Burnham on crouch - Dover

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Ifandavies

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Hi,

I am planning a passage from Burnham - Dover on the 22nd September (2 days time). Looking at the tidal stream on navionics it seems leaving at HW Burnham + 3 would mean we have 3 hours of favourable tide heading NE until turning south at Barrow no2 through Folgers gat. Tide pushing south to Dover.

This would mean leaving in the dark as HW is at 01:27 which isn’t necessarily a problem, but I’d rather leave in daylight if possible.

Would leaving at say 06:30am be a bad idea as we will be punching tide heading NE and then again before reaching Dover i assume. LW at Burnham is 07:38.

Winds predicted to be 19knts gusting 29knts NNE.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I don’t know the area. Crossing the Thames book looks ideal but I don’t have time to order it!

40ft mono 2m draught. Thanks!
 
First of all, your answer is in the book "crossing the thames estuary" by roger who posts on here. But if you dont have time to get it you can still download chartlets of the sunk.

I always go through the Sunk, which is charted on the book site, and through fishermans gat. I think to go that late beyond hw you will be struggling against the tide once past the outer crouch.

If you get to the sunk just before low water that tends to give you tide all the way from burnham to ramsgate pretty much.
 
Just looked at my last navionics track and it was 42.9 nm from essex marina to ramsgate and took 8 hours. I think heading out of the crouch in the dark is ok as it is very well bouyed and just keep following the southerly track until the whittaker when it should be getting light. Stopping at ramsgate is useful as you can time a slingshot with the tides to dover better
 
We’re moored in BYH (actually aboard so may have bumped into you if you’re in the marina!) and cross the estuary often. I’ve not checked Roger’s book for exact timings however when travelling to Ramsgate I always try to leave circa HW. I draw 1.9m and always use SW Sunk with no issues when using the waypoints on the Crossing The Thames Estuary website (chartplotters are likely not accurate).

To get to Dover is another 14nm or so from Ramsgate.

If I was planning on the back of a fag packet you probably won’t go far wrong leaving Burnham around HW-1.

If you go when you are proposing you will have a number of issues such as foul tide for much of the journey, 2 knots of foul tide when you are travelling behind Goodwin sands and you would be trying to cross the estuary sand banks at low tide which might be marginal (I’ve not checked definitively) if you were to use SW Sunk (which is the fastest route).

I’m not trying to be negative and don’t want to put a downer on your plans but the tide really is your friend here.
 
For info, if anyone is thinking of doing the same. We left Burnham at approx 09:30 which was 2 hours after LW. Arrived at the SW sunk channel at HW. Got through ok in force 7 (gusting) slightly brown pants as we got down to 3.4m below the keel.

Worst part was Goodwin sands when the boat surged down a wave and broached about 90degrees. Apart from that, it was a fast passage with a top speed of 13knts. Arrived in Dover at 18:30. Thanks for the advice.
 
Great to hear your passage was successful. As Roger advised in the first reply, most folk post about the tidal Thames on the East Coast forums that's the best place yo post if you return to these waters. On the other hand, if 3.4 m below the keel causes a problem with the colour of pants, perhaps you would prefer to avoid pur shallow seas in future.

Peter.
 
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