Sailing around Southern England

[Tam Lin]

In YM there is an article where Sir Richard Stilgoe sails up the Thames and goes through the canal system to Bristol then back home.
This got me dreaming. It would be nice to take my boat to different cruising grounds, could I do it via the inland waterways? After all people go down to the Med by canal, why not through our country?
Any thoughts, recommendations or have you done it?

 

[dunedin]

Great - if your boat is both very narrow and very shallow. Most yachts aren't

 

[Vallich]

This may (or may not) help your planning:


http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canals-and-rivers

 

[prv]

Great - if your boat is both very narrow and very shallow. Most yachts aren't

If it's *really* narrow and shallow, you could follow in Sandy Mackinnon's footsteps. Tipped a Mirror dinghy into the bramble-filled drainage ditch at the back of his school playing fields, and took it all the way to Romania

Pete

 

[Romeo]

Is there a website anywhere that can give you routes on the inland water ways if you punch in your beam, length, draft and air draft? If not there should be because it would help internet dreamers (expecially those who cannot be bothered looking up the limits for every single waterway on a potential route. It is easy to work it out for Scottish Canals, but I suspect there is more scope for cruising inland in England than people realise, in modest sized boats.

 

[LadyInBed]

Sod the English canals, do a French circuit
http://montymariner.co.uk/puffin-goes-to-the-med/

 

[Twister_Ken]

Pah to your French circuit.

At Cruising Association House tonight, a presentation by an American couple who have just completed a lap of Europe in a 40' Prout cat. When they discovered it was too wide for the French canals they went from the Thames, up the Rhine, down the Danube, through the Black Sea, the Aegean, the Med, up the Spanish & Portuguese coasts, across Biscay, stopped in Cherbourg to buy wine for the winter and ended up back in St Katherine's Dock.

 

[Tranona]

Is there a website anywhere that can give you routes on the inland water ways if you punch in your beam, length, draft and air draft? If not there should be because it would help internet dreamers (expecially those who cannot be bothered looking up the limits for every single waterway on a potential route. It is easy to work it out for Scottish Canals, but I suspect there is more scope for cruising inland in England than people realise, in modest sized boats.

The vast majority of the English canals have 7' wide (but very long!) locks, so although many of the tidal rivers are navigable sometimes well inland, they are not linked up by canals that will take wider beam boats. The Kennett and Avon is an exception which is why Sir Richard managed to do it.

In the 60's and 70's many builders were offering boats that could do both canals and sea, some as big as 25', but the 7' beam restriction as well as shallow draft meant they were pretty useless at sea. There are, however 000's of narrow boats which happily chug up and down the canal system, but get scared at the sight of any sort of waves!

 

[Blueboatman]

On my wish list when I owned a Corribee, which of course can handle the salty bits and chug economically along on a small outboard.
The 7', 2" beam was the problem. I thought about sawing off an inch-and-a-bit of rubbing strake on each side which could then be glued back on .
This is not quite as drastic as it sounds. I replaced the rub strakes when I bought the boat anyway...3 inches to play with or shave away, right there...

The Real Unknown was, what if those Victorian lock Builders had got it a tad shy of 7 feet in places eh?

I do kinda regret it but having puttered through the galebound Brittany canals instead of masochistically going round the coast, it was, well, a tad boring at times.. 10 days chug chug, lock up lock down ooh another bird, bar, bird on a horse, poplar, otter, sunset, mozzy bite, petrol station, cafe....

Not wishing to discourage , it was indeed well worth doing..

 

[Zagato]

Drascombes are ideal for pottering about on inland lakes and waterways and don't look to out of place!

550KG
Sleeps four
6' 7" beam
21' 9" long
1' draft
The mast is easily lowered and raised under bridges by just undoing the forestay, it's very light. The mizzen mast just pulls out, it doesn't have any shrouds. They also have oars, one guy rowed down through the French canals without an engine, quite a feat - he bought an engine the following year however!

I will be launching onto Kingston On Thames half an hour away from me.

