Hamble river escape

You don’t say which Marina the boat is at. We used Deacons for years and found the tide there stronger than many other places.

If possible I would look to leave at neap tides. That way the tides will be less significant so the impact will be less if you get it wrong. When leaving the mooring for the first time, spend some time looking at where the tide is going but be aware that it may be going one way, in the main channel and then flowing in another direction as a back eddy close to the shore so walk along the pontoon to check before you go. If in any doubt, delay your departure. Do not try and leave if it will involve complicated manoeuvres in astern to get out. Wait till either slack water or a tide that is from ahead, therefore pushing the boat backwards as this will make it easy to stop the boat against the land.

Finally don’t forget that the boat will not be going where it is pointing, but at an angle. You can use this to your advantage by pointing into the tide and going slowly which means that you are stationary against moored boats. If you then alter course a little you can basically go sideways which enables you to get out of tight spaces.

Once you’ve got out it’s not such an issue. Just be clear that along the coast it can make journeys much longer or shorter depending on which way it flows. In the Solent it can reach 4 knots or more turning 6 knots of boat speed into either 2 knots or 10 knots over the ground so make sure that you take into account.
 
Congratulations on your new HR . You don't say which model but hopefully al still on track . We visit Hamble fairly often but not a savvy local by any means . That said never had any real issues if you watch out for the charter boats and study the local boating behaviours careful. It does seem to attract some strange behaviours at the entrance to Hamble in Soton water from those who want to roar off at 30knots unmindful of others to those whose desire to haul up their shiny sails asap can lead to moments of worry for others.
As has been said maybe see if the boat can be on a Hammerhead or stern to moored which might also assist on loading kit depending on model of HR ? You might also want to have the diesel tanks filled pre delivery to avoid dancing around fuel berths in tidal streams ? Lastly invest in many fenders of F3 or F5 type plus a shiny ball type. I am sure Force 4 chandlery will be happy to kit you out and have a number of branches at various Hamble marinas . You don't say if you are buying via Transworld who i recall are HR broker but no doubt they do this fairly regularly and have a set shopping list and guidance sheets of info plus could lend you books etc . If worried though ask them to source you suitabl e who you drop off at say Portsmouth etc after a day sail getting to know boat in sheltered Solent. Do keep us updated on progress .
 
Nothing to do with tides but it’s worth mentioning that the Solent is very busy at the weekend with race fleets and weekend sailors. For a first ever sail there you may want to consider leaving on a weekday.
 
doug748 said:
I would:
Take the seller up on his offer of some simple close quarters tuition.
Get the boat out of the marina the day before setting off - onto a midstream mooring.

Just like a river:
Going upstream everything is under control and things happen slowly.
Going downstream things happen quickly and you can lose control if you try to stop - always look what is coming up 50 and 100 metres ahead.

I am sure you will be fine, have a great trip.
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This is it.

You really only have two challenges:

1. The boat will be hard to control when you are moving out of a berth in the same direction as the tidal stream. If you have enough room you might manage it, but to be safe it's good to leave a berth against the stream, when on the contrary you will have more control. Or if you can afford it, at slack water.

2. Getting down the coast with the right timing. When I sail to Sweden from the Hamble (or from Cowes), which I have been doing every year for four years, I normally sail non-stop to Helgoland, which is about 450 miles. If the current simply reversed you could ignore it -- 6 hours of favourable current and 6 hours unfavourable, and it cancels out.

But in the Eastern Part of the English Channel it doesn't work like this! The tides roll up and down the Channel through the Straits of Dover, and if you get the timing wrong, you can be fighting an adverse tide most of the way.

You should study the tidal charts and figure out the right time to start in order to avoid this effect. I find that it's good to be ready to stop in Brighton or somewhere else along the way, to allow correction if necessary.

I have a special program called Neptune Planner + which can work out exactly the optimum departure time based on your expected average speed. I'll be glad to do this for you sometime when I'll be on the boat, or I'm sure some of the other guys on here will be glad to help.
 
ianat182 said:
As previously mentioned the only problem area on the Hamble River is the cross currents in the Premier Marina and on river berthing moorings opposite.
Make sure that fenders are positioned on both sides of your boat and spare mooring warps are handy at the bow. Note the direction of current and work out what side your type of Propeller wash works (does it push your stern onto or off the marina berth when in gear ) - this can make a lot of difference to the way you Leave/Arrive at your berth.

