goes on for ever.

I and others have mentioned being uptide of entrance ...

Inside the Rade is sheltered. Read up on the visitors pontoons. Just rock up and nab a space.

I have been asked for ships papers and passports by friendly customs police once.
 
Two years ago we set off on our first cross channel trip, boat 26 foot Centaur 4 persons on board
Log book is unusally at home
0355 left Portsmouth, took an easterly route out of the Solent, brother in law worked out the timings as he had done it many times before. (arrived up tide) In Cherbourg at 19.00 Motored all but 2 hours on French side as no wind. 60NM 14.5hrs run. pontoon fingers bouncy as very narrow and they use rings not cleats. Ate on board beers ashore, Easter weekend so funfair was in Cherbourg next to the Marina !
0652 slipped lines at Cherbourg a nice sail over to St Vaast 11NM. Raid on the local Patisserie , some of there Easter produce looked stunning !! followed by Beers, Mussels and Frites ashore. St Vaast is a lovely port well worth a visit, there is a lock so tides and times is key.
10.50 slipped lines in St Vasst alongside in Portsmouth 0423 Sailed all the way, 56NM 17Hrs. Had a problem with the genoa furling when we reduced sail I reckon we lost an hour trying to sort that out in the pitch black with a rolling deck with the tide pushing us east.

Was it fun? Yes. Planning on going again this year for probably a week 10 days. Would I do it single handed first time ? No, its a long trek with the added complexity of the shipping lanes
 
The OP can and will of course do what he pleases, whether day or night, rushed or at an easy pace. I haven't enjoyed losing a night's sleep for many years, if ever, but there are some advantages in a night crossing. Navigation is no longer a problem, with GPS, even though this was once a major factor. An important difference is that there is usually much less wind at night, which can be an advantage or disadvantage, according to conditions. For the inexperienced, the ability to judge ships' movements may be harder in the dark, though I generally find it easier. A successful night crossing is an exhilarating experience, but it can be tiring with limited crew, and wouldn't be my first choice, especially for a 60 mile passage.
 
XDC said:
Um.

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I stand corrected but maybe I have just expected a 4pm closing . I certainly remember finding it shut on a Sunday. Hence an ideal passage if you are happy crossing at night in summer is tides willing have dinner early Friday evening in Gosport departing around say 6 to 7 pm arriving next morning around say 5 am ideally or thereabouts and spend Sat shopping before departing for Jersey on Sun . Obviously this might not be first timer choice and I would not be entering in dark but this would avoid any Chi bar concerns if a worry on that front .
 
my usual plan is a day on the boat to get your sea legs, we go from Portsmouth west down the Solent, anchor off Hurst or buoy off Yarmouth, early night, clear head, save the vino for Cherbourg, you will be too excited to oversleep, up and go first light in the summer, say 0600, you will be beyond the needles by breakfast, mid channel by lunch and off Cherbourg mid afternoon. it is nearly due south so not on the nose for a south-westerly, it is usually calm first thing so motor briskly to get distance under the keel and hopefully a bit of a sail later on, enjoy, nothing like arriving foreign in your own boat. try to have a bit more time than long weekend to give more flexibility re weather.
 
chubby said:
my usual plan is a day on the boat to get your sea legs, we go from Portsmouth west down the Solent, anchor off Hurst or buoy off Yarmouth, early night, clear head, save the vino for Cherbourg, you will be too excited to oversleep, up and go first light in the summer, say 0600, you will be beyond the needles by breakfast, mid channel by lunch and off Cherbourg mid afternoon. it is nearly due south so not on the nose for a south-westerly, it is usually calm first thing so motor briskly to get distance under the keel and hopefully a bit of a sail later on, enjoy, nothing like arriving foreign in your own boat. try to have a bit more time than long weekend to give more flexibility re weather.
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Think you will be much later than mid afternoon to do the 70 Nm.
 
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