Seymour Tower, east of Jersey

[Greenheart]

Just saw a repeat of the programme Coast, with some lovely footage of the eastern Jersey shoreline. The Seymour Tower looks like a fabulously romantic place to hire...

...even at £350 for the night, and with a registered guide as a required chaperone.

The nearest place to berth looks like the somewhat protected harbour near Gorey.

Slightly silly question, but assuming I don't meet my demise en route mid-Channel, is the area a good place to bring a very small, very vulnerable boat which cost about the same as a night in the Seymour Tower? Or shall I be discouraged by a very unwelcoming attitude to unsmart craft?

 

[JSYmartini]

I don't recommend going anywhere near Seymour tower without an experienced local or an indepth low tide recce!

 

[LadyInBed]

Only one Q
Can you take the ground?
If so there are Visitors Buoys.
Not near where you want but I found that up against the wall in St Aubin drying Hbr was good and cheap. Showers in RCIYC.
The island isn't that big and they have good bus services.

 

[KREW2]

The south east coast is treacherous.
I have done the violet passage a couple of times with very experienced sailors. Your pilotage skills need to be good, nay! very good.

 

[JSYmartini]

The Violet channel is the big ship route round the south east, deep and wide it's straightforward.
There's an inshore small boat passage from St. Helier to Gorey, known locally as the "gutters"...there's a clue in the name

There's a small sandbank 50 yards or so to the east of Seymour tower where you could take the ground, never done it myself just noticed it last time I took a walk out there.

 

[Greenheart]

Hmm. Thanks for the local knowledge. Maybe I'll find an easier place to land, then take a long route round on foot.

 

[PatrickB02]

There's an inshore small boat passage from St. Helier to Gorey, known locally as the "gutters"...there's a clue in the name

Could you let me have the marks/transits for 'the gutters', please..? It's a long way round the Violet Channel, and I would like to be able to take the short cut if it is not too treacherous.

 

[Angele]

Hmm. Thanks for the local knowledge. Maybe I'll find an easier place to land, then take a long route round on foot.

Be very careful if walking out to the Seymour Tower. Every year a few visitors get caught out by the tide and end up spending a few hour unexpectedly at the tower waiting for the ebb.

Make sure you know the time of low water. Follow the tide out and, from low water onwards, keep a close eye on adjacent gulleys. Once you see the tide coming back in, don't hang around. Head back to shore quickly.

Ideally take a note of the route you take going out, so you can retrace it coming back.

 

[GeorgeLlewellin]

Could you let me have the marks/transits for 'the gutters', please..? It's a long way round the Violet Channel, and I would like to be able to take the short cut if it is not too treacherous.

Malcolm Robson’s Channel Islands Pilot (ISBN 0 245 52870 9 dated 1976) defines on page 127 “La Route en Ville” which is the one I would use, this is an all states of the tide route inside the main shipping route “Eastern Passage” or “Violet Channel”. But if you really want to live dangerously he also defines the “Gument Passage” this is what is referred to in a previous post. Robson states “This is the most thrilling, the shortest, the most interesting passage in Jersey. Locally known as the ‘gutters’, it carries – providing you don’t wander more than a few yards from the marks – one metre with an 8m rise of tide”.

There maybe a much more recent work that could be referred to, maybe incorporating waypoints. Robson makes use of many transits, the rocks will still be there but most of his transits refer to buildings on land or metal marks which may no longer be there. Have an interesting day when you first try it, if you do try it then you are a braver man than me. George

 

[JSYmartini]

Could you let me have the marks/transits for 'the gutters', please..? It's a long way round the Violet Channel, and I would like to be able to take the short cut if it is not too treacherous.

I could when I've got more time (20 min tea break now!) but there's a bit more to it. It's about knowing how much room you have at different points at different states of tide. You couldn't hold your marks perfectly all the way through but there's places where your passing only a few yards from underwater heads.

Malcom robsons and the imray? Channel island pilot are both slightly outdated I think due to reclamation outside st helier harbour. They're also over complicated with extra marks and breast marks etc

Ideally you need a local pilot on board for the first time to identify the marks, some like St. Peter's church spire are several miles away.

I'd be happy to take people through if they find themselves down this way on spring tides

 

[PatrickB02]

Thanks both - I think I'll give it a miss for now; sounds a bit too exciting!!

 

[KREW2]

The Violet channel is the big ship route round the south east, deep and wide it's straightforward.
There's an inshore small boat passage from St. Helier to Gorey, known locally as the "gutters"...there's a clue in the name

There's a small sandbank 50 yards or so to the east of Seymour tower where you could take the ground, never done it myself just noticed it last time I took a walk out there.

In a power boat it may be more straightforward, and local knowledge is most beneficial.
However beating into wind with a six foot draught is pretty daunting for strangers.

 

[DanWash]

You won't be looked down on - but leave the boat at Gorey (bouncy visitors moorings) and walk out with the guide - bit basic - Try Archirondel you can hire it with no guide - theres a café nearby, and a nice sheltered mole to moor your boat behind!