Bridges over troubled waters.

Yet for my rather modest 34 foot boat that is too low without having to do tidal calculations
If your 34 footer has an air draft exceeding 59 feet, she has an unusually high aspect ratio rig and can hardly be described as "rather modest".

I for one will be sorry if the new crossing means that sailing barges can no longer access the wet dock without housing their top masts - it doesn't seem a lot to ask that the new crossings should not reduce the available air draft to less than is currently available under the existing Orwell bridge. However arguments for that are only weakened by exaggeration of the potential difficulties.

While I believe that progress is inevitable, I also think that all reasonably practicable steps should be taken to minimise the problems created by that progress.

Peter.


Peter
 
If your 34 footer has an air draft exceeding 59 feet, she has an unusually high aspect ratio rig and can hardly be described as "rather modest".

I for one will be sorry if the new crossing means that sailing barges can no longer access the wet dock without housing their top masts - it doesn't seem a lot to ask that the new crossings should not reduce the available air draft to less than is currently available under the existing Orwell bridge. However arguments for that are only weakened by exaggeration of the potential difficulties.

While I believe that progress is inevitable, I also think that all reasonably practicable steps should be taken to minimise the problems created by that progress.

Peter.




Peter

Barges will no longer be able to reach St. Peter's Port if the bridge across the New Cut is built. In fact very little will get underneath it.
 
Barges will no longer be able to reach St. Peter's Port if the bridge across the New Cut is built. In fact very little will get underneath it.

When did you last see a sailing barge up the New Cut? The barge masters I know would sooner lock in to the Wet Dock than risk drying out on a foul bottom up the Cut.

Peter.
 
57' 5" plus (presumably) VHF, windex, etc.

How annoying -
We are 17.4m plus VHF antenna . . . . or so the paperwork says
I'm going to have to find a way of measuring it now
(and not impirically - by hitting the bridge)

Many in the Ipswich marinas will be taller.
 
I = 14.7
P = 14.3
mast 17.5
Bridge 18 HWS

I recall the owner's manual gives the air draft as 17.5m and it's not impossible that the mainsail luff lower measurement band is approaching three meters from the waterline.

Happy enough to go over the tidemill's cill with a couple of cm to spare but I'm more circumspect when it comes to the top of the mast and bridges or power lines!
 
How annoying -
We are 17.4m plus VHF antenna . . . . or so the paperwork says
I'm going to have to find a way of measuring it now
(and not impirically - by hitting the bridge)

Many in the Ipswich marinas will be taller.

This says a little less http://www.maxisidorna.com/maxi/data/en/27

I guess sending a tape measure attached to halyard up the mast might be cheaper than a try it and see approach.

It may just be me but when going under the Orwell bridge the gap between the mast and the underside of the bridge looks a lot smaller than it really is
 
Last edited:
I recall the owner's manual gives the air draft as 17.5m and it's not impossible that the mainsail luff lower measurement band is approaching three meters from the waterline.

Happy enough to go over the tidemill's cill with a couple of cm to spare but I'm more circumspect when it comes to the top of the mast and bridges or power lines!

For a bridge, centimetres of clearance will suffice but for power lines (may be as much as 400kV in the UK) you need metres to be safe. The mainsail band height is of little relevance if you use the I dimension, the lower end of that is where the line of the mast intersects the main deck i.e. below the top of the coachroof. Of course, at the top end, you need to add the height from the top of the highest headsail halyard sheave to the mast cap and any antenna above the cap and at the bottom end, the height of the main deck at the mast above the waterline. I keep a conservative measurement of our air draft in Wild Thyme's log flysheet, it's 18.3 m.

Peter.
 
This says a little less http://www.maxisidorna.com/maxi/data/en/27

I guess sending a tap measure attached to halyard up the mast might be cheaper than a try it and see approach.

Thanks for the URL but......it doesn't seem to work for me.
The Maxi 1100 changed specifications during its production life.
I guess I'm using the most pessimistic figure that I've found.
As you say a tape up the mast may do it
(or finding a birth near a high building)
 
This says a little less http://www.maxisidorna.com/maxi/data/en/27

I guess sending a tape measure attached to halyard up the mast might be cheaper than a try it and see approach.

It may just be me but when going under the Orwell bridge the gap between the mast and the underside of the bridge looks a lot smaller than it really is

I once went under the Zeelandbruge when the electronic indicator was showing 15.6 m clearance. Mr air draft is 14.5m. I would never do it again - it was beyond scary.
 
When heading to/or arriving from the Blackwater or the Crouch I would aim to be at Pye End around local LW.

+1 for that rule of thumb, except that Pye End is so good at hiding in the chop that seems to prevail in these waters that we have low water at Stone Banks as the rule for any passage from the south to Harwich or vice versa.

Peter
 
When did you last see a sailing barge up the New Cut? The barge masters I know would sooner lock in to the Wet Dock than risk drying out on a foul bottom up the Cut.

Peter.

There is a residential barge in the New Cut and it has been there for ages. As for St. Peter's Port, the maritime trust want access for barges such as Victor.
 
Top