If you can sail here -

[Bergman]

You can sail anywhere.

Over the years I have heard this about almost every inch of the coastline.

Bristol Channel, Humber, West Scotland, Thames Estuary even, God help us, the Solent.

My worst cases are the Humber and Christchurch

Anybody got any other offers.

 

[jamesjermain]

Each part of the world requires its own special mix of skills - collision avoidance and patience in the case of the Solent.

For my money, the part of the world which demands the most intensive and detailed mastery of a the coastal cruising skills of navigation, pilotage and boat handling is the Thames Estuary and Essex and Suffolk coasts

JJ

 

[golf]

Try the Severn estuary up Bristol Channel to Sharpness Cannal ! Second most dangerous navigation in the world ?

 

[Guest]

Chichester bloody bar NM

.

 

[johndf]

I've also heard it said of the Channel Islands, where I sail. People warn of the strong tides (up to 10 knots), large range of tides (up to 12 metres) and no shortage of rocks, half tide, awash at datum, just covered at datum, never covered, etc. I've not really found these a problem.
I tried the Thames Estuary this summer, which was also not a problem, at least not in the good conditions we had, but maybe it wouldn't be quite so nice on a rough day? On the other hand, crossing the TSS in the Dover straits, when the vis reduced to 500 metres was no fun at all, even with radar.

As for, 'if you can sail here, you can sail anywhere', how about the Antarctic?

 

[Guest]

For pilotage challenges: try the Baltic archipelagoes in Sweden and Finland. No tides but rocks everywhere. Add huge car ferries in narrow channels with nowhere for you to run !


Andreas

 

[claymore]

Try Knott End, River Wyre on a big spring

 

[claymore]

James
A wonderful opportunity for me to have a pop. How on earth can you say that this is a difficult and challenging area when every single sailing magazine has written screeds and screeds about it? There cannot be a single mystery left.I'm firmly convinced that the "North of Watford" syndrome applies equalluy to sailing as it does to anything else - I realise that on a percentage basis there must be a majority count of the sailing population living in that particular corner and so it follows that there will be more written, but plenty of people sail the Irish Sea and yet there is a genuine lack of articles concerning this popular cruising ground. Your obvious response must be "well get on and write one then" but that's hardly the point, which may appear a weak defence but its the best I can manage.
regards
John S.

 

[chrisc]

wll i have got used to the baltic archipeligo bit ,its like playing pinball for real.,and then we went round denmark
this autumn -there is a bit on the se corner of Sjaelland where we twisted though
a channel for 5 Nm without having more than10cm under the keel at any time
and threading between fishing nets all the way ,let out a big sigh when we finally
got too the proper sea.

 

[Bergman]

Re: Got to ask-

Which is THE most dangerous

 

[charles_reed]

I'd agree with James: here's my contribution:

The Scillies for rock-hopping

The Irish Sea for sheer bloody-minded wavetrains, shallows and variable winds

The Bass Straits for swell.

Bristol Channel for streams (though I've heard some impressive tales about the areas N of Vancouver)

All in all the S coast of the UK, though crowded, is for softies and the S Brittany coast is equally relaxing.

 

[golf]

Re: Got to ask-

The Yangste

 

[Guest]

black country cut

Not much sailing but take a boat through the cut up our way and fight your way through kids chucking stones, sunk bikes, trolleys and God knows what. It's a mans life.

 

[johnt]

Been there done that, all that seagrass on the surface lol, we went from Kalvehave to Skanor easy peasy! try from Lowestoft to Grimsby ..Its a BITCH!
Its worse than a bad day in the German Bight!

 

[johnt]

THIS ONE

which estuary has the only retained full time lifeboat crew in the UK !

 

[pugwash]

Re Severn Estuary being the second most dangerous... How do you measure it and, on that basis, which is the first? Anywhere you find growler icebergs must be more dangerous than any of the places mentioned, anywhere you find logs (i.e. Seattle) ditto, and containers increasingly so. What it comes down to is how prepared you are, whether you have done your homework, etc. I have been more scared sailing on a lake as a kid (when I didn;t have a lifejacket) than I ever was on the sea in a well-found yacht. What really scares me sometimes is places like New Zealand where the sailing is benign (no currents, no shipping, no sandbanks) so many cruising sailors take foolhardy risks. It's where "Shell be right mate!" often means kiss of death, mate. Not that many of them die but they get lots of frights. Like my brother-in-law who scathingly rejected my suggestion that he turn off the sea-cocks before leaving the boat. "Oh no, just once a season, we don't have trouble with 'em here." Next week he found his lovely boat down to the gunwales thanks to a leaking inlet cock.

 

[Guest]

The Wash

Why?

o At high Spring tide about 20% of the area is less than 1 metre deep.

o At low Spring tide about 50% of the area becomes sandbank.

o Said sandbanks change location and depth at every tide.

o There is fast flowing water in the channels on both ebb and flood.

o There is no port in which you don't dry out at low Spring tide.

o Navigational aids are sparse - there's not enough traffic to justify anything better.

o The area is very prone to fog in spring and autumn as almost any wind will be "off the land".

The reason people go from Lowestoft to Grimsby (also quoted as a dire passage on this thread) is because people want to avoid The Wash!!

Best regards )

Ian D (Now sailing out of the Moray Firth - thank God!)

 

[Guest]

>> try the Baltic archipelagoes in Sweden and Finland

They're quite easy, I think. Well charted/buoyed and great anchorage almost everywhere. The magnetic errors (sometimes 60 degs) can be a tad confusing.

Some rough ones:

Limfjorden - fjord in northern Denmark, sandbanks everywhere!

The southwest Baltic in a blow, where the seas are positively malicious, steep as hell, and come from 3 directions at once.

I reckon the Magellan straits must be the worst of all.

Lost in Denmark - a yachtsmans paradise!

 

[Guest]

>> there is a bit on the se corner of Sjaelland where

It's called "Bøgestrømmen", and demands a bit of local knowledge! I go there almost every year. Beautiful place, though, don't you think?

The twisty bit between the two most westerly bridges is sheer hell in the dark.

Lost in Denmark - a yachtsmans paradise!