Start time Portsmouth to st Peter port

[newsailorboy]

Hello I was wondering if somebody could just give me a little guidance on a start time. I am going from Portsmouth to St Peter port. I was going to leave and go via bembridge around the island. I understand that i need to be cap de la for the turn of the tide so that I can go down the alderney race and little russel.

 

[AIDY]

more detail required.... wat's your cruising speed. when you going ?

you need to be at the cap at approx hw dover or 5 hours after hw st Heller, if i remember correctly.

(the obvious answer is..... if you have to ask you should not be going ! but i guess all your charts and tide tables are on your boat )

 

[Skysail]

That is basically correct, a little earlier as a target would allow for the inevitable delays en route.

Are you looking for the arrival time at the Cap, or a start time from Portsmouth? What assumed boat speed?
.

 

[newsailorboy]

Thanks for your replies so far. This is my first journey going to the CI and I am just trying to make sure that I am planning correctly. The boat normally does a good 5 or 6 knots. I was just trying to clarify if it was better to go via the bembridge route around the island or go down the Solent and out past the needles channel. Sorry if this sounds all a little basic but just trying to get it clear in my head.

 

[AIDY]

Assuming your sailing ??? going via the needles normally gives you a better wind angle assuming a SW wind...

 

[Talulah]

As a general rule we leave Gosport one hour before HW Portsmouth taking the Bembridge route. If we arrive slightly early at the race we go inside the lighthouse at the Cap.

 

[Seajet]

AIDY's tip about wind angle from Solent to Guernsey is spot on; I'd usually go via the Needles - via Lymington as Yarmouth is too unreliable for space - or go as far West as Studland ( for a night or two waiting for a good forecast ) to get across with the wind filling the sails efficiently.

 

[VicS]

Starting from Chichester we always went down the east side of the IOW.

Starting from Portsmouth makes the Needles route a bit more of a realistic proposition if it will give you a better slant on the wind, but you'll probably spend a spell in Yarmouth or Lymington so gain nothing in overall time. The Needles channel can be exciting at times!

Correct to aim to arrive at the top of the race in order to get the full benefit of the ebb tide.

if necessary be prepared to go to Cherbourg if you are too late to make it down the race before the tide turns.

More often than not our first port of call was Alderney going on from there to wherever we were heading.


Not many people go inside Cap de la Hague light house apart from locals but it is all marked. Things like that add a bit of interest in fine weather.

 

[Seajet]

Not many people go inside Cap de la Hague light house apart from locals but it is all marked. Things like that add a bit of interest in fine weather.

A bit too much interest for a first trip, methinks Vic !