Folgers Gat open? Closed? Anybody's guess

[Champagne Murphy]

I came south past there Tuesday and as Clive said, the Mary Anne was at the south end with no other activity going on and 1 or 2 boats using the gat. I chickened out and as it was high waterish I cut the corner to Fishermans.
I looked at my previous GPS track through Foulgers and it looked diagonal to the turbine avenue.
If I had remembered to print the excellent Crossing the T E pdf of the route through the turbines I would have been ok.
To be honest, unless the wind is exactly right or its flat calm motoring weather, this route has been limited by the wind farm.
Yes, a buoyed route would be helpful.[/QUOTE

Got the same impression; going S the 'Avenue' is really obvious but going N we deviated E into a different line. Quick check on the CP initiated a mild panic and we soon got back on our line. I put it down to a mirage 'cos there was a pub there too

 

[Cantata]

Re CliveG's post of today.
Earlier in this thread (I THINK it was in this thread!) I posted a comment saying I had contacted the LA coordinators at Ramsgate asking if the Mary Ann or any other guard vessel crew would please give geographical reference info as well as lat and long when trying to call a leisure craft nearby.
Tonight I have received a very constructive email from the coordinators, mentioning that recently there have been some new crews involved out there, and saying that not all crews may have properly understood the guard vessel role in advising other craft on passage on whether or not it is currently possible to use the Gat, and if so to advise helpfully on the potential dangers to be avoided.
The email reassured us that all crews had been briefed again on what was expected of them, and I think that CliveG's experience shows that the message is getting through.
It goes on to say that skippers who wish to transit through Foulger's Gat are more than welcome to call the duty Marine Coordinator on 07920 854358, who can tell them of the latest construction activity and perhaps give a detailed weather / sea state picture as well.

 

[Supine Being]

Hi Cantata. Thanks to you and Tillergirl for following this up on everyone's behalf. It is certainly promising that they're taking steps to improve the situation and it's great that CliveG got a better response. I think that they need to disseminate information a little more efficiently, though. The phone number that they publish on the website is useless in my experience, and the one above can only be used if you're in the know... which forum readers are now, thanks to you, but that's not everyone sailing the estuary.

It would be better if they could publish the number and up to date access information on the web somewhere. Doesn't have to be fancy, just a red, amber, green indicator where amber means boats are working nearby so be aware and keep 500m clear.

 

[CliveG]

I forgot to say that MA1 called us as the Blue hulled Yacht approaching the wind farm from the south.
It was a clear and understandable call to us.
That may be because there were no other yachts in the area.
But there was no lat & long nonsense.

As I said before our experience was what should have been happening all though the build.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I was surprised pass through Foulger's today without any call from MA1, also I don't recall hearing any of his routine announcements on the VHF.

This is contrast to last Saturday when I had little choice but to use the gat (rather than divert via Fisherman's) and be able to make my destination safely and had to inform MA1 of that issue.

 

[Habebty]

Came north today and didn't bother with Foulgers, looked a bit busy.....

Used Fishermans as the cable dredging ship was about.