This part is a bit for sailing folk thinking of going from Guernsey to Cherbourg.
Our passage from Guernsey to Cherbourg would take us through the famous or “infamous” Alderney Race. This notorious stretch of water runs between the island of Alderney and the French coast at Cap de la Hague. Every six hours the tide floods through this narrow stretch of water, the six hours later runs back. Tidal streams can run at up to 9-10 knots with heavy over falls and breaking seas. Since the average small sailing yacht travels at 5-6 knots under the wrong conditions or at the wrong time the race can be difficult or dangerous.
We had decided to leave for Cherbourg on Sunday when the forecast showed the strong winds should have dropped to F3-4 from the W or SW.
Reeds almanac suggests leaving St. Peter Port about 3 hours after HW Dover. This gives an adverse tide for the first 2-3 hours after which it changes to favourable. Leaving St. Peter Port at 0730 when high water Dover was 0431 and keeping up a speed of around 5 knots would mean the tide changing in our favour when we were just a couple of miles SW of Alderney, the tide being with us in “the Race” but by no means at full flow. We would then have a positive tide all the way to Cherbourg; that was the plan. Our enforced stay at least meant we would be leaving at a reasonable time, not the crack of dawn.
We had been to Alderney twice before. The first time we had taken the southern route, following the timings in the pilot books, inside Inner Race Rock, round Blanchard Rock to the East of Alderney then North to pick up the west going back eddy into Braye harbour. This passage went well with no over falls. Last year we decided to take the route north of Alderney through “the Swinge”. This was more interesting. It was close to neaps when tidal steams would be expected to be at their weakest, we arrived not long after the tide had turned to run NE and we had a gentle SW wind pushing us with the current, all ideal conditions?? The actual tide running was much faster than predicted in the atlases reaching 7-8 knots at one point. The chart showed heavy overfalls in the middle of the “Swinge”; we passed this point with little disturbance and were relaxing when we hit the overfalls to the east of the Swinge. They were short and very steep. The wind was light, so we were only doing about 3 knots through the water, about 9-10 SOG. We started the engine to give more control and to speed us through, and passed through them without major concerns.
Andy, who lives in Guernsey, leaves St Peter Port as soon as the marina opens on the rising tide then picks up a N/NE going stream immediately, up the Little Russell, North of Alderney through “ the Swinge” and straight to Cherbourg on one tide.
We decided against this option because we went through “the swinge” last year and we also wanted to fill up with diesel, at £0.48 per litre, in Guernsey before we left. By the time we had left the marina and filled up with fuel another hour could have passed and the race could have been in full flow and the tide may have changed before we reached Cherbourg. So we left the marina at high water Saturday, filled up and moored up on one of the outer, all tide, pontoons just ahead of “Irish Odyssey”.
John and Mary of “Irish Odyssey” were also leaving for Cherbourg at 0730 Sunday so we arranged to keep in radio contact during the journey.
As planned we left at 0730, hoisted both sails (unfurled one) just outside the harbour and set off up the” Little Russel”.
Our passage from Guernsey to Cherbourg would take us through the famous or “infamous” Alderney Race. This notorious stretch of water runs between the island of Alderney and the French coast at Cap de la Hague. Every six hours the tide floods through this narrow stretch of water, the six hours later runs back. Tidal streams can run at up to 9-10 knots with heavy over falls and breaking seas. Since the average small sailing yacht travels at 5-6 knots under the wrong conditions or at the wrong time the race can be difficult or dangerous.
We had decided to leave for Cherbourg on Sunday when the forecast showed the strong winds should have dropped to F3-4 from the W or SW.
Reeds almanac suggests leaving St. Peter Port about 3 hours after HW Dover. This gives an adverse tide for the first 2-3 hours after which it changes to favourable. Leaving St. Peter Port at 0730 when high water Dover was 0431 and keeping up a speed of around 5 knots would mean the tide changing in our favour when we were just a couple of miles SW of Alderney, the tide being with us in “the Race” but by no means at full flow. We would then have a positive tide all the way to Cherbourg; that was the plan. Our enforced stay at least meant we would be leaving at a reasonable time, not the crack of dawn.
We had been to Alderney twice before. The first time we had taken the southern route, following the timings in the pilot books, inside Inner Race Rock, round Blanchard Rock to the East of Alderney then North to pick up the west going back eddy into Braye harbour. This passage went well with no over falls. Last year we decided to take the route north of Alderney through “the Swinge”. This was more interesting. It was close to neaps when tidal steams would be expected to be at their weakest, we arrived not long after the tide had turned to run NE and we had a gentle SW wind pushing us with the current, all ideal conditions?? The actual tide running was much faster than predicted in the atlases reaching 7-8 knots at one point. The chart showed heavy overfalls in the middle of the “Swinge”; we passed this point with little disturbance and were relaxing when we hit the overfalls to the east of the Swinge. They were short and very steep. The wind was light, so we were only doing about 3 knots through the water, about 9-10 SOG. We started the engine to give more control and to speed us through, and passed through them without major concerns.
Andy, who lives in Guernsey, leaves St Peter Port as soon as the marina opens on the rising tide then picks up a N/NE going stream immediately, up the Little Russell, North of Alderney through “ the Swinge” and straight to Cherbourg on one tide.
We decided against this option because we went through “the swinge” last year and we also wanted to fill up with diesel, at £0.48 per litre, in Guernsey before we left. By the time we had left the marina and filled up with fuel another hour could have passed and the race could have been in full flow and the tide may have changed before we reached Cherbourg. So we left the marina at high water Saturday, filled up and moored up on one of the outer, all tide, pontoons just ahead of “Irish Odyssey”.
