Overland Route

[Doineann]

Last year I certainly felt that the East Last/Hook Spit gap through the sands off of Reculver was narrowing/moving/shallowing (not sure which) and I found I touched a few times going through. I think I was not the only one, and seem to recall that a yacht came to grief there as well.

Has anyone been through recently? I do not have the charts here, but as an alternative I seem the remember there was a route through the Copperas Channel (or something like that) a bit to the west. Has anyone used that?

As an aside, does anyone else feel the sands are moving a bit more than normal at the moment? I have wondered if it could be connected to the wind farms (I know this is probably daft, but I just wondered)

 

[Cantata]

It has been narrowing and shallowing but I have not heard of any 2011 experiences of it, nor do the buoys appear to have been moved recently (I can see them from the clifftop not far from my house).
Copperas Channel is of course still there and always has been, it runs south of the East Last Sand and we locals usually go that way en route eastwards at HW+2 or 3. The E end of it might need care if going that way low on the tide and you must beware of the charted but unmarked 'Black Rock' NW of Reculver.
So far as I'm concerned the standard advice in 'ECP' still holds good for the E.Last/Hook Spit swatchway - pass through mid-way between the buoys on a line NW/SE and do not pass close to the N of the E.Last buoy, where the sand is spreading northwards and has been for some years.
Like other 'fearsome' places, this is not a big deal if common sense and seamanship is exercised. In bad-weather/low-water situations, do yourself a favour and use the southern edge of the Princes Channel instead! If you're enroute between the Foreland and the Medway or Thames, it's only a mile or two longer anyway.

 

[Pye_End]

I did the trip this week, and found it pretty shallow. As far as I know the current poitions are here: http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/mariner_info/notice_to_mariners/c/01072009.html

The shallowest patch is not between the marks, but further NW. I did not go looking for best water over it, but next time I will try being much closer to the green, heading as Dick says, NW until over the bank (if westbound).

 

[Doineann]

Thanks for both replies. Sounds like still getting shallower.
How long before Trinity House abandon the marks? They seem to be thinking about it.
As normally you would be going east on a falling tide and west on a rising tide, I would expect the route to become west only if it carries on like this.

 

[Cantata]

Thanks for both replies. Sounds like still getting shallower.
How long before Trinity House abandon the marks? They seem to be thinking about it.
As normally you would be going east on a falling tide and west on a rising tide, I would expect the route to become west only if it carries on like this.

Trinity House are aware of the route's heavy use and the possible alternative to the south. So far as I know they are not about to pull the plug on the existing buoyage.
Like so many other places on the East Coast, it really isn't a big deal provided you display a spot of seamanship.
As for becoming 'west only'?? Well if you're heading east, whether or not the route is viable depends upon where you started from, and when, surely? I start at HW from the East Swale usually, so about 12 miles away, so at the time I reach the East Last there's usually still so much water I almost get vertigo. In fact I usually don't even bother with the buoyed route, I use the Copperas.
But if I'd started from the Medway Towns at HW maybe I'd choose to go outside, adding a few miles and a lot more confidence to the passage. And if I'd started from the Thames or over on the Essex side, I'd be wasting my time choosing the Overland Route route anyway, the Princes Channel would be shorter.

 

[Doineann]

Its true I was looking at it with 'Medway' Eyes. problem is from, say Upnor, you tend to get to the Hook Spit/East last with about a couple of hours of water left and draining out fast. Going the other way running aground is not quite so......terminal.

If I stay at somewhere like Harty the night before, the problem is I tend to use it as an excuse to have a lay in and still get to the gap with a couple of hours left!

 

[Pye_End]

Its true I was looking at it with 'Medway' Eyes. problem is from, say Upnor, you tend to get to the Hook Spit/East last with about a couple of hours of water left and draining out fast. Going the other way running aground is not quite so......terminal.

I aim to leave Gillingham up to an hour before HW, and with 1.2m under the water have not found eastbound too concerning. Coming back I aim to get the last of the north going tide and get round the Long Nose an hour or two before picking up the flood back up, so get to E Last pretty well on LW, or very soon after, so it is the return trip for me that is becoming more of an issue.

 

[Doineann]

Oh, I aim to leave an hour early as well, but the best laid plans of mice and men....
Not saying the east last is unusable yet, just seems to be going that way.
Anyway, boat is in Dover this year for a change

 

[aquaholic]

Leaving the Medway I have of late started to use Princes Channel eastbound and only use the inshore channel on the rising tide west bound, if it wasnt for having to scratch your way north against the tide I would use Princes both ways. I am sure the extra push you get with the tide in Princes more than makes up for the extra 2.5 miles, the last 2 trips east we had to motor, standard 5knts through the water, we were getting 7-8 over the ground for pretty much most of the trip, coming back west I have never had more than 6.5knts over the ground motoring.

 

[Doineann]

Having used the Prince's Channel last week I tend to agree it is certainly no slower. Forgetting the depth problem I think I would choose based on wind direction from the Medway

I should also say I need 1.8m which perhaps may account for my being a bit more worried than Pye End about the east last/hook spit gap