Off to London

CliveG

CliveG

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We have a 2 day booking at St.Kats in the middle of this week.
Going down to the boat soon and heading off over the Thames to Queenborough on Monday and up river on Tuesday.

I have been reading everything I can find on the trip and am really looking forward to it.
Only crossed the Thames from North Foreland up to Walton before so this is going to be all new territory for us.
Looking at WindGURU the run along the Wallet is going to be up to the normal standard!

What is the best place to pick up a mooring in Queenborough?
Any other tips for the trip?

If anyone spots a small blue hulled boat with K9 on the sail give us a wave.
 
We did the trip in July..

Queenbourough Moorings... depends if you want to go ashore or not.. But there are lots there.

Make sure you keep a listning watch on the appropriate channel, and follow the PLA pilotage instructions. On the way up we heard a Belgian yacht getting a bollicking for not keeping to the Stbd hand side of the channel

Keep an eye out for the big sign outside a wharehouse on the north bank just down stream of Limehouse Marina which gave us a grin which said something like :-

If you enter this yard uninvited can you please remove your dentures
As our dogs have trouble digesting them.

Have fun

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenacre8/sets/72157621382732045/show/
 
When you leave Queenborough for London, you'll be tempted to cut the corner west of the Montgomery wreck to run up river starting at LW. This is a very shallow bank and you might get over it and into the channel, but I copped out when I last went for it, even with a rising tide to float me off if I touched... You might have no trouble but just have your plan ready in the event!

Watch out for debris in the river - it could spoil your day as you approach St Cats on motor.

The waiting cans at St Cats are not the handiest - be prepared to hold against the tide on motor until you are called to the lock.

I think there are few greater sights than the bridge lit up at night from the safety of St Cats - have fun!

PWG
 
Hope you have a good trip Clive, I did it a couple of years ago and found it really interesting in a 'post industrial' kind of way! Lots to see and plenty of traffic to keep you on your toes.

Another vote for Stangate Creek if you don't need to go ashore.
 
Did the trip from the Deben in May, via the Medway on the way out but non-stop overnight on the return. I'd recommend Sharfleet Creek (off Stangate Creek) for a quiet night rather than Queenborough though, much nicer. No problem cutting across W of SS Montgomery to Nore Swatch when I set off from the Medway just before LW Springs but care advised. Main problem was the rubbish and great baulks of timber floating around the upper reaches of the Thames, including railway sleepers... good lookout essential!
 
Passage report

Hi all

Thanks for the advice.

We are now on a mooring at Queenborough just down stream from that All Tide landing.
Left Shotly at 6:30 and motorsailed via the wallet.
Arrived here at 13:30.Wind not as strong as forecast.

Decided to come here rather than further up to save time in the morning.
Need to be out of here by 7:00 to catch the 1st of the tide up the Thames.

Looks like we will need a lookout on the bow up the top end.

More details of the trip so far for CPD
we where off
Walton for the turn of the tide and had a b hig push all the way to Queenbrough.
The only consern was the depth crossing the Spitway from the Wallet to the Whitticer.
We crosser about 0.2 miles East of the bouys about 1.5 hours after LW and had a minimum of 2.6m depth.
We where doing an average of 5.5 knots water speed and arrived about an hour before the tide turned.
 
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Clive it isn't that difficult. Just keep off the Kentish sands. If you lose the tide pick up a buoy at Gravesend Sailing Club and ride out the ebb.
 
Don't worry about cutting the corner W of the Montgomery. If you go from the Grain Edge buoy to the Nore Swatch you'll miss the really shallow stuff and find at least 2.3m. A quarter-mile further E and the minimum is 2.9m. It's all pretty flat across there, just follow the sounder.
Have a good trip. Be aware that while St.Kats will probably hear you call in on VHF to report you've arrived outside, they don't generally use the radio to call you into the lock. For some inexplicable reason they stand on the river end of the lock and yell. Can be hard to hear if it's windy, and above the noise of your engine and the tourist boats as well. Don't use the two really big orange waiting buoys, they are viscious and will scratch your topsides.
 
Now in London

Report of proceedings for today.

We left Queenborough at 06:55 this morning and steadily headed out on to the Thames and up river.

We found that we were punching about 1 kt of tide.
We had a nice beam wind for the 1st part of the river and managed to make about 5 kts water speed until the river turned south and then it was engine time.
We then pushed on at 5.5 kts waterspeed.
The tide did not turn until about 10:30 by which time we were about 1/2 a mile below Tilbury.

When we reached the QEII bridge we found the the mast would fit under:)
QEIIBridge.jpg

We had 7.3 kts SOG by there with 5.5 kts water speed.

At Crayford Ness we called Thames VTS to request passage through the Thames Barrier as required.
We were told to proceed up river and to call again once the Barrier was in site
This we did from by the Woolwich Ferry.
We were instructed to pass though gap Foxtrot.
TB1.jpg

TB2.jpg


The river traffic below the barrier was fairly light.
We passed or were passed by about half a dozen ships at most.
It was a different story above the Barrier.
There were string of barges, trip boats and quick passenger boats.
You need to have eyes in the back of your head for the last of these.
Tcat-1.jpg

They are on you before you realise they are around.

We arrived of St Kats at 14:05 without incident.
TBridge.jpg

We called St Kats. Ch 80.
They responded straight away and informed us that there would be a Thames Barge locking out at 15:20 and we and others would be locked in after that.

A 40' steel motor sailer that had picked up a large round buoy just off the lock kindly offered us a berth along side them.
The river was quite rough and we needed plenty of fenders and faily slack lines to prevent any damage.

Contrary to what we had been told we where called into the lock by VHF Ch 80 not by voice.

We are now safely tucked away in the East Dock of St Kats for a day or two.
StKats.jpg


Data for the trip for those interested.

Tides
Sheerness
03:24 5.7m
09:24 0.9m
15:30 5.7m

London Bridge
04:46 6.6m
11:08 1.1m
16:50 6.7m

It took us 7hr 10 min to do the trip
Of that about 6 hrs where using the engine.
We could have left a bit later but we were up and about so decided to push on.
Once the flood tide has got going we had a least 7.5 kts SOG and quite often 8 kts.
 
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Nice one Clive.
You said "Contrary to what we had been told we where called into the lock by VHF Ch 80 not by voice." That's indeed a giant leap forward. If you get the chance, can you ask them if that's now their normal practice?
Have fun, enjoy your cheap London hotel room!
 
Nice one Clive. Avoid inebriate Lady Swedish concert cellists of a comely disposition you might encounter in the Charles Dickens.

Nice phots. I haven't been since Boxing Day 1991. Must must must get round to going back.
 
We're going up weekend after next - at least I am - the girls have other stuff to do! I've got a bloke weekend on... :-)
 
Thames Barrier - Gap Foxtrot

I went up with Pyro James on Sunday in 'Croix des Gardes'. We also were instructed to go through 'Gap Foxtrot', I was interested to note that while we were told to go through 'Foxtrot', no where is there a marking letter but there was a number '6'. We searched pretty hard for an 'F' but certainly couldn't find one.
 
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