North Brittany safe havens...are there any?

[Tidewaiter2]

Thanks Andy, I haven't found the account online, if anyone knows a link I'll read with interest. Uffa Fox seems to have been one of those much larger than life characters who brushed off petty laws and rules and did whatever his imagination dictated...hence a British hero in our typically obedient, middle-class outlook.

Glad you agree, thinking it's worth starting from 20 miles or so further west. Starting from Swanage might turn a long exhausting beat into a nice close reach all the way.



Hmm, that is a question I hadn't considered particularly...but whether I started from Studland or Ventnor, there'd be ferries from Poole or Portsmouth sharing most of my route.

Is there an established, exact, GPS-defined route that the ferries prefer and use to save distance and fuel, which yachts are advised to steer a few degrees clear of?

That awakens a brief, scary-but-thrilling wave memory from one of my Solent dinghy-crossings. Without enough wind even to change my course, I suddenly realised that a ship passing ahead had carved up a substantial wake. It looked pretty damned frightening at 200m distance. But I'd left enough distance before we met the wake, for its curling tops to be reduced to a delightfully smooth, silent 4 or 5-foot unbroken swell, which was as exciting as any part of the day. But...how bad does it get, mid-channel?

Dan,
Just follow the Colregs, but always assume the poor OoW is busy with paperwork, some HO accountant wonk on the satphone/emails, just plain knackered from the last back to back harbour watch unloading/loading and may not have seen you. Under 2nm, the really big ones often cannot see you from their bridge.
Use your handbearing compass/ fixed compass, and be prepared to alter to stbd as per the book and take St John Goode's advice for pre affordable radar/AIS.
Aim to pass behind them, one by one, but in the TSS lanes they can come at you like a horse race, wide spaced and at different speeds, because they too want a clear run for their craft without costly course/speed alterations.
If you can, buddy up with a nearby yacht with radar/AIS to cross the lanes, esp if vis iffy- common off the Cherbourg peninsula as an eg.
It's all do-able- done it in a 20' with none of radar/AIS- It's an adventure- Enjoy:encouragement:

 

[Greenheart]

...another good one is The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow by AJ MacKinnon.

Thanks gents...I've been recommended these books before, and will now order them on the basis of vital research, as much as for entertainment!

If you can, buddy up with a nearby yacht with radar/AIS to cross the lanes, esp if vis iffy- common off the Cherbourg peninsula...It's all do-able- done it in a 20' with none of radar/AIS...

Cheers, it's funny how on the one hand, going in any kind of convoy does diminish the perceptible adventurousness of the crossing as a whole...on the other hand, going over alone without an engine or ballast keel, begins to seem in advance as nerve-jangling as a long walk into the Western Australian desert, or a few days' exploration of Antarctica.

 

[LadyInBed]

Interesting that yo say about ballast keel.
I was thinking that if twer me and the boat had a wooden centre I board, I would modify it with some lead flashing round the bottom to give it a bit more weight.

 

[Greenheart]

Interesting that yo say about ballast keel.
I was thinking that if twer me and the boat had a wooden centre I board, I would modify it with some lead flashing round the bottom to give it a bit more weight.

Thank you, LadyinBed, I feel justified in my similar thoughts. I raised that topic here at quite some length, last year, and the idea was freely dampened and laughed at! Take a look: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...bon-fibre-and-molten-lead&highlight=lead+keel