Blackwater, Essex, advice please

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gilesfordcrush

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Hello all,

I’d like some advice for a forthcoming trip on the River Blackwater in Essex. I’d like to find an anchorage, and I’d appreciate some local knowledge. I have a Moody 30, fin keel drawing 1.5m. I see there is an anchorage off the southern shore of Osea Island, and another marked just off the Marconi Sailing club. What I’d really like is to be able to get ashore in the tender to a beach, for this the coast between Marconi and St Lawrence looks like a possibility. I know there is no shortage of mud here at low water though! I assume that Osea island is private? Another possibility is at Brightlingsea just off the eastern tip of Mersea island. I’ve seen boats at anchor here just before the river Colne splits to the Pyefleet creek. The beach here is shingle I think, and quite deep close in?

Can anyone give me a bit of a steer on where is best?

Many thanks,

Giles
 
Blackwater anchorage advice please

Hello all,

I’d like some advice for a forthcoming trip on the River Blackwater in Essex. I’d like to find an anchorage, and I’d appreciate some local knowledge. I have a Moody 30, fin keel drawing 1.5m. I see there is an anchorage off the southern shore of Osea Island, and another marked just off the Marconi Sailing club. What I’d really like is to be able to get ashore in the tender to a beach, for this the coast between Marconi and St Lawrence looks like a possibility. I know there is no shortage of mud here at low water though! I assume that Osea island is private? Another possibility is at Brightlingsea just off the eastern tip of Mersea island. I’ve seen boats at anchor here just before the river Colne splits to the Pyefleet creek. The beach here is shingle I think, and quite deep close in?

Can anyone give me a bit of a steer on where is best?

Many thanks,

Giles
 
Osea is the traditional anchorage and I've used it for forty odd years but it now gets very busy at weekends.. There is a hump in the middle covered with a stony bottom. Holding is OK with a decent rig but you will hear the chain moving for much of the night! The shore is excellent for a BBQ (clear up afterwards) or for exploring below HW. There are many moorings off the Marconi shore and it would be easier to pick up a mooring here, but the tide runs through here and it is less sheltered than Osea. The most sheltered place if caught out is off Northey island. You can find deep water opposite one of the creeks and sit out any westerly weather. E Mersea is another popular anchorage. Although perfectly good, it is sometimes better to have your run ashore here and then decamp to Pyefleet or Brightlingsea.
 
Re: Blackwater anchorage advice please

Hi. I have answered you on the PBO thread, as per:
Osea is the traditional anchorage and I've used it for forty odd years but it now gets very busy at weekends.. There is a hump in the middle covered with a stony bottom. Holding is OK with a decent rig but you will hear the chain moving for much of the night! The shore is excellent for a BBQ (clear up afterwards) or for exploring below HW. There are many moorings off the Marconi shore and it would be easier to pick up a mooring here, but the tide runs through here and it is less sheltered than Osea. The most sheltered place if caught out is off Northey island. You can find deep water opposite one of the creeks and sit out any westerly weather. E Mersea is another popular anchorage. Although perfectly good, it is sometimes better to have your run ashore here and then decamp to Pyefleet or Brightlingsea.
 
Re: Blackwater anchorage advice please

Osea Island is private above HW mark.

West of Marconi as far as Stone but not as far as St Lawrence.

Although it is more exposed you can anchor off the beach near the Bradwell power station.

Mersea as you say or in Pyefleet creek just past the visitor buoys (a longer dinghy ride to the beach at Stone Point but more sheltered).
 
Re: Blackwater anchorage advice please

Pick up a buoy at Marconi - there's a visitors buoy on the end of the outer row or borrow one - you won't be charged anything but if the owner returns please move to a vacant mooring. The bar is often open at weekends during the summer and it's easy to come ashore. Osea anchorage is better than a Marconi mooring in an Easterly or Northerly - see posts above.
 
Re: Blackwater anchorage advice please

Be aware that there are no visitors mooring off the st lawrence fairway ( the stone ) and it is a bad place to drop anchor due to all the lost moorings littering the sea bed likely to snag the hook
 
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