Most Intimidating Tidal Gate?

Sandyman said:
Funny you should mention the Needles as I was just thinking the same. Have many times been
through all the tidal gates so far mentioned but would still consider the Needles in a full blown SW gale the worst. Many many years ago did an overnight passage from Falmouth to Gosport intending to enter the Solent via the Needles channel. When we got there at first light the weather had got up to a SW F7. Horrendous is to calm to explain it. At the time my wife was quite new to sailing. Didnt let her come on deck to even see it from a mile off.
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I dont think the Needles counts in a gale. Most of the others mentioned need nothing like gale force winds to make them exciting. Lots of places that are tidal gates become just as entertaining in gale force conditions such as Caenarfonn Bar
 
I went North outside of Ushant on a spring tide after spending a night in the baie de Lampaul, wouldn't want to get that wrong.
 
geem said:
I dont think the Needles counts in a gale. Most of the others mentioned need nothing like gale force winds to make them exciting. Lots of places that are tidal gates become just as entertaining in gale force conditions such as Caenarfonn Bar
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Correct. In my boats I would find anywhere intimidating in a gale. If you need a gale before describing your gate of choice as intimidating, it is not intimidating.
 
Romeo said:
Correct. In my boats I would find anywhere intimidating in a gale. If you need a gale before describing your gate of choice as intimidating, it is not intimidating.
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Surely, from that point of view, no tidal gate anywhere is intimidating?

In my example, in a "normal" sailing boat under about 40 feet or so, if you don't get through the Tory Channel gate when it is "open", you don't get through for another 6 hours or so, and it is an ironbound coast with no harbours of refuge anywhere near. That alone makes it intimidating (at least to this effete sailor!). Add in the effects of any southerly swell hitting the cliffs and the ferries coming out of the Marlborough Sounds - which you can't see until the very last minute since there's a right-angle turn behind the cliffs just after you get inside - and I reckon it's an intimidating enough gate whatever the weather.

Now when I say intimidating - I mean that the prudent sailor knows about the extra hazards he/she will face at the gate and mitigates them as far as possible by careful passage planning so as to arrive at the gate when it is open and in conditions when the transit shouldn't make the boat too uncomfortable. Also, in the case of the Tory Channel, using the set VHF procedure to find out if you are likely to encounter any ferries on the way in or out. I don't mean "wouldn't undertake that passage under any circumstances". I'm intimidated, but not put off!
 
DJE said:
Raz de Sein anyone?

Went through in benign conditions but still nasty random waves. A real feeling of "I don't want to be here on a bad day"
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Not the Raz itself but the inshore shortcut through the rocks known as Trouz Yar. I've only done it once and the small gap is seriously intimidating. My French sailing friend said if I went through it again with him on board, he was never coming on my boat again!
 
john_morris_uk said:
Not the Raz itself but the inshore shortcut through the rocks known as Trouz Yar. I've only done it once and the small gap is seriously intimidating. My French sailing friend said if I went through it again with him on board, he was never coming on my boat again!
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I always go through especially if near slack water- you have to live!!
 
I have enjoyed the sound of Luing and Cuan sound, but been bored by them too.

Thankfully I have only been through Coryvrechan when it's been boring, I'm not that brave.

I was amused on my Day Skipper course to be told that rounding the Lizard the tide could be as much a 3 knots so you have to be careful.

The one which scared me the most was coming across Breydon Water and heading up the Yare at low water. Water comes out of the Yare at some considerable speed for an hour after low water, making barely 1knot against that flow with 10' of mast sticking out behind me and no room to turn round if the outboard faltered concentrated the mind.
 
DJE said:
Raz de Sein anyone?

Went through in benign conditions but still nasty random waves. A real feeling of "I don't want to be here on a bad day"
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Done that & once watched an enormous water spout approach from the west, but it fortunately collapsed as it passed the island. I think The Chenal Du Four is just as intimidating, as it is longer. One gets through the Raz fairly quickly
But nearer to home the Alderney Race in a F7 wind over tide can tighten the cheeks of the rear end. Would not want to do it in anything windier; although a few have.
But then I have never lived in a shoe box on a motorway either
 
Daydream believer said:
Done that & once watched an enormous water spout approach from the west, but it fortunately collapsed as it passed the island. I think The Chenal Du Four is just as intimidating, as it is longer. One gets through the Raz fairly quickly
But nearer to home the Alderney Race in a F7 wind over tide can tighten the cheeks of the rear end. Would not want to do it in anything windier; although a few have.
But then I have never lived in a shoe box on a motorway either
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So its only intimidating cos its windy? If that the criteria we need to add in Bardsey Sound, Carnarvon Bar, Jack Sound, South Stack, Carmel Head and The Swellies. They are all pretty unpleasant in F7'wind over tide. They are all pussycats if you have the gate correct although Jack Sound can be challenging without a chart plotter and wind on the nose in a catamaran with a failed engine even in a F3 cos its all a bit tight with underwater rocks to avoid.
 
Kylerea-wrecked a destroyer during the first world war.
However one of the scariest tidal phenomena I have seen from the land are the standing waves that build just off the Hokianga bar on the west coast of north island New Zealand.
 
ffiill said:
Kylerea-wrecked a destroyer during the first world war.
However one of the scariest tidal phenomena I have seen from the land are the standing waves that build just off the Hokianga bar on the west coast of north island New Zealand.
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Almost all the major rivers on the West Coast of NZ have bars, and if a swell is running, which it frequently is, they can be very challenging indeed, especially for yachts which don't have the speed of the fishing vessels and recreational powerboats who are the main users of the harbours. Greymouth bar is particularly notorious, but there are others - this may be a bit off-topic, but bar crossings aren't usually tidal gates - the tidal range around NZ is usually only a metre or so - the winds and swell are much more important. here's a taster...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huhEWxW4XFE
 
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