Rough Guide...the Havengore.

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oldgit

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Just how big does the tide need to be to go through Havengore.My boat draws 3ft and it would be nice to have another three feet under the keel.
On a club visit to Burnham recently,coming back to the Medway via the gore was discussed but nobody seemed very keen to try it due to tides not being springs.
Bearing in mind that I frequently nip up to Allington with a foot or two under keel and that Faversham Creek is only difficult cos its a bit twisty .........why is everybody so worried about the place ?
 
:D:D

You could try it, take along a camera, record it all, including a poss Tide straddled on the Causeway, then report on your experiences on here!

Not really sure where best to post it though?

Suggest, that if approaching Havengore from the seaward side, regular soundings (inc lead line, or pole) will let you know if crossing the Causeway is possible, only on rising tide though.
 
oldgit said:
Just how big does the tide need to be to go through Havengore.My boat draws 3ft and it would be nice to have another three feet under the keel.
Click to expand...

tillergirl said:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?355612-Havengore-experience
Click to expand...

Artemis draws 1m and we did it a few weeks back with 5.2m tide predicted. I received advice that you need at least 5m. we picked our way over the sands with VERY little water beneath us. Mostly the sounder was showing 0.2 or less. I think we did touch a couple of times. There was about .6 under us as we went under the bridge and between 0.3 and 1.0 down the Narrow Cut.

However, we were about 1.5hours before HW so if you get there a bit later you will have a bit more.

It really was a thrilling and lovely experience.

I would not want to have done it in a chop though! We had dead calm conditions - like a mirror.
 
We did it a few of years ago going outwards on a falling tide (various reasons meant we were late leaving Bradwell); it was on an Anderson 26 skippered by Dave (was he "TLS" on here and hasn't posted recently?) but were guided out by the lady on the bridge on VHF; it had been choppy coming into the Crouch but the wind was off the land so calm-ish going out from the Bridge. We must have drawn 3' with the keel up but I can't remember touching.
 
I think you would be lucky to cross the Broomway with 3' clearance below a 3' keel.
Last time I went in, I remember the predicted height HW at Chatham (for the OP's benefit) was 6.3m, I was about 45 minutes before HW, I draw 4'2" and had a foot under the keels. So on that very big Spring, there might have been 6' over it I suppose, but then you have variations of predicted height and timing to contend with.
It's certainly an interesting passage but can be stressful in a boat that will only just make it, in that you have so many miles of continuous shallows to cross and a narrow time window in which to achieve it.
 
Cantata said:
I think you would be lucky to cross the Broomway with 3' clearance below a 3' keel.
Last time I went in, I remember the predicted height HW at Chatham (for the OP's benefit) was 6.3m, I was about 45 minutes before HW, I draw 4'2" and had a foot under the keels. So on that very big Spring, there might have been 6' over it I suppose, but then you have variations of predicted height and timing to contend with.
It's certainly an interesting passage but can be stressful in a boat that will only just make it, in that you have so many miles of continuous shallows to cross and a narrow time window in which to achieve it.
Click to expand...

I have thought about trying this for a while now but I draw 4' 8" so I would have just 6" under the keel with very little margin for error for swells wash etc. So its not on for me.
 
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