Inshore along the Channel Islands coast ?

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STATUE

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'ere in Dorset we have that excellent pilot , "Inshore along the Dorset Coast" by Peter Bruce.

Plus in collaboration with Gillie Watson, ' Tidal Streams - between Portland Bill and St Alban's Head'.

Is there such a publications for the CIs ?
 
STATUE said:
'ere in Dorset we have that excellent pilot , "Inshore along the Dorset Coast" by Peter Bruce.

Plus in collaboration with Gillie Watson, ' Tidal Streams - between Portland Bill and St Alban's Head'.

Is there such a publications for the CIs ?
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Channel Islands Pilot by Malcolm Robson.

A bit dated now but the rocks don't move

Well researched by the author . Rumour has it that he wrecked several boats in the process.

We used in generally around the CI's and found it reliable.

I beleive it forms the basis for the CI section of the much more recent RCC Pilotage Foundation "Channel Islands, Cherbourg Peninsula & North Brittany" by Peter Carnegie

One "trip" I remember we followed was around Alderney, inside most of the hazards you normally go well outside.
 
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Malcolm Robson is brilliant, if a bit old now. He takes you on a tour round each island inside the smallest rocks but with safe transits in and out, so you can just do the bits you want. He is also very good on the approaches to places like St Helier, and all the transits have line drawings to illustrate them. I have scared my wife regularly while following him.
 
I have the Carnegie book Vic mentions - originally it was just the Channel Islands, but the new edition (late last year) also includes part of France. All (or nearly all) the transits include a small photo showing the marks, plus various plans with more detail than the official charts and some low-water aerial photos to show exactly where the rocks are.

I would consider this book (or a close equivalent, I haven't tried the other suggestions) essential for cruising the Channel Islands. The standard Channel Pilot just skims over a couple of the main places and ignores the rest.

Three further observations on the Carnegie book -

1) If for some reason you end up with the old slim edition, be aware than it has a very large number of corrections for sometimes rather fundamental errors. These are available to download and you should definitely do so.

2) It sometimes feels as if the author was being paid per transit! While many of these are essential, there are various places where the pilotage is actually pretty easy but the density of information in the pilot makes it look complex and offputting. The best example is the approach to St Helier round Corbiere and along the south coast of Jersey - there's half a dozen transits to follow, with various turning points and so on - but really it's just a case of "stay north of these two large and obvious buoys and don't run into the cliffs."

3) Do not expect detailed information on facilities ashore and so on. This is a book of transits and tidal recipes and little else.

Pete
 
prv said:
I have the Carnegie book
2) It sometimes feels as if the author was being paid per transit! While many of these are essential, there are various places where the pilotage is actually pretty easy but the density of information in the pilot makes it look complex and offputting. The best example is the approach to St Helier round Corbiere and along the south coast of Jersey - there's half a dozen transits to follow, with various turning points and so on - but really it's just a case of "stay north of these two large and obvious buoys and don't run into the cliffs."
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something like this I bet. The standard approach map to St Hellier

St%20Helier.jpg
 
prv said:
Yep - although it starts earlier with transits and beam marks on the "golf ball" radar dome to indicate how to round Corbiere.

Pete
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I believe the old golf ball radome is no more. I'm not entirely sure what has replaced it.
 
What about Peter Cumberlidge's North Brittany and Channel Islands Cruising Companion?

Would the RCC/Carnegie book (the one that covers North Brittany as well as the CI's) be an addition to or duplicate of the above, which I've already got?
 
Babylon said:
What about Peter Cumberlidge's North Brittany and Channel Islands Cruising Companion?

Would the RCC/Carnegie book (the one that covers North Brittany as well as the CI's) be an addition to or duplicate of the above, which I've already got?
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I see that the Peter Cumberlidge's 'Channel Islands, Charbourg Peninsula, North Brittany' was published 2015whereas the RCC/Carnegie book 'North Brittany and Channel Islands Cruising Companion' was published 2008.
Both apparently cover the same cruising ground, extending up the W side of the Contention peninsula. Keen to buy one too. Anyone know any difference between them in content or style?
 
doug748 said:
You find these in local chandlers:

http://www.guernseypilotage.com/index.htm

I thought they worked out quite expensive for what they were and have not used them but they look handy.
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I sailed Belle Serene over to Guernsey last summer, a few days before I'd booked my YM exam back in Blighty, and booked a day's coaching in her with the author, who's also a Yachtmaster instructor. I can attest that his knowledge of transits between inland rocks to cheat the tide is simply phenomenal: a lost art, I suspect, in these days of GPS. Whilst I don't have any of his books, I can't see how £8.50 is remotely unreasonable to pick up those secrets!
 
