Anchoring around Clevedon Pier

[vodzurk]

Hey all,

We're in our first few trips out of Portishead, so haven't yet made it over to Cardiff.

The weather for sunday is looking reasonable, so am thinking of giving anchoring a try out. There's not much in the way of Mediterranean Coves, so am thinking Clevedon Pier could suffice for the eye candy.

With that in mind, can I get a quick sanity check that dropping anchor at any of the points marked on the image attached would seem reasonable? It'll be within 1 hour of high tide.

We'll only be hanging around for 15 mins or so, coming back on the same tide.

I'm concerned about the Clevedon Flats, but assume if we go no further SouthWest than the point marked as destination, that we'll be fine. Right?

Cheers in advance!

 

[steveej]

at HW you will have at least 12m of tide so you can probably park in the green bits.

do you have a long enough anchor rode - 5:1 scope if a mix of chain and warp, 3:1 if all chain (plus a bit extra for luck). There are very strong tidal streams here so it makes sense to go conservative and lay out a little extra.

Need to check wind direction and sea state as you do not want to be going close in here if it is a lee shore.

 

[vodzurk]

at HW you will have at least 12m of tide so you can probably park in the green bits.

do you have a long enough anchor rode - 5:1 scope if a mix of chain and warp, 3:1 if all chain (plus a bit extra for luck). There are very strong tidal streams here so it makes sense to go conservative and lay out a little extra.

Need to check wind direction and sea state as you do not want to be going close in here if it is a lee shore.

Thanks for your reply.

I was thinking after posting that the water is set for 10.7m at HW, so could go over the green bit (if not too close to shore). Might actually consider south of the pier, as it seems there's a yacht club there according to navionics (can't see on google earth though). Though that said, there'd be more people to point and laugh when it becomes apparent that we're clueless .

We've 50m rope, 6m chain, 5kg Bruce anchor. I'll have it pre-rigged with a sacrificial cable tie along the shaft to give us 2 leverage points if it snags. Might use it as an anchor-alarm test too

Good call on the potential for lee shore.

 

[bitbaltic]

Sunday is a ways away but the weather the last time I looked would be from the west or south-west, making this a lee shore. It would not normally be a great idea to anchor off a lee shore because anchoring is all about finding shelter and flat water to be comfortable. That said for 15 minutes you are not going to be that uncomfortable for long, but if e.g you can't get the anchor back up because it fouls on a shopping trolley or ford escort or whatever then you will be very uncomfortable until you cut it away.

Scope- wise you are on the 5m contour? With 10m water so 15m, at 3:1 you need 45m of chain out (5:1 for mostly rode) so your gear is under-spec for a long stay but as you say it's only 15 mins I'd probably be happy to lie to a house brick

Basically if intending to stay any real length of time you should look for much shallower water and much more shelter. But it all depends on the conditions of the day. If you are only stopping 15 mins almost anything that touches bottom will do, but otherwise what you have in mind iis not a normal anchoring situation really.

Edited to add: nw not in pub squinting at the piccy on an iphone I see its the 2m contour not 5m, so 12-13m water, >36m of chain for a conventional scope.

 

[Sneds]

We have an anchored south of the pier, actually in the bay off Clevedon beach, in the green bits
Just keep an eye on the depth of water
I'm always concerned that with a flooding tide I will not have enough rope and the boat gets pulled under
Happened here a few years ago
Try it for 15 mins as you said, practice makes perfect!

Cheers

 

[vodzurk]

Cheers guys!

We have sonar (fishfinder) so will only drop when we're ok with the clearance, probably aiming for ~7m.

Will probably poodle around for 5 mins, double checking that it's not a very localised depth prior to dropping, and that we've got enough distance between us and the shore to cater for drift/spin (including enough depth).

Regarding being pulled under... we'll be dropping around HW. Sounds a terrifying thought though... not realising that your line is getting tighter, then pulling the front down under the swell. Thanks for mentioning it though, it'll always be there in the back of my mind in the channel now.

That all said... looks like the weather is getting sketchier.

 

[vodzurk]

In the end when we got to Clevedon, sitting south of the pier, the water was calm, and drift was minimal, so we didn't bother with anchoring...



I noticed there was a red buoy near the pier, and a yellow one further out. The yellow was marked "Clevedon Yacht Club", if I recall correctly, in roughly the positions marked...



Would it be rude to pick one of these up for a few hours, if we decided to sit through a tide and nobody was around?

Finally, whilst we were down there... a small boat went under the pier, near the shore. Is that an ok thing to do? If we had passengers, I imagine that's the real crowd pleaser! But it seemed wayyy too "WTF?" to me!

 

[Sneds]

The fishermen on the pier may yell at you if you go under the pier, not really a good idea
Those boys are used by the dingies as race markers, I guess you could borrow one until they come out!
Don't quote me on that mind ��

 

[Lioness]

The RYA say in some of their publications that you may use a vacant buoy as long as you stay aboard and give it up as soon as the owner returns.
If they are racing marks rather than mooring buoys though, they are unlikely to be fixed strongly enough to hold you?
Keep well clear of solid objects when afloat is my opinion on the pier!
I was out with Compass Sea School recently and the instructor pointed out some sheltered (from the tide) sand/mud anchoring spots around Salthouse Bay and Clevedon Pill. Some of the fishing boats out of Portishead were anchored there when we past and maybe they would be good places to try some anchoring?

 

[bitbaltic]

Would not advise picking up anything that is not a mooring buoy and as said those will be racing marks. The boat is small and light though, doubt you will do any harm, but the club might not appreciate seeing you there.

You will do just as well at anchor.

 

[vodzurk]

Would not advise picking up anything that is not a mooring buoy and as said those will be racing marks. The boat is small and light though, doubt you will do any harm, but the club might not appreciate seeing you there.

You will do just as well at anchor.

Ahh, yeah, I didn't see any pickup hooks on them, so like you say, they might be markers not moorings.

Is it generally mud off Clevedon Bay? Have got the anchor cable-tied up so it's got 2 angles ready to lift from if it snags, but still, would be happier knowing if I drop it, its on something soft. Navionics seems to indicate a Mud "M".

...
I was out with Compass Sea School recently and the instructor pointed out some sheltered (from the tide) sand/mud anchoring spots around Salthouse Bay and Clevedon Pill. Some of the fishing boats out of Portishead were anchored there when we past and maybe they would be good places to try some anchoring?

Yep, was thinking of our first ride-out-the-tide being in front of Clevedon for a few hours... though it's a little pretentious, it's plenty visible so we might feel safer there (obviously factoring in the low water height).

Looking at Clevedon Pill, we've not yet made it around that corner. Navionics has "Spear Rocks", "Blackstone Rocks" and quite an abrupt 9.5m above-water area slightly to the west... that all scares me for our first anchoring.

The fishermen on the pier may yell at you if you go under the pier, not really a good idea
Those boys are used by the dingies as race markers, I guess you could borrow one until they come out!
Don't quote me on that mind ��

Yep, learnt that last time... didn't realise some people fish off the very tip of Portishead Pier. Turned left about 20m beyond it... and their lines are quite long. Didn't manage to snag it, but certainly heard him shouting "PR*CK" at us as he quickly pulled it in.