The Cobra
03 August 2015 | Gironde estuary
Sunny intervals
Getting out of Royan, sailing down-river and heading twelve miles west out of the Gironde Estuary past the Point de l' Coubre (the Cobra) until you are clear to head north is possibly Europe's most difficult and treacherous stretch of water.
The river is fast flowing shallow, wide and heavily silted. The silt has formed a massive long sinuous sandbank (L' Coubre) to the north of the exit, over which heavy surf breaks even on calm days. Any sort of breeze from the west, especially on the ebb, kicks up fearsome over-falls, especially between 5 and 7 buoys, and the area must then be avoided by small boats. The adjacent coastline is very flat and the area is prone to fogs and mists, so although the channel is buoyed and the point itself has a light-house, it doesn't take much of a reduction in viz to make navigation a bit edgy.
Timing is everything as the strength of the flood is impossible to knock so you have to use the correct amount of ebb to get out past the worst patch just before slack water. The huge surf sometimes tumbles right on the edge of the channel, maybe 30 metres away, as was the one in the picture. It certainly keeps you honest, stopping any thought of turning north until well clear of the bank and in sight of the channel approach buoys. Interesting..........
We were lucky, with light winds from the NW, once clear of No 3 buoy, we were able to motor-sail in a gentle swell, close-hauled up the coast of the île D'Oleron. The Royan life-boat was called out to a boat that had overtaken us then stopped, drifting inshore towards the south of the island, giving a little entertainment (shadenfreude?)
Passing round the Pertuis D'Antioch north of the island in brilliant sunshine, we slid past the rusty ribs of the wreck on the reef by the lighthouse and, after 44 miles, made it into the haven of St Denis with a few inches of water under our keel, for a well earned meal ashore.