An eventful journey from Southampton to Chatham

[capnsensible]

... yourself included.

The only thing your showing I’m afraid is poor judgement.


your attitude is quite frankly is dreadful. How dare you put people down by ability and experiance. You’d do well to re educate yourself before you go out with people if your attitude is anything like your showing here.

Steveeasy

Stick, wrong end, firmly grasped.

 

[capnsensible]

What would anchoring at Rye have been like?

I delivered a yacht once, lovely old wooden vessel, from there to Gosport. The tide rushes in very quickly and quite a lot of it, has a brief look around and hurries back out again. I wouldn't like to anchor there.

 

[[194497]]

I'm not going to comment on the sleep issue apart from to marvel yet again at how angry people can get about brief snippets of text posted online by unknown and anonymous strangers.
But re the fuel, to my mind running out of fuel is inconvenient but not the worst thing that can happen to a well-found sailing yacht, and as such, if it happens, I don't think it marks you down as an appalling sailor. Engine failures happen and we ought to be able to take them in our stride without too much drama, whatever the cause.

 

[B27]

I delivered a yacht once, lovely old wooden vessel, from there to Gosport. The tide rushes in very quickly and quite a lot of it, has a brief look around and hurries back out again. I wouldn't like to anchor there.

There's a marked anchorage on the chart outside Rye, looks like some shelter from the W and winds were light.
I wasn't suggesting going up the River Rother.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Anchoring inshore along the coast to the West of Dungeness is tricky in a S Westerly and far safer if you go East of the headland. However the OP said that the wind backed to SE and he ended up reefing later. Not such a good anchorage then especially with no engine available. I assume all that was forecasted?
I don't do singlehanded passages so I probably have a different mindset but I think I would have carried on to Dover and enter the outer harbour under sail which is easily doable as long as the SW/SE wind holds. Drop the anchor there and see about getting a can of fuel. OP doesnt say if he has a tender but I'd think something could be sorted.

 

[capnsensible]

Anchoring inshore along the coast to the West of Dungeness is tricky in a S Westerly and far safer if you go East of the headland. However the OP said that the wind backed to SE and he ended up reefing later. Not such a good anchorage then especially with no engine available. I assume all that was forecasted?
I don't do singlehanded passages so I probably have a different mindset but I think I would have carried on to Dover and enter the outer harbour under sail which is easily doable as long as the SW/SE wind holds. Drop the anchor there and see about getting a can of fuel. OP doesnt say if he has a tender but I'd think something could be sorted.

Wouldn't the ferry traffic there be a pr9blem if you are sailing in light wind?

The op says he was in contact with Dover Harbour Service?

 

[Pye_End]

Wouldn't the ferry traffic there be a pr9blem if you are sailing in light wind?

The op says he was in contact with Dover Harbour Service?

Different entrance.

 

[B27]

I'm not going to comment on the sleep issue apart from to marvel yet again at how angry people can get about brief snippets of text posted online by unknown and anonymous strangers.
But re the fuel, to my mind running out of fuel is inconvenient but not the worst thing that can happen to a well-found sailing yacht, and as such, if it happens, I don't think it marks you down as an appalling sailor. Engine failures happen and we ought to be able to take them in our stride without too much drama, whatever the cause.

Engine failure can happen.
If you're going to set yourself an ambitious passage plan with few alternatives and limit yourself by being alone, then knowing you've got adequate fuel ought to be a priority.
Running out of fuel with miles of sea room is no big deal if you can sail somewhere.
Running out of fuel in light air while trying to get past Dover would not be my choice.
Easy to look like a WAFI, except with little Wind Assistance...
Running out of fuel at a key moment in many places like the entrance to a harbour or marina runs a pretty big risk of doing damage to your own boat or someone else's.
There seem to be a lot of apparently quite experienced older sailors with some very odd ideas or a poor grasp of some basics. Like not understanding that fuel use per hour can vary a lot!

 

[Biggles Wader]

Wouldn't the ferry traffic there be a pr9blem if you are sailing in light wind?

The op says he was in contact with Dover Harbour Service?

Dover port control is your friend and will give clear instructions on how and when to enter. Approaching from the West early in the morning you would be very unlucky to tangle with ferry traffic.

 

[penberth3]

....Plan B’s are by definition inferior to plan A’s. .....

I don't agree. Let's say Plan A is deliberately ambitious or challenging. Then your Plan B should be an easier option, an escape route. That doesn't mean it's inferior.

 

[Concerto]

Anchoring inshore along the coast to the West of Dungeness is tricky in a S Westerly and far safer if you go East of the headland. However the OP said that the wind backed to SE and he ended up reefing later. Not such a good anchorage then especially with no engine available. I assume all that was forecasted?
I don't do singlehanded passages so I probably have a different mindset but I think I would have carried on to Dover and enter the outer harbour under sail which is easily doable as long as the SW/SE wind holds. Drop the anchor there and see about getting a can of fuel. OP doesnt say if he has a tender but I'd think something could be sorted.

