Dinghies in the BC

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site
1° How often do you see them?

2° Do they have different solutions for common problems?

3° If starting from Bristol with favorable conditions, how far can the cruise out of the channel before the tides turn?
 

Sneds

Well-known member
Joined
26 Feb 2007
Messages
4,890
Location
Bristol
Visit site
1) Pandemic times excluded, most sunny days off Clevedon beach

2) Uh?

3) You wouldn't be able to get out of Bristol, down the river to Avonmouth and back, on the same tide due to the limited tidal access (3hrs prior to HW and not after)
 

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site

I understand, the questions are alittle silly. Allow me to be more concrete.

If you were tasked with sailing a wayfarer out into the sea from the mouth of Avon river, how would you go about it? What kind of novel problems would you have to deal with?
 

Gwylan

Well-known member
Joined
31 May 2007
Messages
3,651
Location
Moved ashore
Visit site
Not sure about dinghies and the BC.

Once raced 420's off Weston sur mud.
As visitors we didn't know much about local custom and practice - like between races, sails came down and people produced Thermos and sandwiches etc.
We had nothing ,bobbed around and I got sea sick.

That and a New Year's Day at Uskmouth, equally challenging, but that could have been my hangover.
 

Snoopy463

Well-known member
Joined
28 Sep 2005
Messages
1,957
Location
Bristol Channel - The sunny side
Visit site
My dinghy sailing in BC is limited to racing Enterprises in open meetings in the 70’s when there was plenty of safety cover. If you’re on your own, basically you go where the tide takes you, especially at half tide. The Wayfarer is a capable dinghy in experienced hands and has made any epic journeys over open waters, but it depends upon the experience and capabilities of the helm and crew.

How far do you want to go “out to sea from the mouth of the Avon”?
 

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site
How far do you want to go “out to sea from the mouth of the Avon”?

For the purposes of this thread lets say the Isles of Scilly.
I reckon it would be a matter of skipping along the coast when the tides and winds give permission. It looks like alot of waiting in ports. But which ports? I have no clue. Is there any safety between said ports? I have absolutely no idea yet.

I agree about the Wayfarer. Frank and Margaret Dye, Steve Clark-Lens, Will Hodshon and Rich Mitchell have proven it's awesomeness. I wonder who I've left off the list out of ignorance.
 

oldmanofthehills

Well-known member
Joined
13 Aug 2010
Messages
4,703
Location
Bristol / Cornwall
Visit site
Well if on the ebb you might reasonable get to Cardiff if the winds are right or perhaps Clevedon (but you wont get ashore at Lw at Clevedon). If on the rise you might get to St Pierre Pill and its staging. There are few places to stop so for most passages down along or up along you must be willing and able to anchor and await for a tide in the required direction. Tides of 3kts are common, and 6kt not unkown in places.

With the right stops you might go right down to Cornwall or far West Wales. Get it wrong you might go uncontrollably to the same places several days later. Arduous enough in a cruiser but rather exposed in a dinghy

However the Bristol Channel is not the place to just suck it and see. There are no safe havens except Cardiff and Swansea though a dinghy might get ashore on the beach beyond Foreland on the English side or beyond Swansea on the Welsh side. (Too much mud to get ashore in upper channel except near high tide)

Suggest you join Portishead Yacht and Sailing Club on on Sugar Loaf beach down by the Nore, or even Shirehampton Sailing Club though they mostly bob up and down the Avon
 
Last edited:

lw395

Well-known member
Joined
16 May 2007
Messages
41,951
Visit site
A) I wouldn't start from there.
B) I wouldn't choose a Wayfarer.
Personally, I'd look for something lighter and faster.
Maybe even a Dart catamaran.
When I was interested in cruising dinghies, as well as being too heavy for two people to drag up a beach, a sound Wayfarer cost proper money, so you wouldn't want to drag it up a beach.
If you have to ask, it really suggests you could usefully start on a less hostile coast.
 

Snoopy463

Well-known member
Joined
28 Sep 2005
Messages
1,957
Location
Bristol Channel - The sunny side
Visit site
Sailing a dinghy however well designed and equipped in a tidal area such as the inner Bristol Channel is no cake walk. How much experience of handling a Wayfarer in tidal waters do you have? Not being negative but in wind over tide in an open boat can be tricky for novices.
 

Birdseye

Well-known member
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Messages
28,092
Location
s e wales
Visit site
For the purposes of this thread lets say the Isles of Scilly.
I reckon it would be a matter of skipping along the coast when the tides and winds give permission. It looks like alot of waiting in ports. But which ports? I have no clue. Is there any safety between said ports? I have absolutely no idea yet.

I agree about the Wayfarer. Frank and Margaret Dye, Steve Clark-Lens, Will Hodshon and Rich Mitchell have proven it's awesomeness. I wonder who I've left off the list out of ignorance.
Well one of our BC sailors crossed the English channel several times in hs wayfarer in stiff breezes at that, and in my times sailing the BC I have often see dinghies from Lydney out in Combe or Porlock or Padstow, though I can never understand how they cope with the sleeping arangements etc. If I remember they mostly were Drascombe boats with a Wayfarer of two.
 

