Sailing through wind farms

[Spanjaard]

A little while it came across the option of sailing through wind farms while having a chat with a chap from the RNLI. Some windfarms even got safe water marks.

Have any of you experienced sailing through them? Have you been stopped ? Or you do it all the time?

I am curious to know.

 

[Refueler]

Most WF's I know of have exclusion zones around them ... of course primarily intended to not have commercial shipping amongst them ... but the rule usually covers all vessels small and large.

 

[dansaskip]

No simple answer - some you can and there are marked ways through eg Foulger Gat in the London Array others I believe you can eg Gunfleet but haven't checked that . Some for example Belgium and Dutch ones it is prohibited to sail through. The pilot books/almanacs should be your guide.

 

[Crazy-Diamond]

I've sailed through the London Array and Gunfleet sands.

 

[michael_w]

No problem sailing through UK windfalls except when under construction. Belgian and Netherlands ones it's not allowed. Dunno about the others.

I've sailed through The Galloper many times.

 

[Lightwave395]

I believe as of this year you can sail through the new windfarm off St Nazaire provided you have AIS

 

[pyrojames]

I've sailed through Foulger's many times, both in daytime and night,

 

[Sandy]

I've not, nor have any intention, of sailing through a wind farm. They are brilliant navigation aids if you sail to the side of them.

A sailing friend who does some work on windfarms tells me there is a What3Word location on every windmill, I have no intention on finding out if he is pulling my leg or not.

Taken in the Thames estuary in December.

 

[GrandadPig]

sailed through the Gunfleet a few times. Those things are huge beyond belief! Had a 19m mast and estimated the bottom of the turbine blades were ate the very least 2 or 3 times higher. Certainly no risk of getting hit by one! (Which I was worried about)

 

[dunedin]

Most WF's I know of have exclusion zones around them ... of course primarily intended to not have commercial shipping amongst them ... but the rule usually covers all vessels small and large.

UK rules currently generally allow sailing through wind farms, with exclusion distances from the structures (bigger distances when under construction vs when complete).
Other countries like Netherlands seem to have much more restrictive rules, so hope these don’t creep onto UK bureaucrats’ Radar.

 

[Daverw]

We sail through often, but would not on a blustery day as wind moves all over the place

 

[penfold]

What justification do they offer for the exclusion of small craft once the farm is completed and the construction traffic has left? It probably breaches UNCLOS, given the gaps between towers are huge by the standards of the average yacht it seems ludicrously illiberal and pointless safety theatre.

 

[Spanjaard]

UK rules currently generally allow sailing through wind farms, with exclusion distances from the structures (bigger distances when under construction vs when complete).
Other countries like Netherlands seem to have much more restrictive rules, so hope these don’t creep onto UK bureaucrats’ Radar.

Where can it be found those UK rules? like the exclusion zones to the windmills? How many metres/feet/millimetres? Can we drop the anchor and proceed to a nice barbecue on board while we throw a rod to see if there is nice fishing grounds? Where can I find the rulebook of windfarms?

 

[Refueler]

Where can it be found those UK rules? like the exclusion zones to the windmills? How many metres/feet/millimetres? Can we drop the anchor and proceed to a nice barbecue on board while we throw a rod to see if there is nice fishing grounds? Where can I find the rulebook of windfarms?

Interesting Question ...

Like many - I think the answer would be based on the notation on a chart ... As to where the authority fror such exclusion comes from ? Maybe same question can be asked about Oil Rigs and other structures similarly restricted.

I would like to consider what is the average distance between water level and tip of blade at bottom sweep ?? How large a yacht would it need to meet that ?

 

[Spanjaard]

Interesting article:

Navigating wind farms: The dos and the don'ts - Yachting Monthly



Navigating wind farms: The dos and the don’ts

• Toby Heppell
• April 24, 2020

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Wind farms want to restrict where yachts can sail around them. The RYA is fighting for freedom of navigation. Stuart Carruthers told Toby Heppell precisely what you can and can’t do

Most wind farms only have a 50m exclusion zone around each turbine. Credit: Getty

They may not yet be a pervasive hazard to cruising, but with more wind farms arriving by the year it’s fair to say they are already moving on from being something only those on the east coast or heading to Belgium, Denmark or the Netherlands need to think about.
The Danish were the first to install offshore turbines in the 1970s but the earliest applications for UK wind farms were made only in 1996.
The Crown Estate owns almost all UK coastline out to 12 nautical miles and had to agree to lease the seabed before construction could start.
Talks with the Coastguard, the RYA and other interested parties were held by the British Wind Energy Association, which then formulated Best Practice Guidelines for offshore wind farm development.