No one is allowed to enter Dover harbour under sail, so this would never be an option.

 

[capnsensible]

Engine failure can happen.
If you're going to set yourself an ambitious passage plan with few alternatives and limit yourself by being alone, then knowing you've got adequate fuel ought to be a priority.
Running out of fuel with miles of sea room is no big deal if you can sail somewhere.
Running out of fuel in light air while trying to get past Dover would not be my choice.
Easy to look like a WAFI, except with little Wind Assistance...
Running out of fuel at a key moment in many places like the entrance to a harbour or marina runs a pretty big risk of doing damage to your own boat or someone else's.
There seem to be a lot of apparently quite experienced older sailors with some very odd ideas or a poor grasp of some basics. Like not understanding that fuel use per hour can vary a lot!

Banging on about fuel is door shut, horse bolted. It happened. What the op did next is what some people seem so anxious about. I take the view that the op got on with it, swallowed thr grr and successfully made the passage.

My gripe here has always been those hopping up and down saying its all wrong, how it's gonna cause insurance premiums to rocket and even one poor bloke who 'how dare youd' me for suggesting sailing with calmer non exploding people!

So be it.

 

[capnsensible]

Perhaps we should have a 'have you run out of fuel' thread.......

 

[Black Sheep]

I make no judgement on the OP's course of action - I wasn't there.

I don't know whether I would have done the same or different - after all, I wasn't there.

But I respect the judgement of an experienced skipper who, on the spot, made the decisions. As I say, I don't judge whether the decisions were the very best that could have been made (after all, I don't know all the circumstances; I wasn't there), but I respect the skipper's place to make those decisions. They don't sound totally unreasonable given my knowledge of the area and my understanding of the account - but of course I wasn't there.

His error of judgement was in giving an account on this forum. Long ago I learnt that this isn't a forgiving place. Sometimes it feels like a baying pack of wolves circling what they hope is a weakened prey animal.

There seems to be a humanity gap.

 

[B27]

Banging on about fuel is door shut, horse bolted. It happened. What the op did next is what some people seem so anxious about. I take the view that the op got on with it, swallowed thr grr and successfully made the passage.

My gripe here has always been those hopping up and down saying its all wrong, how it's gonna cause insurance premiums to rocket and even one poor bloke who 'how dare youd' me suggesting sailing with calmer non exploding people!

So be it.

The whole thing is done and dusted, nobody died, nobody made it into the papers.

There is a wider point about planning and preparing to go to sea.
Actually doing the stuff they preach to the dazed kippers.

But yeah, he tells us he's a great yachtsman because he's sailed around some rock near Scotland.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I make no judgement on the OP's course of action - I wasn't there.

I don't know whether I would have done the same or different - after all, I wasn't there.

But I respect the judgement of an experienced skipper who, on the spot, made the decisions. As I say, I don't judge whether the decisions were the very best that could have been made (after all, I don't know all the circumstances; I wasn't there), but I respect the skipper's place to make those decisions. They don't sound totally unreasonable given my knowledge of the area and my understanding of the account - but of course I wasn't there.

His error of judgement was in giving an account on this forum. Long ago I learnt that this isn't a forgiving place. Sometimes it feels like a baying pack of wolves circling what they hope is a weakened prey animal.

There seems to be a humanity gap.

I think it's great when people share their experiences - a great way to learn.

We need to be able to discuss and critique* various plans without becoming vicious & personal.

Of course, by critique I mean praise, comment and/or suggest alternatives - not just tell people they're wrong!

 

[capnsensible]

The whole thing is done and dusted, nobody died, nobody made it into the papers.

There is a wider point about planning and preparing to go to sea.
Actually doing the stuff they preach to the dazed kippers.

But yeah, he tells us he's a great yachtsman because he's sailed around some rock near Scotland.

What is is a dazed kipper and what is its relevance?

 

[Whaup367]

The whole thing is done and dusted, nobody died, nobody made it into the papers.

There is a wider point about planning and preparing to go to sea.
Actually doing the stuff they preach to the dazed kippers.

But yeah, he tells us he's a great yachtsman because he's sailed around some rock near Scotland.

I think quite a few on here have met him... I have, twice: 1st time at the boat show, where he was obviously knowledgeable, 2nd time in the outer hebrides, as he expertly reversed his boat single-handed onto a pontoon.
I watched some videos, too.
So, he doesn’t need to prove anything to me. Nor to many others.
You, however, I don't know much about. I daresay that's on me but...

 

[B27]

What is is a dazed kipper and what is its relevance?

Well, do you think it might mean someone who kips underway and get's dazed by banging into something?

 

[capnsensible]

Well, do you think it might mean someone who kips underway and get's dazed by banging into something?