kestrelleda
Member
I'm planning a passage from Inverkip (Firth of Clyde) to the Medway. The route down the west coast and along the English Channel is around 750 miles. Using the Forth and Clyde canal saves about 300 miles and I'd more or less committed to this until I got the BW skipers guide to the canal. It takes at least 21 hours sailing over two full days minimum to pass through the canal which has 39 locks and of course only operates during the day. Added to that there's the time taken to demast and remast and tidal delays as the entrances to the canal. Access to the mast crane at the eastern end is drying. So the 100-odd miles to get from west to east will take, what?, three days at least, perhaps four. Our transit will probalby be the weekend of 24/25 Jun, so will there be delays if the canal is busy?
The nominal minimum passage times for the western and eastern routes start to look similar assuming 4 knots average over the whole western route and the eastern coastal leg. But then if we took stopovers at the same frequency on each route the western would be much slower. The prevailing westerlies should make the eastern route less gruelling and possibly faster. Last year I got SW 4 -5 (and occasionally more) from the Medway to East Anglia and NW 4 -5 back (very nice) at about the same time, but it was overcast so there was no easterly sea breeze to confuse matters.
So the eastern route should be a time save, but I'm wondering if I want to spend three or four days burning diesel, cranking locks, hoiking masts up and down, queuing for locks and paying for the privilege. Added to that I quite like the idea of a thrash down the Irish Sea. But then again perhaps the canal is one of the wonders of the world and not to be missed?
I'd appreciate advice from any forumites who have used the canal, and also the wisdom of the forum on the merits of the western v the eastern routes.
The nominal minimum passage times for the western and eastern routes start to look similar assuming 4 knots average over the whole western route and the eastern coastal leg. But then if we took stopovers at the same frequency on each route the western would be much slower. The prevailing westerlies should make the eastern route less gruelling and possibly faster. Last year I got SW 4 -5 (and occasionally more) from the Medway to East Anglia and NW 4 -5 back (very nice) at about the same time, but it was overcast so there was no easterly sea breeze to confuse matters.
So the eastern route should be a time save, but I'm wondering if I want to spend three or four days burning diesel, cranking locks, hoiking masts up and down, queuing for locks and paying for the privilege. Added to that I quite like the idea of a thrash down the Irish Sea. But then again perhaps the canal is one of the wonders of the world and not to be missed?
I'd appreciate advice from any forumites who have used the canal, and also the wisdom of the forum on the merits of the western v the eastern routes.
