Details

Category: Dunkirk

Published: 14 May 2015

Hits: 4918

Sunday 24th May Ref: 2015/8

These are the details of our cruise on the 24th May 2015 when we returned from Dunkirk to Ramsgate, after escorting the Dunkirk Little Ships on the 75th Anniversary of their epic efforts. This involved cruising from of the Dunkirk Bassin de la Marine, through Trystram Lock and then out and along the Rade de Dunkerque,  then further along the coast via the Chenal Intermediare  to the vicinity of Calais and then north-west to find the Ramsgate buoyed channel. We then left Lady Martina within the inner Marina of Ramsgate on Monday 25th for a week so that we could then travel to Wembley to see Norwich City play Middlesbrough in the Championship promotion play-off final and follow that with some well-earned shore leave!

This was a day earlier than many of the vessels plan to return but firstly the forward forecast was slightly better for this day, rather than the day after, and secondly we had those tickets for the Norwich City vs Middlesbrough Play off final at Wembley on the Bank Holiday the 25th May and we had to be there.  Again my own route described here was through deep water and good for all conditions, rather than across the Channel sandbanks. The forecast was very calm and that meant that fog patches were a real possibility, but stronger winds dispelled that risk in the end.

It ended up as a passage of around 5 hours 30mins  at 8-9 knots through the water for some 48nm. It started when radioed Dunkerque VTS on ch 73 and then took the series of bridges that started opening around 10:45 LT (08:45 UTC) and we then arrived at Trystram lock bridge around 11:00LT (09:00 UTC). We dropped down 4 metres into the outer harbour in an operation that took around 27mins. We then left Dunkirk around 11.45 am LT (9:45am UTC) some 6 hours before HW Dover and arrived in Ramsgate around 16:30 LT (around 1530 UTC), in good time for replenishing fuel and cruising through to the inner marina (where the access lock free flow occurs at HW Ramsgate 16:46 LT, 15:46 UTC (+/- 2hrs) so as to easily access the mooring that has been found for us for the following week.

The cruise all started as planned in ideal conditions but the weather change had come earlier than expected in the afternoon with rain and a SW breeze of up to 17 knots opposing the channel tides to give a rather uncomfortable leg approaching Ramsgate and so we cruised a knot or so faster than planned for this period, increasing our planned fuel consumption from about 90 litres to 105 litres. One benefit of this was that, although RH rose from 20 to 60% RH, and visibility became poor, the fog never materialised.

We  then enjoyed our dancing at the 1940's event in Ramsgate Harbour for which we had tickets. The following day we would make our excursion to Wembley by pre-booked train (timed to finish before the planned rail strike(which was fortunately called off!))and then meet up with a family car for the match at Wembley Stadium at 3pm before returning with them to Norfolk to collect our own car (and our dog) the following day! We can then drive down to Ramsgate to re-join our cruise after a week's period of shore leave.

Weather  25degC→20 DegC ; RH 20%→66%; 1019-1016 mb falling slowly; 0.2-1m wave-height smooth/slight/mod seas; mod/v poor. visibility; and light to medium breezes, 7-17 knots wind (mainly W to S/W)

 Ramsgate Note: Channel 14 is for entering Ramsgate and getting the bridge lifted for the inner marina. Channel 80 is for berthing and the Dockmaster for fuel operations but mobile 07919 211143 is a more reliable way of contacting the latter

Details

Category: Dunkirk

Published: 12 May 2015

Hits: 5181

Saturday 16th/ Sunday 17th May Ref: 2015/6 

These are the details of our cruise  on Sunday the 17th May 2015 from Brundall down to Great Yarmouth and then via Lowestoft to Ramsgate the next day, which involved cruising out of the Yarmouth Road past Lowestoft and then nearly due South well offshore of the Shipwash and Sunk buoys( marking the inshore sandbanks) and then east of Kentish Knock to finally cruise SSW towards North Foreland and down to the Ramsgate buoyed channel. 

This trip was undertaken with another  Broom Boat, Ikon, with Chris and Maggie Cole and guests on board from the Owners Club, and consisted of a passage of around eleven hours at 10-11 knots through the water. The sea passage had a brief following tide for the very first part of the passage and then an adverse north-going flood tideor 2-3kn for most of the rest but with the 2 knot near-Spring tide speeding us to our destination at Ramsgate. The prevailing breezes were predicted as being from the west to south-west with sea mostly slight at first and then smooth/slight later, but then the wind went round to the south-east for a while later, which made approaching Ramsgate across the shallower water uncomfortable with wind against tide. 

There was a first perceived a danger of a partly beam swell from the South West across the Thames Estuary in mid-passage, but the breeze was due to moderate to 8-12 knots and waves at 0.3m were forecast to lessen by then. In the event, this part of the trip was almost dead calm and the most comfortable Thames estuary crossing I could recall. It was the last hour approaching Ramsgate that produced a moderate sea.

Positioning for this passage had already been undertaken on Saturday evening and took a couple of hours and around 12 further nautical miles down the mid Yare at Brundall, under the Reedham Swing Bridge and on to the lower Yare where we moored up at Berney Arms for the night. First thing on Sunday we then cruised across Breydon Water for some 45 mins before we passed under the Breydon and Haven bridges (that lifted for us by prior arrangement around 9.00am LT) before we then steamed along the inner harbour and beyond the piers into the Yarmouth Road to enter the sea proper by 9.30am Local Time.  We were also accompanied on this earlier passage by our dog Max and then a hire car was  available on Monday from Ramsgate to drive him back as he was being accommodated in kennels for the subsequent visit to Dunkirk. I could then drive back so we would then be ready for escorting the Dunkirk Little Ships when they make their historic passage on the following Wednesday/Thursday.

The passage waypoints I planned took Lady Martina some 20 miles offshore and thus avoiding both the 'over-falls' or bumpy water that is characteristic of strong tides passing over shallows further inshore.  This offshore route not only also respected the shipping channels and turning point around Long Sand but was also more direct and had the advantage of avoiding the many and varied fishing marks and crab pots for which the East Coast is well known. It was only when we entered shallow water approaching Ramsgate that they became a hazard.

The open sea passage was some 80 miles and was itself planned to take around 9hrs, arriving at the Ramsgate harbour entrance at low tide turning to starboard to enter the Marina after steering carefully along the buoyed channel until entering. Then and hugging the pontoons on the port side as parts of the marina are drying two hours before lower water on a near Spring tide. Since i was last here, the ferry terminal has become disused and the place looked very sorry for itself!

Contingencies: If we had not liked the sea, we could have soon aborted and put into Lowestoft. There was also an alternative refuge of Shotley Marina near Harwich on around the half way mark if problems were encountered and, thirdly,  we can also have run at up to twice the planned passage speed without difficulty if needed but with extra fuel cost. In the end we just did a couple of extra knots as The extra crew on Ikon were not used to such long passages and were taken ill.

Weather 29degC→19 DegC ; RH 43→28→46%; 1022→1025→1022 mb moving slowly  ; We had smooth/slight/mod seas; good visibility; and NW-SW-SE F3/4 8-14 knot light breezes