John and Mary of “Irish Odyssey” were also leaving for Cherbourg at 0730 Sunday so we arranged to keep in radio contact during the journey.
As planned we left at 0730, hoisted both sails (unfurled one) just outside the harbour and set off up the” Little Russel”.
There were two cruise ships anchored just off St Peter Port, the Balmoral and a massive ship the Princess something. Their tenders were already running some people ashore. Why? I can’t imagine there’s too much to do in St. Peter Port at 0730 Sunday morning; perhaps they were all going to church.Going up the” Little Russel” the tide, as expected, was running against us at up to 2 knots, but with the engine running and a fresh breeze from the South behind us we were able to make a reasonable speed over the ground. Unexpectedly at the top of the Little Russel we picked up a back eddy going our way which pushed us along witht a good two knots.
After clearing “Platte Boue” we set a course for a waypoint 1nm south of “Race Rock”. With a combination of NE course, tide from the NW and a Southerly breeze we gained another unexpected push from the tide of about 1 knot, it all helps and we were able to turn off the engine and keep up a speed over ground of about 5 knots. Unfortunately the cross current was pushing us towards the French coast where the overfalls are the heaviest. We were hoping the tide would change before the cross track error became too large, but just SW of Alderney we ran upwind for a short while to reduce the error. At the same time it became obvious that the tide was beginning to change and we were able to resume our heading and make the “Race Rock” waypoint. The tide gradually increased and by the time we reached “Race Rock” was giving us an extra 6 knots.
We were surprised just how smooth the passage had been up to and past “Race Rock”. This secure, warm feeling was short lived as we hit the overfalls about a mile NE of the rock and for the next half an hour had a very bumpy ride.
After clearing “Platte Boue” we set a course for a waypoint 1nm south of “Race Rock”. With a combination of NE course, tide from the NW and a Southerly breeze we gained another unexpected push from the tide of about 1 knot, it all helps and we were able to turn off the engine and keep up a speed over ground of about 5 knots. Unfortunately the cross current was pushing us towards the French coast where the overfalls are the heaviest. We were hoping the tide would change before the cross track error became too large, but just SW of Alderney we ran upwind for a short while to reduce the error. At the same time it became obvious that the tide was beginning to change and we were able to resume our heading and make the “Race Rock” waypoint. The tide gradually increased and by the time we reached “Race Rock” was giving us an extra 6 knots.
We were surprised just how smooth the passage had been up to and past “Race Rock”. This secure, warm feeling was short lived as we hit the overfalls about a mile NE of the rock and for the next half an hour had a very bumpy ride.
Our next waypoint was just to the NW of Cap de la Hague , but the strong N /NE tidal stream was pushing us off track and to stay on course to the waypoint the nose was pointing SE toward Nez de Joburg . At the same time the wind began to drop as it backed from S to SE. With the boom flopping around we restarted the engine.
One really useful feature of the Raymarine system we have is the display on the chart plotter of boat heading vector and course over ground vector, especially in strong tidal situations such as the above.
With hindsight it was a mistake to try to correct for the current and stay on track. We should just have let the tide push us northwards beyond Cap de la Hague, there were no dangers, until we met the east going stream from the north of Alderney. This would have cleared the overfalls much more quickly.
As we said at the time “there’s no point going through the Alderney Race and having to tell people it was flat”.
We were disappointed once we had rounded Cap de la Hague by the relatively weak east going stream towards Cherbourg, 1-2 knots. When we had sailed from Braye to Cherbourg last year the tide further away from the coast had kept up 5-6 knots for some distance and it was obvious that boats further out were gaining a tidal advantage. Had we let the tide in the race push us north we would probably have joined this stronger stream.
Still we couldn’t complain too much. Since Leaving the Little Russel we had sailed all the way, apart from about ½ hour around Cap de la Hague and had picked up a good push from the tide all the way. The tide was still with us as we entered Cherbourg’s outer harbour past one of the very impressive breakwater forts, seven hours after leaving the pontoon at St Peter Port. The distance on the chart from pontoon to pontoon is 44 miles, we clocked 30 miles through the water.
Having experienced both routes next time we make the trip we’ll probably take Andy’s advice and go through the “Swinge” . The overfalls are much shorter in distance and it should then be a straight run with a good tide all the way to Cherbourg.
With hindsight it was a mistake to try to correct for the current and stay on track. We should just have let the tide push us northwards beyond Cap de la Hague, there were no dangers, until we met the east going stream from the north of Alderney. This would have cleared the overfalls much more quickly.
As we said at the time “there’s no point going through the Alderney Race and having to tell people it was flat”.
We were disappointed once we had rounded Cap de la Hague by the relatively weak east going stream towards Cherbourg, 1-2 knots. When we had sailed from Braye to Cherbourg last year the tide further away from the coast had kept up 5-6 knots for some distance and it was obvious that boats further out were gaining a tidal advantage. Had we let the tide in the race push us north we would probably have joined this stronger stream.
Still we couldn’t complain too much. Since Leaving the Little Russel we had sailed all the way, apart from about ½ hour around Cap de la Hague and had picked up a good push from the tide all the way. The tide was still with us as we entered Cherbourg’s outer harbour past one of the very impressive breakwater forts, seven hours after leaving the pontoon at St Peter Port. The distance on the chart from pontoon to pontoon is 44 miles, we clocked 30 miles through the water.
Having experienced both routes next time we make the trip we’ll probably take Andy’s advice and go through the “Swinge” . The overfalls are much shorter in distance and it should then be a straight run with a good tide all the way to Cherbourg.
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