The Alderney Race is a strait that runs between

Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...

and

Cap de la Hague Cap de la Hague is a cape at the tip of the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy, France. The La Hague area has precambrian granite and gneiss cliffs, several coves and small fields surrounded by hedges. France's oldest rocks are to be found on it ...

, a cape at the northwestern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. A strong current runs through the race north of the Passage de la Déroute, a treacherous passage separating the Cotentin from the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. The current is intermittent, varying with the tide, and can run up to about during equinoctial tides. The French call it ''Raz Blanchard''. In

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

French it is called ''L'Raz''.

Location

Channel Islands viewed from ISS in 2012, cropped

The Alderney Race is eight nautical miles across and located roughly between Alderney, in the

Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (french: Bailliage de Guernesey; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is an island country off the coast of France as one of the three Crown Dependencies. Separated from the Duchy of Normandy by and under the t ...

, and La Hague, France. It constitutes the northeastern limit of the

Gulf of Saint-Malo The Gulf of Saint-Malo is a part of the south-western English Channel between Brittany, Normandy, and the Channel Islands. Formed by subsidence and flooding of a continental zone of about 8 500 km2, it extends from the Bréhat archipelago in the ...

Sea conditions

When the wind and the race current flow in opposite directions, the sea becomes particularly chaotic: wave heights can reach four metres and have wavelengths smaller than 50 metres. The waves break with violence, thus making shipping conditions particularly dangerous. On the contrary, when the wind and the stream flow in the same direction, the sea becomes calm, provided that the tidal coefficient is not too great. The uneven seabed – both Alderney and La Hague lie in the Armorican Massif – makes the situation more complicated. Poor weather conditions can produce abundant wind-blown foam, making visibility poor. During good weather conditions, opposing wind and currents can cause breaking waves, especially at Banc de la Schôle and at Longis Bay in Alderney.

Hydrology

The power of the current comes from the narrowness of the strait and from the fact that there is a two-metre tidal height difference between Carteret and La Hague as well as between la Hague and

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

Tidal power

Because of the enormous potential it sees in tidal power, the French government plans to use tidal turbines to tap the energy of the Race.Tidal power
developpement-durable.gouv.fr, March 2013. see page 46.

Location

Sea conditions

Hydrology

Tidal power

References

See also