Yarmouth - Cherbourg

laika said:
Having been myself caught in the middle (not technically separation zone if you mean the bit *between* the dover and off-casquettes tss but I know what you mean...) in thick fog without GPS or radar in my earlier sailing days....Weren't you concerned that tacking backwards and forwards in a strip 5 miles wide with fog and no landmarks for...what...24 hours?..was likely to introduce a rather worrying error into your estimated position?
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Good point Laika, but my chum and I were taking it very seriously, like the maths exams I hate but on this occasion I had reason to concentrate on the tidal vectors etc as did my chum.

It took a lot out of us though, as I say we were knackered when we reached St Peter Port.

At the first point just as we hit the fog on the southern shipping lane, we heard a big ship's engines approaching, then the sound of the bow wave - I was holding onto our only white flare and I don't mind admitting my hands were shaking - but I still stupidly hung on as it was our only shot.

Instead I dived for the engine in its well and we raced away into the zone at what seemed to be 90 degrees to the sound of the bow wave - we never saw the ship or any lights but got severely rocked...

We got away with it, by sheer luck not judgement.
 
I hope that's meant humuorously, Cherbourg is OK but really is the French equivalent of Portsmouth - it's handy but not lovely...

Alderney is a bit hairy for a first cross-Channel, If staying more than a night or two I'd suggest St Peter Port.

For the OP though, if he really has to go solo Cherbourg seems the best bet.
 
there seems some inverse snobbery from some re Cherbourg and the big brave me option of going on to St peter Port or Alderney. For a first time alone event as for the OP, Cherbourg is a simpler, shorter and safer option. We frequently did weekenders ( out Fri pm back Sunday to all the options mentioned and whilst Cherbourg is accessible on all tides catching Alderney Race at the right time to transit limits 'easy' for St Peter Port and can complicate Alderney too, inbound especially. Fog patches on the tide turn churning up cold waters are common too, I did it once solo from St peter Port to Poole in 25 yd visibility and 'twas not fun albeit I had a brand new Decca (it was a while ago) with tried and tested waypoints and routes pre-entered

Cherbourg may be a bit boring to the sophisticates but it nevertheless has decent shopping not least at Carrefour and Auchan supermarkets and it has a few decent restaurants. All are less expensive than in St Peter Port And that for sure includes the visitor fees. Also if you take the time and trouble to look beyond the obvious, there are things worth seeing. The Cite de Mer museum and nuke sub exhibit for one if still there plus the Normandy 'D' Day Landings museum in Fort de la Roule (?) some of the chandlery stuff in Accastillage Diffusion at the marina is cheaper too than back home in Blighty. WiFi is free and works everywhere in the marina too although maybe STPP has got it going by now for those not parked inside the cill.

PS to add Omonville which SWMBO forever calls the Omanville Horror after being stuck stationary for some hours, motorsailing at 8kts, to combat the incredible strong contrsary inshore tide there when we turned close inshore too early after passing Cap De La Hague, one time coming up from Sark trying to escape from a sleepless rally night at anchor there.
 
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Seajet said:
Cherbourg is OK but really is the French equivalent of Portsmouth
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And what, dare I ask, is wrong with Portsmouth? :p

Great thread - I'm in the same boat as the OP - been to Cherbourg and Alderney on 38 / 40 footers as crew. In fact my fastest ever SOG was Alderney to Cherboug with both the wind and tide. I plan to go in my own right in 2017 on my 25ft boat. Nothing wrong with Cherbourg IMO.

The only thing I'd add to the answers above is that without a plotter VMH or Navionics on a tablet of some description might be comforting.
 
Robin said:
there seems some inverse snobbery from some re Cherbourg and the big brave me option of going on to St peter Port or Alderney. For a first time alone event as for the OP, Cherbourg is a simpler, shorter and safer option. We frequently did weekenders ( out Fri pm back Sunday to all the options mentioned and whilst Cherbourg is accessible on all tides catching Alderney Race at the right time to transit limits 'easy' for St Peter Port and can complicate Alderney too, inbound especially. Fog patches on the tide turn churning up cold waters are common too, I did it once solo from St peter Port to Poole in 25 yd visibility and 'twas not fun albeit I had a brand new Decca (it was a while ago) with tried and tested waypoints and routes pre-entered

Cherbourg may be a bit boring to the sophisticates but it nevertheless has decent shopping not least at Carrefour and Auchan supermarkets and it has a few decent restaurants. All are less expensive than in St Peter Port And that for sure includes the visitor fees. Also if you take the time and trouble to look beyond the obvious, there are things worth seeing. The Cite de Mer museum and nuke sub exhibit for one if still there plus the Normandy 'D' Day Landings museum in Fort de la Roule (?) some of the chandlery stuff in Accastillage Diffusion at the marina is cheaper too than back home in Blighty. WiFi is free and works everywhere in the marina too although maybe STPP has got it going by now for those not parked inside the cill.

