Route Check - Portishead to Weston + Anchoring options

[vodzurk]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your help so far on my endless ramblings on here, I do appreciate it!

With last lock out of Portishead this weekend being ~1200h, and first return being 1815... that gives us 6 hours out, if we go out.

I'd be half tempted to go to overnight at Cardiff, but...

• Given the narrow dredged approach into Cardiff, the high level of traffic and LW hitting 0.0M over datum around when we'd be arriving, I'm a bit nervous of running aground (and the stern drive currently jammed down).
• Weather + predicted wave height looking better for Sunday.
• Wanting to go to the pub tonight, meaning potential queezyness tomorrow morning.

... leads me towards a Plan B (which I still like the idea of)...

So with that in mind...

Question #1 (of the hundreds I've already asked, sorry!)
Would I be nuts in any way for thinking of anchoring here (somewhere between the two waypoints), and riding out the LW of 0.0m?...



It would seem sheltered from the South and East, with 4m of water for us to sit in for a few hours. I'll also give a GPS anchor alarm a try out.

Question #2
I know to steer clear of the English Grounds (stay north of the Clevedon Cardinal, West of the NW Elbow Cardinal)... so aim to go along this route... again, nothing too nuts, right?



Question #3
This is the part of the plan I like... I've just bought a fag-lighter-powered cooler for £20 (from Force4, because the 240V powering doesn't work, only the 12v, bargain!).

I'm gonna plug this into the boats "house" battery via the fag socket. The device is rated at 47w @ 12v... and my battery is a deep cycle marine jobbie... That'll be good for 6 hours, right? It's not gonna suck the house battery dry after 6 hours (our alternator isn't pumping out quite as much as it should, so we fully charge from shore first)? I'd hope these kinda things are good to go for a whole day. Chilled food + drink in the sun, mmmm, sounds good .



Question #4
Ok, so this one is nuts. And I know it.

One thing I promised myself I'd do when we bought the boat in November... is at some point in 2017, jump off the back, in blue water past Swansea or Ilfracombe. However, I'm fast running out of season and we've not pushed that far out yet. WindyTv.com puts the water at 15c. My eyeballs put it as an unpleasant shade of brown. Our swim platform and ladder looks great, and at LW, there shouldn't be much in the way of tide. I also have a swimsuit, as yet unused.

Obviously, anchored, engine off and ladder down first.

So, will I die if I jump in?

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Where have you seen the tides at 0.00m? I have Cardiff showing at 1.18 Saturday.

Don't worry about getting into Cardiff, it's well marked and pretty wide for the ships, stick to the middle (it's well dredged) and you'll be ok, just go past the last mark before turning port into the outer harbour channel (as it's been mentioned before. The mark will probably be on the mud if you get there around LW anyway so you'll know where to go). I've gone in with that sort of depth with 1.55m of keel under me and the depth sounder still showing a good water.

You're right Sunday looks better, it might get a bit choppy on the Saturday with WoT to get to Cardiff, you'll have a better idea then I do about what your boat is good for. I can't really answer the Weston stuff myself.

If you think you and the boat will do it I say go to Cardiff, just have an easy one tonight... like you say you're running out of season.

 

[jwilson]

I have anchored off Brean Down roughly where you show a few times (waiting to get into the Axe on the flood tide) but it doesn't have a lot to commend it as a destination in itself.....

 

[vodzurk]

Cheers for your thoughts Tom

The tide being at 0.0m is from Portishead Lock times (link).

I like the idea of Cardiff, but want to spend the night the first time we visit. As predicted, I'm only 90% well today... being on a boat bouncing around would probably be less than a wonderful experience. Plus the forecast for tomorrow is dead-calm water... perfect for us to ramp up to full speed for a few minutes of fun!

I'm quite looking forward to Weston... it'll be our first time anchoring and sitting out through a tide, plus the furthest we'll have been. Even considering getting a cheapo fishing rod or cheapo dinghy for something "active" to do for 3 hours . Not sure yet if I'll have what it takes to jump on in...

 

[vodzurk]

This brown water is just so appealing, think I'll just go ahead and jump in...

 

[vodzurk]

Can confirm, water is ******* cold!

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Looks a good day for it Mike, you're a braver man then me!

It really does suck the water out up your way, over a meter difference and not a massive distance apart.

Enjoy the return trip.

 

[vodzurk]

Cheers, was utterly awesome!

Did a lap around Steep Holm... and almost ran aground on an uncharted sandbar to the west of it... turns out, near a landmass (half a mile)... if water is "boiling"... stay the hell away from it... thankfully I was nervous so didn't ground it, but noticed the sonar and managed to swing further out before it went pear shaped!

Also found out just how much mud comes up with an anchor and chain... made a right bladdy mess!

 

[CaptainKingo]

There is a sudden change in depth west of Steep Holm, from 33 metres to 5.8 metres, which would cause the overfalls, is that the sandbar you mean?

Cheers, was utterly awesome!

