Looking for a channel crossing suport vestal

[Pye_End]

Hi all, this might sound a bit mad, but…
My university sailing club needs more money. This year we’ve got some really decent sailors, and could potentially do well in the inter university leagues –but – our sails are terrible, and actually most of the boats could do with some serious repairs. So, we need money.
We want to sail the channel to France, and are confident our peers would sponsor us to do it.
So my question is this:
Is there anyone who would be willing to act as a support vessel? We foresee we will need accompanying across (c.4 knots), and help being guided across shipping lanes ect.
Anyone know anyone who might be willing to help? We can’t really offer a fee as such, but I’m sure if I was made aware of your favourite tipple, gratitude would be forthcoming.
Any other points spring to mind?

To clarify a point raised about fuel costs. We're really not expecting fuel to be paid for what would basically amount to a several hundred £ donation to us. The point of this post is to find one of the many boats who would be undertaking this trip at their leisure, albeit at a little more than 4 knots, we are asking more for a donation of time on a trip that would be happening anyway.
Thanks for reading, Matthew
PS, Yes, i know the title is splt al rong

It is highly unlikely I can help, but would if I could.

However, it may be useful to possible helpers to know what sort of boat you are sailing; roughly when you are intending to do this trip, and what ports you intend to do this passage from and to. Presumably the return trip is not an issue?

Perhaps if you identify a port, and you have no luck here, it may be worth contacting a club or marina directly and asking them to put a notice up.

 

[snowleopard]

Practical questions -

How many boats/crew?

From where to where?

How are you getting back?

Do any of the participants have any relevant training or experience?

Nearer the time you will also need to consider details such as:

Navigation lights, emergency equipment e.g. first aid, buoyancy. Accommodation at other side - no knocking on hotels at 3 am or sleeping on the beach. Contingency plans for bad weather - reefing, abandonment procedures. Communication equipment.

Management of a group is vital, no macho racing, all stick close together with the support vessel.

 

[WindermereColvic]

Time for some answers, sorry for the delay, I’ve been sailing: P!

Thank you kindly to the posters who’ve spoken in my defence. To the descenders, well I hope you will change your minds when I post pictures of a successful trip – but all advice is certainly useful.

Boats:
Our choice is between an RS200 and a Firefly. We have a number of people who are competent to sail both, and both boats are available, it depends on who exactly wishes to sail, and the expected conditions. Our insurance is surprisingly blasé, provided we remain less than 12nm from shore, we’re covered.

Trip:
We would want to make the shortest trip we can get away with. Presumably this would be Dover to Calais or Sangatte, but this is one the areas we want advise on. We’re quite happy to make the trip in either direction, depend on the needs of the passage and the wishes of the support boat, either way a car and trailer are going to have to go over on the ferry.

Dates
Once the preparations are done, we should be able to be fairly flexible. University holidays are preferable, so that’s March 2012 and mid June to Sep 2012. Advice regarding when we’re most likely to get favourable weather would be very useful!

Risk assessments/preparations
We really appreciate this isn’t going to be a walk in the park. A few of us having undertaken 12 + hour races in the past, and cor blimey it hurts the next morning! As far as specific kit ect goes, we’re not far enough through the planing to have really thought about it yet; still at the ‘is it feasible’ stage. However, with a smattering of YM’s and SI’s the club, hopefully that side of things should be covered. Not forgetting advice from here of course!

Snowy, your trip with the Laser girl looks really interesting, I’ll PM you.

Thanks again for comments so far, glad to see I’m causing a bit of controversy!
Matt

 

[Pye_End]

Boat:

Not sure what sort of an average speed you are looking at for these, but with a decent breeze in the right direction would have thought that you would need a support boat capable of rather more than 4kn. Perhaps Snowleapard can advise better.

Trip: Dover Calais seems the most obvious. Big sandy beach outside Calais harbour, although any sort of an onshore gives you a bit of a breaking swell to get through. Never seen dinghies going in and out of Clalais harbour (doesn't mean they don't), but suspect the French would not be too keen on it. Perhaps if escourted or towed by the support vessel at that point and you may be ok? Gravelines might work better if you can get the tides right.

