Is the Bay of Biscay always rough?

[sidekick180]

Probably a silly question, but just trying to get some input from seasoned cruisers.

I keep hearing the same quote from lots of people that the 'BoB is notorious for being rough'. Is this factual or just that some have had a bad time crossing it? I can't believe that it is ALWAYS rough.

I would love to hear from those that have crossed BOB when it has been really calm. We will be on a cruise on Azura from 4th to 11th May and will be going through the Bay there and back. It wont bother me if it's a bit wobbly, but I am trying to convince my other half that we might be lucky and get a calm crossing. She didn't enjoy the movement much last year on Ventura, even though I thought the sea was really calm.

She is obviously much more sensitive to sea sickness than me.

[galeforce9]

No it isn’t always rough.  Done it lots of times. 

[Presto2]

In a word - no.

 

Have been on a number of cruises via BOB and there is only one cruise where it was slightly boppy - and that means probably a force 4. VERY slight.

 

The other times it has been quite boring and calm.

We have been in early April, late May and August a number of times

 

:-)

Edited February 4, 2019 by Presto2

[jeanlyon]

I have crossed the Bay 3 times in a sailing boat.  Twice it was like a millpond and the third was a bit choppy.  Have done it loads of times on cruises.  Majority of those were calm.  One we had a Force 9 gale.  Times of year don't make much difference either.

[sidekick180]

I realise that we are all at the mercy of mother nature and hopefully she will be kind to us this time. I have already got the cruising bug and would like to do at least one every year, just got to try and get the other half to also get the cruising bug. Otherwise, I might have to leave her at home (don't think i would get away with that).

[john watson]

I think it will be rough about one in four crossings and typically you do two on a med cruise.  How rough is rough depends on how sensitive people are to motion.

 

Regards John

[Selbourne]

I suspect that we have crossed the Bay of Biscay at least 20 times, one way or the other, and it was only rough 3 or 4 times, so the odds are in your favour. The myth is worse than the reality. 

 

By far the worst sea conditions that we have ever experienced were in the English Channel and in the Eastern Med so, if the conditions are right (or wrong!) you can experience them anywhere!

[majortom10]

We have done BoB many times and in majority the sea has been calm but there is always the chance of rough seas our worst was on Caronia in April one year when the actual reading on the Beaufort Scale was off the scale the Captain had a photograph taken of the Officer with the machine and the reading and had every cabin receive a photograph. He actually closed down the ship completely and told everybody to return to their cabins for their own safety. It hasnt frightened me off cruising BoB and that is only one occasion in possibly 40+ crossings either going to Med or returning to Southampton.

[Harry Peterson]

More of a myth than anything else.  It can be rough - but so can any stretch of water, including the English Channel and the Med.  The Irish Sea can be far worse, and frequently is.

 

Never had any real problems with the Bay, particularly on well stabilised such as Azura, and at the times you'll be travelling  I think you have an excellent chance of nice smooth crossings.

[mercury7289]

Only on sea days!!

 

Joking!

[ozzysdad]

6 hours ago, docco said:

More of a myth than anything else.  It can be rough - but so can any stretch of water, including the English Channel and the Med.  The Irish Sea can be far worse, and frequently is.

 

Never had any real problems with the Bay, particularly on well stabilised such as Azura, and at the times you'll be travelling  I think you have an excellent chance of nice smooth crossings.

We were on Azura last April and the ship was anything but stable going through the Bay, it was my partners very first cruise and she doesn't travel well as it is and she contemplated flying home once we reached Vigo our first port of call, it was my 5th cruise and I'd never experienced swell like it as had many seasoned cruises who I got chatting with, luckily she had taken max dose stugeron and wore the pressure point wrist bands and as the cruise wore on she got a little more used to it and ended up really enjoying herself but it can be bad even on the larger ships in the fleet.

