Depths leaving Cardiff bay

[Alcyone]

Louise spoke to the harbourmaster this morning after we grazed the bottom last night in the channel leaving the lock.

He told her:

1.The silt levels are high at the moment, a number of yachts have grounded, and one was stuck for several hours.
2.It is being dredged. Whilst dredging occurs, the channel marker buoys are further apart to allow the dredger to work. BEWARE!
3.It should be finished in 2 weeks, when another metre of depth should be available.
4.The harbour master would prefer people to ask, either by telephone or by contacting barrage control on the radio, how much water is there at the moment. They are happy to talk to you, and would prefer that to watching you ground.

 

[Mike_S]

Thanks, noticed the dredger in there this morning as I drove through the marina, thought I hadn't seen it for a while !!

 

[LizzyD]

We had a few bumps leaving Cardiff Barrage on Friday morning. Below is a view of our port side;

...and a view of our starboard side.

Wasn't much was there?

Lizzy D

 

[Alcyone]

Hmm. We radioed them last night and asked for a depth as they had told us they could tell us and they now say that they can ony give depths over the sill, and notthe depths in the channel. The dredger is working so not all lock out times are available. Stayed in the bay in the end.

 

[Alcyone]

An official reply to my request:

Thank you for your query. The outer harbour and approach channel (leading off from the Wrach Channel) are currently being dredged, to approximately 1.2 m below chart datum. This dredging takes place every six months, as between dredges we generally lose about 2 – 2.5m of depth.

Given that strong spring tides can be as low as 1.1 - 1.2 m before meteorological effects are taken into consideration, this gives you a fairly short window within which you could take your boat out at any state of tide. However, low neap tides can be as high as 5m, which would give you comfortable under-keel clearance even when dredging was due.

If you have concerns about the depth at a specific time, Barrage Control are able to provide tidal heights in the outer harbour when you enter a lock. We would, of course, always recommend that mariners navigate with due caution, and allow a suitable safety margin when calculating tidal heights and clearances.

 

[clarinettist]

We touched bottom a few weeks ago coming in after anchoring off Penarth. This was after a nice man at the barrage told me we would be fine! We draw 1 metre. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif