Boston to Great Yarmouth advice please....

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pete1987

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When the weather improves we are planning to take our boat to the Norfolk Broads for a few weeks summer holiday....

We plan to go from Boston, Lincs to Brundall (via Great Yarmouth obviously) in one go. Hope to leave Boston HW+2 so as to get out of the wash with the tide behind us.

It's nearly 100 miles door to door but I believe Yarmouth can be entered at any state of tide. My only concern is the bridges that end, and the clearance at high water. We can fold everything down and get out air draught to 12'6" so I'd be grateful for advice from anyone who's done this trip before.

For fuel economy our normal cruising speed is 8-9 knots, but we have a top speed of 22 knots if necessary.

I've got all the charts and need to look at tidal streams in more details to see how long it's going to take but any advice is welcome especially regarding any uncharted hazards along the Norfolk coast.

Finally has anyone got any good mooring recommendations.

Pete
 
Not done the trip so can't offer much on the coastal bit but I am very familiar with Gt Yarmouth and the River Yare ( we are moored in Brundall).

If you go in at Gt. Yarmouth (as opposed to Lowestoft) then you have three bridges to contend with before you reach Brundall. The first is the Haven Bridge in Yarmouth, which has a lowish clearance that will be too low for you on most tides. The second is Breydon Bridge as you leave Yarmouth and enter Breydon Water, which has a higher clearance and you could get through depending upon the tide. Neither are a problem as they both lift but you need to book in advance via port control (might be 24 hours). Both are operated by the port so can be booked together and I would book both as opposed to droppng everything for Breydon only. If you are early you can lie alongside the Town Quay to wait for the Haven Bridge.....not ideal but doable.

The third bridge is at Reedham, which will be too low for you but it will swing on demand trains permitting. The operator can be reached on VHF channel 12.

An alternative route is to go further down to Lowestoft and spend the night at the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club. Lovely place with good food. Then it is through one of the scheduled lifts for the Bascule Bridge, a poodle up Lake Lothing and a pre-booked swing of the railway bridge and lock through to Oulton Broad. The Rive Waveney and New Cut will take you to Reedham and the Yare for the final leg to Brundall.

Let me know if you need to know anything more or if you need any help with anything.

Sounds like a good trip......
 
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Greg2 said:
If you go in at Gt. Yarmouth (as opposed to Lowestoft) then you have three bridges to contend with before you reach Brundall. The first is the Haven Bridge in Yarmouth, which has a lowish clearance that will be too low for you on most tides. The second is Breydon Bridge as you leave Yarmouth and enter Breydon Water, which has a higher clearance and you could get through depending upon the tide. Neither are a problem as they both lift but you need to book in advance via port control (might be 24 hours). Both are operated by the port so can be booked together and I would book both as opposed to droppng everything for Breydon only. If you are early you can lie alongside the Town Quay to wait for the Haven Bridge.....not ideal but doable.
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You have to book the bridge lift for these first 2 during office hours the previous working day (as we discovered when we arrived on a bank holiday monday!).

Avoid the Gt. Yarmouth town quay if poss - horrid.

Details of bridge heights and much more for the Broads is on the 'Broads Authority' website, 'Navigation' pages.
 
Looks like Greg has you covered for Yarmouth, which is good, as i've not been in there :)

The trip is very straightforward. Make your way out of Boston and through the Freeman channel. You can just go from Boston number 1 the the Woolpack buoy off Holme, then the Bridgirdle Buoy and just follow the coast round. Keep an eye out for pot buoys in the deep water in the middle of The Wash, around the Roaring Middle and Lynn Deeps. I prefer to keep 4.5/5.0 miles offshore going around Cromer, to avoid the zillion pot buoys there. Keep to the landward side of Scroby Sands windfarm.

