Severn bridge

[derekgillard]

As a regular visitor to Wales ( working there) I cross the bridge at least once a week and never see any shipping.

Yesterday upstream from the old bridge was a yacht which looked to be tacking upstream.

How much navigation is there around, guess I could look at a chart if I had one of the area but I'm sure the answer is in the forum.

Thanks

 

[tatali0n]

Thornbury Sailing Club is a little upstream from the Severn Bridge on the English side, with active dinghy and yacht racing fleets. Further up river on the other side is Lydney Yacht Club, with enthusiastic yacht and dinghy cruising fleets, but very tidally restricted.

Commercial shipping above the Severn Bridge would be bound for Sharpness Docks, operated by Gloucester Harbour Trustees. There is some traffic, but not a lot. For the few years we sailed our Drascombe out of Lydney, we'd occasionally see something arriving or departing on the tide at the weekend, but more often not.

Between the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing you've got Chepstow & District Yacht Club in St Pierre Pill on the Welsh side. I've never been there, but hope to finally visit this year now we're based at Portishead.

Just below the Second Severn Crossing you've got Avonmouth and Portburty docks operated by the Bristol Port Company. They're relatively busy, at least by local standards. Then everything is relative. We sail out of Portishead Marina these days, about a mile down channel from there, and most days we're around there seems to be something big arriving or leaving on the tide.

Interestingly, the charts go up as far as Hock Cliff at the top of the Noose, I'd guess around eighteen miles up-channel from the Bridge? But I don't think you'd want to take anything bigger than a dinghy (or of course a RIB) beyond Sharpness. But in the right boat, it is a fascinating stretch of water if you don't mind being thrown around a bit by standing waves, shoals, whirlpools, an exceptionally vicious tidal stream and unexpected sandbanks and shoals.

There is a small industrial outfit just beyond the Noose at Bullo Pill. There is a crane / dredger type thing that you see plying up and down the upper reaches of the river when the tide's in. I think it's based there, though I might be wrong.

 

[fastjedi]

I'm no expert ... We live just north of Chepstow, but chose to sail on the Solent!

1. The Severn is navigable as far as Gloucester with a yacht. My Yachtmaster theory instructor told us you run out of water if you depart Sharpness for Gloucester too early!

2. I sailed my Laser out of Lydney Yacht Club for a couple of years. We once launched under the Old Severn bridge, sailed to the club for a very quick pint at high water and back again. Its best to sail on a no wind day (the tide delivers plenty of apparent wind!) Their summer cruise goes as far as Ilfacombe and Cardiff with Wayfarers and Drascombe Luggers - Respect!

 

[Tim Good]

As you can see the banks are quite prominent so you can see you sounder jump up 8m or so quite quickly. I tend to roam all over if the tide is flooding and happy go by the charts with 1-2m of safety.

If the tide is falling then stay within the channel and then some. I was crossing the end of a bank outside Cardiff the other day where there should have technically been 3-5m of water until there was suddenly 0.5m below the keel and the tide was going out. You just need to assume every bank is either 1-2m more than the chart says and 800m in any direction additional.

But at high tide which is normally + 11-13m then anything goes pretty much right the way up past Sharpness where most boats stop if they have a keel.

 

[chrishelen]

I have been up to sharpness as crew and the route is clearly marked. I think ships go into sharpness, I don't think they go further, I could be wrong.

 

[jwilson]

I used to sail out of Portishead and Weston: have been up under the old bridge in a dinghy, tidal streams take you up at 6-8 knots at times. Once a year the "Birmingham Navy" - a follow-my-leader convoy of motorboats used to come down channel to Ilfracombe in spring and return in convoy in autumn. There used to be some small commercial shipping going up, but never very much even 50 years ago.