Route planning on the south coast

[ifoxwell]

Hi all

So in brief we have just bought a new boat that is current sitting on the river Dart in Devon.. The plan was to take her ashore there, do some work over the odd weekend, then relaunch in the summer for a lazy family cruise back to the Medway, in Kent.

Obviously that's not looking so straight forward now so i'm thinking that when we are allowed to travel again, if the weather's ok, perhaps I should just take a week off work and bring her straight back.

So my question is.... if you were making that journey where would you stop, what would you route be?

Thanks.
Ian

 

[RobbieW]

Ramsgit & home. Time it right and you get an escalator when going East from around the E Solent all the way to Ramsgate. Link that with Portland, St Albans and St Cats on a spring tide.

 

[RobF]

Hey Ian,

I do this trip a lot. Depends how long you want to be at sea at one go (obviously). My route as follows:
Dart
Torquay (shake down cruise)
Weymouth
Studland
Newton Creek or Cowes

I don't go East very often, so suspect your knowledge will be better than mine, but likely to include Brighton & Dover etc

I've also upgraded from my 29 footer - but what have you bought?

 

[Spuddy]

It really does depend on crew numbers and competence.
The big hop is Lyme Bay. If 2 or 3 crew I'd avoid detour into Weymouth or Portland and press on....Studland maybe. Somewhere in Solent fir a break then catch the tide boost up Channel as mentioned. On my boat this would get me to Eastbourne; bigger boats further.
After that Ramsgate and then push tide to get flood along N Kent cast and into Medwsy.
If single-handed I get knackered and bored after 50 miles so would stop Weymouth and Dover in addition.
With 3 good crew possible to head from Dartmouth, outside St Catherines and keep going until you fancy a break. It gets wearing spotting other traffic and dodging pot buoys, even with self steering

 

[Boathook]

Hey Ian,

I do this trip a lot. Depends how long you want to be at sea at one go (obviously). My route as follows:
Dart
Torquay (shake down cruise)
Weymouth
Studland
Newton Creek or Cowes

I don't go East very often, so suspect your knowledge will be better than mine, but likely to include Brighton & Dover etc

I've also upgraded from my 29 footer - but what have you bought?

I would avoid Weymouth / Portland and go to either Studland or into the Solent. The idea of a short breakdown cruise is a good idea.

 

[Sandy]

First question I would be asking is, can I get access to the marina. How are you getting to Dartmouth car or train/taxi as there is always the transport issue with a delivery trip.

I'm based in Plymouth and afloat, and am being "discouraged" from spending time at the marina. You will need to spend some time going through all the systems in an unknown boat, loved your video by the way and thank you for your reply to my comment.

If you can spend a few days in Dartmouth working up the boat, your video said that she had not been used for some time, then the next question is what type of trip do you want to do. Marina hopping might be out of the question as many marinas are not taking visiting vessels. Are you happy with doing the trip in a single hop or spending several nights at anchor? It is doable either single handed or with a small crew, if you can gather one together.

Lots of questions to think through - perhaps sitting tight for a few months like many of us will be the only way forward.

 

[LadyInBed]

i'm thinking that when we are allowed to travel again, if the weather's ok, perhaps I should just take a week off work and bring her straight back.

A few boat and possible crew details would be useful, to offer any meaningful passage suggestions.
22, 33 or 45 foot boat, solo or mob handed, level of experience all make a lot of difference when advising on 'courses for horses'.

 

[LittleSister]

I think whenever you do it you would be foolish to expect to decide your stops in advance and try to stick rigidly to that plan, unless you can also plan the weather and how things will evolve for those on board (whether one person or a group) on the way..

Planning where you could stop, the places' respective advantages and disadvantages. entrance restrictions and the like, and the distances/directions between them would be good. Revising your plan to take advantage of helpful weather and deal with adverse weather, sickness or exhaustion is also good.

You would need a lot of time, or a great deal of luck, for it to be a leisurely family cruise!

I definitely strongly support others' recommendations of a few days shakedown around the Dart before you head off across lyme Bay and/or commit yourself to the overall trip.

 

[James_Calvert]

You'll also need to plan for a bottom clean before you set off, if the boat has been unused until the summer.

 

[ifoxwell]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Just to fill in some of the blanks.

The boat is a Jeanneau 34.2 shallow draft keel. I suspect we will be just two up and I dont want to plan on sailing through the night.

