Entrance to Wells

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RogerMayne

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I will be taking my boat back to Wells at the beginning of Feb. I was last there two and a half years ago and the entrance has now been dredged and an outer harbour for fishing and work boats added. I understand it was supposed to have been done so that vessels with a shoal draft could get in as far as the lifeboat house at any state of tide. Has anybody been in there lately and what was it like? I will be in touch with the Harbourmaster for his take on it, looking for some other opinions as well.
Thanks in advance.
 
They say minimum of 1m depth at low water neaps to just behind the lifeboatboat house, one local we spoke to last year said he could get in to behind the lifeboat house on most tides 4 hours before HW, check with their website as the bouyage has recently changed, I believe you now go around the bar instead of over it.
 
Has any further dredging taken place as far as the town or is it just to the lifeboat house - the latter I guess. I would like to go back but at 1.9m would I guess be limited to +/-1hr HW or so ?? and have to tie up against the barge at the quay which wouldnt be a problem.
 
CPD said:
Has any further dredging taken place as far as the town or is it just to the lifeboat house - the latter I guess. I would like to go back but at 1.9m would I guess be limited to +/-1hr HW or so ?? and have to tie up against the barge at the quay which wouldnt be a problem.
Click to expand...

Not last summer, and tie up port side to, ie facing back out ot the channel, we watched a westerley make like a sub doing a crash surface first time we tied up there, he was facing the other way! Otherwise, Joy loves it, so I guess we'll be back again next year.:)

We had the harbour master come out to lead us in at HW last year, made our own way in (HW) year before. The commercial traffic seems to risk a wider window, but I'm not sure I would.

HTH
 
We haven't been to Wells since we moved further South (to Shotley) in Sept 2009, either by road or sea. So, with this thread reminding me we haven't seen what they've been doing with the new outer harbour etc, i thought we'd take a ride there Sunday.

I'm sure the excavator on the boat is a new edition and it looks like they've been doing a little work here and there keeping the channel from the outer harbour to sea clear. I'm not sure what the exact situation is for all tide access to the outer harbour, but it was close to low water (neap) when we were there and it looked as though the channel was navigable as for as the outer harbour. Obviously a call to Bob the harbour master would be prudent before visiting.

For anyone else who hasn't been recently, here's a few pics.

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the slug is in wells

I have been in wells all winter

the bar is still a frightening thing

I have not had a chance to explore it on a calm day - but there are some shots here filmed about two hours after low tide - probably a four from a westerly with just a tiny bit of north in it

there is lots of water - for the slug anyway

but that does not stop the sea from boiling up in the most alarming way and the channel takes an astonishing dog leg half way in which forces you to turn broadside onto the waves

it is an amazing place

as they say "Wells will only let you go when its good and ready"

that is certainly true

Dylan

 
Last edited:
dylanwinter said:
I have been in wells all winter

the bar is still a frightening thing

I have not had a chance to explore it on a calm day - but there are some shots here filmed about two hours after low tide - probably a four from a westerly with just a tiny bit of north in it

there is lots of water - for the slug anyway

but that does not stop the sea from boiling up in the most alarming way and the channel takes an astonishing dog leg half way in which forces you to turn broadside onto the waves

it is an amazing place

as they say "Wells will only let you go when its good and ready"

that is certainly true

Dylan

Click to expand...

Nice vid , we will have to pop up for a visit to wells this year to see the alterations!Glad your liking it in Wells we were there for going on ten years winter and summer during high springs there's a nice dingy trip up sluice creek then over towards Blakeney through the channels ,picnic at low water, walk the last bit to the seals ,return to catch the next tide back with a bag of samphire to go with the evening pie! There's a couple of good butchers up the main street if you've tried their pies.Watch you get back to the dingy!( if you can borrow one to do it ) before you get trapped though .

Not sure how far you could get up in the slug but think you could possibly get quite a way up, so long as you make sure then the next tide is not reducing, wouldn't want to get neaped up there .

