Portsmouth to Dover, another passage help request!

[dolabriform]

Hi all, thanks for your recent help with the Torquay exit strategy.

I'm now in Portsmouth, thinking about getting to Dover tomorrow. The winds are currently forecast to ease after getting fruity tonight, and I'm hoping to do it in one rather than stopping on the way. Boat is 36ft.

My current plan is to leave Royal Clarence around 0600, and get to the looe channel as the tide starts to go in my favour. Then I reckon about 11 hours of fair tide to Dover.

What are your thoughts in doing it in one go?

Obviously, I can drop into Brighton, Newhaven, Eastbourne if needs be.

Thanks, as always.

David

 

[Malish]

Maybe a bit of a long day, we tend to go Eastbourne then Ramsgate and then either up or across the Estuary. What's your final destination?

 

[johnalison]

You’ll get about ten hours of tide going east. Brighton to Dover is easy but I think that Portsmouth would be pushing it. I would plan to get through the Looe Channel at or just before slack water, with the expectation of getting past Dungeness and getting to Dover with some adverse tide but not too bad.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Perfectly doable as long as the forecast following wind keeps up. Not a spring tide so not a disaster if you have to punch it at some point.

 

[dolabriform]

Maybe a bit of a long day, we tend to go Eastbourne then Ramsgate and then either up or across the Estuary. What's your final destination?

Dover is my final destination, then drive home

 

[dolabriform]

You’ll get about ten hours of tide going east. Brighton to Dover is easy but I think that Portsmouth would be pushing it. I would plan to get through the Looe Channel at or just before slack water, with the expectation of getting past Dungeness and getting to Dover with some adverse tide but not too bad.

Thanks as always John,

Leaving at 0600 gets me to the Looe entrance about half an hour before slack.

 

[MontyMariner]

My current plan is to leave Royal Clarence around 0600, and get to the looe channel as the tide starts to go in my favour. Then I reckon about 11 hours of fair tide to Dover.

That's not how I reads the tides! HWDover 31/8 is 04:11 and tide runs West from HWD to HWD -5 (in the East end of the Channel), so you have about 8 hrs of foul tide.
NP250 English Channel : Monty Mariner

 

[dolabriform]

That's not how I reads the tides! HWDover 31/8 is 04:11 and tide runs West from HWD to HWD -5 (in the East end of the Channel), so you have about 8 hrs of foul tide.
NP250 English Channel : Monty Mariner

I'm slightly confused. As I will be travelling east from HW +2.5, it should turn when I get to the Looe channel, then be fair to Beachy Head, where it should turn from west to east when I get there ( hopefully ). I then have a fair tide with me to Dover ( ish )

I can see that it goes west a lot, but I'm not in a static position. I don't understand why your advice contradicts the others?

 

[Mark-1]

*post at 525*

I'm glad I'm not to only one so addicted to YBW that I'd find time to post just before leaving on a long sail.


Chimet suggests the following(ish) wind has held up but perhaps a fraction less south and more west might have been welcome.

Hope you had a great sail when you see this, OP.

EDIT: Just checked marine traffic and there's a yacht of the right length at the Looe Channel right now. I'd like to think it's the OP, now making very good progress East. (If anyone else checks please don't dox the OP!)
️

 

[dolabriform]

I'm glad I'm not to only one so addicted to YBW that I'd find time to post just before leaving on a long sail.


Chimet suggests the following(ish) wind has held up but perhaps a fraction less south and more west might have been welcome.

Hope you had a great sail when you see this, OP.

EDIT: Just checked marine traffic and there's a yacht of the right length at the Looe Channel right now. I'd like to think it's the OP, now making very good progress East. (If anyone else checks please don't dox the OP!)
️

Good morning Mark; thanks for the post, that’s probably me, boats name is Freewheel

 

[johnalison]

I can see that it goes west a lot, but I'm not in a static position. I don't understand why your advice contradicts the others?

Because he's got it wrong. We sailed from Brighton to Dover in company with a friend in smaller boats. On the way we mooched around to take photos of each other off Beachy Head and did the rest of the trip under sail at barely five knots and still got there with the tide.

 

[Mark-1]

Good morning Mark; thanks for the post, that’s probably me, boats name is Freewheel

Yes, that was you. There's been a smaller boat behind you called Golden Grain the whole time. He's really flying now, has he put a kite up?

 

[dolabriform]

I can’t see a kite, looks like full Genoa. I’m still on 2 reefs in main and genny,

 

[Malish]

Looks like you are going to make it

 

[dolabriform]

 

[MontyMariner]

Because he's got it wrong

Not my normal sailing area, but please expand on what I have got wrong.
The Admiralty Tide Stream Atlas (as I linked to above) shows the tide setting to the West in the East Solent at HW Dover (04:11) and continues with the West flow at the Dover end until 4 hours before the next HW (Dover)(16:30) which makes it 12:30 today. So leaving at 06:00 to go East there is at least 6 hours of foul tide before the Easterly flow starts.

 

[Mark-1]

Looks like you are going to make it

Just checked, fair chance Mr DBF will get in in daylight.. Quite an impressive sail IMHO. If it was single handed or a couple, an epic sail.

Wouldn't have fancied tacking the other way all day!

 

[johnalison]

Not my normal sailing area, but please expand on what I have got wrong.
The Admiralty Tide Stream Atlas (as I linked to above) shows the tide setting to the West in the East Solent at HW Dover (04:11) and continues with the West flow at the Dover end until 4 hours before the next HW (Dover)(16:30) which makes it 12:30 today. So leaving at 06:00 to go East there is at least 6 hours of foul tide before the Easterly flow starts.

The point become evident when you are moving, as the centre of slack water or peak stream moves from west to east and if you are moving in the same direction you get the benefit. You could in theory carry a favourable tide from Devon to Kent if you went fast enough. Going the other way you might only get four hours of favourable tide, but we used to take advantage of this going from Brighton to Cherbourg. Even in our then Sadler 29 we could do the ninety miles in fifteen hours by having two favourable tides and one contrary.

 

[dolabriform]

Just checked, fair chance Mr DBF will get in in daylight.. Quite an impressive sail IMHO. If it was single handed or a couple, an epic sail.

Wouldn't have fancied tacking the other way all day!

Thanks Mark

Slowed down after Dungeness.

Single handed, almost at Dover. Had to put the engine on for the last 6 miles as wind has dropped to 5 knots apparent

 

[Mark-1]

Thanks Mark

Slowed down after Dungeness.

Single handed, almost at Dover. Had to put the engine on for the last 6 miles as wind has dropped to 5 knots apparent

Light wind. That's a suprise. I dinghy sailed this afternoon and it was blowing a hoolie. The lampposts were bending. Dropped a bit now but still F5...

Anyway, just checked. 30 mins or so to go.

Single handed - really impressive. I'm guessing no wind vane steering? So good batteries and a lot of time hand steering? Respect.

EDIT: Reckon the OP is in, hopefully enjoying refreshment... Really enjoyed sharing the trip on AIS, looking in every now and then watching the progress.