Babylon said:
What about Peter Cumberlidge's North Brittany and Channel Islands Cruising Companion?

Would the RCC/Carnegie book (the one that covers North Brittany as well as the CI's) be an addition to or duplicate of the above, which I've already got?
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I have both, and find that they compliment each other quite well. RCC/Carnegie, as noted above, is heavy on transits and detailed pilotage information. Cumberlidge has a little less of that and more of what you will find when you get there, facilities, restaurants and general ambience. Cumberlidge also has some useful sections covering passages between the various cruising areas.

I guess if I could afford only one it would be RCC/Carnegie, but if you can afford it then it is definitely better to get both!
 
BelleSerene said:
I see that the Peter Cumberlidge's 'Channel Islands, Charbourg Peninsula, North Brittany' was published 2015whereas the RCC/Carnegie book 'North Brittany and Channel Islands Cruising Companion' was published 2008.
Both apparently cover the same cruising ground, extending up the W side of the Contention peninsula. Keen to buy one too. Anyone know any difference between them in content or style?
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Other way round, I think: Carnegie's is 2015. It is an updated version of an earlier pilot book covering just the Channel Islands. This edition now covers the adjacent French coast too.

As PatrickB02 says, Carnegie's guide is definitely more of a pilot book than a cruising guide - heavy on transits and pilotage notes. A great book IMO. (Can't speak for Cumberlidge's one, as I don't have it).
 
Angele said:
Other way round, I think: Carnegie's is 2015. It is an updated version of an earlier pilot book covering just the Channel Islands. This edition now covers the adjacent French coast too.

As PatrickB02 says, Carnegie's guide is definitely more of a pilot book than a cruising guide - heavy on transits and pilotage notes. A great book IMO. (Can't speak for Cumberlidge's one, as I don't have it).
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I'm sorry, I got that the wrong way round, didn't I. Thanks.

I just bought the Cumberlidge one as my need is mainly for advice on passages between harbours.
 
I can't remember which it was, and I can't lay my hands on it just now, but I bought a new edition Imray Channel Islands Pilot a few years back, and the number of corrections was shocking.

It seemed they'd completely missed out checking the thing before printing. There were really basic, serious errors such completely wrong times on tide maps, seriously wrong bearings, photos labelled with wrong orientation, etc. etc. etc. There were correction pages for some of the errors, but the were a different size to the page they were to replace, and were printed on paper so thin it was semi-transparent, so couldn't be simply pasted over the erroneous pages and wouldn't survive as 'loose leaf' inserts. Then there were a further host of corrections online, despite only a few months, if that, since the publication date.

I think one would be safer bimbling about without that Pilot than using it unaware of the corrections.
 
LittleSister said:
I can't remember which it was, and I can't lay my hands on it just now, but I bought a new edition Imray Channel Islands Pilot a few years back, and the number of corrections was shocking.

It seemed they'd completely missed out checking the thing before printing. There were really basic, serious errors such completely wrong times on tide maps, seriously wrong bearings, photos labelled with wrong orientation, etc. etc. etc. There were correction pages for some of the errors, but the were a different size to the page they were to replace, and were printed on paper so thin it was semi-transparent, so couldn't be simply pasted over the erroneous pages and wouldn't survive as 'loose leaf' inserts. Then there were a further host of corrections online, despite only a few months, if that, since the publication date.

I think one would be safer bimbling about without that Pilot than using it unaware of the corrections.
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Thanks for the thought. Just checked online:
Updates for the Cumberlidge book are here https://fernhurstbooks.com/cruising...y-channel-islands-cruising-companion-updates/
Massively longer list of corrections for the Carnegie book (the Imray one) are here https://www.imray.com/files/book_supplements/IB0199-S.pdf?id=1497999869. Scary, as you say!
 
doug748 said:
You find these in local chandlers:

http://www.guernseypilotage.com/index.htm

I thought they worked out quite expensive for what they were and have not used them but they look handy.
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I use those, as well as Robson. Frankland's transits are good, but I found the lack of a consistent nomenclature troubling as I followed him Round Guernsey.
When I mentioned it to him, he seemed offended even though I suggested a solution.
 
guernseyman said:
I use those, as well as Robson. Frankland's transits are good, but I found the lack of a consistent nomenclature troubling as I followed him Round Guernsey.
When I mentioned it to him, he seemed offended even though I suggested a solution.
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I think there is a gap in the market for a small book entitled "Channel Island Anchorages". None of the published stuff covers this in a systematic way.

The Frankland books look fine but are more concerned with rock dodging passages, plus you need to buy three of them.
 
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