I was intending on doing at least one shake down sail and I like the idea of the short hope around to Torquay to get started. Obviously any plan made wont be rigorously adhered to but knowing the places you people like to stop gives me options on the day.

 

[Daydream believer]

You only have to look at the earlier videos of the foxwell family sailing to know that they have ample experience to do the trip with ease.

 

[MoodySabre]

I bought my boat in Plymouth and sailed it back to Bradwell. Having only been a daysailer previously I just thought of it as a succession of daysails. My focus was on getting back although we did have two days in Dartmouth. My regret is that I didn't turn left and do Falmouth etc before coming back. It's a slog to go west down channel so make a point of enjoying what you can whilst you are there. Make it a holiday not a delivery trip slog.

 

[Sharky34]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Just to fill in some of the blanks.

The boat is a Jeanneau 34.2 shallow draft keel. I suspect we will be just two up and I dont want to plan on sailing through the night.

I was intending on doing at least one shake down sail and I like the idea of the short hope around to Torquay to get started. Obviously any plan made wont be rigorously adhered to but knowing the places you people like to stop gives me options on the day.

East of the Solent might be limiting, depending upon draft, once past Nab, next stop is Brighton, so plan tides to reach it in a day.
Ater that, Dover and/or Ramsgate .

 

[lw395]

Taking tides into consideration, Dartmouth to Medway is quite a long way in a week if you don't want to sail through the night.
A hull clean is a good call.
There are a thousand little things which may be missing or not working properly.
A week of Easterlies and/or light airs and it starts to look like a slog.
A week is not long to put right any issues you find.
So I'd be trying to balance making a sensible shakedown against the anxiety of running out of time.

You might want to regard the week as successful if you fix a few problems and make some progress Eastwards.
If you got as far as say Brighton, it becomes easy to find a crew and finish the job in a weekend.

OTOH, if everything lines up, then Brixham on the first evening, Yarmouth, then I get vague TBH.

 

[MoodySabre]

We did:
Dartmouth
Weymouth
Yarmouth
Gosport (crew change)
Brighton
Eastbourne
Dover (fog bound half a day)
Ramsgate
Bradwell

 

[burgundyben]

Brixham is nicer the Torquay as the destination of a shake down.

Weymouth is a bigger diversion, but nicer than Portland.

I would go inshore at Portland.

When leaving Weymouth I would go offshore at St Abans to Yarmouth. If arriving late its easy to pick up a bouy outside or get into the harbour, lots of light polution due to the town makes the entrance easy.

From there I would do a short hop to somewhere like Southsea Marina or Chi Harbour.

My knowledge runs out.

 

[johnalison]

Brixham is nicer the Torquay as the destination of a shake down.

Weymouth is a bigger diversion, but nicer than Portland.

I would go inshore at Portland.

When leaving Weymouth I would go offshore at St Abans to Yarmouth. If arriving late its easy to pick up a bouy outside or get into the harbour, lots of light polution due to the town makes the entrance easy.

From there I would do a short hop to somewhere like Southsea Marina or Chi Harbour.

My knowledge runs out.

Much the same. I see no reason to avoid Weymouth. Both the Town harbour and marina are pleasant, and I agree about Brixham. The Solent has so many places that you may as well go as far as time and tide permits. We would normally go to Lymington, but Yarmouth and Cowes would serve as well.
With shallow draft, Brighton should be easy enough, and is less out of the way than Eastbourne, depending on progress. Brighton to Dover is a one-tide passage, even if it takes ten hours. It is bound to be blowing form the east, so you will need to keep options open.

 

[Daydream believer]

Make it an european tour
Go Torquay, Cherbourg, Le havre, Dieppe, Boulogne. Medway
Will feel like a holiday then, rather than a treck, marinas cheaper& all tide & weather

 

[Habebty]

I did Dartmouth, Torquay (week of f7 easterlies!) then Weymouth, Newtown Creek, Eastbourne, Ipswich, singlehanded.. Pick Spring tide week for good lift eastwards. Longest leg was Eastbourne Shotley 14.5 hours.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Take some time to get the bottom and prop clean and work up all your systems to make sure everything is working and to familiarise yourself with all technical aspects. Better to go for a couple of weekends working on the boat and then going for a couple of daysails before heading off on the trip east. It's psychologically easier to deal with gear failure in these conditions than en route.