Would it be madness

William_H said:
Well if you lived in West Australia you would have to have both VHF and an EPIRB for any voyage beyond 2NM from shore.
However obviously not hit by bureaucracy so much in UK.
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I work a lot in OZ and one of my colleagues was telling me how he and his wife had bought jet skis and how much they had to pay to licence them and how much they had to pay to get their own training and "boat drivers licence".
I remarked that we didn't have licences and registration for boats or users in New Zealand.
Colleague was absolutely amazed and aghast really struggling with the concept of freedomn and finally asking "well how does that work?'' to which I could only answer "very well thank you."
 
AIS is easily replaced by eyeball, mark 1. It's the big metal thing you can see that is the potential problem, not its final destination or any of the other details provided by the electronickery that matters.

An EPIRB is potentially of greater use if the brown stuff hits the whirly thing. But remember that unless the problem is caused by contact with one of the aforementioned big metal things a VHF and decent chart is just about as good. Perhaps think about a hand-held VHF and hand-held GPS in a grab bag? (And make sure they're properly charged up before you go.)

Go for it. Go carefully. Enjoy!
 
You might be better off worrying about where to park up when you reach Alderney and the availability of supplies to provide some substance on arrival . AIS does provide a relief from any boredom you might encounter on the voyage particularly if you spot a Condor on your travels.
 
Homer J said:
I am proposing to sail to Alderney in August but has no EPIRB or AIS. Is this a foolish idea? Any advice appreciated,
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No not foolish for the reasons many have stated.

However, I was going to Alderney just after user-friendly AIS kit became available to small craft and my thought process was along the lines of - would I like to tell the crew that a potentially hazardous situation could have been avoided/foreseen if I had bought AIS but I preferred to keep the £250 in the bank. I bought the NASA 'Radar'. That was in 2005.

My view is that AIS makes for a more relaxed crossing. I like relaxed, it gives more time to focus on any real issues that crop up.

Cheers
Bob
 
William_H said:
...when in open ocean without electronics.
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Open ocean... great idea, but this is not open ocean. This is a day pootle between one extraordinarily crowded bit of water to another crowded bit of water, never out of sight of other boats/ships, never out of VHF range of coastguard & not out of sight of land for long. This risk is not so much being far from everyone else, but avoiding everyone else. It's not a trip through the southern ocean, waters which Oz instigates rescues in.
 
William_H said:
I think you may be seen as irresponsible if you don't have an EPIRB with GPS.
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I doubt that, in the boating community, at least, William. I doubt even the Coastguard, RNLI or RYA would take such a view for passages such as proposed. I certainly can't recall anything resembling a campaign to promote EPIRB use, which would surely be a corollary of their absence being "a problem".
 
William_H said:
Well if you lived in West Australia you would have to have both VHF and an EPIRB for any voyage beyond 2NM from shore.
However obviously not hit by bureaucracy so much in UK.
If you can stay in contact with VHF then you do have some safety back up. It is not a question of how many have done it successfully without electronics but rather a question of how many have perished and or put life saving services at risk when in open ocean without electronics. That is the philosophy of the requirement in West Oz and many other places. I think you may be seen as irresponsible if you don't have an EPIRB with GPS. olewill
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As others have already suggested you cannot compare sailing in the remote open ocean with sailing in the confined densely populated English Channel where you are never out of VHF range. This makes EPIRBs largely superfluous which is supported by the evidence of almost complete lack of deployments from small yachts in European waters. This is not because people do not have them, just that the circumstances where they are of any value are extremely rare.

Of course the marketing men and bureaucrats don't tell you this and do a good job of hiding the statistics, although they can be found as every single deployment is logged and recorded in detail.

It is much the same with drink and sailing. You may well have a problem in your country, but there is not one in the UK. At the time the implementation of the law was being promoted heavily by the virtue seekers, all the might of the government researchers failed to find any evidence of a problem that would be solved by the law. You can imagine the embarrassment of the poor junior minister charged with the task when he had to admit this in public.
 
VicS said:
If you are crossing from the Solent, Alderney via Cherbourg can sometimes be an attractive option.
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I would certainly suggest being prepared to fall back to Cherbourg, if progress and wind direction turn out to favour it.
Cherbourg to Alderney is then a pleasant sail on the next day's tide.
 
