Maxi Windsong
Member
We braved the Ore entrance at the weekend, for a trip up to Slaughden Quay and as the notes accompanying the new chartlet advised, we certainly found the bar quite shallow.
The image shows our inbound track on Saturday 5th May, and outbound on Sunday. On Saturday we were on the more southerly track and in the area marked (1) we found least depth of 2.4m at 13.20, exactly two hours before HW. This was probably an hour too early as I had foolishly mixed up GMT and BST. The bracket marks an area of approx 100 to 130 metres along our track, but in fact the shallowest area probably extended for about 50 metres. With our 1.9 m draft we were only showing 0.5m below the keel, so I wasn't really focussed on our exact position! The Absolute Tides app prediction was for 2.3m of tide at that time, and the Harwich Tide Gauge shows that the tide was very close to predicted. The implication is that this area is almost dry at CD.
On Sunday we exited on the more northerly track, and in the bracketed area marked (2) we had least depth of 2.7m at 14.10, 1 hour and 50 minutes before HW. Again this extended for about 50 metres or so along our track. Predicted tide was 2.3m at that time, and again the Harwich Tide Gauge shows that the tide was close to prediction. Its amazing how much more comfortable it feels having 0.8m under the keel rather than 0.5m! This suggests that this area has around 0.4m at CD.
So its certainly shallow, and we found better water by staying at least 50m or more north of the direct bearing from Orford Haven to Oxley.
There were very few other boats entering or exiting - on Saturday only one other sizeable yacht plus a power boat and a smaller sailing boat, but at least that meant we were able to get onto one of the visitor moorings when we got up to Slaughden Quay.
Hope that's helpful for others.
Note: I have edited this from initial posting, after it was helpfully pointed out that I had mixed up GMT and BST, which caused us to enter and leave 2 hours before HW, which was probably too early. The mix up is down to my not double checking data - I use the Absolute Tides app, and have it on two devices. On my phone, it has changed automatically to BST, but on my tablet it is still on GMT, and I was using the tablet over the weekend - an important lesson learned!
The image shows our inbound track on Saturday 5th May, and outbound on Sunday. On Saturday we were on the more southerly track and in the area marked (1) we found least depth of 2.4m at 13.20, exactly two hours before HW. This was probably an hour too early as I had foolishly mixed up GMT and BST. The bracket marks an area of approx 100 to 130 metres along our track, but in fact the shallowest area probably extended for about 50 metres. With our 1.9 m draft we were only showing 0.5m below the keel, so I wasn't really focussed on our exact position! The Absolute Tides app prediction was for 2.3m of tide at that time, and the Harwich Tide Gauge shows that the tide was very close to predicted. The implication is that this area is almost dry at CD.
On Sunday we exited on the more northerly track, and in the bracketed area marked (2) we had least depth of 2.7m at 14.10, 1 hour and 50 minutes before HW. Again this extended for about 50 metres or so along our track. Predicted tide was 2.3m at that time, and again the Harwich Tide Gauge shows that the tide was close to prediction. Its amazing how much more comfortable it feels having 0.8m under the keel rather than 0.5m! This suggests that this area has around 0.4m at CD.
So its certainly shallow, and we found better water by staying at least 50m or more north of the direct bearing from Orford Haven to Oxley.
There were very few other boats entering or exiting - on Saturday only one other sizeable yacht plus a power boat and a smaller sailing boat, but at least that meant we were able to get onto one of the visitor moorings when we got up to Slaughden Quay.
Hope that's helpful for others.
Note: I have edited this from initial posting, after it was helpfully pointed out that I had mixed up GMT and BST, which caused us to enter and leave 2 hours before HW, which was probably too early. The mix up is down to my not double checking data - I use the Absolute Tides app, and have it on two devices. On my phone, it has changed automatically to BST, but on my tablet it is still on GMT, and I was using the tablet over the weekend - an important lesson learned!
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