Passage from Torquay to Gibraltar

[RMHM]

I will be joining a crew on board a well found 62' sailing yacht setting out from from Torquay to Gibraltar at the end of July.

I'd welcome any guidance on passage planning - including suggested routes - esp. around the Pointe du Raz, Bay of Biscay (take the most direct sailable passage - or go offsore into Atlantic to avoid any bad weather/sea state?), the Gulf of Cadiz and the Straits of Gibraltar. Are tidal factors significant?

Additionally, any sources of weather information en route (inc SSB sources) would be appreciated. Is there a radio net for cruising yachts in this area? Does anyone have any experience of picking up mobile (cell phone) signals off the Spanish/Portuguese coasts for accessing www weather information?

All information will be gratefully received. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Sybarite]

Welcome to the forum.

Off the coast of France there are regular "Bulletins méteo" usually on channel 13 or channel 80. But you will be directed there from Ch 16. If you have even a smattering of French it shouldn't be too difficult.

Surely a well-found 62' though will have Navtex ??

As for going through the Chenal du Four and the Raz de Sein try a search. It was discussed a week or two ago.

John

 

[BrendanS]

Get someone to be shore based weather information for you. Mobile access off Spanish/Portugese shores is sufficiently good that text messages can be sent, then picked up and replied to whenever you have a signal if not too far offshore. I did this earlier in the year for forumite tcm who was taking his powerboat from uk to med

 

[TigaWave]

There have been a few threads on the weather sources you might find by searching.

My experience of trying different weather sources for this route, resulted in really using only two main forecasting sources, both off ssb.

The most accurate I found was the German weather service supplied in text format on ssb, or rtty.
Details here http://www.svsarah.com/Whoosh/european_weather_forecasts.htm
The important bit for me, on this coast especially in the winter was the swell size forecast, as a number of Portuguese ports are inaccesable in large swells. Even shut, you get your boat impounded if you try to enter and survive.

The second is the weather charts from Northwood, dont have the link but you'll find it in any good almanac, under wethaer fax stations.

sometimes we'd use weatheronline.co.uk if we were stuck ashore in an internet cafe.

Your choice of route, places to stop will depend on the weather at the time.

Have a good trip.

 

[StoicWarrior]

I second what has already been said by prior posters about weather, e.g., Meteo France, value of Navtex on board, & having access to someone ashore or back home via mobile phone ... and do look at the discussion threads elsewhere here re the Chanel du Four and the Raz; the key to these, IMO, is to get your tidal gates right and go with the flow. Tide will also be important when rounding Tarifa and going through the Straits ("Pillars of Hercules" always sounded more poetic!).

What I will add new is a comment on breaking your journey ... unless your skipper is on a tight deadline or you are racing why not enjoy one or two ports of call? For choice I would recommend either Cameret once thru the Chanel, or Benodet just beyond the Raz or stopping over in Bayona once the Biscay is behind you. IMO Bayona is easier access and a better town than La Coruna. Great club there too, with all the services you'd need.

 

[zefender]

Generally advised to stay out West of Ushant and shipping lanes and cross in deep water - it depends on your timetable as much as anything else.

For weather BBC shipping forecasts can be picked up as far as Finnesterre on LW. You will get mobile coverage but not if well offshore. Spanish and Portguese weather on VHF, in addition to Meteo can be heard (a simple list of numbers and common nautical broadcast words should make it easy to understand (I think the Spain one does include one broadcast in English, if I remember correctly) and, as mentioned, there's Navtex too (though I found coverage a bit patchy on Iberian coast). You might want to consider a SMS text forecast service. Alternatively, buoyweather.com, on signing up for about $30, sends you 365 forecasts wherever and whenever you want. So, for example, if you have a 4 day passage, they can send you a forecast local to the area you will be, on each of the 4 days of passage - it comes as plain text email, but they may send via SMS too.

Beware fog off Finnestere and lobster pots all the way along the coast (in as much as 100 metres of water!). I'm crossing Biscay on 3rd August - weather looks very light at the moment (which might mean fog patches.). Enjoy the trip!

 

[alant]

Check weather before leaving Torquay, before deciding inside or well outside passage to NW Spain. Last time I did it, there were continuous low pressure systems coming up from Spain - wind on nose, with a high pressure system in Biscay itself, centered in France, giving good offshore wind right across to Spain, so took inside route.
Remember as already mentioned, that there is a TSS near Ushant, Finisterre & St Vincent, so expect heavy traffic at & between these areas.
Off La Coruna & most of way down Spain/Portugal, there will be lots of fishing boats & 'minefields' of fishing pots offshore & even in harbour approaches. May also encounter fishing traps 'offshore'.
Swells can be bad, making harbour entry extremely difficult, particularly Portugal-even Algavre.
La Coruna & Vigo are ok in most conditions if needing to call in.
If you've got a full Mcmillan/Reeds almanac, this has fairly good info on that route.

 

[tcm]

I did the trip earlier this year on big powerboat and had to "hop along" for fuel, but on a 62 foot sailing boat i wd ideally aim to do it in one leg, heading way out southwest, and staying well north and west of the shipping lanes almost the whole way until sw portugal, then cut inshore for eastbound to gibraltar. For biscay, you will then be in deep water unaffected by seabed "step up" swells to continental shelf, and for portugal you will be say 60+ miles offshore, well clear of the many ships travelling northbound on inside lane up portugal and southbound on outside lane all night long. Avoids the hassle of blimmin chenal de four and raz de sein too. Tidal factors insignificant once well south of raz de sein. Inshore along portuguese coast gives bolthole opportunities if straits are v windy. Choose northern inshore traffic zone thru gibraltar/tarifa itself cos rather too many big ships, all of them steel and some (from ch16) sound a bit nuts. Additional info all seems good from others, also see www.rccpf.org.uk and specifically route 7 to gibraltar http://www.rccpf.org.uk/Passage/Route%207.pdf

 

[RMHM]

Thankyou to everyone for a remarkably swift response & for providing such exceptionally helpful information. Thanks again to all of you. This is a great way to share sailing knowledge. I have one final (I think) question re: watch rotas which I will post separately.