Crossing the Gunfleet near the Windfarm

[christo2024]

Its probably getting a bit late in the year now but I thought i would give you some info about crossing the Gunfleet below the Spitway in the vicinity of the Windfarm as I work there every day.

The Gunfleet dries on a LW Brightlingsea of about 1.0m between turbine A1 and A2. Good for Seal spotting.

Between A2 and A3 there is a distinct low way across, you will see us using it all the time. A good rule of thumb when heading SSE across the sand would be to go to the red Wallet buoy and head for turbine B3. ( I asssume you all know the turbine numbers). This will take you about 100m WSW of A3. Remember, 50m exclusion zone around each turbine for all vessels. Before you reach B3, depths will start to increase and you will be "across" the hump.

Regarding depths, we use the rungs visible on the ladder of every turbine. They are all at the same datum. Look closely at the vertical support either side of the ladder and with a tidal height of about 1.2m, the horizontal support for that vertical boat landing will come awash.

We get through the low way above with actual depth of 1.3m when there are 5 ladder rungs BELOW the horizontal support mentioned above.

Trying to cross further to the east has separate issues too much to discuss here.

Sold my beloved Nitebird now. But she is still around......

I hope you find this useful.

 

[tillergirl]

Assuming you mean the Wallet No 6, that's pretty much where the Spitway used to be 100 years or less ago.

 

[PaulGooch]

Its probably getting a bit late in the year now but I thought i would give you some info about crossing the Gunfleet below the Spitway in the vicinity of the Windfarm as I work there every day.

The Gunfleet dries on a LW Brightlingsea of about 1.0m between turbine A1 and A2. Good for Seal spotting.

Between A2 and A3 there is a distinct low way across, you will see us using it all the time. A good rule of thumb when heading SSE across the sand would be to go to the red Wallet buoy and head for turbine B3. ( I asssume you all know the turbine numbers). This will take you about 100m WSW of A3. Remember, 50m exclusion zone around each turbine for all vessels. Before you reach B3, depths will start to increase and you will be "across" the hump.

Regarding depths, we use the rungs visible on the ladder of every turbine. They are all at the same datum. Look closely at the vertical support either side of the ladder and with a tidal height of about 1.2m, the horizontal support for that vertical boat landing will come awash.

We get through the low way above with actual depth of 1.3m when there are 5 ladder rungs BELOW the horizontal support mentioned above.

Trying to cross further to the east has separate issues too much to discuss here.

Sold my beloved Nitebird now. But she is still around......

I hope you find this useful.

Thanks for the info, but i believe that you're incorrect about the exclusion zone.

Unless i'm mistaken, there was a 500m exclusion zone around the whole site during construction, but that was lifted upon completion.

 

[Lodesman77]

Thanks for the info, could prove very useful...

Thanks for the info, but i believe that you're incorrect about the exclusion zone.

Unless i'm mistaken, there was a 500m exclusion zone around the whole site during construction, but that was lifted upon completion.

I understood that the site exclusion zone was lifted after construction but now you can wander about the place you still had to stay 50m away from individual turbines...

 

[PaulGooch]

Thanks for the info, could prove very useful...




I understood that the site exclusion zone was lifted after construction but now you can wander about the place you still had to stay 50m away from individual turbines...

I'm not 100% certain, but the original application for an exclusion zone only applied to the whole site. There was never a mention of a permanent exclusion zone.

Previously posted by Guapa, in another thread :

From the RYA site


Navigating within Wind Farms

The RYA has secured a minimum rotor clearance height of 22 m above MHWS to ensure the safety of the majority of small recreational craft. At present there are no safety zones excluding small craft navigating close to the turbines but you are advised to stay a safe distance from the turbines.

Your decision on navigating through these arrays should of course account for the wind, wave and tidal conditions, your vessels clearance height and the existence of underwater scour protection and cabling around each turbine.
The turbines are generally constructed with a minimum of 300 metres between each structure, generally more, leaving plenty of space for safe in favourable conditions navigation through an array.

You should not tie up to or land on the turbine structures except in emergency situations where there is provision to take refuge on the
maintenance platform that is generally around 12 metres above sea level. Likewise anchoring is prohibited in many cases, except in emergency situations.

 

[christo2024]

windfarm exclusion zone

The site exclusion zone was lifted on June 15th Last year so traffic can pass freely through the site. Even anglers anchor within the site.

But there is a 50m exclsion zone around each and every turbine. Technicians who are on a turbine servicing it do get very nervous if a vessel passes within 50m and always call the site vessel if this happens.

 

[Lodesman77]

The site exclusion zone was lifted on June 15th Last year so traffic can pass freely through the site. Even anglers anchor within the site.

But there is a 50m exclsion zone around each and every turbine. Technicians who are on a turbine servicing it do get very nervous if a vessel passes within 50m and always call the site vessel if this happens.

Thanks for confirming my understanding...

 

[tillergirl]

But there is a 50m exclsion zone around each and every turbine. Technicians who are on a turbine servicing it do get very nervous if a vessel passes within 50m and always call the site vessel if this happens.

Is there? There has been no Notice to Mariners to that effect as far as I can discover (4774/10 doesn't mention such zones) and there is no annotation to that effect on the latest charts - not that I am suggesting for one minute that its a good idea to go close to the turbines. It would be useful and interesting to know where that exclusion zone is published.