Amour
Member
Currently in Brightlingsea all day today the sea and ground have been rocked several times any ideas
Massive banging across the Thames estuary
- Thread starter Amour
- Start date
PeterWright
Well-known member
Qinetic on their Foulness texting site are one of the few UK sites licensed to make bangs on a really grand scale.
Peter.
Peter.
Stingo
Well-known member
And there I was, thinking that LOUD TEXTING involved all caps!
johnalison
Well-known member
It was quite noisy this morning in Wivenhoe. It is a timely reminder of what our servicemen may have to face if they go into battle, and goodness knows what it sounds like from less than a mile away. WW1 artillery could be heard in London, so I read, and I think that Krakatoa was heard a good way round the World.
Cantata
Well-known member
We’re used to this on the N Kent Coast - I can remember our house shaking regularly in the 1950’s! - but for once it seems you lot copped today, didn’t hear it at all here.
MikeBz
Well-known member
We’re used to it in Brightlingsea too - it shakes our house. We were sailing out of the mouth of the Crouch once when they were testing. A guard boat shooed us to the North of the channel (outside the nav marks!). There were some impressively bright flashes, and just before there was anything audible the sprayhood was deflected to one side by 6 inches.
Slowboat35
Well-known member
Impressive banging sometimes goes on all night in the Harwich/Stour/Walton Backs area depending on wind direction and the need to unload containers in Felixstowe.
Thankfully nuclear-blast sized shock-waves of 6 inch amplitude have yet to be experienced but clearly would never be reported if they were!
Thankfully nuclear-blast sized shock-waves of 6 inch amplitude have yet to be experienced but clearly would never be reported if they were!
Last edited:
ex-Gladys
Well-known member
Going down the Maplin Edge a few years back, we were suprised to see the shell splashes in the water astern, despite being outside the limit....
johnalison
Well-known member
The biggest bang I’ve heard when at sea was in the Celtic Sea on our one and only trip back from Ireland when there was an almighty report that shook the sprayhood. It was several seconds before I worked out that it was Concorde flying over, about a week before the service stopped forever.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Are you sure it was shells? Gannets make a very big splash when they're fishing - it can be quite disconcerting to sail through a patch where a flock of gannets is feeding; they dive vertically and raise a big column of water!
johnalison
Well-known member
I don't think it's deep enough for gannets off Maplin. They would risk burying their beaks in the mud and being stuck there until they fossilise. I've seen a few gannets pass by our coast, but only a few, unlike off Cork when we had the whole shooting-match doing their plunging act.
ex-Gladys
Well-known member
Quite sure... The splashes were VERY large, and I've sailed through gannets diving once... They don't send up a plume taller than the mast!
As far as noises, years back I was on a Ballad 30 returning from Morlaix having competed in the Plymouth-Morlaix race... I was helming in very quiet misty sort of conditions and there was a shaking double crack, which almost required a change of underwear... It took a while to realise it was Concorde going supersonic...
tillergirl
Well-known member
Ah Concord! It got us mid channel Poole to Cherbourg. And also when I used to work I had a monthly morning meeting at Staines. We always stopped for coffee at 11.04am as they still had the afterburners on.
I have never understood why the Concord deviated down to the channel first. Would have been much more direct to fly stright over Cornwall.
I have never understood why the Concord deviated down to the channel first. Would have been much more direct to fly stright over Cornwall.
johnalison
Well-known member
I think we need to know what the routes were, because 'my' Concorde would have been going via the Bristol Channel before going overhead in the Celtic Sea, probably nearer Ireland than the Scillies. Perhaps it took both routes.
mrming
Well-known member
Crossed the Estuary on Thursday, and the first of the bangs gave me a right jump. Once I realised what it was we got the binos out and watched the huge clouds of smoke.
Simonpk
Active member
Holland-on-Sea is affected too much, but for curiosity I check every now & then:
QinetiQ - Forthcoming Range Activity
QinetiQ - Forthcoming Range Activity
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Probably because it wasn't allowed to go supersonic over land.
tillergirl
Well-known member
I am dangling bait to see if I can catch summat....... (we all know Concord couldn't do it over land)
johnalison
Well-known member
Pedant note. Concorde had an E. Because I write this doesn’t necessarily denote approval.
tillergirl
Well-known member
Oh no. And now the French spelling!
