Deben - Woodbridge Approach depths

[prologica]

Good afternoon all,

Can anyone advise what the least depth is at chart datum in the Deben between Waldringfield and Woodbridge? My admiralty charts show 1.9m drying near the Deben YC but it's not crystal clear if that is just a patch and there's more water to negotiate the river at this point?

With my 1.8m keel, I'm trying to work out, particularly on leaving, if I can clear the cill, get through the shallows and negotiate the bar in the same tide. Looks like this weekend for example, with a 4m tide and allowing for the current high pressure, I should be able to clear the cill shortly before HW-1 which would mean negotiating the bar on the early ebb around HW+1. Normally I only enter/exit around HW-1. Would exiting on the ebb be ok in benign conditions? (engine 38hp)

Thanks.

 

[Rafiki]

I normally exit on the ebb. You should have no problem at HW+1.
Regards

 

[MoodySabre]

I've always done it in one and use Loders Cut. I was once told that if the the Horse Sand at Felixstowe Ferry is still covered then there's enough water to get out of the river. I hope that is still true as it's an easy reassurance.

 

[PeterWright]

Hi,

If you can clear the cill on the rising tide to get out of the Tide Mill, you will make the passage to Felixstowe Ferry without touching, even with your 1.8m draft - just be sure you stick to the buoyed channel until you have cleared troublesome reach. It has never presented any problem with our 1.83m draft. You can treat The Deben as a half tide port. Regardless of springs or neaps, you should be OK at half tide or greater with a minimum of 2m over chart datum. The least charted depth on the bar is 0.4m (confusingly right on the 2m contour) so you'll have 0.6m allowance, which feels a lot to those used to the East Coast. Make sure you keep to the rhumb line between the bar buoys, either by sighting over the stern as well as looking ahead or by loading the course into a plotter and checking cross track error - the ebb will be setting you northwards onto the Knoll quite powerfully.

Peter

We find this concept of half ide ports saves us a lot of fiddling with tide tables and has kept me out of trouble over 50 years of cruising East Coast ports in yachts.

 

[prologica]

Thanks both. if I stay in the main channel what's the least depth at CD from your experience this year?

 

[prologica]

...least depth in the river to reach Woodbridge that is.

 

[prologica]

Thanks Peter, that's reassuring.

 

[Oldgeezer]

I'm on a drying mooring opposite Deben YC
I draw 1m
I'm usually floating HW +- 3hrs (approx!)
It is the shallowest bit of the river but there's marginally more water in the channel than at my mooring.
Looking at the tidemill's tide timetable for this weekend there's at least one more metre of water between HW-3 and HW-1 so by my reckoning, loads of water! 2m plus!
And if you can get past the Deben YC without touching, you can get through loders cut. I often leave the mooring just as she floats and go straight through.
You can always ask the guys at tidemill. they do it all the time.

 

[prologica]

Thanks Oldgeezer very helpful.

 

[rudolph_hart]

I've always done it in one and use Loders Cut. I was once told that if the the Horse Sand at Felixstowe Ferry is still covered then there's enough water to get out of the river. I hope that is still true as it's an easy reassurance.

+1.

Plus, if you want to save more time on the way downriver, you can also 'go straight on' rather than go through the moorings at Waldringfield. I've done it with 1.7m draft a few times & reckon it's got about 20cm less water than Loders Cut. However, it's not marked, so you need to 'sniff' around a bit using the sounder.

 

[XTE]

I draw 1.8 and have been viviting Tidemill for many years and leave on one tide as soon as I can get over the cill and head straight back to Titchmarsh. Not a problem to leave the Deben bar even at HW+2.

 

[Kukri]

+1.

Plus, if you want to save more time on the way downriver, you can also 'go straight on' rather than go through the moorings at Waldringfield. I've done it with 1.7m draft a few times & reckon it's got about 20cm less water than Loders Cut. However, it's not marked, so you need to 'sniff' around a bit using the sounder.

Shallowest at the upriver end, where there is almost a bar across it. Going downriver, enter near the buoy and aim for the two trees on the skyline at Ramsholt

 

[Bigplumbs]

Just be aware that the Buoys at the Deben entrance have been moved quite a distance in the last couple of weeks. So your charts will most likely not show this

Dennis