Rounding Lands end from the south, help please?

[Heckler]

Can any one point me to an online source with instructions for rounding Lands End from the south east end please?

 

[Jonny_H]

We did it from Falmouth heading north over Easter. The Almanac (Reeds) gives you good info regarding what the tides are doing etc. We timed our departure from Falmouth to get the best tides round the point and get the run up north.

We did Falmouth to Abersoch (north wales) in one stint - 36 hours. Milford Haven is a good jump off point, as is Padstow (these were our contingency ports!)

I think a lot is written about the perils of Lands End, but in the right weather it can be straightforward. The pilot books say you can go inbetween the rocks, we decided not to. Stay inshore of the TSS.

Jonny

edit - When I said fair weather - you may want more wind than we had ....

 

[tangomoon]

Reeds gives a very good set of instructions - an old one should be fine to use - all based on HW Dover

 

[Sans Bateau]

I've done it coming south in less wind than that! I have also sailed from the South East heading NW to Cork, that was in a F5, nothing too horrendous.

 

[Jonny_H]

We did Abersoch in 36 hours - sailed for 3 of them!! It was light winds all the way, and when it did pick up it was .... you guessed it, bang on the nose!

We would have waited for better weather, but it was a delivery trip and we had a deadline to meet (and beers to drink in Abersoch!)

To be honest it was utter disbelief how flat it was!

We had all the way from Hamble to Fleetwood using Reeds as a pilot guide. All the timings for tides etc were spot on - easy to use and worth its weight in gold!

Jonny

 

[vyv_cox]

Sorry, no online info. As others have said, it's not difficult by following the almanac instructions. We have done the inshore and offshore routes in both directions several times in pre-plotter days and had no problems.

Reeds says be at the Runnel stone at HW Dover -2 and keep within 0.25 mile of shore to take advantage of inshore currents. If you get to The Brisons at HW Dover you will have 6 or 7 hours of north-going tide under you.

I have two logs of this passage. First time we left Penzance at 0400 and anchored outside. Left at HWD -5 and were at the Runnel Stone at HWD -3. We were at the Brisons at HWD -1.25 but definitely too early, we were pushing tide much of the day.

The next time we did it we more-or-less followed almanac instructions, again after anchoring outside Penzance. This time I see from the log that we made much better time up the N Cornish coast.

 

[Sans Bateau]

The south bound trip was my firstcrossing of the Celitc sea, and I was expecting big sea. In the end we motored from Carlingford loch to just past Falmouth, then we had a NE 7! The trip across the Celtic sea it was dead flat we had dolphins and a basking shark off longships.

The Trip to Cork was direct from Gosport and once we rounded Longships we had F5-6 just forward of the beam for the whole trip! A big long swell with a moderate chop on top, brilliant.

 

[jwilson]

Can be very easy - photo from about 4 weeks ago going round Falmouth-Bristol Channel close inshore. Can also get pretty lumpy if there has been a sea running for a few days, in which case stay out, but not in the TSS. The tidal chartlets in Reeds tell you all you need to know about tides - going northwards you have a much longer favourable tidal flow.
http://www.yachtsnet.co.uk/DSCN6461.jpg

 

[ribrage]

have done the route several times but without getting close in or stopping depends on crew numbers i suppose, personally id stay far enough out to be ''offshore'' but close enough in to stay out the shipping lanes. your biggest problem this time of year is likely to be fog !

 

[Heckler]

Thanks everyone for the input, we are delivering the new Fun to Fondle from Swanick to Pwllheli, its a Moody 46 and hope to do it 25th ish of this month.

 

[wotayottie]

Do the trip regularly. Usual pattern is to overnight in Penzance to de-couple rounding lands end from rounding the lizard - not absolutely necessary but it does make life easier and Penzance is pleasant. Found that the best timing is to leave Penzance maybe 3 hrs after HW (anchor off or use the buoys) and then rtake the inshore passage where the tide turns earlier than off the Longships. In our case we are usually heading into the bristol channel for Padstow or Combe - heading north to Wales will make timings more flexible.

If you do decide to round the Longships, give it a good clearance. Its always lumpy in anything other than a flat calm.