SailorFrank
Well-Known Member
hate to be the bearer of bad news but I know Bembridge really well and not a chance - how about Cowes (it is nice and quiet at the moment) and dinner at Db's or Murrays?
Entering Bembridge before high tide
- Thread starter rwoofer
- Start date
rwoofer
Well-Known Member
Managed to speak to the Harbourmaster in the end. Verdict - no chance of making the evening tide. Would need to wait till about 2000, which is 3 hours before high water, just as they say on the site.
Curiously they give 2.5 hours after high tide as the latest entry on the website, but they suggested I could still make it about 3.5 hours after. I guess they play it safer on the falling tide to avoid people getting caught out.
I think I will now try for the morning tide and try to beach Hawana for the very first time!
Curiously they give 2.5 hours after high tide as the latest entry on the website, but they suggested I could still make it about 3.5 hours after. I guess they play it safer on the falling tide to avoid people getting caught out.
I think I will now try for the morning tide and try to beach Hawana for the very first time!
Sans Bateau
Well-Known Member
Good call.
I have had experience, in my very early days of sailing, trying to get my boat back toward deeper water, watching the tide racing out from under me at Bembridge. I could see the beach, through the water, under the boat! The ebbing tide was dropping us like a lift. We spent the evening and early into the night 3 metres from the deeper water. Deeper water that would have only seen us a little further up the channel to have got stuck firmly on the bottom some where else.
On another occasion though, many years later, we have looked at the tidal gauge by St Helens fort and thought, Oh come on lets give it a go! Then to successfully bump along the bottom on a rising tide to get into the harbour.
In your case though, at the time you were looking at all you would have is damp sand!
Make sure you take a walk along the beach and enjoy one of the loveliest spots on the IOW.
I have had experience, in my very early days of sailing, trying to get my boat back toward deeper water, watching the tide racing out from under me at Bembridge. I could see the beach, through the water, under the boat! The ebbing tide was dropping us like a lift. We spent the evening and early into the night 3 metres from the deeper water. Deeper water that would have only seen us a little further up the channel to have got stuck firmly on the bottom some where else.
On another occasion though, many years later, we have looked at the tidal gauge by St Helens fort and thought, Oh come on lets give it a go! Then to successfully bump along the bottom on a rising tide to get into the harbour.
In your case though, at the time you were looking at all you would have is damp sand!
Make sure you take a walk along the beach and enjoy one of the loveliest spots on the IOW.
Sailfree
Well-Known Member
Never been to Bembridge. Reeds says Visitors berths on Pontoons by Duver Marina or Fishermans Wharf.
Are these connected to land or is it a row in a tender? Is there a water taxi? What depth of keel is Ok to overnight? I am 2.2m draught.
Are these connected to land or is it a row in a tender? Is there a water taxi? What depth of keel is Ok to overnight? I am 2.2m draught.
Sans Bateau
Well-Known Member
Roger
Duver has a walk ashore pontoon. When its busy there, no scrub that! At any time rather, you will raft up. The bottom is soft mud, so depending on springs or neaps your keel will sink in OK.
I like Bembridge, its worth visiting.
Duver has a walk ashore pontoon. When its busy there, no scrub that! At any time rather, you will raft up. The bottom is soft mud, so depending on springs or neaps your keel will sink in OK.
I like Bembridge, its worth visiting.
rwoofer
Well-Known Member
I used to go with my old boat that drew 2.01 metres and found there were only about 2 spots that could take the depth in Duver marina. If you tell the harbour master your draft he will put you in these two positions unless they are already rafted to the max.
Having spoken the the HM yesterday, they are expecting Bembridge to be completely full this weekend, so try to get there earlier rather than later.
Having spoken the the HM yesterday, they are expecting Bembridge to be completely full this weekend, so try to get there earlier rather than later.
fireball
Well-Known Member
We draw 1.8m and don't have a problem - it has been dredged fairly recently, and even if you do hit the mud it is soft and you just sink in a little way.
Malabar
Well-Known Member
Checking with the Bembridge Harbour website and Easytide, the least depth in the channel is 0.2 m at CD. If you have 1.3m draft then you can scrape in at a tidal ht of 1.1m . According to the Easytide prediction curve you should have that at about 1630 BST next Saturday. If atmospheric pressure is high (unlikely) it will be later. Sounds like a reasonable plan to arrive at about 1700, moor up, quick G&T than shove off ashore for a 1815 table reservation. You probably know that with 'Easytide' you can select the 1-day graph size up to 7 days ahead. That gives a pretty accurate result.
rwoofer
Well-Known Member
You started exactly where I started. The first challenge is that Easytide has Bembridge Harbour and Bembridge Approaches. I initially used the Approaches chart as you did, which is why I thought I could make it. If you use the Bembridge Harbour chart there is 1.3 metres at 20:00 hours (+ 20cm extra).
The harbour master said I wouldn't make it in the evening, but I would at 1:30pm on the falling tide from the morning. I worked back from this to conclude that the Bembridge Harbour chart is the one to use. Having said that I'm not really sure what the Approaches chart can be used for? Maybe a local can shed some light on this?
Perhaps another thing that suggests Easytide is not accurate is the fact that the Harbour master is quite clear that 1.5m draft can enter Bembridge 3 hours before and 2.5 hours after high tide. The shape of the easytide graphs ( which show high tide only drops very slowly at first) suggest that if you can enter 3 hours before then you should still be able to enter 3.5 hours after. I could only conclude that the harbour master was being more conservative on the falling tide.
Maybe all this confusion over tidal curves is why quite a few seem to get stuck in the entrance compared to other tidal harbours.
The harbour master said I wouldn't make it in the evening, but I would at 1:30pm on the falling tide from the morning. I worked back from this to conclude that the Bembridge Harbour chart is the one to use. Having said that I'm not really sure what the Approaches chart can be used for? Maybe a local can shed some light on this?
Perhaps another thing that suggests Easytide is not accurate is the fact that the Harbour master is quite clear that 1.5m draft can enter Bembridge 3 hours before and 2.5 hours after high tide. The shape of the easytide graphs ( which show high tide only drops very slowly at first) suggest that if you can enter 3 hours before then you should still be able to enter 3.5 hours after. I could only conclude that the harbour master was being more conservative on the falling tide.
Maybe all this confusion over tidal curves is why quite a few seem to get stuck in the entrance compared to other tidal harbours.