The Bar can be quite frightening the first few times! but once you have gone in with a 4 m swell behind you , it gets it gets easier !!
 
Sluice Creek

It will not come as a surprise to you to learn that I have already had a good look up sluice creek

I walked it first with the GPs then went up there with the slug

not been over the top but I reckon it shoudl bre possible as the slug only draws 18 inches

would like to have a go at getting through

so a bit more research and poking around with a stick to test the bottom

- although when the tide is high its hard to see where the channels go at all

Dylan
 
The bar can be fun,ive done it in a F7 nor easter,you just pick a wave and gun the engine.At night time it is for those stout of heart only or perhaps madmen.

the harbourmaster was at the helm of the chandlers Macwester and he managed to touch the bottom on the way in.
 
bastonjock said:
The bar can be fun,ive done it in a F7 nor easter,you just pick a wave and gun the engine.At night time it is for those stout of heart only or perhaps madmen.

the harbourmaster was at the helm of the chandlers Macwester and he managed to touch the bottom on the way in.
Click to expand...

I say this not as a declaration of madness, but as confirmation of what Jock just said. I once came out of Wells at night after a week of N'lies, following the channel very very closely as one does. When it came to the last red you can aim straight for the clear water mark, which was lit but often disappeared behind the crests. It was dark so you had no clear idea of what the water was like. You have no option other than to gun the engine, hang on, and hope. I have to say I was very scared, was bounced far more than I had imagined, and knew that if the engine gave up then I would be in big big trouble. It didnt, but suffice to say, I would think differently if I was in the same position again.

Wells is a beautiful place, and I will go back for sure, but the bar demands respect, and lots of it.
 
Some years ago, we were coming back over the bar in our Mirror Offshore heading for our mooring, having overnighted in Blakeney Pit.
We got pooped well and truly.
Glad we had the washboards in.
In-laws were following and said we disappeared from their sight for a while.
 
one other thing about wells is that if you miss the HW entry and have to wait on the hook outside,make sure that you are well out into Holkam bay,i made the error of dropping the hook about 100 yards off of the entrance,the tide changed direction ,swung the boat around 180 degrees and ripped out the anchor from the sea bed,it then bit back in but the resulting motion was quite violent and threw me out of my bunk,i got up and looked around all seemed okay but the night was one of those dark misty evenings and it was pitch black,i started up the engine and moved forward to haul in the anchor,id just got it in when i had a "feeling" and turned round to see the first red bouy pass by within a foot or so.It was a scary moment.

I saw a cat giving up trying to get over the bar,he was slamming and hobyhorsing like crazy.

Where the new pontoons are was my mooring
 
creek

fergie_mac66 said:
Nice vid , we will have to pop up for a visit to wells this year to see the alterations!Glad your liking it in Wells we were there for going on ten years winter and summer during high springs there's a nice dingy trip up sluice creek then over towards Blakeney through the channels ,picnic at low water, walk the last bit to the seals ,return to catch the next tide back with a bag of samphire to go with the evening pie! There's a couple of good butchers up the main street if you've tried their pies.Watch you get back to the dingy!( if you can borrow one to do it ) before you get trapped though .

Not sure how far you could get up in the slug but think you could possibly get quite a way up, so long as you make sure then the next tide is not reducing, wouldn't want to get neaped up there .

The Bar can be quite frightening the first few times! but once you have gone in with a 4 m swell behind you , it gets it gets easier !!
Click to expand...

Hi fergie_mac66,

I was planning of doing a Wells to Morston trip up the creek soon but there seems
to be a bridge of some sort about a third of the way between the two; at least
according to google earth. Any idea what it is and if its still there?

Agree about the entrance. Can be very scary in daylight god knows what it
would be like at night. We had engine failure in a very strong westerly shortly
after just having passed the Lifeboat building on the way in. No great drama
but if it had conked out 5 or ten mins earlier it would have been a very different
story in 2-3m waves.

jono
 
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