Leaving Strangford Lough on Ebb Tide in F4-F5 Southerly?

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aidancoughlan

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The Strangford Narrows are at the entrance to Strangford Lough on the East coast of N.I. just to the west of the south end of the Isle of Man. Strangford Lough is a tidal inland lough about 15 miles long and all the tide flows in and out through the narrows between the towns of Portaferry and Strangford. Spring tides flow either way at 8-10 knots at the narrowest point. There are two interesting effects.
Firstly the narrows flow out to the south-southwest and the prevailing winds are straight up the Irish sea from the southwest. On a spring ebb in a (very common) strong southwesterly you get huge, very short seas at the "bar" - typically 10m apart and 6m+ high. A real problem in a rib! (or other planing boat). The tide in Strangford is also two hours behind the Irish sea, so you get the "falling off the end" effect to make things worse. The IOM guys are often faced with this when heading home (comments please).
Secondly the lough receives lots of river and rainwater into it, so the water is somewhat less saline than the sea outside. So on an ebb tide at the bar when the less salty water meets the more salty water, the outgoing flow goes "underneath" the standing water, taking with it loads of air in rougher weather, and forming a huge standing wave, like stepping off a 2-3m waterfall. I have gone out in a yacht at half tide and the boat sinks almost to the gunnels in the bubbly water as the density of the water/air mixture is much less than ordinary water. It is very frightening!
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Sitting in Portaferry library, just found above on another thread (no direct responses).... leaving tommorow, predicted S F4, heading for Peel. any advice from anybody experienced in leaving strangford ?.... will a F4 southerly create a big standing wave or does it require stronger wind conditions to whip it up ? Boat is a 27ft Westerly. Thanks for any responses, will check back in a couple of hours!
 
First of all, the advice you quote doesn't seem very trustworthy. S.L. narrows flow to the S.E. NOT SW. (more accurately SSE). Yes, you will get bounced quite uncomfortably on the full ebb, esp if ther's any E in the wind, but I think you'll survive. The good news is that it doesn't last long, you'll be doing 8 or 9 kts SOG. (I have a video of a small Westerly showing both bilge keels in a F2/3 easterly). The civilised way is to delay departure from Portaferry to as late as possible, the overfalls will have died down. If you get it wrong however, you will find yourself back at Portaferry.
 
We have come out of Strangford a couple of times in fairly benign conditions, similar to what you describe. We have left Strangford about HW slack so get to the bottom about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs into the ebb.

On both occassions the seas at the exit where pretty messy and confused with waves up to 5 or 6 feet. It was uncomfortable on our 42 ft cat but certainly not dangerous, the bad area only extends about 1/2 mile at most in the sort of winds you predict. However I would not be too keen about the area in a 27 ft boat, you will certainly get a bit of a shaking.

I have never experienced any aeration of the water as described in the OP, so I think this is a much rarer occurence.

There is an alternative exit passage closer to the south shore that supposedly misses alot of the rough water. I have never tried that route but looking across that way when using the main channel, the water did seem alot calmer. In a small boat I would think this would be a better option. The pilot books describe this route quite well, so have a look at them and make your decision. In a smaller boat you may be better leaving a bit before HW slack and pushing the last of the flood down the narrows so you get to the exit earlier in the ebb flow and hence there will be smoother water.
 
We left recently in a similar breeze with neaps and the local advice was not to go there on the full ebb. We aimed for the LW slack in the narrows and there was no problem (Reeds gives times for the slacks in the general tidal section for the area?). If you are aiming then to make Peel before the flap gate closes you need a decent turn of speed; alternatively you can go round to Ardglass and set off when you like later.
 
The white waters of strangford.

Been there nearly wrote the book.Went in at low tide with an easterly up the transom. Scarey,the local advice was enter after LW BELFAST - 1hr 30mins. Depart by arriving at the enterance as the tide begins to ebb.We did that and all was well.My boat at the time was a Hunter Delta (25 foot)
 
As you go south to south east out of the lough, there is a route to the northern shore on the inside of the bar pladdy. If you have a Strangford Narrows chart or detail with cmap etc. you can see the stump which is a white/off white concrete stump, after 200 yards you turn to port and head of the shore behind the bar pladdy and then turn to starboard and out of the lough towards Peel.

We use this route all the time in all states of the tide and you can watch the really bad race about 50 yards away.

Slack is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours after HW Belfast/Dover but we usually go to arrive at Peel while the tidal gate is down to get inside.

