Most Used Route - Medway to Harwich?

[tillergirl]

A question for Medway/Harwich (and environs) based yachties please.

Which route do you favour between the Medway and Harwich - via the Spitway and Wallet, Barrow and East Swin or the Black Deep?

 

[PeterWright]

Depends on two things: your draft and the wind. Any raft of 2m or less, the Spitway is OK because you should be timing your passage to go through at half ebb, giving the second half to drain you down the Wallet.

Wind anywhere between W and N, I would opt for the Spitway route, even though this makes the spitway itself a beat - it's only a mile or so. Wind between N and E, I would go for Barrow / East Swin, unless it's rough in which case using thee Wallet and tacking down the Clacton/Frinton /Walton beaches will afford a bit of shelter. Anything in the south and it's about equal - choose according to whether you like watching land or sea go by! Of course it's all backwards for the trip back to Kent.

Have a good passage!

Peter

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Personal preference, but I much prefer the Wallet.... its more scenic.... Black Deep at about 9nm long just seems to go on and on....... and you end up having to watch the traffic too much.....

 

[tillergirl]

Thanks for both answers. Both reflect what I thought. I'm working on some passage planning tables for the whole Thames Estuary. To keep the thing within some sensible volume I have to restrict the routes and I have picked both the Wallet and the East Swin routes (the latter in case depth was an issue) but ignored the Black Deep on the basis that it was longer and busier. So on a poll of 2, I've got it right - well so far!

Thanks

 

[reeac]

We've always used the Swin/Wallett route. It gives you the option of running for shelter into the Colne or Blackwater if the weather turns nasty.

 

[kestrelleda]

Like others, I've mostly used Swin/Wallet, for interest and for options if the weather changes but I have also used the East Swin and Barrow Deep recently. Might be an easier route for anyone not too familiar with the estuary. Can't see Black Deep being a useful option generally.

 

[alldownwind]

I think Swin/Wallet is best. The other week I was heading north and diverted along the Gunfleet (i.e. S of the Gunfleet sand) because when I reached the Whitaker it was pouring with rain and howling from the NW. I was amazed how much longer it took, with the extra leg from the NE end of the Gunfleet sand into Harwich.