Poole Bay

KREW2

KREW2

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We are hoping to do Weymouth to Yarmouth tomorrow. In past trips, I have punched the tide to St Albins Head and sailed with a comfortable six hours of flood tide to take us up the Solent. Tomorrow however it will be a following wind, 13 or so knots over an ebbing spring tide for sixish hours accross Poole bay, Is it worth it?
 
We punched the tide back to the needles a few weeks ago with lightish winds - travelling at 3-4kts SOG - so took us an hour longer than if we'd waited - but it was pleasent enough. But this was before strong winds - so there wasn't any residual sea ...
 
Thanks for that, as my wife will be on board I don't want to put her through 5ish hours of misery. I take your point of a residual sea, wind map shows that we still have 29knts of wind on the south coast. I will tkae a view on it later and make a descision.
 
If the weind is anything like it is now (I'm 1 nm north of Lymington as i type) and your looking to keep the Ms happy I wouldn't bother, if its a "full steam ahead with the lads" mentality then I'd go... But wind was shifting (locally) so it could flatten it over night if it drops... I'd be keeping a close eye on the forecast and the webcams, Cowes is usually a good one to give an idea of swell.

Edit: Also Southbourne Surfing centre web cam
 
Tomorrow is not an ideal day for that passage. Low water is early evening so for me the biggest concern would be wind over tide going into the Solent rather than slower progress across the bay.

It is blowing 25 knots here in Poole. The forecast is for it to drop for tomorrow but there will still be enough for good sailing and to whip up some seas over Christchurch Ledge and in the Needles Channel.

So, leave as early as you can to get passed St Albans with the flood and keep well out across the bay. I would be tempted to then go through the North Channel and put up with the bouncy ride for the last couple of miles.
 
Good advice to nip up through North Channel - IIRC the tide turns a little earlier in Christchurch bay than the Needles channel ..

Anyway - if you've had enough by the time you get to St Albans head you can just turn in to Poole ... :)
 
Weymouth to Yarmouth 39 miles.
Westerly F4, maybe F5 tomorrow.
You do not want to punch tide from needles onwards.

Personally I would be very happy with this, if I could be on my way before the tide turns east.
Keep well off St Aldhelms, although, that's about where I'd want to be at slack water, progress wise.
Haven't checked what our boat is, but you should do better than 5 knots, so with some fair tide, 7 hours or so. Plus time to escape weymouth. Not much adverse tide in Weymouth bay.

Obviously check forecast before setting off. Normal care needed etc, and assuming a sound boat. There could be some sea around Needles to Hurst, but I'd want to avoid wind over tide anyway.
You can check wind at Hurst on http://www.weather-file.com/hurst/
It should be a pleasant sail. But you might have an early start to catch the tide?
 
Good advice as always. I have considered both turning back, and pulling into Poole, or maybe Studland could be an option?
 
Tide turns at the Needles at 18.23 so that should be ok, its the 6 hours of punching tide with a westerly wind accross Poole bay that may not be too pleasant. I have done the trip before, punching the tide to St Albans head in a SWesterly is not too bad, especially when have a good wind and tide to look forward to for last part of the sail.
 
KREW2 said:
Good advice as always. I have considered both turning back, and pulling into Poole, or maybe Studland could be an option?
Click to expand...

Yes to all those, but I would prefer a good forecast before committing to a night at Studland. Looks Ok at the mo, but I leave it to you to check!
Turning back will probably be a beat, so I would be considering Poole as plan B.

I'm hoping for some pleasant dinghy racing this weekend, so I hope the forecast holds.

If you go for a night time arrival in Yarmouth, I would have a few waypoints in the GPS unless I had a plotter, as the lights can be confusing and the tide will take you past at a fair old rate. Black rock buoy can be hard to find at night. Last time I found the large reds further up the solent confusing, they looked much much nearer at night. Probably just my eyes!
 
KREW2 said:
Yes I have a plotter, I was just looking at the north passage, and it doesn't seem to be buoyed.
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There is one buoy North Head IIRC.

I am not a fan of the North Channel, unless you are trying to dodge tide in the Needles.
The Needles can be a bit bouncy, but nothing threatening unless it's big wind against tide.
There is often a fair chance of the wind going around towards the S so the last bit of the North Channel becomes a beat, when you would be reaching in from the Needles.
It all depends on whether you need a full tide to get through the whole solent, or aiming for Cowes or Yarmouth. It does require some chartwork to stay in the channel, whereas the Needles is well buoyed and it's nicer scenery imho. Both have tides that can set you onto the bank!

No big deal, just my taste.
 
KREW2 said:
Yes I have a plotter, I was just looking at the north passage, and it doesn't seem to be buoyed.
Click to expand...

Buoy is about 2 miles west of Hurst Castle - easy to see and keeps you clear of the edge of the Shingles. As Ken says 50 yards or so off the beach heading directly to Fort Albert on the Island. Can be a bit swirly just as you hit the steep drop on the edge of the Shingles but definitely the easiest way into the Solent for a small boat. Beats coping with the cross set and wind over tide going through the Bridge and Needles Channel. If you aim to get there at low water it will be quiet and you get a bit of a lift up to Yarmouth but not so much that you get swept past. Still daylight at that time tomorrow so should be very pleasant!
 
I've been in the same situation - arrived at the Bridge buoy 2 hours early after a faster than planned passage from Alderney in a SW F7. As the tide in the Needles Channel was still mid-ebb we decided not to risk it and went for the North Channel instead. It was a good decision - the passage across Chistchurch Bay was easy in a relatively calm sea. The North Channel was not a problem. We still arrived at the Hurst Narrows ahead of plan catching the very last of the ebb.
 
It he weather means you don't fancy Studland bay...

...Go into Poole Harbour and along South Deep. We did that a few weeks ago after coming round St Albans Head in F7+ (Snapdragon 24. SWMBO was NOT amused ...).

We anchored tucked in behind Goathorn Point in nice thick mud that grabbed the anchor so hard we had to motor it out. We slept well, so the effort of unglueing the anchor was well worth it!
 
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