Planning a trip from Shepperton to Isle of Wight

[Lucas Gan]

I am thinking to have a boat trip from Shepperton to the Isle of Wight next season. Does anyone ever do that from Thame to the Isle of Wight? Any advice? Thanks

 

[Portland Billy]

We did from Windsor to the Solent a couple of years ago.
Teddington to Ramsgate then on to Eastbourne and a final leg to Portsmouth.
Not too challenging and nice short hops.
Came back without stop at Eastbourne but longer day as slower to conserve fuel.
Spent about a month in the Solent. Great visit, but used loads of diesel !

 

[oldgit]

Weather .
Boat reliability.
Abilty to navigate.
Everything else is just fluff.

Would suggest a less ambitious trip or two to check out the endurance limits of both skipper and boat.
Perhaps St Kats and Burnham first.

 

[Fjord John]

I’d like to do that trip, or to Norfolk Broads when I take another sabbatical. not sure which of the two to plan for yet…

 

[Mark26]

What sort of boat do you have Fyord John?
What would be your normal cruising speed?

I ask because I’d like to do something similar, but mine is a single engined Dutch steel cruiser with a cruising speed of 6 knots.

Although I keep spares on board and am confident I can get it going again should the engine let me down, barring any major malfunction which is rare, I am still reluctant to go alone. Another boat within VHF shouting distance for backup would be ideal.

 

[Dave1966]

Old Git has the best advice. The first proper trip I did was Shepperton to Burnham. I did it one go. There are a few new things you need to overcome but once’s you’ve done it it’ll set you up for most things

 

[Mark26]

Yes, I agree.

 

[Fjord John]

Hi Mark, the first and only time I went to sea I had a Linssen 32, she cruised at around 8knots, my new (to me) Westwood will cruise at 10 to 12 knots. My first trip, planned with the great input of this forum was Thames to Crouch. I loved it and an now planning my next trip, to the Blackwater. My tops tips are: carefully plan your route in advance, avoid a beam on sea if possible, work with the tides, do not moor at greenwich yacht station overnight (this was a bit of advice from OG I foolishly ignored), consider stopping at Queenborough (I took this advice from OG!, and loved our night there), make sure your engine is recently serviced and in tip top order, do a tidal Thames trip before the sea trip if you haven’t already (eg to St kats and back) to build experience, do your research and consider advice wisely, though not essential it’s nice to take someone with some experience with you on your first trip (I took my Dad).

I’m also at Penton so happy to chat it through sometime, though don’t think we could cruise together due to the difference in speed.

What sort of boat do you have Fyord John?
What would be your normal cruising speed?

I ask because I’d like to do something similar, but mine is a single engined Dutch steel cruiser with a cruising speed of 6 knots.

Although I keep spares on board and am confident I can get it going again should the engine let me down, barring any major malfunction which is rare, I am still reluctant to go alone. Another boat within VHF shouting distance for backup would be ideal.

 

[Lucas Gan]

Very good advice ?

 

[Mark26]

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

I have been to St Kats and the Medway before, but not ventured further, mainly because my wife declared that she didn’t enjoy it and would rather stay on the non-tidal river.

Which is why when we brought the current boat, we decided we would stay on the non-tidal river and I opted for a single engine. But alas, four years later, and having done Teddington to Oxford repeatedly - four times this year plus countless other shorter trips, I’m chomping at the bit to do something else. I’ve logged 210 engine hours on the non tidal Thames this year, about 50% of that was single handed.

My wife’s declaration that she doesn’t want to go tidal rather leaves me single handed if I want to go to the salty bit. That’s ok but not the ideal. I’ve two grown-up daughters who are busy working, and friends who like to go out on a day trip but nothing more.

Marine navigation is a great interest of mine, unfortunately I remain an arm-chair navigator. ?

Oh well. Boat Safety on Wednesday, then back to out to annoy the lock keepers ?

 

[Chris_d]

Have done this trip a few times now, here us an old post of one trip
Thames to Poole
Its fairly straight forward but I wouldn't recommend a 6knt cruising speed, you need some speed to beat the weather and tides. Some of the coast is a bit boring off dungeness etc..

 

[Lucas Gan]

Very good post.

My current boat is a 42 feet Flybridge with a pair of engines total power of 612hp. I think that trip will need a lot of fuel. I have to plan the speed carefully to save some fuel then.

 

[Momac]

Very good post.

My current boat is a 42 feet Flybridge with a pair of engines total power of 612hp. I think that trip will need a lot of fuel. I have to plan the speed carefully to save some fuel then.

Have the budget available to cruise at a speed that suits the boat. As an example going too slow like 18kts doesn't make sense if the boat is more economical at 24 kts.
If you don't know what that speed is for your boat a test run as suggested makes sense - to test reliability as much as anything else . I always make such a tidal in May in preparation for our main holiday in July (but not on your river).

 

[Chris_d]

Very good post.

My current boat is a 42 feet Flybridge with a pair of engines total power of 612hp. I think that trip will need a lot of fuel. I have to plan the speed carefully to save some fuel then.

Yes going to cost a bit in fuel, probably a grand give or take, so probably cheaper by truck but wheres the fun in that, use it while you still can

 

[Portland Billy]

I agree with Chris d.
If we worried about fuel costs most of us wouldn't venture beyond Teddington.
We cruise at twenty knots where possible and have done the East Coast (and Broads) several times , crossed to France and cruised the South coast and Siolent.
So long as your Nav skils are up to scratch - go for it!!

 

[ashtead]

Don’t forget to look up the trip of A Trader52 on this forum before yo go .

 

[Lucas Gan]

What is A Trader52?

 

[ashtead]

Might be a trader 535 called independence -around the 250k mark so quite reasonable price/size . I think trader motor yachts went bust but maybe the brand resurfaced.

 

[st599]

Have done this trip a few times now, here us an old post of one trip
Thames to Poole
Its fairly straight forward but I wouldn't recommend a 6knt cruising speed, you need some speed to beat the weather and tides. Some of the coast is a bit boring off dungeness etc..

I've done it a few times in a 6kt yacht - great fun, but you need to get your timing right to take the tide and pass all the tidal gates. You can marina hop, or take in some wonderful harbours if you can take the ground.

Be aware though you may be weather bound for a few days en route. (55kts in the Channel clawing off Dungeness is interesting but not for everybody).

 

[Mark26]

Absolutely you can do it slowly. One just has to use the tides not punch them. It improves ones navigation skills.

“The sailing brothers” around the uk series on Utube shows a different perspective.