Dates: if earlier in the year there is a good chance of easterlies, and may be cold on such a long trip. Then again there is less chance of strong sea breezes, and if you choose neaps will be less bouncy.

Other:

Paperwork!

RYA - if you are a member it may well be worth asking them for advice on some of this.

 

[prv]

Trip: Dover Calais seems the most obvious.

Only downside to it is I know the MCA have a policy about "unconventional" crossings of the Dover Straits due to the heavy shipping. Essentially, they don't (can't?) quite ban making the crossing, but do everything they can short of that to discourage it. They also state that the French do ban it.

Not sure whether a dinghy or two is sufficiently unconventional to fall under this policy - quite possibly not as they do have a reasonable amount of speed and manoeuverability, but it's something worth checking.

Pete

 

[bendyone]

Cant see many problems with Dover to Calais. Keep your head down and just do it.
Have to watch the tides going into Calais could be a couple of knots across the entrance but you could make your landing on the beach outside the harbor then tow your boat in.

 

[bendyone]

Only downside to it is I know the MCA have a policy about "unconventional" crossings of the Dover Straits
Pete

Cant see that a sailing a dinghy is "unconventional"

 

[semisimple]

Good luck with the plan - I'm part of a university yacht club and understand how difficult it is to get money.

If you were to cross from Portsmouth to Cherbourg (yes I know it's further but...) we could easily organise one of our regular cruising weekends on your dates and sail across with you - assuming the weather was nice. Although in tricky wind/wave conditions a large yacht is perhaps not the best thing for safety cover for a small dinghy.

 

[dabsolute470]

Hi Matt

good luck to you on your crossing.

if you are going from the east coast or ramsgate area we would possibly be able to offer our boat for assistance / company in the crossing, make a nice change to poodle across...

 

[Burnham Bob]

spell check might be the problem - i used to have a word processor that constantly tried to replace Bristol with Bristols......

and given the choice, for an enjoyable crossing I think i'd prefer a support vestal as long as someone else was capable of keeping watch........

 

[haydude]

I am positioned near one of the shortest crossing routes (still not close to Dover). I can volunteer my sailing yacht (which is equipped with radar and AIS transpoder) and myself as support boat during a week-end, but I would require 1-2 additional crew. I suppose that we could tow my power dinghy to facilitate contacts similarly to how they did for the laser crossing.

Trip:
We would want to make the shortest trip we can get away with. Presumably this would be Dover to Calais or Sangatte, but this is one the areas we want advise on. We’re quite happy to make the trip in either direction, depend on the needs of the passage and the wishes of the support boat, either way a car and trailer are going to have to go over on the ferry.

Dover - Calais is the shortest, but you would be like hedgehogs crawling on a motorway that crosses another motorway. Best to cross 5-10 nm to the West, far from the main ferry routes Dover-Calais, which leaves only the separation scheme to negotiate. But ... you would have to start and arrive to a beach, which would be hard to negotiate for a support yacht with deep draught.

Further West from Dover you may cross Eastbourne to Dieppe which is 65nm, the advantage is that the separation scheme traffic gets more scattered than around Dover.

Dates
Once the preparations are done, we should be able to be fairly flexible. University holidays are preferable, so that’s March 2012 and mid June to Sep 2012. Advice regarding when we’re most likely to get favourable weather would be very useful!

Forget March. It is likely to be still too cold. Also it gets dark quickly and I suppose that your boats would not be equipped for night navigation.

 

[Cardo]

It may be a little early for me to say, but the missus and I are planning the odd Channel crossing this summer to build up our experience. I don't see why we couldn't try and coincide. We only have a small yacht but I guess it would be better than nothing.
We're based in the Solent if you're going from anywhere near there, ie. Eastbourne as suggested above.

 

[WindermereColvic]

Quick update
I'm really grateful to everyone who has offered help! It really looks like our 'mad' plan is going to be feasible!
I'll be sure to keep you all informed,.
Matt

 

[fireball]

In the right wind an RS200 will be a little more than 4 kts! As I can do 16kts with the kite up in an RS400.... and upwind is ~6kts (flat water) the RS200 won't be much slower...

You're gonna need a bigger boat ....