Watch out, i'm coming over

[steffen]

Watch out, i\'m coming over

Wind and wheather (and HMC&E and all of you) permitting i'm coming across in the second week of august.
Third time but first time on my own keel. First time for SWMBO so she;s a bit apprehensive.

Dept form Den Helder or IJmuiden. Destination Lowestoft or Felixtowe. Boat is 32 foot with 1,8mtr draft.

All advise from you people welcomed on the crossing, marina's to go to, places to see or avoid, do's and dont's, anything at all.

Plan is to start early and cross shipping lanes at dawn.

Happy sailing, Steffen



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[extravert]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Lowestoft can be full in summer. Perhaps give the yacht club a phone call before you depart to reserve a space, if they will allow it. Some of the berths are a bit tight to say the least. This was the boat I had the last time I visited. What this picture doesn't show is how little space there is between the boat's stern and the dock wall, not much space to maneuvre. They are friendly and helpful though, and the yacht club is smart.

There is not much to see in Lowestoft if you are staying there, but a good day out is to get a train to Norwich (frequent and quick). Norwich has a good castle, cathedral, Tudor buildings, market and City Hall.

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I hope to own a real boat.

 

[beneteau_305_553]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Try Lowestoft Cruising club. They usually have plenty of visitors berths and access is good. They also have a good web site with further information

I suggest timing your arrival for getting into Lowestoft during daylight. Holm sands to north depth 0.3 M and newcombe sands to south 0.5 m but bouyage is good.





<hr width=100% size=1>Richard

 

[vyv_cox]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

You need to be careful with ships from Ijmuiden north. There is very limited TSS between the Maas and around Texel, only 'advised routes'. In practice many of them seem to ignore these. We became very confused by the comings and goings around central North Sea.

I was probably fairly tired by then but got quite confused when approaching Lowestoft. There are several banks offshore and the route is not obvious. Put quite a few waypoints in and be certain of where you are going before arrival.

Lowestoft is a very good entry port although as others say it can be crowded at this time of year. You may well have to raft but that should be no problem for you. From there, I assume you are going south?

Southwold is well worth visiting but watch the very strong tide on the ebb when leaving, best to do as the pilot says and leave at high water.
The Alde is very nice, quiet and remote, plenty of anchorages.
Deben busy but also very pleasant.
Orwell is quite nice, a bit industrial at each end but pleasant, if busy, in the middle. Ipswich marinas are OK and worth visiting.
Personally, I hope I never go into the Thames again but others don't agree. For me it has lots of negatives and very few positives.
Crossing the mouth of the Thames and visiting the Medway would be my choice. The maritime museum at Chatham is good and you can berth on pontoons right outside.
Ramsgate is a good deepwater port for your return, 20 hours for us from there to Stellendam in reasonable winds.
Hope you and your lady enjoy yourselves. In good weather the East coast is very nice.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ghostwriter]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

did something similar in june , but on a 26 footer , from Makkum to Tollesbury and back.
from DenHelder to Felixtowe (Harwich) you can make a direct run without having to cross any traffic separation zone , you'll be right in the middle of them so it's still pretty busy , big fun at night....had to take avoidance action twice . and mind about the gas rigs , nearly sailed between the legs of one (which would have been no problem if it wasn't for the water coming down from the upper structure

Vyv seems to be forgetting the Blackwater area , and that ones is nice , so is the Crouch. Tollesbury is a very nice little place , but if you draw 1.8 meter you'll even have to take greater care than we did , with our 1.2 meter we still got stuck on entering the Tollesbury channel (but that was really due to the East Coast pilot telling little lies , so beware of the pilots too)



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Violetta]

You\'re joking!

Nothing between the Orwell and the Thames? (incidentally, I share your lukewarm view of the Orwell. Pretty, but too crowded and much over-rated)

Harwich - moor at the town pontoons for a great fishy meal at the Pier Restaurant (upstairs)

Walton Backwaters - truly delightful. Good, though rather old fashioned, marina at Titchmarsh, plus lovely, remote anchorages and wonderful pottering by dinghy.

The Colne - a beautiful, uncrowded, unspoilt little estuary with a good port (Brightlingsea), lovely anchorages and a nice pub at Rowhedge where you can go alonside the terrace for a couple of hours or more, depending on draft. Well buoyed for the gravel barges that still work up to Fingringhoe (great nature reserve) Wivenhoe (very pretty Waterfront village) has it's twon regatta on 2nd Augts. Should be fun. 6th September (too late for Steffen, I expect) - Colne Barge Match and Smack race - the best of the lot!

