Northwest Sailing - River Wyre Pilotage Notes

[Tomsk]

Are there any Northwest boaters around with pilotage notes for the River Wyre (Fleetwood to Skipool Creek)? I'm berthed at Fleetwood Marina but have never had the 'bottle' to run up the river...

 

[Grandad]

Sorry.
Only saw this one after posting reply to your later question.

PM me if you want to contact me. would be glad to ack as PILOT for your first visit.

Bob S (Gari-Maji)

 

[Avocet]

I'm probably a bit out of date so take all this with a pinch of salt, but about 10 years ago we used to sail that stretch of water with a long-keeler that draws 4'6". As a very general note, there are only a few rocks on the Knott End side near the moorings. The rest is the slippiest, slimiest mud on the planet! If heading up towards Skipool, it's best done (as you'd imagine) on a rising tide that isn't quite at the top of springs (so if you get stuck, you've a good chance of getting off on the next one)! As a really general rule, I used to stick to the outsides of the bends as that seemed to have the deepest water. Sometimes, on relatively calm days, you see a trail of bubbles / floating debris / froth over the deepest water. Closer to the B&F YC, there used to be various blue plastic cans which were generally over reasonable water. Touching the bottom is almost inevitable sooner or later but because of our keel shape that was seldom a problem. We used to be able to get up to the Yacht CLub jetty and back on one tide. As the mud banks seem to change, we sometimes used to go to the club at the previous Low Water and just try to get a mental picture of the best path through it all!

Good Luck!

 

[Tomsk]

Cheers!

That's two people now who have made the trip and lived to tell the tale! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Kyle2]

I will be sailing down the Wyre from Wardley's Creek to Knott End tomorrow. I will keep to the Wardley's (east) side of the river until I pass under the overhead power cables, and then head over towards the other side of the river, near the ICI factory. Then continue to Fleetwood/Knott End. At tomorrow's high tide (9.6m) I will expect to see 4-5 metres on the sounder all the way. Simply reverse the plan when sailing up river. Hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[eebygum]

Done it twice both ways and no real problem if you have a reasonable tide - if in doubt why don't you pop into the Blackpool and Fleetwood yacht club at the top of the creek for a bit of advice.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Miker]

Done this sail this morning on a 9.4m tide. The course is an "S" on the chart. Going up stream, keep over to Fleetwood until past a red house on the Knott End side - there is a shallow finger which sticks out from the KE side. Once level with the ICI works, start to move over, heading for the pilon on the Hambleton side. When level with the boats moored off Hambleton, head for the B&F YC in the wide basin on the Skippool side. Avoid the northern bank of the basin known as Ramper and the side below Hambleton, known as Point. There is room to tack with water above 10m, provided you watch your depth finder.

If you fancy a walk, why not walk from the ICI works, past Stannah and onto the YC at low tide to study the flow of the river.

 

[Tomsk]

Thanks to all for your posts! If you never here from me again I'll be stuck somewhere in the gloop!