snowbird30ds
Well-Known Member
Nice one Johnah, always appreciate these views. 
Deben entrance first look 2025
- Thread starter Johnah
- Start date
Sailing steve
Well-Known Member
Yup, me too.
Johnah
Well-Known Member
Photo taken this morning of the Deben entrance - April 1st, LWS 0.3m Wadgate Ledge
The buoys were resited yesterday to their NEW 2025 POSITIONS.
I understand the new East Coast Pilot chartlet will be available soon.
Please do not rely on the photo but check with John White or John Barber as the new route has not been checked yet.
John
The buoys were resited yesterday to their NEW 2025 POSITIONS.
I understand the new East Coast Pilot chartlet will be available soon.
Please do not rely on the photo but check with John White or John Barber as the new route has not been checked yet.
John
Johnah
Well-Known Member
MikeBz
Well-Known Member
Interesting that the now very narrow inshore bit has opened up to the sea again. When I took these pictures in September last year there was a huge bridge closing it off.
Looking upstream from across the “bridge”:
Looking downstream at the “bridge”:
Looking upstream from across the “bridge”:
Looking downstream at the “bridge”:
PeterWright
Well-Known Member
Thank you, John.
Jon Palm
New Member
Great photos
Johnah
Well-Known Member
A photo of the Deben entrance taken today, 28th April 2025, at Low Water Spring tide, 0.34m above CD Wadgate Ledge.
Harbour Master John White has confirmed that the buoy positions are in the correct positions.
John
Harbour Master John White has confirmed that the buoy positions are in the correct positions.
John
Johnah
Well-Known Member
Sailed out of the Deben for the first time yesterday in calm conditions, 2 1/2 hours before HW.
My Moody 31 draws 1.6m, and there was plenty of depth at the bar.
John
My Moody 31 draws 1.6m, and there was plenty of depth at the bar.
John
PeterR
Well-Known Member
Beat me to the video! I crossed the bar after launching from Larkmans on the 28th April. I crossed the bar at 14:31 ie 1 hour 41 minutes after local HW. I found the shallowest point to be just before Mid Knoll,exactly as Jonnah shows. In my case the minimum depth I recorded there was 3.4 metres. My prediction from Tide Times for Woodbridge Haven was for 2.9 metres and the Wadgate ledge guage was predicting 2.99 metres and the actuality was just 0.03 metres of surge. If the Tide times predictions were correct it would appear that there is a minimum of apprximately 0.4 to 0.5 metres of water at LAT on the Bar this year.
I cannot really calculate acurately from someone elses data but Jonah says he crossed the bar at 2 hrs 30 mins before HW. If by that he means he past Mid Knoll at 11.32 Tide Times indicates there should have been 2.68 metres of tide at that time (no idea about surge) As he recorded 3.0 metres that implies a LAT on the Bar of at least 0.3 metres which corresponds quite closely with what I found.
The main difference between us was that the whole process took me a lot less time as with the tide hoovering out I was doing between ten and eleven knots over the ground going past Knoll Spit and Deben Buoys.
I will post a video as soon as I have had time to edit it.
I cannot really calculate acurately from someone elses data but Jonah says he crossed the bar at 2 hrs 30 mins before HW. If by that he means he past Mid Knoll at 11.32 Tide Times indicates there should have been 2.68 metres of tide at that time (no idea about surge) As he recorded 3.0 metres that implies a LAT on the Bar of at least 0.3 metres which corresponds quite closely with what I found.
The main difference between us was that the whole process took me a lot less time as with the tide hoovering out I was doing between ten and eleven knots over the ground going past Knoll Spit and Deben Buoys.
I will post a video as soon as I have had time to edit it.
Last edited:
shanemax
N/A
Harwich harbour, if abandoned and left to nature may in time look like this ????
Tradewinds
Well-Known Member
Do you know something we don't?
MikeBz
Well-Known Member
HHA website shows there was +0.14m of surge at Wadgate Ledge at 11:30 on the 30th.
shanemax
N/A
Last nights surge 12" (1 foot) Quite a big one , especially if you run up a beach at high water and expect to get off on the next tide. You could be neaped for 2 weeks.
PeterR
Well-Known Member
I crossed the Bar the day before Johnah (28 April) but have only just got round to editing the video. The depths I found on the bar correspond quite closely to his when corrected for the different states of the tide.
The Trinity House chartlet is great for seeing the position of the knolls but has always been very sparse on depth information in the shallowest areas. I suspect that is because the depths can change so much after a gale they don't want to be held resonsible for diseminating erroneous data. The chart even states in big red text that it is not to be used for navigation! With that in mind I must stress that the depths I report are just what I found on the day and might be meaningless later in the season. However, on the day I left the Deben I had not been able to find anyone else who had done so this year and I would have been grateful for a few clues. Johnah's drone views were very useful and as they were taken with only 0.3 metres of water over chart datum and showed no sign of any drying patches on the route out I assumed that so long as I had a safe height of tide left there would be adequate water even if there was no water left at chart datum. I draw 1.94 metres and decided that I would risk crossing up to 2 hours after HW at Woodbridge Haven on this big tide, provided the sea was flat and was behaving as predicted at Wadgate ledge.
As you will see it all went as I hoped for and I estimate (on the track I took) the channel had a least depth of somewhere between 0.4 to 0.5 metres of water at LAT from about 40 metres from Mid Knoll to until it was about 10 metres away when the depth started to increase again. . There there might be a bit more water if you leave Mid Knoll to starboard on the way out, the Trinity House Chartlet hints at that, but I would want to sound around the area towards the top of a rising tide. I didn't fancy experimenting when I was travelling at more than 10 knots over the ground.
The Trinity House chartlet is great for seeing the position of the knolls but has always been very sparse on depth information in the shallowest areas. I suspect that is because the depths can change so much after a gale they don't want to be held resonsible for diseminating erroneous data. The chart even states in big red text that it is not to be used for navigation! With that in mind I must stress that the depths I report are just what I found on the day and might be meaningless later in the season. However, on the day I left the Deben I had not been able to find anyone else who had done so this year and I would have been grateful for a few clues. Johnah's drone views were very useful and as they were taken with only 0.3 metres of water over chart datum and showed no sign of any drying patches on the route out I assumed that so long as I had a safe height of tide left there would be adequate water even if there was no water left at chart datum. I draw 1.94 metres and decided that I would risk crossing up to 2 hours after HW at Woodbridge Haven on this big tide, provided the sea was flat and was behaving as predicted at Wadgate ledge.
As you will see it all went as I hoped for and I estimate (on the track I took) the channel had a least depth of somewhere between 0.4 to 0.5 metres of water at LAT from about 40 metres from Mid Knoll to until it was about 10 metres away when the depth started to increase again. . There there might be a bit more water if you leave Mid Knoll to starboard on the way out, the Trinity House Chartlet hints at that, but I would want to sound around the area towards the top of a rising tide. I didn't fancy experimenting when I was travelling at more than 10 knots over the ground.