Sailing to France and the Channel Islands
Sail across the Channel and explore France and Channel Islands. The intention is to get lots of sailing in and see a bit of the Channel Islands and France.
The Trip
We have a number of 5 day and sometimes 7 day trips sailing to France and the Channel Islands across the English Channel, on a variety of yachts.
The departure & return from Southampton.
Build miles, practice what you already know, improve your navigation, increase your experience or just kick back and watch the world go by as we explore the French coast and the Channel Islands.
The intention will be to get lots of sailing in as well as stopping at places like Braye Harbour in Alderney, St Peter’s Port in Guernsey, anchorages of the Islands of Herm and Sark and St Helier in Jersey. You may get down to St Malo in France and quite possibly Cherbourg and maybe St Vaast.
Perhaps we will BBQ on the beach, drop a mackerel line over the side, eat Moules Marinère in a French Bistro.
You will get at least two 60nm passages in and one or both of these may be overnight and so include some good night sailing. There will be the opportunity for 2 people to have a go at skippering a 60nm passage which will be of interest to anyone working up to do the Yachtmaster exam.
You should sail between 180nm to 220nm. If you are looking for a shorter mile building weekend sailing to France and back have a look here.
- Build Miles
- Get open sea experience
- Sail through the night
- Experience crossing the shipping lanes at night and during the day
- Opportunity to skipper a passage over 60nm.
- Opportunity to practice taking sights with a sextant
We use a variety of boats for these sailing trips.
You can choose a classic yacht called Golden Vanity or one of our modern yachts.
Our modern yachts are all spacious cruising yachts with the accommodation arranged into double cabins and single berths in the saloon. They are capable of taking 8 and on some boats 10 crew but there would only ever be a maximum of 5 plus the instructor on board. Golden Vanity has tons of charm, bunks and less scope to segregate sexes.
Jo T, July.
What To Expect
These trips are more of a cruise, not a course, but you will gain fantastic experience and cover a lot of miles. This area provides challenging navigation, with its famously powerful tides.
Each trip would obviously be weather dependent. If conditions prevented a trip across the Channel then Poole, Weymouth and the West Country could be an option and in the unlikely situation where the conditions don’t allow us to leave the Solent or West country we would look to ensure you get plenty of sailing in the testing conditions that prevent the passage but in safer more sheltered local waters. This also applies to overseas Covid restrictions not allowing us to enter France or the Channel Islands without quarantining on return. Unfortunately we are not able to offer a refund or transfer to a later date if the itinerary changes due to the weather conditions or Covid restrictions.
Price
The price includes all food on board, apart from 1 evening meal if on a 5 day trip and 2 evening meals if on a 7 day trip as we think you might like to sample the local cuisine, fuel, gas, all safety equipment, instructor and accommodation on board. The only ‘hidden’ cost are mooring fees. It depends on where you end up at night. Anchorages are free, buoys are usually very cheap and marinas cost. If you budgeted on around £50 for the trip you should be fine.
We are fully insured but we would advise that you get your own travel insurance from a company such as TopSail Insurance.
Sailing Trips To France Channel Islands - Dates
