Sailing into seriously tidal seas

Our next passage plan was ‘around Cap de la Hague to somewhere on the western side of the Contentin Peninsula, possibly Diélette’. How very innocent of us!

A new speed record

We left Cherbourg with a light wind on the starboard quarter and ghosted along on a smooth sea, timed to catch the ‘Le Raz Blanchard’ (the Alderney tidal race) around the Cap. By the time we were approaching Cap de la Hague and its imposing lighthouse, the winds had built to a nice brisk breeze that had us skipping along at about 7 kt under a lovely sunny, blue sky. All the while the tidal current was picking up and by the time we rounded the Cap we were doing 13.3 kt over the ground and just 7 kt through the water. Yikes! Our previous record, set in a Norwegian fjord last year, had been a mere 9.5 kt.

The tidal race around the Cap wasn’t just fast but was also pushing up frightening looking upwellings in 50 m deep water. These rose up well over a metre or so over the swell in big smooth blisters of spreading water. On the face of it we might have expected these waves to slow us down but the ride stayed a fast, smooth rollercoaster ride, never slowing despite the steepness of the waves. It was a brilliant experience and so unlike some of the tidal races we dealt with in Norway where big, steep seas made for slow and unpleasant progress. Ah the joys of wind with the current.

Radiant Diélette

We let the current take us well west of Cap de la Hague, out towards Alderney, before we tacked back to the south-south-east and in along the coast towards Diélette.

As we got in closer we could discern the nuclear power plants on the other side of town, having also just sailed past the massive nuclear fuel reprocessing centre on Cap de la Hague. Ah, what the hell, we thought, this all feels a bit too radiant, let’s just push on to the next harbour, Carteret.

Timing one’s entry

It was a quiet sail onwards with a gradually diminishing breeze until, just a mile or two short of our destination the wind dropped out altogether. So, we motored in almost exactly on time to catch the tide just high enough to get in over the harbour sill.

We motored in up the river and into the marina without any issues, but it was in the marina that we nearly came unstuck.

Still strong tidal currents

To get into a visitor’s berth we had to turn to port in between the fingers and then right into the 3rd or 4^th berth along. As I turned and almost too late I (D) realised that, with the rising tide, we had a 2 or 3 kt cross-current pushing us towards the other finger. We got in without anything going amiss, just not as gracefully as we might have hoped. I am sure that any onlookers would have enjoyed the look of surprise on my face as I turned in and realised just how fast we were going in the wrong direction – I knew there’d be a current but not that much. Lesson learned – watch the water around the pontoons to get an idea of what’s going on.

A few days in Carteret

Carteret turned out to be a pleasant enough spot for a few days. Barneville, a bike ride away, put on a great market evening and Carteret itself had some good options for flying kites, runs, walks and dining.

We even got to go to a concert of ‘Les Choeur des Marins du Contentin’, a local Breton shanty choir singing French sea shanties! Plus the big tides and strong currents meant that, when boats were coming in or out, there was always a bit of drama to be seen – collisions, groundings and near misses of all types.

But luckily nothing serious happened. This was all for the better as some pretty average weather kept us in Carteret for a few days.