Rallies are organised for Kennet & Avon, River Severn, Thames, Loch Lomond, Norfolk Broads, Coniston, Bristol channel etc as well as all around the coast and it's inlets as well as a trip to Oslo onto Gothenbourg taking in fjords whilst the Dutch put on many rallies arounds their numerous shallow routes. Easy to tow and launch with a family car as it is so light to get you to most palces here and abroad.

For the Norfolk Broads, Canals and Thames you boat will probably need a safety check if you have a cabin (sorry late for school run so don't have details to hand) but I can get around the gas, battery, electrics issues by just removing them on inspection! oops late again.

 

[NickRobinson]

Is there a website anywhere that can give you routes on the inland water ways if you punch in your beam, length, draft and air draft? If not there should be because it would help internet dreamers (expecially those who cannot be bothered looking up the limits for every single waterway on a potential route. It is easy to work it out for Scottish Canals, but I suspect there is more scope for cruising inland in England than people realise, in modest sized boats.

Try http://canalplan.org.uk? It's a bit Windows 98

N

 

[Seajet]

Tam Lin,

I once met a family in a Sailfish 18 who had travelled part of the old route ( originally including the Wey & Arun canal from the arsenal at Guildford for supplying warships out of the way of the French, but was completed too late ) from Chichester, through Hayling bridge and past the lido & scrapyard into Portsmouth Harbour - the fact the keel dropped out on the way may have helped !

I don't think you'd get much further with a 7'7" beam ?

 

[oldharry]

Perfectly feasible to do the round trip provided your boat is no more than 6ft beam, and 3 ft draft,and I think its about 5ft air draft, going across country on the Kennet and Avon, which links the Thames at Reading to the Avon at Bristol.

Unfortunately anything with only 6ft beam and 3 ft draft will not be very nice nor particularly safe heading round places like Lands End, the Lizard and Portland! But given the right boat and the right weather (fat chance nowadays!) it is theoretically possible.

 

[dancrane]

...given the right boat and the right weather (fat chance nowadays!)...

Is that meteo-reverse-psychology? When the weather's good, like now, keep saying how rotten it is? Good idea. I don't suppose we'll get anything we can call summer, this year.

What a pity the Folkboat is a few inches too broad for inland waterways - as well as too deep, probably. Mast might present problems too. Easily equal to offshore passages.

 

[Tam Lin]

What about other routes? Going up the Grand Union Canal or the Trent, Ouse etc and coming out on the west side of England? Surely someone has done it or knows someone who has?

 

[dancrane]

Maybe some idea of the Midland waterways' navigability is shown here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00y6r6q

It was on BBC4 quite recently.

Ooops, beg pardon, not available to watch on iPlayer at the moment.

 

[Kermit]

Perfectly feasible to do the round trip provided your boat is no more than 6ft beam, and 3 ft draft,and I think its about 5ft air draft, going across country on the Kennet and Avon, which links the Thames at Reading to the Avon at Bristol.

Unfortunately anything with only 6ft beam and 3 ft draft will not be very nice nor particularly safe heading round places like Lands End, the Lizard and Portland! But given the right boat and the right weather (fat chance nowadays!) it is theoretically possible.

A Wayfarer with a boom tent would meet those requirements, take the tent down when rounding the Lizard though...:encouragement:

 

[onesea]

I had wanted to do it on my old trident 24. Never got there .

Up the Thames, Kennet and Avon round Lands end...

Would be a good adventure me thinks...

 

[Twister_Ken]

I remember a story about someone who circumnavigated Wales in a Wayfarer. Dee, something, something else, Severn, Bristol Channel, Irish Sea.

 

[Danbury]

Perfectly feasible to do the round trip provided your boat is no more than 6ft beam, and 3 ft draft,and I think its about 5ft air draft, going across country on the Kennet and Avon, which links the Thames at Reading to the Avon at Bristol.

Unfortunately anything with only 6ft beam and 3 ft draft will not be very nice nor particularly safe heading round places like Lands End, the Lizard and Portland! But given the right boat and the right weather (fat chance nowadays!) it is theoretically possible.

We had the right weather for it recently... you could have sailed straight across most of Berkshire and Somerset !