Looking at the tidal flow charts, i'd leave Boston at one hour before high water. Should take about an hour to get to the Freeman channel, pushing the last of the tide. I'd get my foot down a bit and clear The Wash in an hour, and an hour later you should be past Wells. You'll have to push some tide for about the last hour if you go to Lowestoft. It'll take a long while at 8-9 knots and you'd find yourself pushing the tide for a few hours, which won't be economical.

We did Lowestoft to Wisbech in January, leaving Lowestoft at 05:30 and arriving at Wisbech 12:00.

Obviously check Tillergirls link and any additional NTMs closer the time and bear in mind that unless your charts are right up to date, the outer harbour at Yarmouth might not be shown and it sticks out about 1/3rd of a mile :eek:
 
We did a very similar trip last year, Lincoln to Boston to Lowestoft.

The trip is fairly straight forward as Paul says. Once clear of the Boston channel and the Wash, Cromer was the only spot we had any real issues and that was just dodging lobster pots. We took the inshore route to skirt the coast so ended up dodging hundreds of the buggers.

We plan to do the trip again next summer and intend to enter the Broads at Lowestoft again. It is simpler than heading in at Great Yarmouth due to less bridges. We also liked RNSYC as an overnight mooring stop.

We will remember to refuel at Boston next time as we were pretty low on fuel when we arrived at RNSYC. We only had 60 litres left in the tank when we got there. The 40 litres or so it would have took us to get from Lincoln to Boston would have been very welcome at that point.

We did the trip in a shade over 4.25 hours with an average speed of about 25 knots
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.

Plan to go via Great Yarmouth to Brundall and book the bridges when I have a better idea of our timings. The boat was built and launched there 37 years ago so I've got a bee in my bonnet about doing the same trip.

Any experience of the marinas in Brundall? Need a mooring for 43' boat with 14' beam, as always it would be nice not to spend a fortune on berthing fees.
 
pete1987 said:
Thanks for the advice everyone.

Plan to go via Great Yarmouth to Brundall and book the bridges when I have a better idea of our timings. The boat was built and launched there 37 years ago so I've got a bee in my bonnet about doing the same trip.

Any experience of the marinas in Brundall? Need a mooring for 43' boat with 14' beam, as always it would be nice not to spend a fortune on berthing fees.
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Several marinas with the largest being Brundall Bay - might be worth giving them a ring for availability and price. Brundall Gardens is another just outside the village - ongoing upgrading work there though so not sure about availability. Brundall Harbour is linked to NYA - usually full but again worth a call. Bell Boats Marina might also be worth a try....don't really know it so can't offer any opinion.

Brundall Bay is arguably the nicest but probably not the cheapest.
 
Hi Pete....... gone soft.... taking her inland?
All good advice. Not pleasant overnighting on Yarmouth town quay . if you have to, rig fenders horizontal so they dont slot into the piles and allow plenty for strong tide flow. At least the warps provided now have chain on the wall end to stop local kids casting you off.(unless the pikeys have had them for scrap). Also pretty busy there now with windfarm transfer boats. Essential you book bridge openings well in advance, i have also had long wait at Reedham rail bridge several times. Beware of man with speed camera.
The Cockle off Winterton can get nasty with wind against tide & can be a strong cross tide through Yarmouth piers.
Hope you remember how to use the almanac !!!!!
If you get towed in by the lifeboat there, say hello to Paddy.
All the best ..... Paul
 
Just to add, Yarmouth Bridges phone number 01493 335503. Need to book 24hrs in advance during weekdays 9-5. They will lift weekends but you do need to phone on a weekday. They will not lift at rush-hour times. Port control and the bridges all on VHF12, call signs "Yarmouth Radio", "Haven Bridge", "Breydon Bridge" and "Reedham Bridge" respectively coming upstream. Just note that Haven Bridge (i.e. the first one you will encounter) is only manned for the lift itself and so will not respond to radio calls any more than about 5 minutes before a scheduled lift. Reedham bridge opens on demand as long as trains allow and does not need booking.

Brundall Bay marina probably the best for your size of boat 01603 717804. Good club house with reasonable food too.
 
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