A man with a passage plan

Clive Loughlin invites you to look over his shoulder as he plans a seven day cruise to the Channel Islands

- Clive Loughlin

The Channel Islands provide fantastic scenery with a challenging 8m tidal range and 6-knot tidal streams. Within easy reach of our home waters, they provide a wonderful addition to our cruising grounds. It’s also a really interesting area for passage planning.

As with any passage plan, my first priority is to make copies of relevant hour-by-hour tidal stream chartlets, marked up for every hour of every day.

I like to look at the start and the end of a trip first, then fill in the details in between. I’ll also always include alternatives - never stick to a plan that has become a bad idea!

The earliest I can realistically leave is about midday on Monday 6 July, returning to Shamrock Quay Marina, Southampton by 1400 the following Sunday. I’m assuming a F4-5 from the southwest - the prevailing conditions.

On the Monday HW Portsmouth is at 1309 (I use BST throughout) and the stream in the Solent starts flowing west about an hour and a half earlier, and stays heading west until about 1730. It’s a window of six hours, plenty to get to Yarmouth (18nm), or even further onwards to Poole (34nm).

Next, I check my options for the following Sunday, to get back to base on time: I could either spend Saturday evening in Yarmouth or Portsmouth. On the Sunday the tidal streams are heading east in the Solent from 0930 till 1530, so Yarmouth is favourite.

Monday – Old Harry