[john watson]

There are a number of factors which cause the Bay of Biscay to be a potentially rough seas area.  Firstly mid-Atlantic storms can come straight in over thousands of miles without any land obstructing access.  The Continental Shelf is shallow which has an effect on waves.  The coastline is like a giant semi-circular reflector.  There are a number of different currents which flow in different directions.  The Gulf Stream has an effect on the air causing local strong winds.  The following video shows Oriana in a bit of a storm. There are a lot of cruise ship in a storm videos on YouTube.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On_9bF14OAI

 

Regards John

Edited February 5, 2019 by john watson

[Selbourne]

It is a common myth that the bigger ships are more stable. Often the opposite is the case. Ships such as Oriana and Aurora have more ‘liner’ like characteristics and cleave their way through the water. The larger, more flat bottomed ships, don’t do this as well and the high sided ‘block of flats’ designs act as a giant sail and cause more movement from wind, which can cause a corkscrew motion. We have been on all the ships and experienced rough seas on most of them. The only time we ever felt scared was on Azura - and it was in the Med! By contrast, we have been on Aurora in force 11 and never felt nervous once. 

[terrierjohn]

11 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

It is a common myth that the bigger ships are more stable. Often the opposite is the case. Ships such as Oriana and Aurora have more ‘liner’ like characteristics and cleave their way through the water. The larger, more flat bottomed ships, don’t do this as well and the high sided ‘block of flats’ designs act as a giant sail and cause more movement from wind, which can cause a corkscrew motion. We have been on all the ships and experienced rough seas on most of them. The only time we ever felt scared was on Azura - and it was in the Med! By contrast, we have been on Aurora in force 11 and never felt nervous once. 

Oriana and Aurora, in fact all the P&O fleet are flat bottomed with fairly shallow draft, they only look more liner like because of their tiered aft decks. So in fact all would be equally affected by rough seas, however as Selbourne says the bigger ones with more and higher decks are more susceptible to side winds which can make them heel over quite alarmingly, so it is usually high winds that lead to the most uncomfortable experiences.

[john watson]

I understand that modern design ships can take on water in ballast tanks a bit like how submarines work but on a minor scale.  This makes them sail deeper in the water and heavier.  This would have an effect on fuel consumption.  With storms and rough seas the captain can change course to avoid major storms.  On a transatlantic there is much more scope for deviation. Heading straight into the waves, heaving to can be helpful.  Slowing down will make thing less rocky.  In the final analysis sailing from Vigo to Southampton is a bit restricted.

 

Regards John

[grapau27]

On 2/4/2019 at 9:04 PM, sidekick180 said:

Probably a silly question, but just trying to get some input from seasoned cruisers.

I keep hearing the same quote from lots of people that the 'BoB is notorious for being rough'. Is this factual or just that some have had a bad time crossing it? I can't believe that it is ALWAYS rough.

I would love to hear from those that have crossed BOB when it has been really calm. We will be on a cruise on Azura from 4th to 11th May and will be going through the Bay there and back. It wont bother me if it's a bit wobbly, but I am trying to convince my other half that we might be lucky and get a calm crossing. She didn't enjoy the movement much last year on Ventura, even though I thought the sea was really calm.

She is obviously much more sensitive to sea sickness than me.

We have crossed the BOB many times with very little movement.

There was only 1 really bad time in a force 11 wind  and we missed la Coruna on Oceana.

There are good seasickness tablets or bands you can buy if you are concerned about movement.

[Vampire Parrot]

The Bay of Biscay (sometimes known to sailors as the "Bag of Biscuits", aka BOB) is like much of the Atlantic Ocean; predicting what it's actually going to be like two weeks ahead is impossible.

 

I've crossed the Atlantic many times and sailed through the BoB many times. Summer or Winter, both can be as rough as a hedgehogs bristles rubbed the wrong way, or as smooth as a politician's lies. But never have I been worried or felt ill - if the forecast is for rough seas then I'll take whatever anti-seasickness meds I've got and I know I'll be fine. I actually quite like the passage through the BoB; there are often many other ships of various types and classes making the same passage that I like to watch through my binoculars, and usually quite a lot of seabirds of various species as well.

