Harwich entrance after dark

Harwich is easy enough to get into at night. Just make sure you identify the breakwater, Harwich Shelf and Shotley Spit.

What frightens me these days is the number of poorly marked pots around. Last season some B----- was even putting them inside the harbour.

In daylight I have never entered Harwich via the Medusa channel without making numerous changes of course to avoid them. At night I have never seen one at all despite keeping a strict lookout.

A couple of season ago our commodore got caught on one at night near the Cork Sand and had to call the RNLI out.

In 2010 I did 2600 miles round the UK without a hitch only to pick up a pot 4 miles off Harwich. Fortunately it was daylight and I was able to cut myself free.
 
I've made lots of night time approaches and never had a problem. My preferred route is the same as TonyMS - S of Cork Sands: Medusa, Stone Banks, Languard. There are pots but a decent lookout helps a lot even at night.

My only advice on top of that already given is that it can be slightly disorienting near Cliff Foot as the track turns to stbd to head North for a mile or so before turning to port again at N Shelf (which, as pointed out previously, may not match your plotter by quite some margin). You can generally see the later buoys and the 'dog leg' around The Shelf feels wrong (at least to me sometimes).
 
So far no-one has mentioned one hazard for a stranger to Harwich, this is the Harwich Shelf shoal. It extends East from the vicinity of the Harwich VTS building towards the Grisle buoy. The Eastern edge is marked by a pretty insignificant East Cardinal mark. It is lit so that should help at night, but to spot it against the lights of the container berths is not easy. It is not uncommon to see yachts go aground there, in daylight.
 
Leighb said:
The other route is not immune. :mad:

See this post http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2182462#post2182462

This was as far as we could tell completely unmarked, certainly not by anything you might see at night.
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Some people seem to put them in the most unlikely places. As said by someone else, they have been putting them in the harbour, seen a few on the South side.

Which is why, in the dark, i'd always stay close to the channel (that also avoids Harwich Shelf that you later mention).
 
Leighb said:
So far no-one has mentioned one hazard for a stranger to Harwich, this is the Harwich Shelf shoal. It extends East from the vicinity of the Harwich VTS building towards the Grisle buoy. The Eastern edge is marked by a pretty insignificant East Cardinal mark. It is lit so that should help at night, but to spot it against the lights of the container berths is not easy. It is not uncommon to see yachts go aground there, in daylight.
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+1.
I think that is the only major tripping point, especially as you are well into the Haven by then & likely to relax.
I aim to stick close to the channel, pick up the Grisle then Guard buoys, look both ways before scampering across to Shotley Spit.
Good idea to have VTS [channel 71?] to get an idea of ship movements. Actually a requirement I think.
Otherwise it's a very straightforward harbour to enter at night.
This may help
http://www.hha.co.uk/
 
Well, speaking for myself, I have come horribly close to clouting the breakwater (which covers) entering near HWS at night! Admittedly pre-GPS.

But hitting the Shelf - never! An echosounder and a slight familiarity with the chart takes care of that.
 
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My 2p;
If coming up the Medusa Channel then watch the tide if its strong & ebbing as it can sweep you towards Cork Sand.....
If coming around the North watch the top of Cork Sand.....
The lights make some of the marks confusing...
Often some confusing Ship movements coming up by the Rough Towers

Guess how I've found these out :)
 
Slightly off topic but what are those two humongous buoys (near Pin Mill IIRC) and just out of the channel? They look like they're made of metal and at night it would be easy to clout one whilst looking for a mooring.
 
Perhaps change the question

I tend to agree with the Medusa channel approach, but the tide may make one route much easier, be flexible. I also think that Harwich shelf is awkward, the Shelf buoy is hard enough to spot in daylight.
But my main point is why not make the dark part of your journey when leaving Zeebrugge?
Typically for our 33 foot yacht we cross Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Ostend in 12 hours, add an extra one and a half hours for Zeebrugge. so Leave at 03.00 or perhaps 04.00 and you are in familiar waters in the dark and unless it is head winds will achieve Harwich in daylight even in April.
 
johnphilip said:
I tend to agree with the Medusa channel approach, but the tide may make one route much easier, be flexible. I also think that Harwich shelf is awkward, the Shelf buoy is hard enough to spot in daylight.
But my main point is why not make the dark part of your journey when leaving Zeebrugge?
Typically for our 33 foot yacht we cross Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Ostend in 12 hours, add an extra one and a half hours for Zeebrugge. so Leave at 03.00 or perhaps 04.00 and you are in familiar waters in the dark and unless it is head winds will achieve Harwich in daylight even in April.
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Yep. Common sense at last.

My 1937 37ft old timer does it in that time, too. Forget the tides as you have equal amounts of ebb and flood.

The traditional wisdom used to be that you should plan to make landfall whilst it is still dark, to identify the lights, and arrive soon after dawn, to see where you need to go.
 
johnphilip said:
I tend to agree with the Medusa channel approach, but the tide may make one route much easier, be flexible. I also think that Harwich shelf is awkward, the Shelf buoy is hard enough to spot in daylight.
But my main point is why not make the dark part of your journey when leaving Zeebrugge?
Typically for our 33 foot yacht we cross Suffolk Yacht Harbour to Ostend in 12 hours, add an extra one and a half hours for Zeebrugge. so Leave at 03.00 or perhaps 04.00 and you are in familiar waters in the dark and unless it is head winds will achieve Harwich in daylight even in April.
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I agree with that plan.

Don Street of Iolaire fame always advised "never enter a *strange port at night".

In my experience it's good advice.

*Unfamiliar, unknown to you . . . . not funny ha ha :p
 
Minn said:
Actually originally ship moorings. Ocean going ships - including on one occasion in 1935 or 36 the Eriksson barque POMMERN, from Australia - which were too big to get into the Ipswich Wet Dock used to secure to them whilst their cargo was transhipped into Thames barges for the Ipswich mills.
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No, you're going too far back in time! The moorings you are referring to are long gone and were down in Butterman's Bay. I think they went in the '60s. They were huge great things with wooden 'scrambling' fenders round them, very similar to the ones opposite Holbrook bay in the Stour (or have they gone too?) The two large steel buoys just inshore of the Grog buoy were put down by Jonathan Webb about ten years ago, at the time he started rebuilding 'Melissa'. They are frequently used by sailing barges for overnight stops.

As regards a hazard, yes they are unlit but they are in fairly shallow water and most people watching the depth sounder in the dark would probably be keeping a little further out towards the channel.
 
Minn said:
And hand over a tenner if you do - outrageous rip off"!
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Welcome to use my mooring about 1/2 a mile up from Levington on the SW side of the river. I will only be on it for June and the begining of July.

As for Harwich Shelf, I got away with dragging my keel across it hard on the wind and a falling tide. Pass close to the cardinal and breath easy!
 
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