East Coast Rivers Cruising Companion: A Yachtsman's Pilot and Cruising Guide to the Waters from Lowestoft to Ramsgate

By Janet Harber

Well established as 'the East Coast yachtsman's bible', this 20th edition of Jan Harber's classic cruising companion marks the book's 60th anniversary. Dating back to 1956 when Jack Coote, Jan's father, produced the first black and white edition, East Coast Rivers, now extending from Lowestoft to Ramsgate, continues to cover the rivers, curlew-haunted creeks and intricate shoals and swatchways of the Thames Estuary and surrounding rivers. Comprehensive pilotage and nautical information based on years of local knowledge is complemented by port information and local maritime history, helping cruising sailors to make the most of their visit to the East Coast. The text is illustrated throughout with updated charts and photographs, including spectacular aerial shots of a number of the rivers and entrances that make up this cherished cruising ground. Not only a pilot guide, this is the memoir of a family's history; exploring, capturing and celebrating this extraordinary sailing area.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fernhurst Books Limited
• Release date: Nov 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781909911871

Janet Harber

Janet Harber went afloat from a very young age, starting on her father’s cruising boats. In the 1950s her father, Jack Coote, wrote a series of articles on various East Coast rivers for Yachting Monthly magazine, which were soon published in book form – in the first edition of this cruising companion. During this time Janet and her sister Judy spent their childhood weekends and summer holidays exploring the rivers and creeks of the Thames Estuary in the family boat Iwunda, helping with the research for East Coast Rivers. As a teenager she sailed with Ocean Youth Club, and, after training as a photographer, lived and worked in London where she raced Merlin Rockets on the Thames at Ranelagh Sailing Club in Putney. While working at Yachts & Yachting magazine Janet kept her family’s Hunter Europa, followed by a lifting-keel Hunter 701 at Paglesham on the River Roach, and cruised the East Coast rivers in the summer holidays. She also crewed on Sonatas and Impalas and raced at Burnham and on The Solent. Janet shared a Twister and later a Dragon with her father, and in recent years she and her husband sailed a lifting-keel Fox Terrier on the River Ore. Nowadays Janet sails on her sister’s lifting-keel Parker 325 based on the Deben and Orwell rivers.

Book preview

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This edition published in 2016 by Fernhurst Books Limited

62 Brandon Parade, Holly Walk, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 4JE

Tel: [phone]

www.fernhurstbooks.com

Updates available at www.fernhurstbooks.com

Readers are invited to submit to the publisher any information that could assist in the update and accuracy of this publication

Copyright © 2016 Janet Harber

The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher.

This product has derived in part from material obtained from the UK Hydrographic Office with the permission of the UK Hydrographic Office, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

© British Crown Copyright, 2016. All rights reserved.

NOTICE: The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and its licensors make no warranties or representations, express or implied, with respect to this product. The UKHO and its licensors have not verified the information within this product or quality assured it.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

This Companion is intended as an aid to navigation only. The information contained within should not solely be relied on for navigational use, rather it should be used in conjunction with official hydrographic data. Whilst every care has been taken in compiling the information contained in this Companion, the publisher, author and editors accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions, or for any accidents or mishaps which may arise from its use.

Readers are advised at all times to refer to official charts, publications and notices. The charts contained in this book are sketch plans and are not to be used for navigation. Some details are omitted for the sake of clarity and the scales have been chosen to allow best coverage in relation to page size.

ISBN: 978-1-909911-51-2 (hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-909911-87-1 (eBook)

ISBN: 978-1-909911-88-8 (Mobi)

Photographs © 2016 Janet Harber

Front cover photograph: Cornish Shrimpers and the barge Cygnet at Snape Maltings © Janet Harber

Additional photography:

The publisher would like to express considerable thanks to all those who supplied additional photography for this publication.

p158 © A.P.S. (UK) / Alamy Stock Photo; p91 (top right), 92 © Den Kell; p170, 172 (top right) © Fred Briggs; p159 © Hermitage Community Moorings; p6 © Iolo Brooks; p98, 192 (bottom), 196 © Jeff Peters; p80 (top), 153, 156, 191 (top right) © Judy Jones; p190 © London Array Limited; p139, 141, 142, 147, 154, 164 (top left), 167, 177, 179, 180, 181 (right), 192 (middle right) © Nick Ardley; p195 © Sealand Aerial Photography Ltd.; p15, 23 (bottom), 29 (top), 39, 45 (bottom), 57 (top), 79 (top), 85 (top), 90, 95 (top), 105 (top), 131 (bottom), 132, 137, 138, 148, 162, 164 (bottom right) 173 (top), 183 © Sealand Aerial Photography Ltd./Fernhurst Books Limited; p155 © vladimir zakharov; p89 by Nigel Pepper; p200 (top left) Family archive photo; p199, 200 (bottom right), 201 Jack Coote archive photos; p157 © Patrick Keating; p24 (bottom) supplied by Southwold Pier; p160 supplied by St. Katharine Docks

Art Director: Rachel Atkins

Cartographer: Maxine Heath

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Contents

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Preface

Well established over 60 years, East Coast Rivers is a classic cruising companion that has secured its place in many sailors’ hearts as ‘the East Coast yachtsman’s bible’. 2016 marks the book’s 60th anniversary, which is being celebrated with the publication of this, the 20th, edition.

The most important change to be included in this 20th edition of East Coast Rivers is the development of offshore wind farms and the resulting infestation of turbines that has turned the Thames Estuary into what has been described to me as Don Quixote’s cruising ground. The Gunfleet and Kentish Flats turbines are now a familiar sight on the Essex and Kent horizons, while further offshore the London Array wind farm on the Long Sand actually has to be navigated through by those using Foulger’s Gat.

