Brightlingsea to St. Katharine's Dock timings

StUrrock

StUrrock

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After a rather rough, but enjoyable ride against from the Walton Backwaters about 10 days ago, Impulsive II is at her new mooring in Brightlingsea. We now know why some of you call The Wallet, 'Vomit Alley' :)

First of all I must say the Harbour staff at Brightlingsea are just first rate!

Anyhow, we are now starting to plan our cruising itinerary for the summer and my son is pestering me for a trip up the Thames.

I am thinking that trying to go from Brightlingsea to St. Katharine's Dock in one hop maybe be pushing it, but wondering where a good stop off point might be. Love night sailing, but first time up the Thames want to be in daylight at all times.

Would be interested in others experience or tips in doing the same voyage.
 
Assuming that you are travelling a yacht speed, not power boat, I suggest you do Brightlingsea to Queenborough, then Queenborough to St Kats if you want to use just two hops. If you want a free stopover for the night, then go into Stangate Creek instead of Queenborough.
Not sure what the PLA think about 'night sailing' on their river, but St. Kats won't let you in at night anyway as you will see from their locking times on their website. There are waiting buoys outside the lock but they are not a bundle of fun, usually.
Make sure you book St. Kats (or any of the Thames marinas for that matter) in advance, you are unlikely to get a berth if you just turn up in summer.
St. Kats costs an arm and a leg these days, Limehouse is cheaper. South Dock is a good alternative although can be slightly less convenient for getting about, depends where you want to go in London.
 
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Was at St Katz end of Bank Hols week. I vowed never to go again last time I went, the new owners must be a sandwich short, as they are refurbing the toilet blocks one at a time IN THE SUMMER. We were in the centre basin and that block (historically the nicest) was closed, it takes 10 minutes to walk to either east or west... East was due to be shut soon...

The biggest issue though is the total lack of organisation on lock in. A full lock of 9 boats took OVER AN HOUR to process. I fail to see why, when every boat is pre-booked, they take that long. All they have to do SHOULD be to hand out the berthing info.

Go to Limehouse or Galions in my opinion.
 
Re timings, we ran a displacement 30' motor cruiser several times from Bradwell to Teddington in about 12-13 hours (so knock off about 3 hours as only to St Kats). Trick was to be at the spitway buoys at LW and then carry that flood tide all the way upriver, and a couple of times too early & ran out of tide on the upper tidal reaches. We tended to avoid Queensborough as you really added several hours for the diversion into the Medway. The Erith Yacht club buoys were much better for a stop over if required.
 
I've done the trip from Blackwater Marina in one hit with some time to spare. ianc1200's comment about the Blacktail Spi is spot-on

Comments made by others in this thread about St Kat's are valid especially in respect of the cost. I'm reluctant to go again because of the high rates but I don't blame them for charging whatever they can get. Simple economics, innit?

My advice is to make the trip as it's a great place to stay for a weekend in London.
 
A couple of years ago we came down the wallet heading for St Kats - day one of two; bound for Queenborough. The wind was astern and blowing a good 30kts and rising. I didn't fancy the spitway with a big sea and so little water so we abandoned to Brightlingsea.

We set off next morning for St Kats and did the trip in one day comfortably. Think we went through the spitway about LW-2 and then punched the last of the ebb until the flood kicked in under us (remember you get 7 hrs of flood going that way).
 
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