Did a lap around Steep Holm... and almost ran aground on an uncharted sandbar to the west of it... turns out, near a landmass (half a mile)... if water is "boiling"... stay the hell away from it... thankfully I was nervous so didn't ground it, but noticed the sonar and managed to swing further out before it went pear shaped!

Also found out just how much mud comes up with an anchor and chain... made a right bladdy mess!

 

[vodzurk]

There is a sudden change in depth west of Steep Holm, from 33 metres to 5.8 metres, which would cause the overfalls, is that the sandbar you mean?

View attachment 66664

That'll be it... though I'm pretty sure our sonar went below 3m, which was the cause for my panic, possibly lower than 2m... I don't remember precisely, only the measure of panic I had.

Thing is, we didn't touch where the water was visibly different, we were in what appeared normal water for the day, with the "boiling" water to starboard initially (heading south), then noticed that it looked exactly like the water over where the sand ended to our port, then I noticed that the depth was suddenly changing so slowed right down and turned WSW. I think on the chart you posted, we went south along the path of the H, then halfway down past, veered WSW towards the R of Rudder.

I notice the name "Rudder Rock" on your chart... which seems apt!

I've got our track on Navionics, will try and get a snapshot online tonight.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

A few years ago there used to be a mooring bouy close in! Never used it, but anchored there to wait the incoming tide! Quite interesting as the tide came in seeing it rush bye but it must have created a back eddy as we hardly moved, and we didnt drag!
Just recalled the reason why we went there! I had sold a small tender and that was the agreed spot to do the deal! there was also a group of Kayakers taking a rest! one of the nicer days on the Bristol Chanel.

 

[vodzurk]

Didn't see a mooring bouy there, so yep, probably gone, though we weren't particularly looking either. I'd be worried about the tide pushing me into Steep Holm when it starts coming in... isn't it a bit exposed?

We chose to anchor NE of Howe Rock to wait for the tide... which turned out to be a nice spot. Certainly dragged up plenty of mud though.

Kayaking out to Steep Holm would seem madness to me... 3.5 miles from the mainland, with tidal flows of up to 15mph ready to push you out to Lundy... I think I'll give that a miss thanks!

Also... trading off the west of Steep Holm? Sounds like the shadiest deal ever!

 

[vodzurk]

There is a sudden change in depth west of Steep Holm, from 33 metres to 5.8 metres, which would cause the overfalls, is that the sandbar you mean?

View attachment 66664

Here's my route... Looks like I turned completely around... Which makes sense after I realised that the "boiling" might be a sandbar, and that it was on both sides, closing ahead. I think at the time, I should have had 2m above datumn.

Lesson learnt: boiling water near land = sand.

 

[nemodreams]

The anchorage inside of the end of Brean Down is pretty much the only 'accepted' reasonable anchorage in Weston Bay. Tides always go around Weston Bay clockwise - either ebb or flood. You can have quite a rip coming out if there - as the exiting tide collides with the ebb or flood.
Never stopped there - usually going somewhere ( I moor at Uphill/river axe).
You can always overnight at Uphill Boat centre - nice interesting little place - always a spare berth there ( pontoons drying to soft mud )

The R Axe is ok from just after mid tide. Generally - you have at mid tide about 3m in Weston Bay and around the red bouys - but the shallowest part is just between Black Rock and the end of the down.1st pair of port starboard markers - sort of sand ridge there. 1.5 there 3 hrs before ( if your lucky ! ) quickly deepens though into the axe proper. Better left to 2 hrs before - but its all soft mud.

I know of people who have anchorer in a similar position just NE of Sand Point ( Woodspring Bay/St Thomas head ) - I think some small local fishing boats moor up there ?

You have enthusiasm - valuable up this end of the channel !

 

[vodzurk]

Cheers, all sounds good, but sadly can't dry out at the moment, the stern drive is jammed down. Will be getting it looked at next time she's on the hard, but for now, we're trying to eke a few more outings from the year. Plus, we've not yet figured out the "disconnecting it" step I've heard of, whereby you manually have the whole thing up for drying out.

But hey, that still leaves us Cardiff and Swansea to play around with .

I'd have thought enthusiasm would pretty much be required for this hobby... It seems like it'd be easy to lapse on some small thing and then your boat is out of action for a month! Either way, thanks! .

 

[tatali0n]

Here's my route... Looks like I turned completely around... Which makes sense after I realised that the "boiling" might be a sandbar, and that it was on both sides, closing ahead. I think at the time, I should have had 2m above datum.

Although anything's possible, I've rounded Rudder Rock on low water springs a few times now (a couple of Holms Races and a few "let's just go and sail around it cus it's there" type trips), Appreciate how alarming low numbers appearing unexpectedly on your depth sounder can be and you're absolutely right to always be cautious, but I don't think there is anywhere on the west side you can hit or ground out. Watch out for the gravel spit on the east side though (what passes for a landing beach), it goes from very deep to not so very deep at all in very little time.

Love Steep Holm; before we got the yacht for years every time I walked the dogs on Brean Sands I'd gaze out at it and think to myself one day I'll sail around that. Probably mentioned it enough to the wife that the glazed look in her eyes as she rolled them became a conditioned response

Glad you've had such a great and adventurous first season with your boat.

