Southampton to Guernsey - Which way at Alderney?

[PEJ]

Weather looks good for a trip to Guernsey this weekend. Need a bit of pilotage help, please.

Which way should I go at Alderney? Through the race, the swinge or west of casquets and then big russel or little russel?

Twin KAD43s on the back, this is a Mobo forum not a raggie, but even so do I need to time my run with the tides through the races?

 

[cloud]

Best advice - don't go ! Not until you can complete a passage plan taking into account all the factors that you need to consider.

 

[Wiggo]

Hmmm, not that helpful a reply, really. I believe that the smartest thing you can do when you don't know something is ask someone who does...

Anyway. The Race is fine at slack water, and a much shorter route that going round the West, so do your tidal calcs. The Big Russel you can do in your sleep, and to be honest, teh Little Russel is no big deal either, it just looks more intimidating on the chart. It's not: it's very wide and well buoyed, and with the right waypoint at the Northern end, you can go down it on a straight track to St Peter Port. Have fun!

Edit: remember the sill at St PP - it's bugger all good coming through the Race an hour before low water unless you want to spend a few hours on the holding pontoon...

 

[hlb]

Hardly worth getting out of bed for that post. Was it??


Suppose it depends on your timings. As said, it's not half as difficult as it looks, either way. As long as your sencible with the race, it's not that big a deal, dont try a F5/6 wind against tide though. Theres no sence in fighting it, it does run quite fast, maybe 7 knots. So best is to time it something like right, or just avoid it.

 

[DAKA]

Double check this but as a starting point


leave needles at 0845 bst @ 25knts

west swell with the tide

arrive alderney race 1100

then get 2 knts push to Little russell

arrive 1200 noon ish , there are floating pontoons to wait until the cil 1530 ish


This was the Alderney race last Friday in a met off forecast of slight to moderate /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif nothing to be scared of, just need to be cautious in heavy swells against the tide.

(note speed on gps 32.7 knts /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

Did I mis time slack water /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[acbruce]

Daka,

Is it my imagination or does the picture show the throttels pushed hard to the bulkhead!

 

[DAKA]

We were cruising in calm water @ 25 knts log.

As we went through the Alderney Race we felt a push, it was like being on a conveyor belt.

The log remained at 25 knts

The GPS climbed to 28 knts cruise speed ( my best ever cruise speed in any boat ! )

Not wanting to miss the opportunity to say our boat has a max speed of over 30 knots I pushed the throttles forward....
I expected 30 + but I was amazed when the GPS went up to 34 knts hence the camera came out /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
we were full of fuel, water, duty free and all swmbos gear !

I eased the throttles back after I had taken the photo /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif



This months Motor Boat and Yachting list the Alderney Race as one of the 4 most dangerous waters............but if used correctly it is a good short cut close to safe Havens.

 

[brianrunyard]

[ QUOTE ]
Best advice - don't go ! Not until you can complete a passage plan taking into account all the factors that you need to consider.

[/ QUOTE ]
Isn't that exactly what he's doing?
Asking questions to gather information on all the factors, so he "...can complete a passage plan...". Or am I missing something??

 

[PEJ]

[ QUOTE ]

Isn't that exactly what he's doing?
Asking questions to gather information on all the factors, so he "...can complete a passage plan...". Or am I missing something??

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes exactly.

In addition to the earlier "helpful" comment I got a very nasty PM from another forumite.

I have been boating for 4 years, I have been as far as Alderney before, I have charts and a pilotage book, ICC cert, I do know what a passage plan is. The pilot books are written with sailing boats in mind so I thought I'd ask if the races made much difference to a powerful motor boat.

On the face of it there are 3 ways to get past Alderney and two ways to approach SPP. I just wanted to see if anybody could say which route they think is best, so thank you to those that did.

The other important point that I was considering particularly with timing the race has been raised also - that timing the race does not always coincide with timing the opening of the harbour.

My initial thoughts were to go west of casquets but I think I'll go through the race and little russel now thanks to the good advice given here.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Thats a very good question because neither route adds a great deal to the total mileage. As has been said, time your passage past Alderney for slack water even if it means you have to push the tide from Alderney to Guernsey. I always preferred wind with tide on the passage from Alderney to Guernsey as well because that bit of water can get fairly rough too. So, ideally, slack water past Alderney and then wind with tide or at least NOT wind against tide to Guernsey
Which route past Alderney is a matter of personal choice to some extent. Going through the Race east of Alderney gives you some lee from any westerly wind as you pass Alderney and vice versa west of Casquets. I always liked going through the Swinge as it's the most interesting route especially after 3 hours slogging across the Channel and you do get some shelter from both west and easterly winds but definitely time your passage for slack water and probably wise not to use the Swinge in poor viz. There is an isolated rock marked on the charts south of the Swinge which is supposed to be awash at LWS but rumour has it that it does'nt actually exist but best keep clear anyway
IMHO, the Little Russel is plenty wide enough to approach St Peter Port. There are nasty rocks on both sides so ensure you plot a detailed passage and have a large scale chart to hand but it should'nt present any prob. It can get a bit rough at the north end but it's generally only for a short period. The Big Russel always seemed an unnecessary detour to me

 

[Hurricane]

My comments are going to be different.
If the weather is good then I think it is much more fun to go through the races with a good tide behind you. However the prevailing wind is from the SW so you could end up with wind over tide and if the wind is strong it would probably be a bit uncomfortable. Also, by being later, you wont have to wait so long for the tide at St PP or Beaucette.

There always seems to be a fear of the Alderney Race but every time we've been it has been really easy. If you can go through during the SE going tide there are fab whirlpools to see - nothing to upset the boat but fascinating.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Hurricane, I agree with you that the pilot books are uneccesarily scary about the Alderney Race. During our time in the Channel, I guess we must have passed Alderney on the way to/from the CI/Brittany maybe 20-25 times over the years and never experienced really bad conditions. The only bad experience we had was on passage from Cherbourg to St PP and found huge overfalls off Cap de la Hague in relatively benign conditions
I think the pilot books are written more with saily boats in mind because they don't have the speed to stem adverse tides and can't time their arrival in the Race as accurately as fast mobos. In fact you do hear stories of saily boats being swept straight past Alderney on passage to Braye