Hanford water anchorage

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Denek

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Hi all.
We are planning our first ever trip into Hanford water this weekend ( Friday ) and hope to stay overnight at the anchorage after the no 9 conical bouy marked on navionics.
Anyone got any advice please we draw 1.5 M
Looks like we can go in on a rising tide ( we aim to be at Pye end by around 1 ish ) the wind looks like it may be pretty much on the nose so we will probably need to motor in.
Leaving lunchtime Saturday with the hope of spending Saturday night on halfpenny pier if there is room.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
There is plenty of water up as far as Kirby Creek, There is [or was] a mud spit across there, but deep water beyond, so OK to go, but not at low water. Good holding unless you hit a patch of pipe weed, strange stuff!
Windguru predicts Northerly winds for Friday so presumably you will anchor to the North side. Leave room for occasional coasters going to Oakley Creek.
It can be a bit exposed in Easterly winds which are forecast for Saturday morning, so your trip out will be a bit of a slog.
 
Denek said:
Hi all.
We are planning our first ever trip into Hanford water this weekend ( Friday ) and hope to stay overnight at the anchorage after the no 9 conical bouy marked on navionics.
Anyone got any advice please we draw 1.5 M
Looks like we can go in on a rising tide ( we aim to be at Pye end by around 1 ish ) the wind looks like it may be pretty much on the nose so we will probably need to motor in.
Leaving lunchtime Saturday with the hope of spending Saturday night on halfpenny pier if there is room.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Click to expand...

My home waters.

Rather than going to No 9 (Green), go to No 8 (Red) then to Island Point (North Cardinal) and direct into Hamford Water (also known as West Water); avoiding the shallows and dog leg around Stone Point.

High water Friday 1509/3.78 (a fairly large tide) so no problems with depth.

Be advised, this coming weekend The Old Gaffers are holding their annual weekend meet at the Walton & Frinton Yacht Club (W&FYC) and plan to have an Around Horsey Island Race on Saturday afternoon.

Followed by a get together at the W&FYC that evening, sea-shanties and all of that - great fun and all visitors very welcomed.

On the same Saturday Evening the W&FYC will be having a Midsummer Madness BBQ and again all visitors very welcome.

So you may consider anchoring as planned in Hamford Water on Friday Night but the take the Saturday afternoon tide up the Walton Channel to the Spit North Cardinal Buoy and up the well buoyed Foundry Reach to The (new) Walton Basin (The Pond) and spend the night afloat at the centre of all the fun. Then leave on the Sunday afternoon tide (HW 1624/3.8m).

The Walton Basin offers easy walking assess to Aldi, M&S, Tesco and the Coop, plus the all the delights of Walton-on-the-Naze, which includes 5 pubs and numerous restaurants.

The Walton Basin access will open (on request) about 1 to 1.5 hour before high tide.

Another option would be to spend Saturday night on a buoy in the Walton Channel and dinghy to the W&FYC about 3 hours either side of high water.

From recent experience, because of local shipping (tugs etc.) Halfpenny Pier can be rather uncomfortable and the wave breaker is not that effective so possibly flag Halfpenny Pier but then proceed up to Wrabness and pick up a deep water buoy (+3-4m at low water), for a quieter night?

This weekend we will be at the W&FYC so if you want more details please PM me.
 
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The tradition in Hamford Water is to mozy in when someone is already there and ignore the several square miles of water around and anchor next to the other boat. :)

Actually, you can anchor anywhere you like though with a brisk easterly you might be more comfortable in the Walton Channel. Some parts of Hamford Water have been known to harbour weed making anchoring more difficult but I haven't heard anything recently about this.
 
johnalison said:
The tradition in Hamford Water is to mozy in when someone is already there and ignore the several square miles of water around and anchor next to the other boat. :)

Actually, you can anchor anywhere you like though with a brisk easterly you might be more comfortable in the Walton Channel. Some parts of Hamford Water have been known to harbour weed making anchoring more difficult but I haven't heard anything recently about this.
Click to expand...

Just got back in from the Backwaters and there are plenty of free buoys available in the Walton Channel.
 
Back in the early 1980s my father and I counted over a hundred boats at anchor around Stone Point, one August Bank Holiday, and no free moorings at that end of the channel of course (ours was in the Twizzle).