O tempora, O mores! When I first went to sea, any equipment beyond a compass and a chart was unusual. Even echo sounders were a bit posh; VHF was unheard of, and the wonders of GPS weren't even a glint in anyone's eye! And there was just as much commercial traffic as there is now; possibly more as cargoes that now go by road went by sea from point to point in the UK, as there was no motorway network: I am old enough to remember them building the M1; indeed my dad was the first to drive down one section near Sheffield - he happened to turn up just as they were taking the cones away from the slip road, before the official opening!

I hasten to say that I am not that old, either - a state pensioner, but only just!
 
I would want a good radar reflector. I recently took a fast cat across to France and, coming back, it was more than a little buttock clenching to be doing 35 knots in about 100m visibility. IIRC, a Condor cat took out a fishing boat doing the same thing not far from Alderney a few years back.
 
Stemar said:
I would want a good radar reflector. I recently took a fast cat across to France and, coming back, it was more than a little buttock clenching to be doing 35 knots in about 100m visibility. IIRC, a Condor cat took out a fishing boat doing the same thing not far from Alderney a few years back.
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I said so at the time, but HOW is proceeding at 35 knots in limited visibility compatible with ColRegs? We all know that passive radar reflectors are of limited efficiency, and there is no guarantee that a small boat will be detected on radar.
 
The OP hasn't mentioned how many crew, if any ?

The most important aid would be a good autopilot, with a reliable electrical supply; yes when a teenager I sailed or motored across from Yarmouth / Studland to Guernsey / Alderney several times with hand on tiller all the way, but I'm not sure I could do that now at 56.

And good binoculars too.
 
Seajet said:
The OP hasn't mentioned how many crew, if any ?

The most important aid would be a good autopilot, with a reliable electrical supply; yes when a teenager I sailed or motored across from Yarmouth / Studland to Guernsey / Alderney several times with hand on tiller all the way, but I'm not sure I could do that now at 56.

And good binoculars too.
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I was about to go, "No, it's fine without technology - first few times we did it without GPS, AIS, VHF or even a depth sounder.." and the idea of needing binoculars in my 20s was crazy. But at a similar age to you, I completely agree that an autopilot and binoculars - plus GPS on your phone - makes a lot of sense. Not absolutely necessary but keeping rested and with good vision makes the trip a lot more safe than any amount of other electrics.
 
AS Others have said - no problem.

Hope this isn't teaching grandmothers to suck eggs as i'm not sure of OP's experience but do be mindful of the weather forecast when setting out. Plan on a 12 hour trip and check the wind for both when you get there and for the following 24-48 hours. You don't want to arrive and then find that the harbour is untenable as soon as you get there.


Don't go if winds of anything from North to East are forecast - go to Cherbourg instead.

Don't go if strong winds are forecast - you're on a buoy or anchor and dinghying ashore in a F7 is dodgy and water taxi will stop if too rough - you don't want to be holed up on board

Don't go if fog / fog patches is forecast.

If the wind is dead on the nose, don't feel you have to press on just because it's your destination. Go to Cherbourg.


If using GPS then i would suggest - plot a destination about 5 miles north of Alderney and about the same uptide and head for that whilst crossing the channel. When you're then about 45 mins - an hour out from Alderney you can alter your course with some certainty towards the leading line and go in and find your SOG very impressive!. You do not want to end up down tide of Alderney or being sucked into the Race. Simply ensure for that last 45 mins - an hour that your COG is taking you towards the leading lines and it's very easy.


Be aware if getting in at a busy period you may need to anchor.
 
a lot of talk about the Mk 1 eyeball, a very fine tool indeed, but please ensure if yours have a lot of hours on them to consider the 2.0 spectacle uprgrade
 
solent clown said:
a lot of talk about the Mk 1 eyeball, a very fine tool indeed, but please ensure if yours have a lot of hours on them to consider the 2.0 spectacle uprgrade
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Or the 3.0 contact lens and 4.0 cataract surgery upgrades. There are other, optional, minor releases that may be necessary if your original hardware is not to specification, such as 3.5 vitrectomy and 3.7 retinal repair.

That said, my eye-sight is still pretty good!
 
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