WayneS
Active member
As I have just done my first channel crossing from Portsmouth to Cherbourg and back, I would like to share some of the issues I faced so that other first-times can benefit.
Passage Plan:
I did a lot of chart study and invested in some passage planning software (Neptune) to help plan my course so that I arrived where I wanted to having been pushed in both directions by the tide. As stressed by many, tides on the French side are far more of an issue than they are in the UK so you must ensure that you arrive up-tide of your destination and use it to feed you into the port. We had to motor-sail there and back to keep to our passage plan of 5kn so make sure that you have plenty of diesel.
Shipping Channels:
I did the trip without Radar so I was very concerned about what I perceived to be the M25 of the channel. I had visions of hundreds of ships whizzing past with little or no gap between them. I am pleased to say that this was not the case. I’m sure that it could be worse than we encountered but we did not have to do a single course change to avoid a ship. Taking bearings on ships was more difficult than I expected. My hand bearing compass was not rock steady so getting an accurate bearing was nigh impossible. The big issue that I created for myself that after I took my initial bearing on a ship that was way off, my nerves did not allow me to wait more than 45 seconds before I took the next bearing so guess what, they bearing was the same and we were on a collision course……. Wait a significant amount of time before you take your second bearing, 5 to 10 min at least.
Another thing that I found most useful when trying to determine if we were going to pass ahead was to, using binoculars, use the ships foremast and it’s relationship to the bridge to see if we were going to meet.
Cherbourg Marina:
I was worried about arriving and finding no berth, well no need for that. It is huge and there were always berths available. Plenty of power points too. Just don’t arrive desperate for the toilet cos you still have a long walk to get there (5min 30 seconds according to my teenage daughter…) The fingers are very short (about 23’ I guess) and there is no cleat on the outboard end, just a ring for you to feed your line through so bear this in mind when arriving short handed.
The staff were exceptionally helpful and spoke English well. We were charged €17.50 per night for 8.5m. Showers are an additional €2 each. There is a small shop in the marina office complex that sells wine and basic groceries. Also more chandleries and boat shops than you could shake a stick at.
Also a bakers hut on the quay which sells fresh bread etc. If you French is like mine, you may just about be able to order your stuff but you are thrown when he tells you how much. Don’t do like me and give him too small a note cos he says something back that makes no sense at all, just smile and give him a bigger one.
When I asked if they wanted to see our or the ships papers they looked at me as if I was mad.
Wine, the important stuff
As mentioned, there is a shop in the marina which sells wine at reasonable prices. A case of Stella was around £5.80 there. Carfour supermarket is a fair walk but has everything you want, except a good selection of wine. There is however another wine ship in the supermarket complex that is good, and they show their prices in £. We paid £4.99 per case of Stella there. What’s more, if you spend over €100 they give you a free taxi back to the marina.
Eating
There are many restaurants close to the harbour that offer a wide variety of food. Not all speak English but we were able to get along OK. A tip, if you see someone drinking a beer, they are probably a Brit. Also, don’t be put off by the locals stares and giggles, they obviously don’t see normal people too often.
Things to do:
If you have the time, a visit to the submarine museum is a must. Nice tour of a decommissioned nuke sub and a very good display of sub aqua diving and research. In English too.
Don’ts
I have heard that you must not arrive there with any out of date flares on board or red-diesel in cans.
I’m sure that there is loads more but I’ll save that for another day.
Cheers
Wayne
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Passage Plan:
I did a lot of chart study and invested in some passage planning software (Neptune) to help plan my course so that I arrived where I wanted to having been pushed in both directions by the tide. As stressed by many, tides on the French side are far more of an issue than they are in the UK so you must ensure that you arrive up-tide of your destination and use it to feed you into the port. We had to motor-sail there and back to keep to our passage plan of 5kn so make sure that you have plenty of diesel.
Shipping Channels:
I did the trip without Radar so I was very concerned about what I perceived to be the M25 of the channel. I had visions of hundreds of ships whizzing past with little or no gap between them. I am pleased to say that this was not the case. I’m sure that it could be worse than we encountered but we did not have to do a single course change to avoid a ship. Taking bearings on ships was more difficult than I expected. My hand bearing compass was not rock steady so getting an accurate bearing was nigh impossible. The big issue that I created for myself that after I took my initial bearing on a ship that was way off, my nerves did not allow me to wait more than 45 seconds before I took the next bearing so guess what, they bearing was the same and we were on a collision course……. Wait a significant amount of time before you take your second bearing, 5 to 10 min at least.
Another thing that I found most useful when trying to determine if we were going to pass ahead was to, using binoculars, use the ships foremast and it’s relationship to the bridge to see if we were going to meet.
Cherbourg Marina:
I was worried about arriving and finding no berth, well no need for that. It is huge and there were always berths available. Plenty of power points too. Just don’t arrive desperate for the toilet cos you still have a long walk to get there (5min 30 seconds according to my teenage daughter…) The fingers are very short (about 23’ I guess) and there is no cleat on the outboard end, just a ring for you to feed your line through so bear this in mind when arriving short handed.
The staff were exceptionally helpful and spoke English well. We were charged €17.50 per night for 8.5m. Showers are an additional €2 each. There is a small shop in the marina office complex that sells wine and basic groceries. Also more chandleries and boat shops than you could shake a stick at.
Also a bakers hut on the quay which sells fresh bread etc. If you French is like mine, you may just about be able to order your stuff but you are thrown when he tells you how much. Don’t do like me and give him too small a note cos he says something back that makes no sense at all, just smile and give him a bigger one.
When I asked if they wanted to see our or the ships papers they looked at me as if I was mad.
Wine, the important stuff
As mentioned, there is a shop in the marina which sells wine at reasonable prices. A case of Stella was around £5.80 there. Carfour supermarket is a fair walk but has everything you want, except a good selection of wine. There is however another wine ship in the supermarket complex that is good, and they show their prices in £. We paid £4.99 per case of Stella there. What’s more, if you spend over €100 they give you a free taxi back to the marina.
Eating
There are many restaurants close to the harbour that offer a wide variety of food. Not all speak English but we were able to get along OK. A tip, if you see someone drinking a beer, they are probably a Brit. Also, don’t be put off by the locals stares and giggles, they obviously don’t see normal people too often.
Things to do:
If you have the time, a visit to the submarine museum is a must. Nice tour of a decommissioned nuke sub and a very good display of sub aqua diving and research. In English too.
Don’ts
I have heard that you must not arrive there with any out of date flares on board or red-diesel in cans.
I’m sure that there is loads more but I’ll save that for another day.
Cheers
Wayne
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I think it was about 4 hours early. Little boaty wasn't half planing 
