Is 6' draught too deep for East Coast Sailing

[NickC]

If we bought something with 6' draught would it always be such an issue that we end-up regretting buying her or does it just mean we have to be a bit more careful?

As many of you know I am buying this with a sailing partner, after much searching it looks like our requirements have come down to two primary things:

1. PY less than 1100
2. 6'+ headroom by galley

I know there are a lot of good bilge keelers out there which fit our budget but nothing with a PY of less than 1100, at least not within our budget.

There are also some very nice lifting keel boats but again those with 6' headroom are way beyond our range.

So compromises have to be made and draught might be one of them.

 

[sailorman]

I own one of these

 

[Hadenough]

I own one of these

And?

 

[DoubleEnder]

I'd say 6 ft draught is ok but try hard to get a mooring that has as near all-tide access as possible. Limited access to certain destinations or routes is bearable and it is fun to work out when you can or can't make it. But being limited as to when you can get on or off your home mooring is a real pain. There are good moorings at various places. I was at Pin Mill and recommend that, lots of others though.

 

[graham]

You wont need 6 ft draft to get a PY of 1100 or less. Must be plenty of boats with 5 ft draft or less that would fit your citeria .

 

[johnalison]

We used to moor in Maylandsea Creek in company with friends in a Sadler 32 deep fin, which was 6ft. The fin on our 29 was about 5'3". There was little difference in cruising options most of the time. Occasionally, they would have to wait twenty minutes to leave places such as Tollesbury, Brightlingsea and Woodbridge Tidemill after us but most of the time we kep together.

A shallow draft can be useful if you are going to make use of it but most people actually don't do this. My current fin is 1.5m ish as a shallow option which I find useful but I could cope with the standard 1.8m if I had to, from Titchmarsh.

Not all shallow keels sail well. For example, the bilge keel Sadlers are markedly slower than the fins, and the shallow fin Sadler 32 is scarcely faster than the bilge (YM tests). My HR performs very decently but looking around, there are some shallow fins that don't look right to me. If you want to sail well, there is little to beat a decent fin.

 

[sailorman]

Draft 6ft 3" :encouragement:

 

[Hadenough]

Draft 6ft 3" :encouragement:

So---- is it a problem? Refer to OP rather than Ego!

 

[sailorman]

So---- is it a problem? Refer to OP rather than Ego!

No problem either way, whats your contribution

 

[Gargleblaster]

If you are looking for a PY of less than 1100 your main interest must be in racing, so a 6' draft would be fairly standard for most fine keels that race on the East Coast.
I draw 5' 10" and occasionally when cruising have to wait a little bit longer than shallower draft boats when entering of leaving places. The major problem I find is that I can only scrub off, haul out and take the water at Spring Tides because of access to the club facilities.
I do hold my breath doing things like coming through the Copperarse Channel, the Swin Spitway or entering the Walton Backwaters at low water.
I do a lot of deep water sailing rather than racing and do appreciate the extra grip provided by a deep keel in big seas.

 

[rudolph_hart]

My experiences cruising & racing with 3 boats, with 1.86, 1.7 & 1.7 metre fins, chimes with Glayva's.

6ft was pretty average draft for racing fleets, & the real big ones - e.g. Crusader - were much more.

Cruising meant a bit more care/planning & sometimes meant jilling about waiting for water e.g. outside the Ore, or Spitway, Ray Sand Channel, but was no real bother.

Even when high tide was insufficient @ Woodbridge Tidemill, the harbour launch heeled us over on a halyard while we motored over the sill, so nothing is impossible.

 

[ifoxwell]

Last year we cruised and raced a Sunfast 32i around the east coast. We are based on the Medway and found it to be a great boat for the sailing we were doing. As has already been mentioned you don't go creek crawling and you may have to adjust the times at which you arrive and leave certain places but other wise the draft didn't affect our sailing at all, but the performance gains provided by the boat were great.

 

[John 32i]

Fabulous film - really enjoyed watching it!

 

[ifoxwell]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. We do have more films of the time we spent with White magic on our channel... if you would like to see more just click on the 'videos' link, and work your way up from the bottom.

 

[Marmalade]

6'6" here - careful with the tide on a bar - but never been unable to go somewhere - Heybridge Basin, Tidemill, Butley River, Pyefleet, - all fine

 

[NickC]

I'd say 6 ft draught is ok but try hard to get a mooring that has as near all-tide access as possible. Limited access to certain destinations or routes is bearable and it is fun to work out when you can or can't make it. But being limited as to when you can get on or off your home mooring is a real pain. There are good moorings at various places. I was at Pin Mill and recommend that, lots of others though.

Yes finding a suitable deep water mooring on the East Coast is challenging, lots of much cheaper drying moorings about but obviously no use with a 6' fin.

Obviously best would be a mooring that we can get on and off at all states of the tide but what about a semi-drying mooring. For the point of conversation lets consider say a just about drying mooring (low tide depth = 0) would a fin keel like this sink into the east-coast mud and keep her upright or would it sink only part way and tip over?

 

[NickC]

If you are looking for a PY of less than 1100 your main interest must be in racing, so a 6' draft would be fairly standard for most fine keels that race on the East Coast.

Thank for you opinion John. Although we might do a bit the reason for setting a max PY limit is to ensure we get at least reasonable sailing ability. We have both had experience of battling against the tide for hour after hour in a bit of a tub and gettting nowhere while other more efficient boats gradually creep by.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Yes finding a suitable deep water mooring on the East Coast is challenging, lots of much cheaper drying moorings about but obviously no use with a 6' fin.

Obviously best would be a mooring that we can get on and off at all states of the tide but what about a semi-drying mooring. For the point of conversation lets consider say a just about drying mooring (low tide depth = 0) would a fin keel like this sink into the east-coast mud and keep her upright or would it sink only part way and tip over?

The short answer is "it depends". The east coast isn't all mud, and not all of the mud is semi fluid. There are anchorages where Gladys (5ft draft) settles half the keel in the mud and it's all very simple, but there are also areas around of shingle and hard sand... I think you'd find it difficult. My old "edge" mooring when I had an Anderson 26 at Mersea was on gravel and quite "hard" with the tide in the wrong direction

 

[nigelm]

You don't say your favoured mooring ( unless I missed it ) but the Orwell , Deben , Blackwater & Crouch all have deep water moorings at varying budgets so I can't a problem finding one ..

 

[sailorman]

You don't say your favoured mooring ( unless I missed it ) but the Orwell , Deben , Blackwater & Crouch all have deep water moorings at varying budgets so I can't a problem finding one ..

Felixstowe Ferry Boatyard had a lot of MT moorings this year, i am reliably informed