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site
Sailing a dinghy however well designed and equipped in a tidal area such as the inner Bristol Channel is no cake walk. How much experience of handling a Wayfarer in tidal waters do you have? Not being negative but in wind over tide in an open boat can be tricky for novices.

I don't think any amount of experience makes you qualified to sail the BC if you've never sailed there before. I was barely 7 years old when my parents threw me into an Opti and told me to go win. Since then I've done plenty of foolish things on boats but I don't consider myself a competent sailor at all. I've never sailed a Wayfarer, just using it as an example for this thread.


With the right stops you might go right down to Cornwall or far West Wales. Get it wrong you might go uncontrollably to the same places several days later. Arduous enough in a cruiser but rather exposed in a dinghy

However the Bristol Channel is not the place to just suck it and see.

Couldn't agree more. Luckily I'm blessed with options and could just as likely pop out at the river Thames. You folks and the BC are fascinating though. I just can't help but shake a stick at you all and see what you have to say. I love it.
 

oldmanofthehills

Well-known member
Joined
13 Aug 2010
Messages
4,703
Location
Bristol / Cornwall
Visit site
I don't think any amount of experience makes you qualified to sail the BC if you've never sailed there before. I was barely 7 years old when my parents threw me into an Opti and told me to go win. Since then I've done plenty of foolish things on boats but I don't consider myself a competent sailor at all. I've never sailed a Wayfarer, just using it as an example for this thread.

Couldn't agree more. Luckily I'm blessed with options and could just as likely pop out at the river Thames. You folks and the BC are fascinating though. I just can't help but shake a stick at you all and see what you have to say. I love it.

And we thought you wanted a serious answer as you were thinking of dinghy sailing down this neck of the woods. We could advise further but see little point in the circumstances. Its quite possible to learn the BC but hard in small open boat with most journeys down along involving 13 hours there and back, but maybe you should stick to the Upper Thames
 

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site
I apologize. I think you’ll appreciate alittle more information.

First off I’m from Mobile Bay. Mobile Alabama. Mentions of stick shaking are friendly ones.

Second,I’m blessed with options because project of mine is in its infancy. All I know for sure is I’m going to buy a boat in England and sail her home to Bordeaux.

In my opinion, you folks are an utmost authority on sailing the BC, while I’ve never seen the English coast.
It would be downright ridiculous to not talk to you first. Perhaps I’m going about it all wrong, but believe me, my intentions here are sincere.
 

jwilson

Well-known member
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Messages
6,003
Visit site
From Portishead have many times taken various dinghies way past Cardiff downchannel and back, usually with a lunch stop at Barry or Weston (fish and chips) or on one of the Holms (sandwiches and Thermos). From Weston have been to Minehead and back on one tide cycle. You can go a long way in 10-12 hours, using the tide, but you really do have to be very competent.
 

oldmanofthehills

Well-known member
Joined
13 Aug 2010
Messages
4,703
Location
Bristol / Cornwall
Visit site
If you wanted to sail from UK to Bordeaux you would be perverse to start by choice from the Bristol Channel down the most hostile coast in southern UK and then with minimum open ocean passage of 130 miles to get to Brittany.

On the south coast at the eastern end of the English Channel its maybe 25 miles to France and dinghies have made that trip. Mind you its still a long way to Bordeaux and passing through the Chanel de Four and Chanel de Siene and its turbulent tidal races in a dingy is not something I would fancy. A large open boat such a a whaler might be Ok but better still a yacht
 

BerylBite

New member
Joined
7 Apr 2020
Messages
8
Visit site
If you wanted to sail from UK to Bordeaux you would be perverse to start by choice from the Bristol Channel down the most hostile coast in southern UK and then with minimum open ocean passage of 130 miles to get to Brittany.
I have no idea where the start will be, but I won't be praying for the BC. If the boat I end up with turns out to be be inland, then I'd scuttle down the canals eastward and cross to Calais. Good to know that people enjoy a good dinghy outing though. What excitement it must be. As long as good seamanship can surmount the troubles of the channel, I'll be interested. A sea passage to Brest is a stupid idea for another forum!

Thank you all for your input.
 

Graham_Wright

Well-known member
Joined
30 Dec 2002
Messages
7,710
Location
Gloucestershire
www.mastaclimba.com
For the purposes of this thread lets say the Isles of Scilly.
I reckon it would be a matter of skipping along the coast when the tides and winds give permission. It looks like alot of waiting in ports. But which ports? I have no clue. Is there any safety between said ports? I have absolutely no idea yet.

I agree about the Wayfarer. Frank and Margaret Dye, Steve Clark-Lens, Will Hodshon and Rich Mitchell have proven it's awesomeness. I wonder who I've left off the list out of ignorance.
Jimmy Hewitt!
 
Top