The last of the outgoing tide will be favourable for your departure, but you will take about 40-45 minutes to reach the end of the river at HAMBLE POINT BUOY. Keep to the Starboard side of the channel all the way up the river.Be aware of the many yachts leaving other marinas on the journey up the Hamble.
Many departing yachts decide to hoist sails at this position then proceeding to the East thereby catching the first of the Westerly incoming tide; from here on there are only navigational problems for about 6 hours when the tide changes. If the weather turns nasty avoid the Chichester entrance and sandbar area and consider back-tracking to Osborne Bay and anchor. Use the Portsmouth tide tables for local information, and study the charts . Presumably the crew will be aboard the boat from the start otherwise there are pickup pontoons at Hamble and at Warsash at the Harbourmaster's jetties.

Good trip!

ian
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Getting out of a finger berth at Swanwick Marina with a strong tide running is very tricky even for the very experienced. That was good advice to have the marina and/or the seller move you to a hammerhead before departure. They generally do that cheerfully.

You don't care about having a fair tide in the Hamble. It's just a couple of miles. What you care about is correct timing to catch the rolling tide down the coast. As someone said above, if you catch it right, you can fly all the way to Ramsgate on one tide.
 
Just wondering if you should do a shakedown cruise around the Solent for a few days before you head off to Sweden, just to make sure you are happy with all systems and to get used to the boat?

Perhaps even ask for local experienced crew to join you for a day or two. There are also plenty of people here and on the Facebook group “crew looking for berths” or if you are a member of a yacht club with a reciprocal to one of the many around the Solent, you could ask there too. Booked ahead, flights can be cheap, perhaps even come over for a long weekend ahead of the delivery trip?
 
No tides in Sweden :ambivalence: Why is that!

Cheating but 7 Drascombes did the trip to Sweden... But they towed! Lovely country, superb coast but it has changed sadly apparently. I have not been their for years.
 
Leave the Hamble during a quiet time to avoid the rush to the Solent. Be aware of people sailing out and in the Humble as a lot of them don't know the rules of the road. Your next challenge is the South and West coast of England, a lot of sand banks and cargo ship traffic. Have a good trip
 
I'm amazed, I never realised that the Hamble was such a scary place. It seemed so nice the times we've been there.

Follow Ianat182's advice and you'll be just fine. If you are leaving from Deacon's I'd leave at low water (make sure you're on one of their mid river berths) so you can head down the river and, following the obvious buoyage, emerge into Southampton water.

Make sure you have enough water to get between Black Jack buoy and the north channel and the tide will help you east. This is a lovely place to sail so don't let the doomsayers make you worry :-)

Keep going through Solent and either through the small boat channel or between the Spitbank/Horse Sand forts and you're off, next stop the Looe channel south of Selsey. Make sure you do really go through the markers rather than near them...

Next stop Brighton.

Have a great sail back home and if you see a late, very shiny and good condition, re-engined Albin Vega in excellent condition for sale when you get back please let me know.
 
Yes , Reach Buoy, Calshot and Hill Head Buoys,followed by East Bramble and NE Ryde Middle avoids the Brambles sandbank,and out into the strongest of the new westerly flood tide. Incidentally the aforesaid bank has only a red pile as a mark, but this route will avoid that small difficulty.
Plenty of depth even at the early tide for your HR.
Assuming you are leaving during daylight this route is easy, a late departure you'll need to brush up on light characteristics en route.

ianat182
 
Thing to do with manouvering in tides is to be sure which way the tide is going. Look over the side. Sometimes the surface of the water is misleading but if you see weed on the pontoon moving that will give you the direction.

The Hamble isn't scary, but the pontoons are squeezed in tightly. I'm surprised the Solentites haven't mentioned that the Hamble is unusual in that there are quite a few changes of direction per day. So check what the tide is doing again just before you cast off rather than relying on what it was doing twenty minutes earlier.

And if you think it is running too strongly for you just wait - it'll change.

And as you probably already know, heights are from Chart Datum, so the worst case depth is shown on the chart just like on Swedish charts. The only difference is that there will be deeper water there depending upon the tide but you only have to worry about that when you want to go somewhere shallow.
 
And the original poster would like to say "a big thanks to everyone who has generously contributed their knowledge to help me."
 
Babylon said:
And the original poster would like to say "a big thanks to everyone who has generously contributed their knowledge to help me."
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I would imagine that with two posts to his name, being Swedish and new to the way this forum works - hes a bit nonplussed by the variety of responses received :)
 
RobbieW said:
I would imagine that with two posts to his name, being Swedish and new to the way this forum works - hes a bit nonplussed by the variety of responses received :)
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+1

It's sometimes hard enough filtering the responses to a thread when you've been on the forum for a while.
 
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