PS to add Omonville which SWMBO forever calls the Omanville Horror after being stuck stationary for some hours, motorsailing at 8kts, to combat the incredible strong contrsary inshore tide there when we turned close inshore too early after passing Cap De La Hague, one time coming up from Sark trying to escape from a sleepless rally night at anchor there.
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+1
 
What the hell is wrong with Cherbourg?

Good marina, great showers, bar, and restaurant, the Carrefour, some nice eateries on the harbourside for moules, easy all-tide access...

It may not be "the quaint French port" but it's got everything you need and want.
 
Hang on Robin & co,

I never said there was anything ' big & brave ' about going on to St Peter Port; if there was I wouldn't have gone there ! :) In fact it's a doddle once one is across that side and the tide down the Little Russel makes up for the extra distance - you do have to wait in the outer harbour though which would be a drag for the OP on a hopefully short trip.

The Alderney Race and The Swinge are the bits requiring guts, but as ever even they are fine in normal conditions.

I went to Omonville on a friend's boat, can't say I was crazy about the zillion lobster pots just offshore or the lack of shelter, and the wonderful restaurant we'd been told about was shut - interesting classic French village though.

I have spent time strolling around Cherbourg and it does have a fair bit to offer - just as Portsmouth does, they're very similar in being ferry ports with a rich miltary history.

One tip for the OP, put your arrival waypoint up tide of the western entrance, you may only get one shot at it ! :)
 
If you go to Cherbourg and are a member of the RYA, take your card and you will get a discount on the already reasonable mooring fees. There's lots of good advice on the thread, the one thing I would emphasise is to avoid fog like the plague!
 
Seajet said:
Hang on Robin & co,

I never said there was anything ' big & brave ' about going on to St Peter Port; if there was I wouldn't have gone there ! :) In fact it's a doddle once one is across that side and the tide down the Little Russel makes up for the extra distance - you do have to wait in the outer harbour though which would be a drag for the OP on a hopefully short trip.

The Alderney Race and The Swinge are the bits requiring guts, but as ever even they are fine in normal conditions.

I went to Omonville on a friend's boat, can't say I was crazy about the zillion lobster pots just offshore or the lack of shelter, and the wonderful restaurant we'd been told about was shut - interesting classic French village though.

I have spent time strolling around Cherbourg and it does have a fair bit to offer - just as Portsmouth does, they're very similar in being ferry ports with a rich miltary history.

One tip for the OP, put your arrival waypoint up tide of the western entrance, you may only get one shot at it ! :)
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There is a difference between old hands and first timers let alone singlehanded.

I used to target the uptide entrance knowing if i missed a bit there was another coming up sideways soon. but better still with modern electronics match BTW with COG from about 5 miles out ( no more) although I hoped my imnitial planned CTs would take me in without having to change the original pilot setting. I did one course required cal myself, SWMBO another and I also used Neptune Passage Planner program on the 'puter too. Winner of the three got a free moules frites and a large G&T. Course jiggery in the 'lanes' occasionally, but very rarely, spoiled things.
 
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I think some have missed the point a bit.
Small boat going to France for the first time. What's not to like about a cheap marina, especially if you are normally on a swinging mooring. Who wants the hassle of rowing ashore from an anchorage and forgoing the free electricity and showers? Some marina based boats might like to rough it for their two week holiday but not all.
 
I note no mention of a liferaft - is that because it's assumed or do others not take them? on the 3 or 4 occasions I've done a cross-channel I've hired one
 
I don't understand this yearning for "good" restaurants in Cherbourg. Some of the most memorable meals I have had have been in little back-street cafés. True, the food may have been near uneatable and the service less than gracious, but they were cheap and the ambience full of character as well as odour. There used to be a couple of dodgy eateries back from the marina, much frequented by Brits, where a meal was 34 Fr and consisted of grated carrot (crudités) followed by an un identifiable stew and a couple of knobs of cheese. I don't think I have enjoyed meals much more, especially after a long trip in a small boat. A couple of years ago I had an excellent steak at a dockside bistro. The surroundings were modest but more salubrious than of old, but the food at least as cheap, relatively.
 
fjweaver said:
I note no mention of a liferaft - is that because it's assumed or do others not take them? on the 3 or 4 occasions I've done a cross-channel I've hired one
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Probably the only significant risk in the channel which is more than any other sixty mile hop is of being hit by something in a separation zone. A liferaft probably won't help much with that. The same money will buy you a radar target enhancer.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Probably the only significant risk in the channel which is more than any other sixty mile hop is of being hit by something in a separation zone. A liferaft probably won't help much with that. The same money will buy you a radar target enhancer.
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Without being pedantic, Yarmouth to Cherbourg needn't include a separation zone as such. You need to cross the shipping lanes, where large ships are self-organised, but the special rules for the Separation Zones such as north of the Casquets don't apply. One less worry.
 
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