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Hazard spot

Strait of Gibraltar: Strong current and cross seas

Strait of Gibraltar: Inflowing Atlantic water meets easterly or westerly wind and builds a steep cross sea within a mile. Against the current some motorboats barely make headway.

Cause
Strong current and cross seas
Main season
all year
Position
35° 54,0' N 005° 36,0' W
Strong current and cross seas · all year

On the map

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Strait of Gibraltar: how the place works

A permanent surface inflow runs east through the narrows, with an outflow beneath it running west. When an easterly stands against the current, a steep cross sea builds within a short time that has little to do with the actual wind strength. Add the ferry traffic between Europe and Africa and the commercial shipping running east and west.

Strait of Gibraltar: what breaks there

The passage is short, and that is exactly why it gets underestimated. What breaks here breaks from slamming: fittings, steering gear, the contents of the fridge, electronics. Collisions mostly happen while crossing the separation schemes under time pressure.

Strait of Gibraltar: what this means for your policy

For many policies Gibraltar is the boundary between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, that is, between two cruising range steps. Passing through can mean leaving the insured area in the middle of the passage. Settle that beforehand, not afterwards.

Read this in full: What has to be inspected afterwards

Cruising range

In the calculator this spot falls under + Mediterranean

Calculate a premium for this cruising range

Nearby

And what applies right now?

This page shows what always holds here; live official warnings are on the warning map.

Open the warning map
An owner in yellow foul-weather gear makes fast a second mooring line as storm clouds gather

Storm on the way

Lines doubled, head clear.

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