French Coast South of Boulogne

[yerffoeg]

Your advice please.

For next year's cruise I was considering sailing to Boulogne and then hop from port to port heading south. I note that some of the smaller ports - Etaples, St Valery sur Somme etc are only accessible at high tide.

I normally like to sail with the engine off and with a fair tide. But if one were to one were to head south on an ebb tide, then these ports cannot be accessed on arrival. So is the only choice to part punch the tide, or is anchoring off an option until the tide comes in? I am sure there are plenty out there who have undertaken this passage. We are a slowish 27 foot bilge keeler.

 

[DJE]

I don't know that bit personally but in the Baie de Seine further along it works to go East by leaving as early as you can on the tide taking a fair stream and getting to the next port on the same tide. Going West the easiest method is to leave as late as you can then get a mostly fair stream and arrive at the next port at the start of the next tide. Usually works best for short hops going East and longer passages going West.

And the few ports where you can enter and leave at low water like Le Havre, Honfluer, Ouistreham (sort of), become much more important when heading West.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

 

[JVL]

Over 20 years back I entered the French canal system for a transit to the med. To enter St Valery sur Somme the trick was to anchor at the ATSO bouy in the outer bay de somme and await the rising tide and then follow the buoyed channel into SVS. The tide arrived as light was fading, it was late October. I navigated the whole route into SVS by depth sounder and hand bearing compass on a rough guess as to the channel! Arrived in the early hours knackered and crashed out. Next morning wandered into the office to pay my dues and was asked how I’d arrived! Told the tale only to be told it would be impossible to any but a knowledgeable local ! Wandered into town for the morning baguette, passing 48 port and starboard steel channel bouys being shot blasted and painted , removed as the sailing season was over for the year!
Moor in Bolougne wait for nice weather and enjoy the sailing, you will be fine

John

 

[johnalison]

St Valery sur Somme is lovely but I have to admit to only going there once. It is not partucluarly difficult to enter, following the buoys, but leaving needs some thought if the weather is dodgy. The ebb runs at about 4kn, so you don't want to be out there in anything of an onshore blow. The difficulty is that having left St Valery there is almost no chance of getting back, so care is needed, though fortunately modern forecasts are reliable.

Le Treport is something of a dump but a walk on the highest Normandy cliff is worth doing.

Because of the way the tides work, it can be easier to enter places like St Valery, and also the other St Valery, en Caux, on the return trip, using Dieppe as a stopover. Dieppe is a bit makeshift but the town is nice and the castle museum worth seeing. You can't, though, leave St Valery sur Somme and carry the tide back to Boulogne.

 

[yerffoeg]

Thank you for your replies.

Yes, probably the easiest strategy, when heading SW on the ebb, is to put into the larger French ports with 24 hour access. Maybe heading first to Dieppe from Boulogne. On the way back, going NE with the flood, it would be easier to explore the smaller ports that can only be accessed near to high tide.

 

[debenbar]

Agree with all the above good advice, maybe its worth adding that, as always, you will have a much more comfortable ride with an offshore rather than an onshore wind.

 

[Habebty]

You can download an up to date chart for Saint Valery sur Somme, as the channel can change a lot. Need relatively settled weather for entry.