Times change.

My experience was that the pipe weed will clog a Danforth type but a CQR type usually worked.
 
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I have to say our expiernce in Hanford is that it can swallow 40-50 boats on the hook and you can’t even tell what the next guy is barbecuing... the holding is as close to perfect for us as I have ever seen....we like to go in a fairly deep patch just to the south of the exchem bouy ...
 
I know a couple of owners with moorings in the Walton channel but I tend to be a bit cautious about picking up moorings, mainly due to a dislike of getting out of my bunk to move when the owner returns.

Times change indeed. We would often spend up to a week with the children at Stone Point in the '70s but the creek was different then, with a sandy beach south of the current steepest section and nothing downstream. I was once expected to move from my anchorage when a boat turned up and wanted to anchor in the same place because "I always anchor here on Sundays".
 
Taking part in the gaffers race on Saturday in my smacks boat, should be interesting to watch if anchored there. Last few years either had too much or no wind, looks promising for Saturday. Fingers crossed!
 
Thanks for all this guys.
We cannot really stay on Saturday night as we have be up and leave for home early on Sunday this is why I thought Harwich would be a good option as it’s only a short hop to SYH but I will remember for next time. Hopefully we will get to see some of these boats anyway. Mind you we are on a swinging mooring at SYH and quite often are passed by nice traditional boats.
Hopefully it will be a nice weekend and who knows may see some of you guys on the water.
 
ianc1200 said:
Any chance you'll be near the marina & could give advice on my sewing machine (well the machine's OK it's just me....)?
Click to expand...
I am an expert on sewing machines. Actually, that's a complete lie, but if you are passing H4 when the ensign is up, I'll be there.
 
Colin/Plum as well as being world wide secretary of the Old Gaffers, is also a sewing expert. Sounds like we need him to host a workshop this weekend.....
 
I have west / south west winds forecast for Friday? Not used wind guru though just the met office forecasts. It all looks promising though. I have never tried picking up a random bouy as I would not want to have to move at an inconvenient time I.e. in the middle of the night. I suppose it would be unlikely that the owner would return then though.
I cannot find the exchequer bouy? I am on avionics as we are at home but will be using paper charts too when we get to the boat so maybe it’s marked on those.
 
Denek said:
I have west / south west winds forecast for Friday? Not used wind guru though just the met office forecasts. It all looks promising though. I have never tried picking up a random bouy as I would not want to have to move at an inconvenient time I.e. in the middle of the night. I suppose it would be unlikely that the owner would return then though.
I cannot find the exchequer bouy? I am on avionics as we are at home but will be using paper charts too when we get to the boat so maybe it’s marked on those.
Click to expand...

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/east-coast/walton-backwaters/expanded.asp

You might find the link above useful.

Exchem Buoy is at the entrance to Oakley Creek on the northern side of Hamford Water.

https://www.windfinder.com/weatherforecast/walton-on-the-naze

In a West/South-Westerly somewhere around the entrance to Kirby Creek could be a good anchorage.

Given the forecast wind strengths anywhere should be OK but if you pick up a buoy towards the seaward end of the Walton Channel you should not be disturbed - over the past 25 years I never have been and during your period of residence (Friday night) it is most unlikely any ‘owner’ would return.

The buoys are owned by Halls and Bedwells Boat Yards in Walton and currently there must be between 20 to 30 unused buoys - especially on the lower reaches of the channel.

Many of the buoys have pick-up lines which make picking up simple and a further precaution against being disturbed is to select a buoy that looks as if it hasn’t been used for a while.

It will be muddy and fouled so it would be a good idea to wear stout protective gloves.

Hope this all helps and enjoy your visit.

As we well be remaining in The Pond, we will not meet-up this time but maybe in the future✔️
 
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Thanks for all your advice nortada really appreciate it.
I have seen visit my Harbour and it appears very useful. We have been sailing for a while now but only really day sailing. We retire ( hopefully) next year and plan to spend more time afloat and we are new to this boat this year having spent three years in America with just a GP 14 to sail. Good fun though. We are trying to get as much sailing in this year as we can but we are also moving house so it’s difficult to fit everything in. We are moving closer to the coast so at least after the move things should be easier.
Thanks again and maybe see you on the water��
 
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