Sailing from the Medway to Chichester

[iainmillett]

No doubt some of you old salts have a few tips on this one.

I'm taking my 26' sloop down south in mid May this year for the 1st time.

Apart from praying for a steady Easterly and fair weather, anything else to avoid??

My wife has just handed back her commission after an appallingly cold trip back from London in a F7 - we were stuck on a mudbank for 24 hours with only a daft seal for company. Even the boatyard's tender was broken down!

 

[wrr]

I am planning a delivery trip, Crouch to Hamble on the early May Bank Holiday: 3 days: Crouch to Ramsgate or Dover, Dover to Eastbourne, Eastbourne to Hamble. Please leave message on forum if you fancy cruise-in-company.

 

[Gaffer]

My advice to anybody who A) gets stuck on a mudbank for 24 hours and B) tells everybody about it, is to put their boat on a lorry and get it taken to where they want it to be.
There is pleanty of mud arround Chichester for you.........

 

[ccscott49]

Tend to agree, thats two tides innit'

 

[iainmillett]

The 2 tides bit - the night time tide was 0.3m lower and as I hit at HW, I stood little chance. The following day with lower winds and a tide rising towards springs, I could kedge myself off.

WRR - I'm off on 11th/12th May and leaving Dover about 15th May. I'll call you on VHF around these dates using WRR and if you're within hailing distance at Ramgate/Dover it's a good idea to convoy down the Channel. Otherwise mobile is 0786 7667194.

 

[James_Calvert]

From the Medway it's possible to carry the tide from Garrison Point through North and South Foreland all the way to Dungeness. The flood is then relatively weak enabling you to reach Beachy Head at about the time the tide turns, so you can then press on until Brighton. Alternatively both Ramsgate and Dover make good stops, both have all tide berthing; don't lock in anywhere before you know what times you want to/can leave.

Eastbourne can be a very welcome stop before Beachy Head, but check they've done their dredging if approaching near low water - they reportedly had a problem with this a few years ago.

A F4 headwind is quite enough to produce an uncomfortable wind over tide chop. For me that means motorsailing at 4 or less knots instead of the normal 5 to 6. Try to negotiate headlands at slack water in these circs.

If the forecast gives SW to W, you'll get the SW on the way to Dungeness and the W on the way to Beachy Head. Don't expect any useful shifts in relative wind as you round the headlands and you won't be disappointed. However in SW to W conditions, you might be lucky with a reach once you round Selsey Bill.


Wind strengths in the Dover Strait can be a Force higher than elsewhere.

Watch out for fleets of lobster pot markers, particularly off Herne Bay, North Foreland, in the W end of Rye bay and off Littlehampton as you approach Selsey Bill. In the Channel you'll find the pot fleets in the shallower patches of your track. As laid by inshore fisherman, they're not too obvious initially - a black flag on a bamboo supported by a bit of foam or a plastic container is the normal standard - but they're quite easy to spot once you've seen the first one. Happily your course is much the same direction as the stream for the most part, so you'd be unlucky to catch one with your keel or prop.

Give the Dover Harbour entrances a wide berth if not entering - and listen to port control for useful warnings of ferry departures - in advance of the smoke from the funnel.

The entrance to Brighton can be surprisingly uncomfortable due to backwash from the breakwaters in anything of a southerly, or if there's some swell about. I tend to leave all sail up until well inside where there's plenty of room to sort yourself out in good shelter.

Navigationally, it is far less taxing than the Thames Estuary, once you get round S Foreland (The sea's also a nicer colour in the Channel).
I've always used the inshore route at Selsey Bill, just to the South of the Mixon ? beacon. You'll notice that practically everybody else does.

I intend to make a similar passage starting on the following bank holiday weekend. Let's hope for nice NElies!


James

 

[iainmillett]

Many thanks - especially an early warning about the lobster pots re night progress - I think I'll avoid such spots if I can without gd vis.

I'm hoping to start about 11th/12th May and as usual the weather rules.

Going East along this coast will be a real slog and motor sailing appears unavoidable unless as you say an E or NE appears.

I have gone in the other direction a few times now - by comparison a decent sail is almost guaranteed!

 

[James_Calvert]

Fair winds then!

James