Can someone please advise on the best departure time from Dartmouth for a passage to Poole on Tues April 5th . Sail/motor cruiisng speed of 6 knts course 6miles south of Portland.
With all due respect, and said in a friendly manner rather than aggressive chastisement, if you are going to take a yacht out on such a passage, shouldn't you be capable of working that out for yourself?
After all who is to say that the advice you get here is trustworthy?
Also the passage may depend on passing a tidal gate at a certain time. If you are early or late arriving or the weather changes, then you may need to be able to make alternative plans. If you cannot plan when to depart Dartmouth then you are unlikely to be able to change your plan on-passage.
Fully agree with Steve_T, and in the same tone, if as it appears your navigation knowledge is not up to working it out for yourself why not take an experienced navigator with you and do some practice as you go? If you just want confirmation of what you have already worked out then that is a different matter entirely.
Tides around Dartmouth are not so important as getting right round Portland. Dartmouth can be left at any state of the tide so plan the time needed to arrive with a good easterly tide off Portlad. Depending on the weather you might consdier going inshore 100m off the Bill. (watch out for pots!!). Once round you have Weymouth to resdt at. Should take 10 - 12 hours in total.
at this time of year i would wait for a weather window then go, rather than deciding a time in advance. once you've set a time you will feel pressured to go then, even with a dodgy forecast.
over that distance at 6 knots you're going to have tides both ahead and behind and a small variation in speed may get you to portland early or late. as you're planning to go well south of the race i would let weather be the determining factor, not tide.
Very much agree. As an alternative, you could always make the decision to take the inner route round Portland once nearer. Or even through the race if the weather and tides favourable.
Perhaps my post was misleading. I had worked out my tides and departure time as 0800 with the tide in my favour of Portland at 1645. All this quite rightly depends on a weather window. I suppose I was really looking for a second opinoin on my calculations.
Rather agree with SL (don't want this to become a habit) but would also add that a daylight departure from Dartmouth would be preferable bearing in mind the number of unlit pot markers in the channel, so your plan looks like a good one to me.