Harwich to Ramsgate advice please

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RAP77

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I have to take my sailing boat (12m 1.6 draught) from Harwich to Ramsgate sometime about Aug 15. This is our first time on the East Coast (very interesting cruising!:eek:)
What is the best route to follow?
It looks like either thread the sands or go outside everything.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks
 
Depending how quickly you travel....
We leave at HW Harwich and go via Sunk 'roundabout', Long Sand Head bouy, Kentish Knock bouy then get the tide all the way south towards the Thanet Windfarm off the Kent coast. You will need to go 'inside' the windfarm to get to Ramsgate. Try and avoid mooring on the starboard side of the visitors pontoon (which is dead ahead as you come in) as you will get some swell but loads of wash from commercial craft whizzing in.
If you like Italian food, there is the Magnolia Tree just below the yacht club.
 
There have been recent threads on this subject so a search will give you interesting reading.

Inside route. Basically Harwich, Medusa Channel, across Goldmer Gat and round the top of the Gunfleet Sand, diagonally across the East Swin to a waypoint (PM sent) adjacent to the Barrow No 2. Then either across the Black Deep to Foulger's Gat where the two Safe Water Marks have been removed while they build the Wind Farm. However the Black Deep No 6 PHB is still in position just past the Gat and there are already pylons in place on either side of the Gat so the position is not difficult to established.

Some rules to follow to keep safe from the construction. You can find them here:

http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page48.html - click on Wind Farm Safety Zones

Click on London Array for their latest notice on the same page.

Now the 15th August is a Monday - not a particular significant observation except that the London Array never gets its NtM out on a Monday saying where they will be working that week. So when you get close call the guard boat which is either the Mary Ann 1 or the Ocean Dragon on 16 and they will give you advice. People have been passing successfully this year during the construction but if they are erecting right next to the Gat, then the required safety zone would exclude it.

If the Gat is 'closed', then you need to go up the Black Deep to Fisherman's Gat. Two things about this. One choose the tide. You want to be on the flood as you can get 2kts of tide at certain times in this part of the Black Deep. Second point watch for Ships. It's not so busy that it's a crisis but for them its a narrow channel and you going diagonally across the channel against the tide would not earn you kudos points!

Fisherman's Gat is wide, plenty of water outside the marked channel for yachts, not so much traffic since they dredged the Princes Channel. However, they are planning to shut the Gat when the cable laying to the Wind Farm gets that far. I think you would be very unlucky for them to have got that far by 15th August but the information coming out from the cable laying is only that they are doing grapnel runs (nearly finished I think) and pulling out the cable from the shore in the East Swale.

Check my website here: http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html and click on Temporary Notices to Mariners. Each week I update the progress on the Wind Farm work - as an when it arrives of course.

Bottom of Fisherman's Gat to Ramsgate is pretty straight forward.

Sounds complicated but people have survived it!:D

Outside route? Bit longer. I'll let some of the outside route experts have their say. Please see the pm I am sending.
 
Steve is obviously not around so it 51.37.420N, 001.15.800E. where charts says 3.7m depth on the SW Sunk. This 'knoll' has grown over the last couple of years. There is a swatchway literally 1/2 mile SE with 3m in it at Chart Datum. Vamoose went through the Swatchway recently and confirms that. See my chart of the swatchway at http://www.eastcoastsailing.co.uk/chartlets.html marked SW Sunk. Steve (dabsolute470) was unlucky. He was careful about his position and not to know that the charts are inaccurate - to the extent of about 12ft right at that particular point!
 
Coming down on 2 tuesdays ago - we went outside long sand head and down knock deep. Ocean Dragon eyed us up and called us to warn us off the windfarms. I asked whether Foulgers and Fishermans were open - he said "you can use foulgers but we'd prefer you to use fishermans..."
 
Tillergirl

thanks for the reply in my absence Roger and was good meeting you yesterday and very interesting chatting.
it did amaze me how inacurate the charts we purchase are, however understandable now.
thanks for your chartlet, wish i had it before...lol so close but so far...hahaha

heather and steve
 
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