Scillies to Brest

Piers

Piers

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Guernsey, Channel Islands
www.playdeau.com
We are thinking of cruising from the Scillies to Brest (in July) and working our way along the north coast of Brittany to the CIs and home to the UK.

What sort of issues are there in Scillies to Brest?
Would you head for Brest, Camaret, or where?

Your advice would be welcomed.

We draw 1.6m on Play d'eau.
 
i did this last year in a sailing boat it works well. but only went as far as falmouth before crossing to l'aberwrac'h. you need your tides right for the chenal de four. be aware this time of year there is a big chance of fog around ushant area. I've been through the four numerous times in minimal viz. Don't bother with brest it's a dump. although the old gaffer sailing fest is their in July so might be worth a look but doubt you will find a place to park. their is a new marina. i would go direct to camerat from one of the abbers

on our return to the solent we did treburden then Guernsey , cherb and home.

we shall be doing the same in a few weeks but hopefully crossing from dartmouth.
 
The problem is judging your time of arrival so that the tide is with you down the Chenal Du Four. Last year we went from the Scillies to L'Aberwrach, rested a day then went down the Chenal to Camaret. We left St Mary's about alte afternoon and arrived after dawn off LAberwrach just in time to identify the buoyage. Worked well for us.
 
I tend to not worry about the chenal du four tides quite so much. Obviously I try to make them favourable, but if you miss the time slot (as I have done due to light winds), you can effectively cheat the tide and even catch some eddies to take you through. In a mobo, no problem at all.

The Raz is the real one to worry about timing.
 
We headed for Camaret. Best place to be if you are on holiday. The long slog to Brest is a bit pointless unless you HAVE to go there (we needed to do a drop off).

Have fun!
 
The tide goes south in Chenal Du Four at HW Brest which is when it is still east going off L'Aberwrac'h, hence at displacement speeds IMO it is better to take the Four direct when going south. If headed north it is different because once 'out' you have 2 more hours of east going tide if you need it. Our tactic is to plan for arrival (we cross from Dartmouth) at the top at HW Brest which allows us to be 3 hours late and still take the tide through and if we are early then OK so we flog the tide for a while. You could get through against the tide, it is at it's strongest in localised areas and more so at the bottom end. French fishing boats do ignore the tide but with the current price of French fuel I'd go with it rather than fight it!

As someone else said, fog is often an issue off Ushant and it can spring up unexpectedly with a change of tide bringing cold water up from the deeps. If fog patches are forecast I prefer to take the tide option that takes us through the Four when the sun has had a chance to burn any fog off. Otherwise the Four transit is easy by day or by night.

Camaret is nice, much better than Brest in my book and they can handle a boat your size easily on the inside of their new outer pontoon, they also have easy access to the fuel dock.

Expect lots of traffic in both directions in the lanes exiting from the Ushant TSS.
 
Hi Robin,

[ QUOTE ]
Our tactic is to plan for arrival (we cross from Dartmouth) at the top at HW Brest which allows us to be 3 hours late and still take the tide through and if we are early then OK so we flog the tide for a while.

[/ QUOTE ]

When you say 'to plan for arrival', where exactly is that?
 
I use 2 different WPTs for the top of the Four entrance but the one I'm talking to here is the one I use southbound approaching from the UK. This is on an extension northwards of the 1st light sector and is 48degs 31.50N and 004.degs53.10W (but please double check it, I took that from my C-Map Planner, the real stuff is on board!) This WPT is clear to approach from the north.

This approach WPT is still in the main Channel tidal stream but only just and heading farther down the same light sector to our next WPT off Valbelle buoy you are very soon into the south/north tidal flow of the Four proper. We passage plan at 6.5kts because that is our cruise speed under power, under sail we could well be much quicker, and we averaged over 7.5kts last year for the crossing from Dartmouth for example, but by planning to arrive at HW Brest at 6.5kts we can be much slower (like 5.5kts average) and still carry the tide on through and if we are faster then OK we will be slowed down for a while until the tide turns and just lose some of the time we gained by being fast.

