Route advice, please - Ijmuiden to Porstmouth

[Hazymoonshine]

Hello,

I am due to go and collect our new boat (Jeanneau 43) from Ijmuiden and bring her back to her berth at Portsmouth at some point in the next fortnight.

I am about to dig into the charts and pilots, but wonder if anyone is familar with that route, and has any advice to offer?

Uppermost in my mind are the extensive shallows off the Dutch and Belgian coasts, the amount of traffic emerging/entering Rotterdam Europort, avoiding the busiest shipping channels and choice of place to cross to UK.

Any helpful advice would be gratefully received!

Best wishes

Julian

 

[Lodesman77]

Do you have time restraints? Are you looking for a quick delivery trip or will you be looking for interesting places to stop over on the way back? How many crew? Do you nightsail or day hops only?

 

[Hazymoonshine]

Ijmuiden to Portsmouth

Thank you for that - to add more detail, we will be crew of 4-6, and intending to make it a delivery trip, getting the boat to Portsmouth within, hopefully 48-72 hours.

J

 

[Blue Fox]

On the Northsea you have two choices. Either around the west side of the Hinder junction - that's to be preferred because you will avoid most of the frequent shipping in this area. Steer for the upper side of the northern entrance to the junction, then parallel to the traffic lane and eventually a course to Ramsgate.
Or - for instance when the wind is a sturdy southwest - tack along the coast till you're fed up with it, to Scheveningen or Stellendam. The Zeeland banks should be avoided above 6, but if the wind is southwest the Slijkgat entrance to Stellendam can be done. Maybe better then to first aim for the Belgian coast and crossing afterwards - or if the weather is really bad go inside from Stellendam to Vlissingen (will take you two days or so).
After Ramsgate it should be a coastal route.
chris

 

[vyv_cox]

We regularly sailed south from Stellendam to UK and northern France when we lived in Holland. Our strategy when heading for the south coast of UK was to set a waypoint at Fairy South cardinal buoy, north of the TSS into Wester Schelde. The beauty of this route was that it kept us out of shipping for the overnight part of the voyage when setting off on Friday evening. The TSS here is just about the narrowest point, so a good place to cross it heading southwards.

From there follow the deeper water between the TSS and the Bergues and Ruytingen banks until somewhere around the Racon off Calais/Dunkerque, there crossing the TSS to the UK side.

Coming from Ilmuiden I would keep pretty close to the coast, crossing the Maas close to its entrance, where port control will advise any traffic, most valuable if visibility is poor. This coast is generously buoyed, a big help in these conditions.

 

[Hazymoonshine]

Thank you

This is all really helpful information, thank you very much. It's all very well drawing deductions from guides and charts, but there really is no substitute for personal experience.

Lots of advice to think on now, so thank you all.

Best wishes

Julian