Good cruising


Mark
 
markdj said:
As you go south to south east out of the lough, there is a route to the northern shore on the inside of the bar pladdy. If you have a Strangford Narrows chart or detail with cmap etc. you can see the stump which is a white/off white concrete stump, after 200 yards you turn to port and head of the shore behind the bar pladdy and then turn to starboard and out of the lough towards Peel.
We use this route all the time in all states of the tide and you can watch the really bad race about 50 yards away.
Mark
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Far from me to challenge local knowledge, but AC2156 shows the area NW of Bar Pladdy as generally shallow, with one patch of 0.6 m. close to the buoy and drying 1m close to the white stump. It's all rock, very hard if hit with 4 kts. of tide behind you.
Some years ago, talk at Portaferry was of a sailing cruiser, attempting to leave the lough but losing its keel and sinking whilst cutting this corner. No doubt a passage is possible, but, with a 6ft draft, I think I'd rather put up with a brief period of discomfort in the overfalls.
 
Many thanks for the responses folks... sorry hadnt been able reply, only got back to a PC today.
We left @ 6am from Portaferry on local advice (last 2 hours of the ebb if I recall). Conditions were very benign in the marina (dont have a wind meter, but definitely less than 15 knots, possibly closer to 10), and we set off without concern. There is quite an ebb there OK. We scooted down the lough (following our friend in a heavy Fisher 37 with full sail up). When we got to the entrance there was a fairly bumpy ride - the overfalls are quite disconcerting sight for the uninitiated as we approached it at around 10 knots over the ground. I was amazed at the pounding the Fisher took ahead as he bashed into the standing waves, and for a split second or two thought of making a run south for the inside of st Patricks rock which did look relatively calm (after clearing Angus Rock first). However, I think we would have ended up going sideways and wouldnt have made it - possibly would have ended up on the rock. So, we just went through the overfalls and bobbed out the other side. Quite a bumpy ride for a small boat even in those conditions - very exhilirating at 7am in the morning !... but OK if you hang on and are carefull. I took some video, don't know if it will do it justice but I will post a link if I can get it onto the laptop and upload it somewhere. We met the local boat that we got advice from in Peel Sailing Club, and they said that was a "normal" exit, not bad at all. The previous night they described it @ 15knots you will "notice" the overfalls, and at 20 knots it gets iffy, and 25 knots forget it.
Once thing for sure, I will not attempt again in my own 27ft Fin Keeler in anything over 12-13 knots from the south or east. It is important to be sure of the conditions, as once committed there is no going back against the tide.

A couple of tips: as we got out past the South Cardinal Mark (on Bar Pladdy I think), the water to the north of the overfalls was calmer - the Fisher made for this and exited much earlier than we did... it seems a good way to make a quicker exit. Also (correct me if wrong), I think it's probably best to reduce engine speed to just steerage way - the tide on it's own will carry you out as fast as you want to go through them.

Once out of the overfalls, the rest of the Sail to Peel was glorious - perfectly calm seas, sunshine and a nice breeze.
 
Video from Strangford Lough Overfalls

Just got back from our Trip... as promised, here's the video we took of another boat exiting via the narrows with a fairly gentle Wind opposing the ebb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5OEAiQza7w

You can hear us considering a detour to go South inside Patricks Rock (which looked very calm) after seeing the other boat going over the overfalls - we decided against it pretty quickly, since we hadn't heard any advice on it. If anybody exits this way, please do let us know.


The wind was probably no more than F2-3 on the day. There were local boats leaving just after us so I don't think we got the time @ 6:00am too far wrong, havn't double-checked since, but somebody do correct me if I'm wrong.

The Fisher 37 we were with had quite a bumpy ride as seen in the video clip - although it certainly woke is up, we didn't get it so bad, I don't know if it's because we are shorter, or were lucky enough to miss the worst of it (we were more south than he was).

The local lads we met in Peel (left about 30-40 mins after us I think) described it as an OK exit that morning - I wouldn't like to be there on a bad day !
 
Great video showing just how lumpy it can get right next to a flat sea.
I take it you were hanging on too much to get any video of your exit?
 
Video of 27ft Merlin exiting Strangford Lough

Spyro, I've added the second bit of Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIfGs31lqB4

It shows how it gradually, slowly increases from a flat calm to waves. As I mentioned earlier, our exit seemed a lot easier - we may have been going slower, it may have been our shorter length, or just lucky with an easier line. It doesn't really capture how the movement felt though - there was quite a rise and fall in the swell that doesnt come across. It seems almost benign - but I think we missed the worst bits on the video.
 
Exiting Strangford Loch

The last time I left Strangford bound for Holyhead I punched the last hour of the flood through the narrows and crossed the bar at high water slack. Nice and calm although it was close to neap.

John Silver - Rival 31
 
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