Rotor blades may be no less than 22m above MHWS which should be fine for most cruisers
The first project in UK waters was completed in 2001.
Between 2004 and 2019, however, 38 offshore wind farm sites including a number of demonstrator sites have been commissioned.
Seven more are under construction, and further sites have either been consented or are in the planning stages of development.
It’s important to note that there have been no recorded incidents involving recreational craft and offshore wind farms since the start of operations around the UK coast.
Care must be taken, nonetheless, in the navigation of farms in the UK.
Elsewhere rules differ from at home too.
Holland and Belgium have been prohibiting any leisure craft within their wind farms completely, until Holland recently permitted transit through some eastern wind parks.
They are the Offshore Windpark Egmond aan Zee (OWEZ), Prinses Amalia Windpark (PAWP) off IJmuiden and Windpark Luchterduinen (LUD) off Noordwijk (courtesy of westhinder).
Thankfully, due in part to a push from the RYA and others, the UK does not have this same issue of restricted navigation.
Some farms in the UK do have a designated passage through them, such as the wide one through Foulger’s Gat, but generally there is only a 50m safety zone around each turbine so passage through sites is absolutely fine.

The number of wind farms in UK waters is increasing year on year
‘The RYA is representing to the developers, through the government, the need to maintain proper marking, to make sure exclusion zones are not put in place around wind farms, and that they meet minimum design parameters for rotor height and charted depth so that should you choose to sail through them, you still can,’ said Stuart Carruthers, cruising manager at the RYA.
‘The RYA is a member of the Nautical and Offshore Renewable Energy Liaison (NOREL) group which works to ensure that the commercial and recreational shipping and ports industries successfully co-exist with the offshore renewable energy industries.
‘The RYA regularly monitors the development of seabed areas leased by the Crown Estate in order to assess their potential impact on recreational boating. We meet regularly with the developers involved to discuss recreational navigational safety and respond to national consultations on behalf of recreational boating.
‘Mostly consultation in the UK has worked well over the years and cruisers are still able to navigate through wind farms with the 50m restrictions from each pylon in place. However, this is a constant process and it is worth making sure you are following procedure on your end to ensure an easy passage. Currently, something under discussion – and I’m about to meet with the MCA about this – are support vessels (or Service Offshore Vessels to give them their proper title) that take engineers out to the farms and dock onto the individual units using a bridge between boat and pylon.
Currently some farms are applying to have safety zones around these boats. From our perspective and that of the MCA, these are covered off by the ColRegs as they are simply a vessel of limited maneuverability. [...]



Wind farm dos and don’ts…
Do

• Update your charts – paper and electronic – at least annually, particularly in the North Sea and off Liverpool, where new windfarms are being added or extended every year.
• Check regulations for each wind farm when sailing in foreign waters. Some allow passage through the windfarm, others don’t.
• Keep an increased lookout for shipping, as sailing around windfarms may force small yachts into channels also used by larger shipping.
• Watch out for turbulence and sudden gusts when passing downwind of turbines.
• Take extra care when navigating near windfarms in restricted visibility. As new structures are being added and work boats may be moving unpredictably, it’s best to err on the side of caution and keep clear.
• Monitor a windfarm’s working VHF channel if available.
• Check your mast height. The lowest point of the rotor blades have a least air draught of 22m above MHWS – plenty for most yachts.
• Make use of windfarms as navigation marks, often showing the location of shoal patches.

Don’t

• Sail within 50m of a turbine, as each turbine has an individual exclusion zone.
• Pass too close to work boats operating in windfarms. They don’t have exclusion zones, though some may claim they do, but may well be restricted in their ability to manoeuvre and should be respected as such.
• Forget about tide and wave energy. A number of sites on the English south coast, the Welsh and Irish coasts and off Northern Scotland have development sites that may need extra care.

 

[johnalison]

I have sailed through a couple of wind farms, as permitted, but the fact that rules differ makes it confusing, leaving the sailor with no alternative to doing detailed research for each one. On a fine day it is no longer possible to sail from, say, Harwich to Flushing without being within sight of wind farms at all times.

The actual spacing inside a wind farm is quite generous enough for a sailor, and shouldn't even be a problem for a radar-equipped boat in fog. It would be an interesting exercise with a plotter at a high scale but not one I would wish to try.

On the first occasion I sailed through a wind farm, off Falster, there was about 15kn of wind but we lost the wind in the farm and had to motor, and didn't pick up the wind again fully for about ten miles after leaving.