Waverley, South Coast

laika

laika

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With apologies because I'm posting in Scuttlebutt about a steam powered ship but I suspect this will be of interest to some...

I recently did my first bit of sailing on the west coast of Scotland and while I was there had the chance to take a ride on the Waverley, billed as the world's last sea-going paddle steamer. The Waverley is currently doing a round Britain tour with excursions from various places on the south coast this month. It's a beautiful ship, surprisingly fast, the engines are viewable and I thought it was a worthwhile day out

Web site: Waverley Excursions – The World's last Seagoing paddle steamer

Timetable: https://waverleyexcursions.co.uk/wp...-South-Coast-Isle-of-Wight-2025-Timetable.pdf
 
We are already booked, but thank you. Say a prayer for Yarmouth pier. It regularly gets demolished by Waverly. She seems to like to try to come alongside down tide. You really don’t want to be doing that.
 
Did not do that last year when we were on her - rather the opposite as had to abort her first attempt because of some dinghies that got in front of her on the west side as she was docking in an ebb tide . Had to go round gain and you realise how poor her turning circle is as we seemed to get almost as far as Hurst before completing the turn for another, successful go

Getting off Poole Quay was good though. Springing off and a little nudge was text book stuff.
 
Spare a thought for the skipper. Those paddle wheels are fixed on the axle, the options are both ahead or both astern. Steer with a small rudder. Hence she goes everywhere at speed.IMG_2025-09-08-193722.png
 
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GEM43 said:
Spare a thought for the skipper. Those paddle wheels are fixed on the axle, the options are both ahead of both astern. Steer with a small rudder. Hence she goes everywhere at speed.View attachment 199112
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Yes, fixed paddles, tiny rudder, no bow or stern thrusters - she needs speed plus fast rope work to get on and off a pier. Superb seamanship most of the time. But because can’t manoever when going slowly, when things go wrong they tend to go bang
 
dunedin said:
Yes, fixed paddles, tiny rudder, no bow or stern thrusters - she needs speed plus fast rope work to get on and off a pier. Superb seamanship most of the time. But because can’t manoever when going slowly, when things go wrong they tend to go bang
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She deserves a bit of leeway because of her lack of low speed control, sure. Hence our amazement that she tried to dock down tide. Here’s picture of her missing X138 by a foot or 2. but as you can see, going up tide. Perhaps they’ve learned. It was a few years ago. Picture credit to another XOD sailor, taken from his garden by the look of it.
c5011e31-6e80-47e0-ade7-808e226b9e03.jpeg
 
Weather permitting, we'll be on board on Thursday... It looks like we'll be stopping at Yarmouth both on the way out and on the way back from Swanage.. Incredible really..

I did see a friend board for the trip round the Isle of Wight last Saturday. She'd not been on board since school trips on the Waverley, in Scotland, maybe sixty years earlier! They had an awesome time aboard.

I was also amazed how they managed to take this photo of the Waverley heading up Portsmouth Harbour in the morning, since I thought they boarded in Portsmouth...

Screenshot_20250909_001518_Facebook.jpg

I later realised that the tender they took from the Gosport ferry pontoon followed the Waverley up the harbour to the cruise ship terminal where they then boarded (from tender direct to paddle steamer)!
 
laika said:
The Waverley is currently doing a round Britain tour
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The 'round Britain' bit was a positioning voyage without passengers from the Clyde to Cornwall and Devon but they chose to go over the top and down the East coast due to forecast heavy swell on the West coast.
I'm not sure it worked out particularly well for them as they ended up cancelling several days of trips in the SW because the voyage took so long. They called into both Dundee (pic. passing Broughty Ferry castle) and Tibury to bunker (c. 50,000 litres in total) and spent some time at anchor off Margate waiting for headwinds to ease.
Hopefully they'll have a successful time down South and be able to return by the shorter route for the Clyde Autumn sailings.

waverley.jpg
 
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dunedin said:
Yes, fixed paddles, tiny rudder, no bow or stern thrusters - she needs speed plus fast rope work to get on and off a pier. Superb seamanship most of the time. But because can’t manoever when going slowly, when things go wrong they tend to go bang
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Some paddle steamers had paddles able to go in different directions, but this needed complex gearboxes or even twin engines so one paddle could reverse. This was expensive and bulky and gave indifferent results in steering, so was not used in general.

We went on Waverley on 21 June 2025 from Clevedon to Old Severn Bridge, and enjoyed the trip as ever. It was a long ago trip on Waverley to Lundy in about 2011, that gave us our love of Lundy as a cruising destination
 
Chiara’s slave said:
We are already booked, but thank you. Say a prayer for Yarmouth pier. It regularly gets demolished by Waverly. She seems to like to try to come alongside down tide. You really don’t want to be doing that.
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If you enjoy dry reading like me, the MAIB report of the last time she hit a pier is very interesting. Engine got stuck at top dead centre so they couldn't go into reverse quick enough to stop the boat in time, and there were a few maintenance and crew training issues which delayed the process further. Just look at how complex it is to run the engine, multiple levers to juggle to reverse direction!

https://assets.publishing.service.g...96ac6d2a/2025-3-Waverley-ReportAndAnnexes.pdf
 
oldmanofthehills said:
Some paddle steamers had paddles able to go in different directions, but this needed complex gearboxes or even twin engines so one paddle could reverse. This was expensive and bulky and gave indifferent results in steering, so was not used in general.
….
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I may be wrong, but I believe that contra rotating paddles were banned for passenger vessels as used too vigorously could cause stability issues - aka risk a capsize. Allowed for tugs etc.
 
dunedin said:
I may be wrong, but I believe that contra rotating paddles were banned for passenger vessels as used too vigorously could cause stability issues - aka risk a capsize. Allowed for tugs etc.
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I know contra rotating was permitted for tugs, I dont know if passenger vessels were banned from using them world wide. As ever convenience trumped health and safety for working boatmen such as tug crew - they still have deaths
 
Graham376 said:
Nearly left me with brown stains when we met her going the opposite way half way through the Swellies.
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Meeting her at the Burnt Isles channel induces a similar response. Thankfully she broadcasts "we're coming through" on 16 so there is time to get out of the way.
 
dunedin said:
Yes the width of the paddle boxes neatly matches the width at the Kyles.

But her distinctive noise of the paddles also announces her presence
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The fun went when they changed the right of way rule it was entertaining watching her thread her way through a couple of hundred racing boats
 
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