Our WPTs and Route for the Four follows exactly the various light sectors and buoyed channel and is several times tested/adjusted for a blind groundtrack follow by autopilot track if needs be in fog. However the Four in reality is not as narrow as it looks on the charts and it is perfectly possible once you know it to take short cuts or even a pretty well straight line through, but that is for me only in good visibility. At night the Four lights are absolutely superb and if anything at night is easier than in daylight if the visibility is OK.

We have another WPT closer in (east of the other one) to the Four lighthouse for the approach to/from L'Aberwrac'h as we usually go home along the North Brittany coast, this wouldn't be suitable for approaches from all points north and would be out of the way if coming from the Scillies or Cornish ports.
 
Robin, many thanks for all this. Really helpful. I will start plotting and see what happens.

Our return route will probably be Camaret, Treburden, Treguir (please excuse the spellings), Lezardrieux, Paimpol, St Quay, CIs.
 
You suggest going via the Scillies. On this rout you have the option of continuing outside Ile D'ouessant and heading in on the south side of the islands where the stream is a max of 1kn and there is far more sea-room. This gives a distance of 115miles from Wolf rock to La Vandree as compared to 108 through though the Four or Helle channels and saves the stress of a difficult tidal gat at the end of a long leg. Although in a motor boat the tidal rate through the channel may not be an issue the sea state certainly could be if you have wind over tide! In both cases you clear east of the separation zones on a course close to a right angle to the direction of shipping. Unless you departure is Falmouth of east of it I would think this route would be worth considering but if anyone knows any problems with is please say as I am expecting to do it (Milford Haven – Brest) on July 9/10
 
Yep, why not use the passage du Fromveur and then have a stop in Lampaul, it would a shame to just go straight on by if the weather is fit for a visit.
I did just that two years ago and it was well worth doing, loads of visitors moorings and we were not charged anything. Plenty to see ashore and good eating and drinking establishments too. From there it is just a pleasant few hours sail on towards Camaret or down through the Raz de sein.

I have done Scilly to Camaret many times and have not been unlucky enough to meet with poor visibility on the trip at all. As for the tides it is possible to plug against them under sail (in the four, not fromveur) but for motorboats they should present nothing more than a mild encumberance.
Scilly to Camaret is 120nm going through The four going outside (to the south) of Ushant increases this distance by a lot and is not worth considering just to avoid a bit of tide.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I have done Scilly to Camaret many times and have not been unlucky enough to meet with poor visibility on the trip at all. As for the tides it is possible to plug against them under sail (in the four, not fromveur) but for motorboats they should present nothing more than a mild encumberance.
Scilly to Camaret is 120nm going through The four going outside (to the south) of Ushant increases this distance by a lot and is not worth considering just to avoid a bit of tide.


[/ QUOTE ]

We go every year in August and this year will be our 20th year! I would guess that we have had serious fog patches about 20% of the time but we have been lucky enough to find that it cleared enough as we actually entered the Four, probably as the sun burnt it off. On one occasion in 50m visibility I called Ushant Traffic Control on the VHF to see if they had info on visibility in the Four and they checked with Pointe De St Mathieu (at the bottom) and said it was clearing, but if needs be Pte De St Mathieu could 'talk us though' on their radar! These days if there is any risk of fog patches then we take the heat of the day option time to arrive rather than the early hours one and that seems to help. The problem I guess it when warm moist air from the atlantic meets cold waters from the depths as the strong tides on this corner turn.

We've had similar fog banks appear several times when transiting the Raz De Sein, when we have had the Pte Du Raz clearly in sight for as much as 15mls only to find it vanish in fog as we entered it and the tide switched direction!

We have never stopped off at Ushant as we have always been hurrying past, maybe we should make an effort to stop by.

The Four tides are similar in a way to the Solent in that they are strong but surmountable with just a few areas where they run really hard as in the Needles or Hurst Narrows in the Solent. I believe the mobo in question here is a displacement type rather than a whizz bang one so if only for fuel consumption and time would want to time things if possible.
 
What sort of issues are there in Scillies to Brest?
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Watch out for the TSS off ushant.

As well as this, don't forget there is likely to be heavy merchant ship traffic before & after Ushant, so make sure your radar reflector is ok & keep a good lookout!
 
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