Looking for a different way to cross the English Channel from Dover? One that doesn’t involve queues, fluorescent lighting, sitting in your car on an underground train, and the sneaky suspicion that you’ve become self-loading cargo? Then SailLink’s small sailing catamaran service between Dover and Boulogne is it. I recently did the round trip solo, going out from Dover on a flat calm day, returning during a proper grey blustery surge, and loved every adventurous part of it. This is my review of this new ferry on the Dover Boulogne-sur-Mer cross-channel route.
Affiliate Disclosure
This post doesn’t actually contain affiliate links. If you book through them, I won’t earn a penny. They are my gift to you 😉
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
- Operator: SailLink is a small British start-up running scheduled sailing-catamaran crossings every few days in the summer. Visit their website here
- Vessel: Echoes is a purpose-built seagoing sailing catamaran, that can accommodate up to 12 passengers plus small crew
- Route: Dover Marina to Boulogne Marina, so well away from the busy ferry terminals, and more town centre to town centre
- Crossing time: advertised as 4–5 hours depending on wind and tide; mine ran from nearly 5 hours on the way to around 3 on the way back
- Crew: a captain and one crew member per sailing (sometimes with a little help from their family)
- Fare: one-way from £85 (book a return and you get a small discount)
- Bikes: welcome, £10 per bike, stowed and sheltered on board
- On board catering: there’s tea, coffee, water and light snacks, but no bar, no duty free, no restaurant (bring your own lunch if you feeling fancy)
- Border control: you’ll need passports, and immigration formalities are quick and efficient, and handled by your own personal mobile border agents who meet the boat as it docks
- Booking: direct via theSailLink website
Out: Dover to Boulogne, a sunny windless day on sailing ferry
I travelled by train down to Dover Priory from London early on the Thursday morning. Top tip: buy your ticket online in advance if you can. I rocked up to the station on the day and the only thing offered was an “anytime single” for £50. Ouch. The (mostly flat) walk from the station down to Dover Marina took about 20 minutes.
The sun was out, and the Channel had apparently decided to take the day off. There was barely a ripple, and not really much breeze. Was I even on the south coast??
The journey
Boarding was simple. Following the really accurate Google Maps’ geolocation details on the Saillink website, there was a banner, and down the private gangplank thingy to the pontoon I was met and greeted by name.
After a safety briefing and a lesson on the appropriate way to use nautical bondage gear (or “self inflating life vests and safety tethers” as they are more often referred to apparently) Echoes pushed off (or whatever boats do, not sure on the precise terms TBH) into the outer harbour, where we spliced the mainbrace (or something like that – the thing that happens when big sail goes up) and off we went.
Because the Channel refused to do what it normally does, we ended up having to motor for most of the crossing rather than travel under sail power, a small irony given the name of the company. But as we could hardly row there, and nobody seemed particularly keen to go out and push, everyone on board seemed totally unbothered. Unpredictability is part of the experience.
As we had a properly sunny summer day ahead of us, and the sea was flatter than a big wet pancake, most passengers to laze about on the front deck bit, or sit in under the canopy by the big steering wheels trying to spot dolphins and jellyfish (we saw both btw. So glad, because it did give the trip a sense of porpoise….).
The captain and his wife made up the crew that day, and there was none of the anonymity you get on a big ferry. We were a bunch of strangers strapped to a (mostly) open deck sailing boat for the best part of five hours, so light conversation just naturally happened. And it turns out that people who choose to sail a catamaran across the sea together are genuinely lovely people – specially the 92 year old gentleman who was taking his bike across for a 10-day cycling holiday around Normandy.
We arrived in Boulogne-sur-Mer and pulled up to the Prestige pontoon at Quai Gambetta where border control were already waiting to meet the boat. Everyone was processed in about 10 minutes. It took longer than that (and more people) to unbuckle myself from my life-vest/fetish gear.
No queue, no terminal, no forty-minute wait behind a coach party of screaming school children. None of that. I just stepped off the boat, and because I’d booked into the Hotel George, which it turns out was about 50 yards from where we docked, I was especially happy with myself. I celebrated with a bucket of moules later.
Back: Boulogne to Dover, considerably less windless
The return, a few days later, was a different experience entirely.
Gone was the sunny, village-pond glass seascape of the outbound trip. Today, the English Channel was gonna Channel and the sky was grey and blustery. The sea that was breaking over Boulogne’s harbour walls as we pushed back for take off (nope, still no idea of the correct terms) was a hint that the journey back to Dover was going to be a proper sail.
Everyone on board got wet at some point. Drenched in fact. There was spray coming over the bows, and waves were hitting the side of the boat (and on occasion, us too. I’m sure at one point I saw a jellyfish fly past). This was definitely not a day for some leisurely languid lounging about on deck, topping up the tans. This time we did the journey fully under sail, strapped onto something, and we felt every squally wave of the crossing.
It was exhilarating!
Although a couple of fellow passengers did suffer gastric distress, the crew handled this calmly and without fuss and no drama. It can happen to anyone crossing the channel – it’s the motion of the ocean and not the size of the boat that matters. Apparently.
We made it back in about three hours – nearly two hours quicker than the outbound trip. I felt entirely safe throughout, which is worth saying plainly: a rough Channel crossing on a 50-odd-foot catamaran sounds like something out of a late night fishing documentary. Andy, our skipper, had clearly done this type of crossing many times before, and knew exactly what he was doing.
The Verdict
SailLink clearly isn’t trying to be a faster alternative to more conventional cross-channel ferries or the Tunnel, and it shouldn’t be judged as one. What it offers instead is a crossing that’s actually part of the journey itself, rather than the queue you have to endure before you get to the good part. For a solo traveller like me, someone who likes to arrive somewhere and have the journey there be part of the experience, it’s a great addition to your holiday.
10 stars. Would recommend.
A few honest caveats before you book
- You can’t escape the weather, and it can be unpredictable
- Build slack into your onward plans either side – it’s a sailing trip after all, and will take the time it needs to take
- There’s a small cabin, but realistically there’s nowhere to retreat to if you don’t want to be outside for hours at a stretch.
- If you’re prone to seasickness, having a flat-sailing catamaran hull helps, but it won’t insulate you entirely, particularly in the undulating channel sea
Tips if you’re considering going by sailing ferry
- Dress for wind and spray regardless of the forecast. My calm outbound day was the exception, not the rule, and I got soaked to the skin on the way back.
- Bring your own snacky-snacks/sushi/Fortnum Hamper
- Bring your own seasickness remedy if you’re at all unsure. The crew are capable and really helpful, but the boat isn’t a floating medical facility
- Plan for more time than the advertised window sailing times. Our outbound calm-weather crossing was nearly twice as long as our Magellan Straits adjacent return
- If you’re cycling onward, the £10 bike fee and sheltered below-deck stowage make this a genuinely practical way to bring your bike across. And when you dock in Boulogne, you’re bike-holiday ready for Normandy