With regards to Cardiff, don't be put off by the Wrach Channel or the sand banks. Barrage Control will advise on how much water they've got if you ask. If you don't draw more than a meter, I don't think the Barrage ever inaccessible for more than an hour either side of the lowest of low water spring tides even when it hasn't been dredged for a while, and the channel was dredged a month or two ago, I think. If you do get to Cardiff and find yourself waiting for the tide, the Penarth Roads is usually very sheltered, as good a place as any to drop the anchor and wait til your happy to enter. It's also very easy to follow the Wrach Channel if you've got something like Navionics to guide you, and if you do get it wrong it's just soft mud.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

Didn't see a mooring bouy there, so yep, probably gone, though we weren't particularly looking either. I'd be worried about the tide pushing me into Steep Holm when it starts coming in... isn't it a bit exposed?

We chose to anchor NE of Howe Rock to wait for the tide... which turned out to be a nice spot. Certainly dragged up plenty of mud though.

Kayaking out to Steep Holm would seem madness to me... 3.5 miles from the mainland, with tidal flows of up to 15mph ready to push you out to Lundy... I think I'll give that a miss thanks!

Also... trading off the west of Steep Holm? Sounds like the shadiest deal ever!

Dug out these from 2007 We sold them the dinghy! as you can see they wanted to see if it would carry them ashore!

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

Also... trading off the west of Steep Holm? Sounds like the shadiest deal ever!
image: http://www.ybw.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.png

Lol! It was an easier option as I sailed down from Chepstow towing the dinghy! and the Buyer sailed out of Cardiff for the deal, a very pleasant afternoon!

 

[vodzurk]

Although anything's possible, I've rounded Rudder Rock on low water springs a few times now (a couple of Holms Races and a few "let's just go and sail around it cus it's there" type trips), Appreciate how alarming low numbers appearing unexpectedly on your depth sounder can be and you're absolutely right to always be cautious, but I don't think there is anywhere on the west side you can hit or ground out. Watch out for the gravel spit on the east side though (what passes for a landing beach), it goes from very deep to not so very deep at all in very little time.

Love Steep Holm; before we got the yacht for years every time I walked the dogs on Brean Sands I'd gaze out at it and think to myself one day I'll sail around that. Probably mentioned it enough to the wife that the glazed look in her eyes as she rolled them became a conditioned response

Glad you've had such a great and adventurous first season with your boat.

With regards to Cardiff, don't be put off by the Wrach Channel or the sand banks. Barrage Control will advise on how much water they've got if you ask. If you don't draw more than a meter, I don't think the Barrage ever inaccessible for more than an hour either side of the lowest of low water spring tides even when it hasn't been dredged for a while, and the channel was dredged a month or two ago, I think. If you do get to Cardiff and find yourself waiting for the tide, the Penarth Roads is usually very sheltered, as good a place as any to drop the anchor and wait til your happy to enter. It's also very easy to follow the Wrach Channel if you've got something like Navionics to guide you, and if you do get it wrong it's just soft mud.

Steep Holm was something gorgeous to have a slow victory lap around. I doubt there's many people I know who have had such an opportunity to get up close to something we can all see off in the distance . It was a wonderful day.

I've yet to compile a video of the trip (I've discovered I quite like video editing)... but it turns out, right at the moment I hit panic mode, I was holding my phone camera up, and have video footage of the boiling water almost surrounding me... I'll see about getting a clip up over the next few days (pub tonight, desperately needed). Will be interesting to see what you guys think of it... from my perspective, just where the gravel spit ends, you can see the water boiling... and that's what i had all around me, right at the point I do the U-Turn on the earlier image from my chart.

Cardiff isn't too worrying... it's more that we've now realised we can hold 20mph constantly on plane (this was our biggest discovery, how to force a 35 year old engine up onto the plane, where we can drop the RPM to a reasonable level and still be on-plane constantly! This changes everything for us! 10mph cruising to 20mph!)... so our sights are potentially already going further. Another concern we have currently is regarding busy locks. We've got the lock-dock pretty nailed down, but the new addition of Aux has thrown a right bloody spanner in the works...



... in that we're not sure what to do with regards bumping it. In the current position on port side, the aux prop comes only a few inches from the side of the boat... which is causing some head scratching for me at the moment... as just a tiny 1-degree angle of bow-drift smacks the bloody thing into pontoon. Thankfully, the only time this has happened (at the fuel berth) was a very minor scuff, and only on the guard thing below the prop. Are there fenders made for Aux props/shafts? I've yet to experiment with dropping it down and twisting away (can't have it up and laying the other way, oil would leak out)... which might give us a few more degrees of freedom.

And hey, the season ain't over yet! (though these hurricanes are irksome )

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Have you not got a locker that you can store it in and only bring it out when you need it? Or another option is to put an outboard bracket on the transom above the bathing platform so it's in the down posistion with the leg sitting on the platform?