St. Albans head

[Rustyknight]

With the boat still ashore for a few more days, I went for a hike around Chapmans Pool and then up to the Coastwatch station on St Albans. After calling in to see the volunteers that keep watch up there, a yacht conveniently ran through the race below.....

 

[LadyInBed]

I can't see any land so he is far to far out!!!

 

[jimi]

What time was that? Spring tide + wind against tide I presume? does'nt look too bad!

 

[graham]

Photographs taken from above allways make the sea look flatter than it is.The boat is well reefed down , I think they are getting pretty wet down there. :grin

 

[Rustyknight]

I think he was about 1/4 mile out..... the wind was Force 5 from the NW. This piccie shows him just to the east of the overfalls.

 

[LadyInBed]

Looke like he couldn't make up his mind whether to go on the inner passage or round the cans - so he went through the middle!

 

[Rustyknight]

The piccie was taken sometime between 12 and 1pm. It boat appears to be a Superseal 26.... with a double reefed main.

 

[Rustyknight]

As I don't like heights, I wasn't brave enough to get close to the edge to see if the water close to the cliffs was any smoother..... but from personal experience, with the wind from the NW I doubt very much it was!

 

[jimi]

So that would be around high water Dover .. ie slackish water .. wonder what it was like when the tide started ripping!!!

 

[Robin]

In case you want a little bottle tester Jimi, we went round once years back in a Liz 30 upwind and around F7 and wind against tide, at the same time as the mobos in the round Britain Powerboat race arrived. We OVERTOOK quite a few of the mobos who were taking a real pounding in the rough waters of the race, 2 at least were towed back to Poole by Swanage Lifeboat! As LadyinBed says, either within shove halfpanny distance of the head or way offshore.....Not Benny weather though. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[StephenSails]

Nice pics! One of my favourite spots for walking, its a stunning bit of coast for any of you who havent tried walking it! We left Weymouth at some silly hour a few years back to sail through there to get to Chichester in about 29 knots of wind - very wet indeed!! But we made it back in very good time which was good.

 

[BrendanS]

Yes love sitting up there by the coastwatch station. Gives you wonderful appreciation of the race and how far out it extends, and where the inside passage is, when you are passing by in your boat

 

[john_morris_uk]

Years ago, when sailing a Sadler 25, I announced to the crew that we needed to leave fairly late in the day to get to Poole from Weymouth. They quickly worked out that this meant we would arrive after closing time, and threatened mutiny if we didn't leave earlier. We had a solid 5 up our chuff as we hit St Alban's race with a spring tide against us still in fairly full flow. It didn't last long as we were making such good numbers through the water, but I still remember the lesson learnt!

In particular I remember watching the echo sounder start to jump wildly and occasionally read 1.8 metres. In panic that I had got it totally wrong and we were about to be dropped on some rocky bit I hadn't noticed on the chart, I ran for the chart and realised we were getting false echos off the turbulence of the water.

I think it was all about the time when I'd heard of tidal races, but not actually been in one...

Notwithstanding all that I have been round the headland many times, and never found a really smooth inside passage...

 

[Robin]

The white water bits at St Albans move and are well east of the head on the flood and more a continuation of the visual line of the head on the ebb, just west of the head in reality. The comfy bit is really only a shorter bit of white water to cross and is well inshore VERY close to the rocks where it is still deep. In practice most boats (me included) don't go close enough but learn when to duck below the hood, all the wind will be shaken out of the sails even on a windy day. It is actually quite difficult to get close enough in to the head as the tide sweeps you by sideways very fast.

We went to look (by car!) at Portland Bill one winter in a SW9 wind over tide and cowered behind the obelisk thing holding the camera out at arms reach. There very defintely is NO inshore route in these conditions not that anyone would surely be stupid enough to try it! There was a constant procession of HUGE vertical walls of water marching past and no breaks visible anywhere, awesome does not go close to describing it. The drive to the tip of the bill itself is interesting in itself, with the spray being thrown clear over the car as you pass by the Chesil beach causeway bit even though the road is way back from the water. Anyone want to revive the discussion about small boats in big winds?

 

[john_morris_uk]

Figures with my experience then. I have often used the 'inshore route' you descibe and ducked appropriately and at (usually) the right time! Its really just a shorter patch of the standing waves that exist inshore as the tide rips over the main ledge.

 

[Evadne]

On our boat it is known as "the mythical inshore passage", in memory of the times when we have passed close inshore and still got bounced around and wet.

The worst time was a in a flat calm when the engine ran out of oil. We got bounced more and more as we were swept offshore along the line of the overfalls, which got bigger and bigger, until eventually I got sufficient poured into the funnel to risk restarting her for the two mintue dash for freedom.

 

[duncan]

Re: St. Albans head \'inshore passage\'

it's definitely there, as Robin says. However as you have to travel so close to shore in water that is moving at a serious speed, it's not a great option for sail boats for whom the slightly rough about 50m off always seems (and probably is) a better option.
I run through between 5-10m off the visible rocks (on a route plotted at low water in calm conditions) and have always been able to run through at around 20knots in comfort. There is one rock that is only 2m below the surface at low springs but the rest is pretty clear.
There are often however pots in this piece of water - just to add to the fun.

 

[oldharry]

Inshore passages....

Anything much over a F4 and the inshore passages of both St Albans and Portland just disappear!

Last time I rounded Portland inshore the forecast 3 had piped up to a 5 on the way across Lyme Bay, so we arrived much too early, and had to hang around for an hour or so. Even allowing for the fact we were going through right at the beginning of the 'window', we still had a very rough time of it. We were aiming for the Lw slot, and found the worst of it was actually the last half mile running up to the Bill on the west side. Presumably the same applies to the east on the flood.

Sta Albans inshore passage is a fickle thing at the best of times, and it takes very little for it to disappear altogether.

I always liked William Cowpers description of St Albans race in 'Cruise of the Nona'

He describes how just when you are congratulating yourself that you have allowed enough room to clear the race it 'comes romping across the water to greet you, as a long lost friend'

Nowadays you could say the same about the range patrol boat.....

 

[Cobra25]

That is calm

 

[guessj]

Cool Pics.........

That was me out there, and trust me there was NO inside passage. It was white water all the way to the shore. I sail out of Poole and have done this route plenty of times and know where to go. We had 25-30knots apparant and it was pretty bumpy. However spare a thought for the boat I was in convoy with (an Evolution 26) as they didn't have a spray hood...and yes they got wet!