where did it come from

nigelm

nigelm

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me - hornchurch , boat - river crouch.
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it must be about 10 yrs or so since i last pointed my bows in or out of the crouch and seeing as i will ( hopefully ) be moving "Micaralee" from the shed at tollesbury to her next home , probably suttons yard on the roach in the next month or so i decided to look at charts and stuff to refresh my memory etc etc for the trip .

i find there's a bouy that wernt around last time , "Ron Pipe" and i'm curious as to why / how long ....you now the sort of thing .


i've just got my fingers crossed that i can pick a good day for the trip leaving t'sbury at high water ish and arriving at suttons on the next and as i will more than likely do it singlehanded will only have myself to blame if things go
t*ts up .
 
Ron Pipe had the contract to maintain and lay all the Crouch buoyage for years, out of Burnham. He died around 15 years ago, I guess. The town turned out for the funeral.
His business was sold to 'Harry', real name Tim, whos still retains the grace and favour 6 moorings to seawasrd of the Burnham trots.
'Harry' is a character, as was his predecessor. He can also be seen as a member of the Roach Sailing Association, as he does the Paglesham moorings too.
The Ron Pipe buoy is a safe water mark showing the northerly water channel entrance to the Swin Spitway, marking the Swallowtail spit. There was a buoy called Swallowtail.

I will never have a buoy named for me, and neither will virtually any of us.
 
That bouy has been there about 10 years and used to be called " the safe water mark to the North of Swallotail"
It was renamed about 5 / 6 years ago in memory of a well respected waterman from Burnham who operated from the barge near Rice & Coles. Ron used to undertake towing, mark laying, piling etc. The business is now operated by Harry Lymer.
It marks a passage between the Buxey sand and Swallotail bank and is a useful shortcut between Crouch and Spitway.
Recent shoaling means you need to be careful between Ron Pipe & South Buxey,read the CHA Notices to Mariners or the excellent East Coast Rivers website.
For a while after his death the bouy sported a pair of clogs, indicating that Ron had popped his.
 
ok , ta for that info , i was familiar with the swallowtail i just didnt know it had
been renamed .

might treat myself to a new chart or two .

i have a full east coast admiralty small craft portfolio that hasnt been used bought at london show in jan 2001 then sold boat in march ........:rolleyes::rolleyes: stoopid thing to do wernt it .


now some one can tell me nothings changed :D:D:D:D
 
A lot has changed in the 6 years we've been sailing there, but I'm not sure the charts have kept up. In particular, that Swallowtail reef is now huge (extending both NE and SW from what's on the chart, and shallower) and quite steep, and there is a lot less depth north of Crouch/Outer Crouch than is charted (guess how I know!). If you go via Ron Pipe, keep to the north of it, and keep an eye on the depth until you are well into the river.
They were supposed to do a proper survey last winter, associated with the Wallasea project I think, so I was hoping to see useful updats, but I think the whole thing must have been delayed.
 
I notice that Ron Pipe buoy is now located about a mile East of Holiwell racing mark in the Crouch.
Is that it's official new position or has it just gone walkies?
I haven't noticed it before.
He gets about, that Ron Pipe.
 
nigelm said:
it must be about 10 yrs or so since i last pointed my bows in or out of the crouch and seeing as i will ( hopefully ) be moving "Micaralee" from the shed at tollesbury to her next home , probably suttons yard on the roach in the next month or so i decided to look at charts and stuff to refresh my memory etc etc for the trip .

i find there's a bouy that wernt around last time , "Ron Pipe" and i'm curious as to why / how long ....you now the sort of thing .


i've just got my fingers crossed that i can pick a good day for the trip leaving t'sbury at high water ish and arriving at suttons on the next and as i will more than likely do it singlehanded will only have myself to blame if things go
t*ts up .
Click to expand...
A lot has changed. There are now 5 buoys called Swallowtail (each swallowtail something) leading into the Crouch and the Ron Pipe buoy is no longer there but there is one called Buxey Edge. If going up the Roach at high water in poor visibility don't turn right too soon as you will turn into one of the new breaks in the seawall onto new RSPB site at Wallasea Island.

The Ray Sand Channel is still very usable.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Plum said:
A lot has changed. There are now 5 buoys called Swallowtail (each swallowtail something) leading into the Crouch and the Ron Pipe buoy is no longer there but there is one called Buxey Edge. If going up the Roach at high water in poor visibility don't turn right too soon as you will turn into one of the new breaks in the seawall onto new RSPB site at Wallasea Island.

The Ray Sand Channel is still very usable.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
Click to expand...
A good summary of the present day situation. It seemed a great shame to me that the buoy named in memory of Ron was so quickly replaced by others with different names. Despite that change, the channel to the North of the Swallowtail shoal is still known on our boat as Ron's Pipe.

Peter.
 
Thr Ron Pipe buoy I saw on Monday doesn't mark any danger and I wonder if it was used as a Burnham Week racing mark. I don't remember it being there last year and don't have a course card to hand.
Maybe someone put it there because Ron doesn't like being left ashore.
At least we are still talking about him anyway.
 
After a bike ride out to Shore Ends, I took a look at Roger Gaspar's Excellent website to see the latest on the Ray Sand Channel. a route I have not taken for over 20 years. That perhaps explains something of the mystery here. When the Crouch buoyage was first upgraded to help the masters of the Crossrail mud barges find their way up the river, the name Ron Pipe ws assigned to one of the red buoys in the channel to the North of the swallowtail. It then, as far as I was aware disappeared being given a more mundane name. However, looking at Roger's latest chartlet of the Ray Sand channel, which I remember as being marked only by the Ray Sand yellow buoy at its southern end, two new (to me) red marks have appeared - Ray Sand Middle and Ray Sand North, guiding the hapless marina over a less than optimum path, as Roger is at pains to point out.

However, pertinent to this thread, next to his photo of Ray Sand North on his chartlet, Roger has included the legend "Ray Sand North ‘Ron Pipe’ ". That then must be the buoy that Dan is encountering on his meanderings north of the crouch, although that buoy is perhaps more in the river Blackwater than the Crouch. With a 6 foot fin keel. I am unlikely to venture there, but when our 14' centreplate dinghy is back in commission, it may be worth a look.

Peter.
 
Dan Tribe said:
Thr Ron Pipe buoy I saw on Monday doesn't mark any danger and I wonder if it was used as a Burnham Week racing mark. I don't remember it being there last year and don't have a course card to hand.
Maybe someone put it there because Ron doesn't like being left ashore.
At least we are still talking about him anyway.
Click to expand...
Update.
The Ron Pipe buoy I saw is in fact a Burnham Week race mark in position N 51.37.31 E 000.54.12.
I'll have to update my routes one day!
 
Hi Dan,

That's interesting, because the Ray Sand North buoy to which Roger assigns the name Ron Pipe is pretty close at N 51.40.70 E 59.50.00. In practice, his Ron is at the N end of the Ray Sand Channel and yours is further up the Crouch, I would estimate somewhere around Outer Crouch 5. The original Ron Pipe buoy, when they first added all the extra buoys for the Wallasea mud barges was a good bit further East and north of the Swallowtail shoal. That guy certainly does get about!

You can see Roger's chartlet with his idea of Ron Pipe here:

http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/Ray Sand composite V1 2020.jpg

Peter.
 
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