Do you enjoy your sailing, or do you minimise your passage time?

[James Marinero]

Just in case you need a reminder.....


We have clocked over 8 knots of tide in this area on springs!

We love sailing but not taking tides into account would be stupid and dangerous in our neck of the woods.
The annual regatta took place last week and one competitor ended up getting holed in this area.

Ah, the Swellies methinks. Fond memories of brown trousers when I lived in Menai Bridge...once was enough - we were heading southwest and were late on the HW...the anchorage inside Llanddwyn island was magical - we got there very quickly! Of course I might be completely wrong.

 

[Tomahawk]

I do both..


But I would say that..











OK... I'll get me coat.

 

[Bobc]

The other week I was on a mate's boat heading for St. Vaast, and we were having to push to make sure we made the locks.

I couldn't figure out his new fangled electronic stuff, so found myself doing secondary port calculations in the almanac (something I haven't done for about 15 years). Amazing how it all comes back when you need to revery to paper and pencil.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

You like sailing, right? Me too. OK. You know when you’re planning a passage and you take account of the tidal flows to minimise time spent at sea? Why do you do that? I thought you liked spending time at sea?

I don’t get it. I don’t get it in myself either. If we find peace, space, independence, adventure, whatever it is, while sailing... why do we go to such lengths to minimise the amount of time we actually spend sailing?

Well, we need to get to the next port before dry harbours dry, marina sills are raised or the tide turns so strongly we cant get there at all. As a Bristol Channel Sailor that's a major consideration. Having just moved our newer boat from Emsworth the fastest passage out of overcrowded and thus unpleasant Solent waters was a great relief.

And there again the pub and restaurant, yacht club and sometimes chandlers call. Or the navigator expresses strong preference for arriving in strange port in daylight, so she can compare chart with visual.

Strangely on longer passages its less of an issue as we can't control anything to that degree of exactitude and there will several tidal streams in opposing directions

 

[TSB240]

Ah, the Swellies methinks. Fond memories of brown trousers when I lived in Menai Bridge...once was enough - we were heading southwest and were late on the HW...the anchorage inside Llanddwyn island was magical - we got there very quickly! Of course I might be completely wrong.

Certainly Is Magical!