Tidal flow.........

[carlton]

..........on the Humber runs at up to 5 knots at Springs. Just up the river where it meets the Trent, it can run at up to 9 knots. Sometimes get a tidal bore whizzing up river.

Where are the "nastiest" tides elsewhere in Britain ? Must be quick up the Severn ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[JKay]

Bloody place dries just as quick /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

cheers Joe

 

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Tidal stream at portishead point(bristol channel/severn) on springs knocks 6knts off spead over ground.
under the 1st severn crossing I managed to add 9knts to my top speed for about 1 mile
Wind against tide its a nightmare ,thats not the worst thing thou its that theres no where to go apart from a few places and there all miles apart
Regards

 

[hlb]

Dont remind me of the ugly place. Thunder storms, no vis. Penarth not yet on the charts. Sharpness to Penarth was evil.

 

[carlton]

Too quick for some, eh Joe ? /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Still, it all ended in smiles.

 

[kds]

Aaah... - - but it all adds to lifes great pageant. AND it is great when you get it right !
My best SOG this season has been 10.3kn which isn't bad in a long keel 23ft. waterline yacht.

 

[RJL]

There's lots of places you can go it's just that if you stay in one place for more than half an hour the water disappears.

I met a chap at Portishead who was quite convinced that " the tides aren't as big these days" 'cos they had taken 2 million gallons of water out of the Severn to fill Cardiff Bay. He was completely serious. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[contessa26]

Interesting question. Winds and tides always provide interest to the sailor…

I suppose it depends on what you term ‘nastiest’ – and included perhaps are the subsequent effects of what happens if you get it wrong – ie rocks, sandbanks, big seas, mud flats!?

I don’t much like anywhere with wind against tide, in a small boat, because I’m getting too old for that sort of thing, but some of the following: Falls of Lora or Connel (Loch Etive), Coirebreachain (Scarba/Jura) and the Great Race, Bealach a Choin Glas (Scarba/Lunga), Cuan Sound (Luing/Seil), Corran Narrows (Loch Linnhe), Loch Creran entrance, Strangford Lough entrance, Menai Strait, Minques, Pentland Firth…? I don’t think it’s usually recommended to transit any of these in a fresh breeze against the tidal stream…

Best wishes.

 

[oceanfroggie]

FYI, Tarbert race on the Shannon estuary runs at 7-8kt on spring ebbs. Car ferry there cross the river ferry gliding at an acute angle. So much so some years ago the life boat was wrecked when the ferry going sideways at 7kt munched the confused life boat crew. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Nobody hurt tg, but the vessel was a right off

 

[powerskipper]

Alderney race, speed though water a steady 21 knots, SOG, 29.9 felt like we were flying.

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Langstone Harbour mouth, springs, sailing dinghy and the wind dropped. Ended up heading Nabwards a lot faster than I wanted to, when actually I'd been heading across to Hayling for a pint or two. Not nasty on an absolute scale but thrilling anough when unplanned in an 11' boat.

There is a bit of a step in the water at springs going through some of the London bridges which can catch the unwary.

 

[nedmin]

The Humber has got to be one of the worst,once outward bound came across from north bank to south bank in the channel but unfortunately the tide there goes across the channel and I was heading at an angle of about 45 deg. to keep in the channel, this was after a big spring tide and lots of fresh in the river.

 

[blueglass]

The swellies. Menai Straits, focusses the attention at 8 knots. literally between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Shuggy]

I was looking at the Falls of Lora yesterday (from land, I hasten to add) and working out whether to attempt them next year!

 

[Kawasaki]

Don,t mind The Swellies to mutch, never underestimate the place however.
Tother end always keeps Me concentrating hard ie Caernarfon bar. Don,t like that spot when it,s wind over tide!

Once you,ve "learn,t "where all the sticky out bits are in The Swellies it aint too bad but "The Bar" keeps changing ,bloomin place!

 

[Kawasaki]

Don,t go there Shuggy!!------Says "FORBIDDEN "when I click on the Link it must be Horrendous /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[contessa26]

Hello Shuggy, yes, I concur with Kawasaki – your link says “Forbidden…” – so I guess that’s fairly good advice when the Falls of Lora are running like a waterfall (unless you’re in a kayak)…

But if you’re working out whether to attempt it next year or not – why not? Lots of vessels use this passage.

All we have to do (like most of the passages mentioned in this thread) is time our arrival correctly, pick a calm day – preferably a nice sunny day – and provided our means of propulsion keeps going, steer the correct course! (And in the case of the Falls of Lora check the height of our masts).

We’ve made it in – and out – ok, after checking the pilot and the Admiralty chart for the numerous hazards. And I’m the world’s worse navigator…

Best wishes

 

[Bergman]

It gets worse as you go further up.

The Ouse can rise 6 meters in a little over 3 hours which is quite interesting.

Some years ago one of the big oil barges going up to Goole lost power and was pushed onto the shallow side of the river, the bow stuck and the tide swung the barge across the river until the stern stuck at the other side when it acted like a sort of dam until the water built up and rolled it over.

Worth remembering as you go up river the ebb tide runs for much longer and the flood for much less.