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Vampire Parrot

[Hill4963]

Hi we just returned 1st feb from 28 nts caribbean cruise on ventura on the 31st jan about 8.30am 50 knot starboard side winds

suddenly changed to 78 knot port side winds coming into the english channel the vessel listed violently over and you could hear

cups and glasses falling on the floor, the captain in all fairness came over the pa system in about 2mins and told us what had 

happened and where in the process of filling tanks up on the opposite side to upright the ship was a bit scary.Our room service

guy leverson ran out the cabin next door into the hallway and said he had never experienced that before and hes been doing

it for 15 years as we carried on through the storm it nearly done it again we where on c deck it felt like i could put my hand over the balcony and touch the sea it was very very weird oh well onwards and upwards cant get any worst can it ?

Edited February 5, 2019 by Hill4963

[john watson]

The best, or is it the worst video relating to cruise ships in bad weather on YouTube has got to be "Pacific Sun Cruise Ship Runs Into Rough Seas" do not allow people who have never cruised to watch this.  A girl is knocked unconscious at 1.00 due to the ship's movement.

 

Regards John

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, Hill4963 said:

Hi we just returned 1st feb from 28 nts caribbean cruise on ventura on the 31st jan about 8.30am 50 knot starboard side winds

suddenly changed to 78 knot port side winds coming into the english channel the vessel listed violently over and you could hear

cups and glasses falling on the floor, the captain in all fairness came over the pa system in about 2mins and told us what had 

happened and where in the process of filling tanks up on the opposite side to upright the ship was a bit scary.Our room service

guy leverson ran out the cabin next door into the hallway and said he had never experienced that before and hes been doing

it for 15 years as we carried on through the storm it nearly done it again we where on c deck it felt like i could put my hand over the balcony and touch the sea it was very very weird oh well onwards and upwards cant get any worst can it ?

We were on the same cruise and on starboard side C Deck as well, I was in bed at the time and leapt up to grab the bottles on the dressing table as they started to slide  to ensure they didn't fall off, then as I opened the curtain the sight of the sea so close was a little concerning.  Fortunately a sudden change of gale force wind direction is not a regular occurrence.

[SausPud]

Went through the BoB in July and it was so calm that we got to Gibraltar 12 hours early.

I have seen it rough and calm. Just like the North Sea should always be rough and I've seen it calm like a pond.

[devonboy51]

Hi,

Up until I retired three years ago I worked at sea for 46 years, the final 7 years of which I was on a car carrier running back and fore from northern Spain to the Bristol Channel. We crossed Biscay twice every five days, week in week out, all year round and every single crossing was different. Weather conditions varied on each occasion. Some winters January could be flat calm every day, and some summers you could catch windy and bumpy days just like in the winter. One bad winter storm saw us heading slowly towards America for two days before we could turn towards Spain due to the height of the swells and the strength of the wind.

In essence you pays your money and takes your chance. There's no way of guaranteeing a flat calm passage. All you can say is that in summer you stand less chance of a bumpy crossing than you would in the winter.

[galeforce9]

1 hour ago, devonboy51 said:

Hi,

Up until I retired three years ago I worked at sea for 46 years, the final 7 years of which I was on a car carrier running back and fore from northern Spain to the Bristol Channel. We crossed Biscay twice every five days, week in week out, all year round and every single crossing was different. Weather conditions varied on each occasion. Some winters January could be flat calm every day, and some summers you could catch windy and bumpy days just like in the winter. One bad winter storm saw us heading slowly towards America for two days before we could turn towards Spain due to the height of the swells and the strength of the wind.

In essence you pays your money and takes your chance. There's no way of guaranteeing a flat calm passage. All you can say is that in summer you stand less chance of a bumpy crossing than you would in the winter.

Very useful voice of experience. 

[sidekick180]

Thank you everyone for your very valuable input. Obviously it will be what it will be. Hopefully calm both ways, but if not, there is always the bar. I will just have to make sure the other half gets so drunk that she thinks it's just the effects of the alcohol and not the ships movement.

[Slugsta]

I have crossed the BoB a few times and it has varied from pretty rough (on Azura, many people were sea-sick and the Captain's gala evening was postponed) to very calm (also on Azura, return leg of same trip).

 

However, I have also been ill crossing the English Channel.

 

I am very prone to seasickness so use medication in advance. Your partner might want to have something with her to take if needed.