A Different River

[shanemax]

I pride my self on knowing the Orwell like the back of my hand. I only draw 1.2 meter so on a rising tide I know all the short cuts across the drying parts. On Friday evening 150923 at 20.00 hours my engine gave up the ghost in Harwich Harbour. The harbour had a very confused sea and about 1 knot of wind. I was glad to get out of the harbour and into the Orwell. This is where the fun part began. It was pitch black and the mist was coming up. As I came down the river at approx 2 knots,( that was one knot of incoming tide and one knot of sails) I started going from flashing green to flashing green. At times the wind dropped to nothing and the head sail hung limp. The boat started travelling side ways and then there would be a flurry of wind enough wind to fill and shape the sail. What got me most was I did not know where I was.
I had my chart plotter on but there was absolutely nothing to recognise. Moored boats came out of the gloom at the last second. It was as if I had never been in this river before. It is so easy with local knowledge to take a river for granted but tonight I am the new boy. I got down to near the bridge and thought I am going to anchor for the night. when I woke in the morning to clear weather I was at least a quarter of a mile from where I thought I was. You will say, but he had his chart plotter, believe me after two hours of seeing only green flashing lights, and fear of a ship coming up the channel while I was just drifting and the game your mind plays when you are not fully in control I realised I must have been suffering from spatial disorientation. Yes I should have anchored at the top of the Orwell but I was suffering from "get me home itus"

 

[johnalison]

Great tale. I well remember coming home from Blankenberg and arriving too early for the tide at Pye End. By the time we had waited for enough water it was pitch dark. In spite of some of the buoys into the Backwaters being lit I found it remarkably challenging, considering that I had been going in and out of there for many years from our berth in Titchmarsh.

 

[fredrussell]

I don’t understand. You had your chartplotter on but didn’t know where you were? Isn’t that the main purpose of the chartplotter?

 

[shanemax]

You normally use your chart plotter in combination with your vision and recognisable points, like buoys, headlands, Martello towers, piers etc. One backs up the other. If you are in the dark and it is misty the chart plotter does not tell you where yachts are moored or if there is a trot of empty moorings. You actually hear the water passing the empty trot as it gurgles. you can only see as far as the dark and mist will let you. That night you could see flashing lights but not unlit boats until you were on them. You may see several green flashing lights in the distance and have to work out which one is the nearest, that is not always clear. If you put all your concentration on the chart plotter you will probably hit a boat or a post so you are all eyes and ears. The channel and strings of moored boats are not very far apart. I tried to come down the very edge of the channel but at Pin mill the boats and the channel are a few feet apart. When your boat, due to lack of wind is not doing what you want It to it is stressy. A night passage with a good engine, is a different story because you are fully in control. The current and lack of wind were taking me into the channel and then out of the channel and the thought of two white lights, one over the other appearing out of the confusion of the lights of Ipswich increased the pressure. In the end there were no ships. but when I had repaired it and went to move it the following night (Saturday)at one o'clock in the morning there was a bloody great dredger going up and down the Orwell all night long because I anchored and slept on the boat again. The only thing I can say is try it and see. Switch your engine off,, only have enough sail to hardly give you steerage way, make sure it is a following tide cos that will take you where you don't necessarily want to go and let me know how you get on.

 

[oldgit]

Well remember an incident in the Swale leaving the mooring in poor visibilty from KFBC and simply keeping the LWS shore line in view 10 or so meters away heading towards Queenborough and hopefully the better visibility and no shipping movements indicated by VTS announcements on ch 74.

Managed to successfully get under Kingsferry Bridge and continuing west.
At some point something distracted me and after few moments, temporarily unsure of my position, spotted the mud shoreline again and continued on.
Only to see Kingsferry Bridge loom into view again.
Somehow had done a complete 180 and had not checked the compass heading .
The memory remains long after the event and can sometimes be helpful in deciding wether to get underway or remain exactly where you are under similar conditions ?

 

[shanemax]

Well remember an incident in the Swale leaving the mooring in poor visibilty from KFBC and simply keeping the LWS shore line in view 10 or so meters away heading towards Queenborough and hopefully the better visibility and no shipping movements indicated by VTS announcements on ch 74.

Managed to successfully get under Kingsferry Bridge and continuing west.
At some point something distracted me and after few moments, temporarily unsure of my position, spotted the mud shoreline again and continued on.
Only to see Kingsferry Bridge loom into view again.
Somehow had done a complete 180 and had not checked the compass heading .
The memory remains long after the event and can sometimes be helpful in deciding wether to get underway or remain exactly where you are under similar conditions ?

You have hit the nail on the head, one moment of distraction or lack of attention or your attention being transferred to "what is that something over there" or " is that a boat at anchor with no anchor light" plus checking the depth sounder and the mind that keeps telling you " I wish I was not here" and "I could kill for a cup of coffee " etc etc and also the" what if something comes out of that gloom." is enough to create a bit of confusion. It is a well know fact in the aircraft industry that proffessional pilots with all their training on instrument flying, can get spatial disorientation and have on many occasions crashed their planes even though the instruments were all working correctly. Human beings do not have the best night vision and switching on a powerful spotlight (which I had) made things even worse because the bright light truly screwed up my night vision.