Titchmarsh to Solent

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MacMan

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I am in the process of buying a new (to us) boat which is currently lying in Titchmarch Marina.

Our home Berth is the Solent (Southampton - River Itchen) and we are currently starting to look at our "delivery trip" home.

We hope to have completed and got her on the water for a handover the week before Easter with a shake down cruise locally to the Walton Backwaters over the Easter Bank Holiday.

Boat is a 33 foot Cat, draws 0.8m - crewed by husband and wife couple with several x channel trip completed (with a dog), planning on 5 knots passage speed.

Planned start date is 29/3/2008

Preliminary look said stopping at

Titchmarsh-Ramsgate-Dover-Eastbourne-Brighton and and then home (or maybe the Folly for a well deserved pint)

(Mileages approx as I haven't got charts yet)

40-15-45-19-40-30

We intend taking a week off work and taking it fairly easy - hence multiple stops and the list above are all 24h marina which I hope to make things a bit easier

So a few questions…

Are Ramsgate Harbour serious about the no dog policy. We could really do with the break after the Thames Estuary crossing ? Are they really going to stop us/throw us out after we have moored up ? Happy to physically carry our little Jack Russell from my boat off the Marina property without paws touching pontoon. Will this do ? (My experience of local officialdom suggest asking the direct question to the Harbour will only get me one answer but that others may know if actually practice is more enlightened)

It the answer is a definite no dog policy I can't see an alternative to just carrying on as far as Dover in one go - am I missing something ?

Anything good or bad to say about any of the other stops on the list or particular advice ?

Clearly we will have to see if weather allows our plans but we hope that the 8/9 nights will be enough time.

Any tips before I get into detailed passage plan(s) ?

(When I have looked at it in a bit more detail I will put up a specific post on the Thames Estuary crossing I think I will be going outside everything!)
 
As sailorman suggested, if you time it right you could get to Dover in one hop. You won't miss anything in Ramsgate - it's a grim place. And in my view, going "outside everything" is certainly easier!
 
[ QUOTE ]
However you do the trip, make sure there is a working heater on board. To be warm and dry down below counts for a lot!

[/ QUOTE ]

So two pairs of underpants, then!! /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
I've done exactly that trip twice both times around Easter.
We did Titchmarsh - Dover,
Dover - Eastbourne
Eastbourne - Gosport
At 5 knots you will run out of tide, but as long as you are prepared to motorsail to keep the SOG up these are good places to stop with all weather access
They are long legs, the days are still short and it will be very cold so you wont feel much like hitting the town when you get in so I would prepare to eat on board and maybe just a quick drink ashore if you arent too tired.
If you are lucky you will have easterlies and although it will be cold it will be easy sailing, south westerlies it will be hard work this time of the year.
Its a boring trip once past Dover so if the weather suits I would just go for it and get it over with, too much chance of rotten weather this time of year to hang around
 
If you get round the Longnose before the tide turns then could miss Ramsgate. Dover - consider going a mile clear of the Eastern entrance so you don't mix it with the ferries. When going into Western entrance the breakwaters really speed up the tide outside so use a transit to make sure you don't get swept past. Dungeness is next tidal gate and should be an ok passage to Eastbourne or maybe to Brighton if you don't mind bashing the tide. But then you said you'd take it in easy stages and why not.
 
Since the revision of the Sunk Precautionary Area going out to the Long Sand Head is not so straightforward. Better now to go South inside Long Sand and out through a gat further down (Fishermans Gat I think but I don't have a chart here)
Last year doing the same trip we had a dead beat into a 2 reef blow and the tide turned against us some way before Ramsgate, no way were we going further than there. Hide dog, slip in for a few hours and catch the next tide down just to Dover.
If wind better go straight to Dover. We only had a long weekend to take the boat round to the Solent but only did 1 night sail. Eastbourne was also handy as they let you have a short stay for a few quid, again handy to have a short break and miss the foul tide. 2 years earlier same trip Levington to Langstone about 28 hours non stop with N-E,3-5 up the backside,bet that never happens again.
 
Done that trip in both directions many times. Last time I did that trip was coming the other way in a cat and it was easily the straightest line across the thames estuary I've ever done!

If you draw 0.8m, a lot of the sandbanks can simply be ignored if you get the tides right. But!!! If you're not very confident with tidal heights it's best to stick to the channels.

Otherwise, study the tides around North Foreland carefully and if you get to ramsgate at the right time it can really be worth pressing on to Dover on that tide, especially if the wind suits as well.
 
Would you consider taking along another good sailing friend? The days are still short, the waters still very cold, and the winds are likely to be forward of the beam much of the way. That's a recipe for fatigue and strain.....

Having a third hand cuts the workload on each of you by 50%. And probably raises the enjoyment probability by a similar factor.

Anyway, enjoi!

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
glad you posted this!

i have just purchased a 1978 iroquois mk2 catarmaran, currently at woodbridge on the river debden, and i need to deliver her to chichester marina within the next 4 weeks! i am going single handed. my plan was to take the cat down the debden and berth at titchmarsh marina to rest and wait for a fair tide to ramsgate, and then follow the same course and stops as you.

i have no dog though! good luck for your trip.
 
You might consider going into Shotley overnight rather than Tichmarsh as you can exit 24hrs. The channels up to Tichmarsh are not light and there are numerous mooring bouys which are hard to see in the dark.

Don't think there is much difference in the distance to Ramsgate from Shotley/Tichmarsh but Deben to Tichmarsh is further than Deben to Shotley.
 
i'd second that... i've been into the Twizzle (the entrance channel to Titchmarsh) a few times in the dark, and its not at all easy to see where you are going.... I know it well enough now, so happy to give it a go, but would be nervous of attempting it in the dark for the first time... Shotley/SYH would seem better options to me... and very little difference in overall distance...
 
I agree, but would go for Suffolk Yacht Harbour to avoid the Shotley lock (especially if single-handed). All tide access.

Mind you, coming into the Orwell/Stour in the dark for the first time is an experience. The quays, docked ships and cranes are lit up like Christmas trees, and it's hard to work out which are shore lights and which buoy is which. Then you turn the corner into the Orwell, and it all goes dark! (except for the lit buoys which you pick out after the first panic!)
 
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