The Blackwater - a big, superb estuary ("a majestic arm of the sea") with two and a half marinas, moorings and free "trot boat" at West Mersea and Marconi on the south bank, lots of wonderful places to anchor and the nice old barge & fishing port of Maldon at the end. 31st August - West Mersea oyster dredging match (all under sail, of course)

The Crouch - lots of racing boats, a pretty little town (Burnham)with good marina, good facilities, pretty upper estuary with good anchorages and moorings. Nice pub at Fambridge (the Ferry Boat)

The Roach - fascinating small estuary with moorings and a nice pub at Paglesham - an amazing remote little place - (the Plough and Sail) but not good for anchoring as very steep to (except in good shelter at the mouth)

Foulness Island - interesting to visit the pub - all other access forbidden. Wonderful maze of creeks behind the island, with some good anchorages and amazing bird/wildlife

Havengore - only for shallow draft - the back door to the Roach and Crouch across the Maplin Sands from the Swin.

Smallgains Creek - interesting place - a peaceful, rural enclave on industrial Canvey Island. Welcoming club (they breed wild kestrels) with a stupendous view seawards across the Thames Estuary proper. Boats take the ground. Southend Barge Match on 25th August.

Holehaven - take Vyv's advice

Medway - I agree with Vyv - interesting place and Chatham docyard well worth visiting

And how about the Swale? Queenborough has good moorings and quaint little town, but not much else. East Swale - nice, rural anchorages. If you could be there on 16th August it's the Whitstable smack and barge race and on 23rd the Swale Barge Match.

BTW - nicest anchorage on the Alde? - Iken. Perfect beauty, perfect peace. Great seafood? The Butley oysterage in Orford (well worth seeing the village too.) But take care with the entrances to the Ore/Alde and the Deben. They have changed since the charts were printed. Best to have the current sketch charts. PM me if you don't have them, would like to visit these rivers and could give an address to get them sent. (I might also be able to scan them and e mail)

So, on balance, I disagree most strongly with the advice to jump straight from the Orwell to the Medway. You would miss so much! (some might say - all the best bits...)

Have a great trip!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Getting stuck on the mud is part of the real Tollesbury experience. Everyone does it. BTW how did the pilot lead you astray?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ghostwriter]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

there was a note on port stickies (or how do you call 'em ?) , so we kept 'em to port...it was the other way around.
but I'm still not sure if it was a conspiracy or not, I was going with a British Skipper who is supposed to know these waters, visiting some local barbarians , the Tollesbury tribe (beware , fierce people , not the kind to be seen with !) and ALL of them were saying something like you , that I had to get stuck as a matter of "rite of passage".......the skipper was truly amazed that I started to use the spi-pole to pole us off and it actually worked (at this point , usually I'm forgetting to add to this that the tide was still rising /forums/images/icons/wink.gif )

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

withies. Stickies is the nickname for non-provo IRA men! Given that you were stuck in the mud, though, I think stickies would be a much better name. Anyway, you'll know the next time you come to Tollesbury.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Violetta]

The truth of the matter

is that they were both as pissed as newts. Having checked the selfsame sobre and authoritative pilot book, I am at a loss to discover any other logical explanation. Unless, of course, they were foolish enough to confuse the newish oyster withies with the withered withies marking the channel. Now who but the gin-soaked or the navigationally challenged would do such a thing?



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Bearing in mind you'll be very tired when you arrive and it's your first time on your own keel, I would make my landfall Harwich. Enormous bouyed harbour with access at all states of tides and in all states of weather. Marinas and pontoons galore or slip up one of the rivers and anchor. Just don't get run down by the ferry!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[vyv_cox]

Believe me, it was no joking matter!!

Leaving Harwich we followed a tortuous route that missed out the Walton Backwaters but visited variously the Blackwater, Bradwell (what a pleasure that wasn't), twice into the Crouch, the Medway and up to Chatham, plus several places between. All I can say is "never again". Horrible dirty shallow water, mud everywhere, total absence of any views except power stations and abandoned fortifications. Some of the towns and villages were OK but that's not what we were there for. We were both heartily glad to be out of it.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ghostwriter]

Madame !

I would herewith like to convey the notification that I have just instructed my lawyers , Geddem , Screwem & Flushem (a 100% owned subsidiary of Roguelawyers Ltd.) to take all necessary legal as well as extra-legal action against this kind of allegations and anybody uttering such unfounded and damaging allegations.
The extra-legal action will be subcontracted to Messrs. Corleone , Coppola & Hoffa , watch those horses !

Said British Skipper , also known as the anonymous Contessa Admiral and Lord of Holy Kybosh , and yours truly were at the time absolutely salt encrusted , wet to our bones and ultra sober , on account of 50 odd hours crossing the Northsea with anything , just everything dead on the nose....it was only the lure of the Siren of Tollesbury Mudfields that gave us the stamina not to run for shelter on the better side of the channel....then to be told by that siren "us was pissed".... the horror , the pain of getting a dagger straight in the back.... it even gets worse knowing that the Siren in question hardly ever uses that approach to Tollesbury as she has dredged a private channel where she has mislaid her private mooring...so how can she know ?

Ma'am , pray remember the champers party you organised was AFTER arrival !!! it seems that the blackout at Violetta towers was a pretty damaging one , it has affected more than just the odd lightbulb.

