Sailors cruising the Atlantic Iberian peninsula, in particular Andalucia, should be aware of a silting problem affecting many harbours along this coast, following reports of serious injury to a crew member of a yacht which grounded on entry to Barbate.

Published 3 years ago, updated 2 years ago

Source: RCCPF

According to a report from the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation (RCCPF), a crew member suffered serious injury when a yacht grounded sharply on the final approach to Barbate marina.

“The sand bank encountered is only a metre or two west of the line between the last port hand buoy (No4) and the eastern tip of the anti-swell boom,”  said Mr Henry Buchanan who is the author of the RCCPF’s Atlantic, Spain and Portugal guide.

“This accident is another example of a silting problem that is affecting harbours along the coast of the Algarve and Atlantic Andalucia.”

Mr Buchanan reports that the Agencia Publica de Puertos de Andalucia (APPA) started publishing bathymetric (seabed topography) charts for Andalucian harbours in 2018 in an attempt to help yachtsmen navigate the shifting sandbanks that plague this coast.

“The APPA (Andalucia) website is excellent with information on all Andalucia ports and has been recently updated showing bathymetric information for all the harbours to aid mariners,” he said.

In the case of the Barbate incident, the following link provides the most recent information for this port – Port of Barbate – scroll down and click on “Batimetria Puerto de Barbate (Mayo 2021)”.

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Related Links:

Ports and Logistics Areas of Andalusia (APPA)

Atlantic, Spain and Portugal – The Indispensable Cruising Guide for this Varied Coastline (RCCPF) and supplements from Imray. 

All about the RCCPF.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.