East Coast & Draft

Fire99

Fire99

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Evening folks,

Not an urgent issue but since the weather is a bit foul, I thought I'd do a bit of forward thinking... The next boat.

Currently I have a bilge-keeler which spoils me around the Blackwater area. If I were to go with a Fin keel of around 5'3" - 5'8", would it inconvenience me so much as to spoil my East Coast sailing?

I know much of it is matter of taste, but I was interested. My next boat I'm hoping to be a fair bit more 'racey' and the fast ones (within budget) all seem to be fairly deep fin keelers.

As I say, don't get too excited but something to do a little research with whilst the weather is poor.

Thanks,

Nik
 
Fire99 said:
Evening folks,

Not an urgent issue but since the weather is a bit foul, I thought I'd do a bit of forward thinking... The next boat.

Currently I have a bilge-keeler which spoils me around the Blackwater area. If I were to go with a Fin keel of around 5'3" - 5'8", would it inconvenience me so much as to spoil my East Coast sailing?

I know much of it is matter of taste, but I was interested. My next boat I'm hoping to be a fair bit more 'racey' and the fast ones (within budget) all seem to be fairly deep fin keelers.

As I say, don't get too excited but something to do a little research with whilst the weather is poor.

Thanks,

Nik
Click to expand...

my first boat was a bilge keeler
since then
4`6
5`6
now 6`
as long as you keep clear of LSH you will be ok :o
 
sailorman said:
my first boat was a bilge keeler
since then
4`6
5`6
now 6`
as long as you keep clear of LSH you will be ok :o
Click to expand...

Interesting.. Maybe Bilge Keeling makes me lazy regarding local depths etc but when does upriver of Osea Island (for example) drop below 6ft?
 
Think of the advantages..

Like actually going to windward instead of a close fetch....

That extra pointing opens up much more sailing areas as you are much faster... What do you have your eye on?
 
I sort of have to disagree with the received wisdom that 2m on the East Coast is no issue. I know you sail faster and can get to your destination quicker than anything I've sailed, but just personally we enjoy exploring and getting there quickly has never been much of an issue. We saw the other side this week, with the big winds it was fun to sail everywhere at 7 knots and The Kipper was in her element. But it's still that issue of exploring. I'll list some of the places we've been that we would find impossible or impractical in a 2m draft boat:

Conyer: not especially pretty but the only proper marina on the Swale
Faversham: loved visiting it. In a 2m draft boat, neaps are out and even springs would be tip and run
Oare: Moved there when we discovered they charged £65pm for a 27 footer, delightful place as well
Anything above Aldeburgh: Iken is one of the nicest places on the coast
Woodbridge: Pick your tide and you can get there, but it's impractical outside of springs
GYH: We berth in a friendly marina for £140pm for 10m. 2m would rule it out

More experienced East Coasters could list lots of other haunts. I know there are beautiful anchorages easily accessible at 2m but you rule out so many others. North Sea passages are faster and that's a nice benefit, I guess I just don't get how 2m draft causes no more issues than keeping a slightly closer eye on the tide tables.
 
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I had a boat with 5'10" draft and went most places including rattling down the channel to sail around Sheppey. I now have 7'10" and haven't been upthe Ore or Deben since. I also had an element of trouble in Shotley!

It doesn't inconvenience me, because I bought the boat for more than East Coast sailing and it suits me well, Although, I happily knock about on the East Coast, I am more limited than I would like.
 
This is a classic swings and roundabouts dilemma.
We used to have a Stella, about 4ft draught and enjoyed poking up into shallow anchorages. But now with nearly 6ft we can go further, faster and in worse weather, so other areas are open to us.
To be honest, we never did much ditch crawling, but rather preferred the fun of sailing to mud scraping, but we do miss places like Iken Cliff.
Also many of our old favourite small hidey holes in Holland are now off limits, but it's easier to get there.
 
Tomahawk said:
Like actually going to windward instead of a close fetch....