You see Steffen , this is what you will have to put up with when going "overthere".... don't miss that signpost in mid channel : you are now leaving civilisation , proceed at own risk.

apart from that , I think Violetta has a point when telling Vyv has overlooked a nice bit of the mudcoast , it would be a shame to miss it while you are there.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DeeGee]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

having read all the c**p (I do, definitely, exclude Aunti Vi) posted hereabouts, can I add a little 'pennorth.

1. If you visit the Crouch, and go to Burnham (which IS worth one day visit), then feel free to use my berth E35, Burnham Yacht Harbour, name Black Sugar - as I shall either be on the N Coast of France or up around Texel. This will be zero, euros or pounds sterling.

2. Please go to Pin Mill on the Orwell, when you get there, look for a buoy marked "WARD", which will cost you £6/night, and you will sleep and wake up in one of the most beautiful spots ever, and you should make your way ashore (tender, no water taxi available) to the Butt and Oyster, pity it is so well known, but still nice to do... Then you can go up through the lock into Ipswich new marina - follow to the left once in.. You should then go walkabout into the centre of Ipswich and particularly, go to Lakeland Plastics' premises, you will see why when you get there.

3. Coming back down, you can spend a night at Wolverstone Marina, and walk thro the woods to Pin Mill again, this time just for the wonderful walk.

4. Go down the coast to Brightlingsea - a harbourmaster who makes you feel that there is still something decent in the world. Go into the 'town', to the fish and chips shop (can't remember name, Altzheimer's) NOT the first one you come to.

5. Sail round to Burnham and BYH, see 1 above, not much there, apart from a nice-ish town and stuff.

6. Comes after 5.....

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[steffen]

Re: Madame !

I actually have been there on my first visits, though not on my own keel, but with about 13 ships out of Naarden. This was about 12 year back but i benver forget the sight. We came in at high water -obviously- in the late evening and moored at a stone quay with some kind of a crane or hoist on it. There was a steel ladder which was usefull for climbing the 2 meters from boat onto quay. Real late in the evening after drinks a was flabbergasted on return when the boat was about 8 or 10 meters further down.
Also the notion of berthing in a bathtub with a concrete sill some 10 miles inland with a sign of the sea i will forever stay with me.
As i did not have to navigate i did not worry at the time and i am not at all sure that i dare venture into this hazardous realm of mud.

Maybe i will though if only to show off to the lady of the boat.

Happy sailing, Steffen

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ghostwriter]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

crap ?? ouch , that hurts...just when I was asking myself if you still needed some maps to the Texel area. Although , on second thoughts , mine are not from this year , and when going back through the Waddenzee it struck me that they were still fundamentally o.k. but that the Dutch have taken a couple of buoys out here and there. You know where to ask if you still need some , but in view of the c***-word , some deep grovelling will be needed first /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DeeGee]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Crap, would I say such a word?

Now you have offended me... I shall go to France instead. You had your chance and you blew it... .... .... is the mannekin piss left or right handed? Choose your answer from a) left b) right c) both d) neither.

Remember, since your AVS is so big, your AIS is small.

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[steffen]

Re: Watch out, i\'m coming over

Hi DeeGee,
Thanks for the offer on your berth.
As a matter of interrest, does this mean that normally no visitor can use your berth or only when yopu allow it? When i am out for more then one night my berth is used and payed for by visitors, so i cannot reprocicate(?) on the offer for my berth in Monnickendam.

Let me know if and when you are in Texel. We may be there on our way out somewhere around august 10-11.

Happy sailing, Steffen

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Mirelle]

Another pennyworth

I think keeping the destination open as either Lowestoft or Harwich (we don't usually call it Felixstowe - Felixstowe is a port within Harwich Harbour!) is a good plan; you can adjust, depending on wind. The coastline is low lying but you should see Sizewell nuclear power station plus of course the lights at night. No particular hazards in the way, at least none once you are clear of the platforms on the Broad Fourteens.

Coarse navigators, like me, used to be reassured, in the days before GPS, by the regular sightings of ferries on this route!

In the highly unlikely event that you find yourself closing the English coast with a strong easterly behind you, making it a lee shore, the most sensible place to make for is Harwich, which is always safe to enter.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Violetta]

Oh dear me, Vyv

What c...p! I won't embarrass you by asking you to pinpoint all these power stations (there is one) I presume the fortifications you mention are the various gun towers out in the estuary - not along the coast. If it's power stations and "industrial" you don't like, then I'm surprised that you rubbish the completely rural bits of the coast and recommend the Medway. No logic at all. Even the Orwell, which you describe as "industrialised" at each end simply has a big working port at one end (Harwich/Felixstowe) and a smaller one at the other (Ipswich docks)

Well, at least the armadas of Dutch visitors we get over here (often year after year) who actually know the place, take a very different view.

<hr width=100% size=1>