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petedg

petedg

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There is an article about going through Holland and up the Elbe to the Baltic, does anyone know if it includes details of the Kiel canal passage?
 
petedg said:
There is an article about going through Holland and up the Elbe to the Baltic, does anyone know if it includes details of the Kiel canal passage?
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Pete,

Not been in that area however the British Kiel Yacht Club may be able to give you some advice - their website has a wealth of general sailing information too.

I would try giving someone there a call/e-mail; they may be able to provide some local knowledge.

http://www.bkyc.de/index.html

Andy
 
Little advice and planning needed.

The water hoses up and down the Elbe, so time your arrival so that you do not fight the current.
Stay over the day before in Cuxhaven if needed. Handy, but not particularly interesting, apart from the narrow marina entrance.
Look for the entrance lights for the lock.
Motor in and tie up.
Prepare to be bored for a while as the locks are huge and you can't really tell if you are moving up or down at all.
Do the whole canal in one day, or stay overnight at Rendsburg. Nice marina, town and restaurants.
Keep to starboard and be careful with your depth as the big stuff passes as they suck the water away.
At Kiel be prepared for a similar boring experience apart from open wallet surgery for the transit.
When you have been through the gates it's like another world. Great sailing area in sheltered water, then the real entrance to the Baltic.

And great bird life along the canal. Feathered ones.
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Little advice and planning needed.

The water hoses up and down the Elbe, so time your arrival so that you do not fight the current.
Stay over the day before in Cuxhaven if needed. Handy, but not particularly interesting, apart from the narrow marina entrance.
Look for the entrance lights for the lock.
Motor in and tie up.
Prepare to be bored for a while as the locks are huge and you can't really tell if you are moving up or down at all.
Do the whole canal in one day, or stay overnight at Rendsburg. Nice marina, town and restaurants.
Keep to starboard and be careful with your depth as the big stuff passes as they suck the water away.
At Kiel be prepared for a similar boring experience apart from open wallet surgery for the transit.
When you have been through the gates it's like another world. Great sailing area in sheltered water, then the real entrance to the Baltic.

And great bird life along the canal. Feathered ones.
Click to expand...

Not much to add to that. You may need to hang about for some time outside the Brunsbuttel gates and there is nowhere to tie alongside while waiting. Inside the gates, Brunsbuttel is a nice little town with pontoons for overnight. The lock itself may be a little tricky, when we did it the pontoons were about an inch above water level, making fendering difficult. This was some years ago so maybe someone could confirm it has not changed?
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Little advice and planning needed.

The water hoses up and down the Elbe, so time your arrival so that you do not fight the current.
Stay over the day before in Cuxhaven if needed. Handy, but not particularly interesting, apart from the narrow marina entrance.
Look for the entrance lights for the lock.
Motor in and tie up.
Prepare to be bored for a while as the locks are huge and you can't really tell if you are moving up or down at all.
Do the whole canal in one day, or stay overnight at Rendsburg. Nice marina, town and restaurants.
Keep to starboard and be careful with your depth as the big stuff passes as they suck the water away.
At Kiel be prepared for a similar boring experience apart from open wallet surgery for the transit.
When you have been through the gates it's like another world. Great sailing area in sheltered water, then the real entrance to the Baltic.

And great bird life along the canal. Feathered ones.
Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for the answers, I suspected there was no useful info in the magazine article! As always most useful info from fellow forumites.
We're planning to go through in mid April on our way from Meldorf to Laboe and then in summer on to our final destination in Ueckermünde.
 
The transit is very easy, if a little boring. We went through this summer, Baltic to Elbe. Stopped at Rendsburg which was a good stop with good facilities. The pontoons are still very low in the locks so if you are rafted up and the inside boat, fendering needs care. It is a bit of a dogfight getting into the locks, if there are lots of larger yachts then let them go in first! The transit is very cheap, in comparison with, say, the Crinan canal, so wallet surgery would be an exaggeration.
You pay at the Kiel end and they only took cash, everyone piles off the boats to pay, leave enough crew for fendering!
 
More interesting cruising way to Baltic IMHO is by Limfjorden (Thyboron-Aalborg), then either down Oresund (by Helsinborg and Kobenhavn, for Hamlet lovers ;) ) or Storebelt, by Odensee. Nice places to visit. No boring hassle in mud with big ships and locks.
 
petedg said:
Thanks to everyone for the answers, I suspected there was no useful info in the magazine article! As always most useful info from fellow forumites.
Click to expand...

It's a magazine, not a pilot. It is a most entertaining article but it doesn't pretend to tell you every detail to enable you to avoid planning for yourself. We did it with no input from any forums, just used the pilot for the area.
 
vyv_cox said:
......... when we did it the pontoons were about an inch above water level, making fendering difficult. ......
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When we transited two years ago, the floating pontoons were only just above water level and as it was hammering it down, very slippery.

We had been forwarned about the lack of pontoon freeboard. Weights (rocks in netting bag) were tied to the bottom of a couple of fenders and their lines extended. This partally sunk them and kept them vertical. They then worked OK.
 
geoid96 said:
When we transited two years ago, the floating pontoons were only just above water level and as it was hammering it down, very slippery.

We had been forwarned about the lack of pontoon freeboard. Weights (rocks in netting bag) were tied to the bottom of a couple of fenders and their lines extended. This partally sunk them and kept them vertical. They then worked OK.
Click to expand...

They've always been like this, at any rate for twenty years. The treadway is fairly reasonable, but tying-up rings are not always convenient. However, both locks seem well sheltered and there is not usually a great hurry, though 30+ knots of wind coming from astern going into Holtenau wasn't ideal the last time we went. The pontoons within the locks are mainly timber which is pretty soggy. We haven't paid much attention to fendering here as you would be very unlucky to get a scuff.

It's worth getting a chart of the canal, if only to make the time pass quicker. It is important to pay attention to the signs telling you how far from the bank is safe. There are long stretches where it can be unsafe to approach closer than the indicated 30 metres, which I interpret as three boat-lengths.
 
AMCD300 said:
Not been in that area however the British Kiel Yacht Club may be able to give you some advice - their website has a wealth of general sailing information too.
Click to expand...

I sailed with them a few times in 2000. I never heard any reference to anyone going through the canal though - they're firmly Baltic based, mostly sailing around the Danish coast and the islands. I'd like to get back there one day...

Pete
 
Hi,
have a look at this: http://www.wsv.de/wsa-bb/info/pdf/Merkblatt_englische_Version_2009_Maerz.pdf
Mind the allowed daylight times for transit! If you need to talk to the locks call them "Kiel Kanal 1" or "Kiel Kanal 4" and they will answer in a friendly way and in English.
For overnight stay I would recommend "Marina Schreiber" at KM 67,5 (you can take fuel there as well) or Giselau Kanal (free).
Have fun!

Michael
 
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