Dover to Calais

[sjc avon]

Hi all, been wanting to go from Dover to Calais for years and I think this year we are going to get round to doing it. We want to leave Dover in the morning head to Calais have some food and couple pints then back to Dover.
Has anyone on here done this before and if so have you any advice?

[redthunder]

Yup we have done a few times. Not many places to moor in Calais. The marina is a high tide affair only otherwise the gate is closed. Better to go to Boulonge if you can stretch to it been there plenty of times. Great mooring at all tides no lock either!!

For info No fuel in Boulonge or Calais.

[sjc avon]

Thank you, should have enough fuel as I have a 80L tank. That's a long way, isn't there anywhere nearer that's any good? How many miles is it?

[redthunder]

What's the boat engine etc?

[sjc avon]

Avon 620 with 100hp four stroke

[Barfly]

if you go in straight line, it's only 40km - I think your consumption is 1l on 2km, so piece of cake
you can sail to boulogne or the other way out to Gravelines or Dunkerque direction Belgium
When you go to Gravelines you have to watch out for the tides - at low tide you can't enter or leave the port - it's a little town to have some pints

[Smithyyy]

We did the trip last September - great fun. We did Dover-Dunkirk-Calais-Dover over 2 days. Yes, in Calais we had to go in the marina which meant timing departure to get over the sill - but that was OK, the kids were sent to move the rib to the outer harbour and wait while Mum and Dad finished their lunch and digestif...

We were in fact offered fuel in Calais although as we'd filled up in Dunkirk we didn't need it - but it does seem to be available - worth checking, maybe something's changed?

I assume you know about the traffic lanes and crossing them at right angles - we found a handy nav marker was that if you head east or a tad south of that out of Dover you come to a buoy (can't remember the name offhand but look it up on the charts) on the edge of the lanes, go across at right angles to the lanes from there and it brings you to just off Calais

Dodging traffic in the lanes in a rib is so much easier than in a yacht!

Need VHF clearance to leave and enter Dover Port

Calais entrance and departure controlled via a traffic light system (IIRC so was Dunkirk) rather than using VHF

Take all your passports, boat docs etc, although on our trip no-one was interested in looking at any of them

Have a great trip!