Woodbridge mud anyone?

[Oldgeezer]

I'm a Newbie! Retiring next April - buying a bilge keeler, and have been offered a swing mooring near Woodbridge.
I have always sailed on other peoples yachts - so Marina to Marina stuff. I now need to know about mud as the mooring is half tide drying to mud.

Can you walk on the mud at Woodbridge?
If I go to sleep and the tide goes out - am I marooned aboard?
Is this a common way to spend a night at low tide?

I really dont want to pay Marina charges so any info gratefully received

 

[NUTMEG]

hi mate

Kept my first boat at Woodbridge on a swinging mooring about 200m off of the 'shelter' on the promenade. I rented it from Andy Seedhouse for a monthly fee (£40pcm iirc). My current mooring on the Blackwater is a fraction of the price (£110 per annum).

The mud there is DEEP in my experience and not for walking on. Basically if you don't get ashore as the tide falls, you stay on the boat, however as tenders only draw a few inches this is not much of a problem. Being 'stranded' is a lovely way to waste a Sunday in the summer. No guilt, can not get anywhere! "Sorry dear, missed the tide, be late home"

Good luck

 

[FullCircle]

Welcome to the forum, its nice in here.

I would be wary of walking across mud anywhere on the East Coast - you need to be ginger in trying it out, or better still get someone else to try it first.

 

[CPD]

Welcome !. I had a bilge keeler that I purposefully dried out in the mud at Bradwell with the intention of doing a quick scrub. I sank into the mud almost up to my knees and had huge difficulty in getting back on board. The mud found it somewhat easier unfortunately and the stuff got everywhere. Everywhere is different of course, but I would start with the assumption that you are stuck until the next tide. Good luck !.

 

[tillergirl]

You can extend you access by the right choice of tender - sadly not something frequently thought about. I was taught this when I first started. If your dinghy has a nice pronounced rocker profile - and by that I mean if you looked at the bottom side on it would have a nice sheer from stem to stern (so its not a gliberfast one), then you can easily pole her over the mud. You place your legs fore and aft 'au centre de bateau' so you can rock her to stop the suction and then pole her using an oar. If there is a bead of moisture on the mud it is really easy. I am talking about flatish mud of course.

I made my first tender, a scratch built ply pram dinghy copying one that work well as I have described and it lasted for 15 years on Heybridge mud.

In direct answer to your questions:

Doubt it
Yes
by some, yes.

 

[Oldgeezer]

Many thanks for quick replies - and welcome notes.
You've answered my question very well! (ie dont even try it!)

I'll be at Woodbridge at low tide this weekend so I'll see how many inches of water there are for a dinghy.(Only been at high tide before on a yacht)

I think Andy Seedhouse prices have risen - but a v. picturesque neck of the woods.

Sophie19 - you answer raises another question - How do you get a mooring so cheaply and is it a muddy one!?

 

[Colvic Watson]

The mud at Woodbridge is in places very sandy/pebbly and easy to walk on. A couple of fishermen use nets at low tide so it's worth checking. Some of the drying moorings up from the mill for about 100m are easy to get on and off at low tide, the ones down river are in thick gooey stuff. How much was Andy charging?

 

[Oldgeezer]

I just checked with the friend that told me, and in fact Andy does still charge £40 pm but only if you buy a boat from him.
So apologies for misleading - I was initially told it would be more than the £60pm I would be paying further downstream.

 

[NUTMEG]

Sophie19 - you answer raises another question - How do you get a mooring so cheaply and is it a muddy one!?[/QUOTE]


Blackwater (Harlow) Sailing Club on the R Blackwater. Club membership about £90p.a. and mooring on top. Very muddy but safe from kids and yobs out there on the mud, which is over a meter deep where we are. Not quite so pretty but much closer to home for us and very cheap, plus the Blackwater is brilliant sailing area. Cheap bar too!!!

Steve

 

[dylanwinter]

Deben versus the Alde ore and Butley

no idea where you live but in my humble opinion the Alde, Ore and Butley offer much better sailing than the Deben

The Rocks and Waldringfield are nice

but the three river system just to the North is a wonderful place to sail

Orford, Aldeburgh, the Butley river is absolutely divine and the top of the Alde and Iken cliffs are wonderful. The birds are better. Many people tell me that the problem with being moored at the top of a drying river is that when you go sailing there is only one way to go.



Dylan

Ps - pm or email me and I will give you an access code for the website where my films are available

 

[Gargleblaster]

I find a good rule of thumb if you have any sort of keel or keels, is that if they sink in don't try walking on the mud or you will lose your wellies. If the keels don't sink in at all or only a little bit you can tentatively try to walk on the mud. Remembering of course that you may have found the only hard bit in the whole river as you disappear into the mud 100 metres from your boat.

I have rowed a dinghy on mud, after all it is a liquid. I find a flat bottom is best, but be careful if you put too much effort into it you can easily break an oar.

 

[Black Diamond]

I agree, Dylan, top totty in Aldeburgh!!

 

[Oldgeezer]

Squish

Hahahahaha
I now know all about the mud at Woodbridge!
I went yesterday lunchtime (low tide) and watched the remaining tide go out. Thought I'd go onto a pontoon and take some photos - including the tenders that were still floating there.
I turned to take some photos and my left leg went down the gap between two pontoon sections - It is about 1ft deep and is cold and wet (and v. muddy)!
Some bruising and scrapes on leg - but have learnt first and second lesson.
1. Dont walk on the mud.
2. When walking on a pontoon - look where you are putting your feet (not through a camera!)

 

[Lodesman77]

Have you considered a mooring at Pin Mill? Plenty of mud if you really want it but lots more water to sail in...
The costs of a mooring would be similar to Woodbridge but you'd probably have more access and, depending on the mooring, be afloat more of the time. The moorings are administered by the PMSC - http://www.pmsc.org.uk/ - of which you wouldn't have to become a member, but if you did you'd get a discount and of course the club facilities...