That extra pointing opens up much more sailing areas as you are much faster... What do you have your eye on?
Click to expand...

Something along the lines of a GK29 or such like. Only doing a bit of 'naff weather investigating' at the mo but my flirtation with dinghy racing has got me wanting something more flighty (but still comfortable)
 
Thanks all. It does sound a bit of a 'swings n roundabouts' situation, but it's interesting to hear how people of different drafts get by in the 'shallows' of the East Coast.

I guess the other point for me is, as has been said, though I can go very shallow with my boat, how often do I actually want to go that shallow? Other than a meander up the Colne, I can't say that these days I tend to go looking for exceptionally shallow water.
 
I was brought up on twin keeled cruisers so when I bought our first 'proper' boat a twin keels seems the natural choice which we kept the boat on a drying mooring in Lawling Creek.

When we changed boats the new one had a 1.9m draft and the current draws 1.87m. There are times that I miss not being able to take the ground, being able to go to Woodbridge on evening neap tides or have to wait longer to cross a cill but all things considered I think the improved performance is definately worth it.

I still visit the Ore/Alde/Deben regularly and the on the odd occasion the upper reaches of the Blackwater and Colne on a rising tide.
 
Mine draws 5'6". This means that my access to Bradwell is HW+/-3 (3.5 in a rising tide) which can a nuisance compared to +/-5 in our old Snappie but the sailing cannot be compared. Worth the small inconvenience but not many places that I go to present any problems. I have got much better at mental tidal height calculations :)
 
I have to admit that having a shallow bilge keeler reminds me of my MOBO days, in the fact that I can be lazier when it comes to tide and calculating depths.

I've been sailing (in the literal sense) solidly now for about 3 years and I now have the desire to explore the universe and, after getting into dinghy racing, I also want the excitement of a boat that has a good turn of speed and gets the pulse racing a bit to sail.

I'm sure in time I'll be begging for something far more docile but right now I'm wanting to push the boundaries a bit.

But I do class the Blackwater as my home so I wouldn't want to completely exclude the simple pleasures, like anchoring off Osea Island or going up to Wivenhoe for a pint :)
 
It all depends on your type of sailing. I have had 4' 6" draft on each of my 3 boats so am used to it, but I do wish to have less when heading home from the south crossing the sand bars from the Thames Estuary (0.6m under the keel was a bit scary on Tuesday :eek:) but I like the windward performance.
 
Karouise said:
It all depends on your type of sailing. I have had 4' 6" draft on each of my 3 boats so am used to it, but I do wish to have less when heading home from the south crossing the sand bars from the Thames Estuary (0.6m under the keel was a bit scary on Tuesday :eek:) but I like the windward performance.
Click to expand...

Yeah I see your point. I can imagine having a teaspoon of water under your keel was a bit bottom clenching. :)
 
The Lazy Kipper said:
I sort of have to disagree with the received wisdom that 2m on the East Coast is no issue.
Click to expand...

pyrojames said:
I had a boat with 5'10" draft and went most places including rattling down the channel to sail around Sheppey. I now have 7'10" and haven't been upthe Ore or Deben since. I also had an element of trouble in Shotley!

It doesn't inconvenience me, because I bought the boat for more than East Coast sailing and it suits me well, Although, I happily knock about on the East Coast, I am more limited than I would like.
Click to expand...

+1

Another - important - limiting factor is time.
If you can afford to hang about, waiting for the appropriate amount of water to materialise, there are plenty of places you can get in/out of.
However, when you sail a deep fin keel boat the attractive destinations on the East Coast accessible at all state of tide are few and far between. :(
 
Ianqv said:
Same sort of story really... I went from a hunter 26 bilge keel which had a draw of 3ft.... now have a fin drawing 5ft.

NO prob at all - v pleased we went for a fin

Ian
Click to expand...

Interesting..

I would bet the Hunter 26 sailed quite well, even as a bilge... What did you replace her with?
 
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