- Details
- Category: 2014
- Hits: 4899
Saturday 6th September to Sunday 7th September Ref: 2014/6
A safe and well-navigated cruise with the latest River Deben Entrance chartlet http://www.debenestuarypilot.co.uk/maps.html in company with Broom Owners club vessels Ikon and Lady Caroline but delayed by companions preference to avoid cruising during poor visibility due to their unfamiliarity working with radar and so more preparation and an earlier start would have been desirable.
It started foggy but visibility improved and we ended up cruising late with some concern about making the Tide Mill on time. Because of the adverse tides the trip was much longer than expected and ideally we would have left at 0700 UTC, an hour earlier. The leg against tide from the haven entrance to the Tide Mill took 1 hour 15 minutes and we arrived an hour after high water instead of before. The close proximity of moored vessels alongside the channel and my wish not to make wash also delayed us. The depth over the sill was therefore a worrying 1.8m instead of the 1.98m (neaps) and 2.59m (spring tides) that could have been expected. We learnt the following characteristics for water over the Woodbridge Sill. (A weekly tidal sheet with actual figures is available from www.tidemillyachtharbour.co.uk)
Spring Tides: 2hrs before HW 1.83m: 1hr before HW 2.29m: HW 2.59m: 1hr after HW 1.91m: 2hrs after HW 1.37m
Neap Tides: 2hrs before HW 1.22m: 1hr before HW 1.68m: HW 1.98m: 1hr after HW 1.52m: 2hrs after HW 1.07m
We were unexpectedly met at Woodbridge by David and Becky Giles and family who had followed our progress on-line and opted to visit us at this destination and we welcomed them on board before being fortunate to witness the rare operation of the Woodbridge Tide Mill being tested after renovation and repair. Finely ground flour from the Mill made excellent pancakes later!
22.8-25-21.5 degC; 1013mb steady; 71-62%RH; calm seas; poor visibility; little breeze
- Details
- Category: 2014
- Hits: 5167
Monday 1st September to Tuesday 2nd September Ref: 2014/5
A steady cruise in smooth to slight seas to Ipswich on a well planned basis. Lady Martina behaving very well.
On day one, we topped up our fuel at Herbert Wood's yard in Potter Heigham and (just) got under the 11ft 6ins bridge with my windscreens still up; but with everything else down! We cruised on through light drizzle until after Acle Bridge and then put the canopy up as the rain fell again. Once at Yarmouth Yacht Station, the Quay Rangers cast doubts on the lowness of the Neap Tide tomorrow and so, as tonight’s was predicted as 0.9m against 1.1m in the morning, we opted to take advantage of an evening neap low water being better than the morning and went under tonight even through it drizzled quite heavily and wet the bridge and saloon stairs. The airs were still and so we moored up at the Breydon Water pontoon and raised our mast and canopy; mopping furiously and trying to get the dampness down. It was dark by the time we were doing this but we were well moored and ready for tomorrow's early start this evening, drying out, log-keeping and writing and then to bed at midnight thirty ahead of an early start tomorrow.
On Day two, the Haven Bridge raised for us as scheduled and we proceeded down the inner harbour with another boat behind and then headed out into the Yarmouth Road and down past Lowestoft where John and all aboard Lady Cathryn joined us for a while. I was content to cruise slowly at not much more that 9knots as we were early on the tide and had an adverse knot or two against us to begin with but Lady Cathryn went ahead and arrived first.
The passage from Breydon to Neptune took us about 7 hours at about 8.6knots for the 60-odd nautical miles, using some 122 litres of diesel at a cost of around £150; something like a third of the cost of travelling at full speed. We adopted my usual procedure of logging the boat’s performance and position every half hour and celebrating these landmarks with sandwiches or snacks which both avoided boredom and seas-sickness and Kathleen really enjoyed the experience and took some part on the logging and autopilot operation.
I had both the MLR and Raymarine GPS Sat Navs programmed with the course waypoints and, with the former’s waypoint arrival alarm set at around .3nm and the latter at .1nm, we had pre-warning of the event and then the latter heralding the course change that the autopilot needed to follow and it all worked well; apart from the series of quick changes as we arrived in the Harwich channel where I had to manually intervene as out frugality of inserting waypoints would have resulted in us hitting buoys! Throughout, we had the large bridge-mounted monitor displaying our route and course, using MaxSea navigation software running on my laptop in the saloon.
The sea state had started off at Smooth to Slight and then became Smooth as the tide changed in our favour past Southwold and then Calm as we cruised up the Orwell past Pin Mill and on to Ipswich. Our arrival time could not have been better as the Ipswich Dock lock had just opened for Free Flow; the levels being the same and that was to continue for more than two hours until the tide dropped. We were the first ones through as a result
The dock at Ipswich has improved greatly since I last visited over 10 years ago, with many more riverside restaurants, clubs and pubs so that it had become quite a recreational centre and it formed a very pleasant place to stay for a few days.
20-41degC (in sun); RH 76→26%; 1018→1022mb; calm/smooth/slight seas; good visibility; light breeze
- Details
- Category: 2014
- Hits: 4683
Tuesday 9th September to Wednesday 10th September Ref: 2014/7
A good two-day trip with Lady Martina leading the way for Ikon and Lady Carolyn down the confusing Deben channel and through the tricky Deben entrance to cruise on to Lowestoft and, after spending the night at the RNSYC, and then under the faulty railway bridge and through Mutford Lock before crusing along Oulton Dyke and The Waveney and New Cut via the Yare to Breydon Water and hence under the Bure Bridges and up the Bure back home to Horning
On day one, we left the Tide Mill with 1.85m over the sill and lead the way down the Deben and slowly past the Waldringford boat moorings to avoid making wash. We were following the very tricky meandering channel, using our past computer track as a very useful aid. Lady Martina was still leading the way at around 8/9 knots out of the tricky Deben entrance towards the fairway buoy and then going forward to 15knots for the passage. We passed yacht 'Gooseander' which we subsequently saw in Lowestoft after our own safe arrival at the RNSYC where we moored for the night.
On Day two, we passed under the raised Lowestoft Bascule bridge at 0930am UTC and proceeded along Lake Lothing to moor up at the Oulton Broad Mutford Lock waiting pontoon after struggling under the faulty Oulton Broad railway bridge with masts down together with Ikon and Lady Carolyn before we were locked through into Oulton Broad and thus could cruise along Oulton Dyke and then up the Waveney. Quite easily past the rail swing bridge at Somerleyton which we had contacted on VHF Ch 12. Thereafter along the New Cut and under the Haddisco High Bridge before joining the Yare below Reedham Bridge and then crusing downstream and across Breydon Water before mooring up at the waiting pontoon with 1.5knots of tide rushing under us! Then under the Bure Bridges with only 1.7m of depth in this stretch of the Lower Bure at times to pass Dove House farm as the sun was setting. There was no point in trying to stop at Stokesby as the moorings were full with two boats waiting and so we left our past and canopy down before raising them after passing under Acle Bridge and whilst still underway. Thurne Mouth moorings were also fully occupied and so we cruised on, slowing for anglers a Cockshoot Broad and then arrived back home at Horning in early evening as the sun was setting beautifully
The sea state had started off calm and continued Smooth to Slight and then became calm again with the tides in our favour on day one and then against on Day 2. Visibility was good throughout and the weather warm with no change
The planned trip to Southwold had to be cancelled, and our return undertaken swiftly, because of my crew's family problems in Watford
28.1→17degC ; RH 31→55%; 1021mb steady; smooth/slight/calm seas; good visibility; light breeze