Turbines come and chimneys go. The 800ft Grain Power Station chimney, the most prominent daylight landmark in the whole of the Thames Estuary, is due for demolition in 2016 and should be gone by the time this book is printed. The same fate awaits the Kingsnorth Power Station chimney on the banks of the Medway.

Another famous landmark, Orfordness Lighthouse, has been decommissioned by Trinity House; no one knows exactly when the building will fall into the waves but the North Sea is getting nearer and nearer as each season passes and more shingle disappears.

The RSPB Wild Coast project on Wallasea Island has been underway for some years now, and vast quantities of spoil from the Cross Rail construction work have been imported by ship from London. East Coast yachtsmen have benefited because the increase in commercial vessels led to all the Crouch navigation buoys, from the Whitaker to the Burnham Fairway, being lit and many additional buoys being laid. In 2015 three breaches were made in the Wallasea seawall at different points along the River Roach allowing the salt water to flood onto the island and turn it into a wetland habitat for wildlife.

A disappointing development has been the closure of Hoo Marina to visiting yachts; and a similar situation has arisen at Paglesham on the River Roach, where the current owners of the yard are no longer allowing visiting yachtsmen to land there or use the pontoon.

Positive changes we have noted include new ferry services at Lowestoft on Lake Lothing between Oulton Broad and the harbour; and on the Colne from Brightlingsea to Stone Point, Rowhedge and Colchester.

Rowing gigs are now much in evidence on all the rivers, almost every town and village from Ramsgate to Lowestoft seems to have a rowing club and a gig or two - the cold-moulded ones, built by the Pioneer Sailing Trust apprentices at Harkers Yard, Brightlingsea, are particularly eye-catching craft.

And there is talk of the possible return of sea planes to the Medway, plus a plan to introduce a sea plane service from London to Osea Island. In another development, a fishery order has been applied for by a company hoping to run a commercial mussel bed trial at five sites on the River Stour; consultation is ongoing with concerned parties including Stour Sailing Club.

The website www.eastcoastrivers.com has been discontinued but our new publishers, Fernhurst Books, will continue to publish updates to this book on their website www.fernhurstbooks.com.

Many East Coast sailing organisations have regularly updated websites which are well worth consulting for the latest local pilotage information and advice. Benfleet Yacht Club, Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club, Sailing Club, Tollesbury Cruising Club, and the Medway Sailing and Boating Association are just a few examples. Those intending to visit the River Deben should certainly take a look at Felixstowe Ferry harbourmaster John White’s excellent www.debenestuarypilot.co.uk before setting out.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In his preface to the first edition of East Coast Rivers (1956) my dad, Jack Coote, wrote: ‘any success the book may have will be largely due to the enthusiastic help that I have received from many kindred spirits who sail the rivers of the Thames Estuary.’

Sixty years on and his words apply just as much to this 20th edition as they did to that original, and successful, publication. To learn more of the background to the book see Chapter 19.

In this historic context, mention should be made of Jeff Peters, who has recently started his cruising career by buying Jack’s old boat, the centreboarder Blue Shoal. Based at Orwell Yacht Club, in the last two seasons Jeff has sailed between Ramsholt and Ramsgate and reported back with photos and updates for us. So once more Blue Shoal has played a role in this book, as she did in many of the early editions.

Mention must also be made of several other fellow sailors who kindly took us out on their particular rivers to take photographs and let us pick their brains for the latest local information. They are: Sue and Mike Ramsay (Flair, West Mersea and the Blackwater); Paul Tattersall (Stella Caravelle, the Deben); Ken Wickham and crew Clem Freeman (Lotus, Paglesham and the Roach); Michael and Valerie Withers (Sula, Tollesbury and Shotley). And not forgetting: Andy Barratt of the International Boatbuilding Training Centre at Lowestoft for a trip on Lake Lothing aboard the newly-restored launch Terrier; Mark Evans and staff at the All Tide Landing (ATL) at Queenborough; and the helpful water taxi staff at Brightlingsea.

Thanks to all the kindred spirits who have continued to keep us up to date with their latest local knowledge. They include: Philip Attwood (New Orford Town Trust (NOTT), Ore and entrance); Nick Ardley (Whimbrel, Medway, Swale, Thames and beyond); Tony and Christina Bowers (Leigh-on-Sea); Fred Briggs (Royal Harwich Yacht Club, Medway); Gordon Davies (Bridgemarsh); Dennis and Ann Kell and other East Coast Parker owners (Walton Backwaters); John Langrick (Roach Sailing Association); James Robinson (Orford Sailing Club, estuary crossing routes); John White (Felixstowe Ferry, Deben entrance).

Finally, I must thank my sister Judy Jones and my nephew Nick Jones for all their help and for taking me afloat with them. And not forgetting my husband Alan for all his invaluable support over the years.

Janet Harber

Sudbourne, August 2016

About the author

Janet Harber went afloat from a very young age, starting on her father’s cruising boats. In the 1950s her father, Jack Coote, wrote a series of articles on various East Coast rivers for Yachting Monthly magazine, which were soon published in book form - in the first edition of this cruising companion. During this time Janet and her sister Judy spent their childhood weekends and summer holidays exploring the rivers and creeks of the Thames Estuary in the family boat Iwunda, helping with the research for East Coast Rivers.

As a teenager she sailed with Ocean Youth Club, and, after training as a photographer, lived and worked in London where she raced Merlin Rockets on the Thames at Ranelagh Sailing Club in Putney.

While working at Yachts & Yachting magazine Janet kept her family’s Hunter Europa, followed by a lifting-keel Hunter 701 at Paglesham on the River Roach, and cruised the East Coast rivers in the summer holidays. She also crewed on Sonatas and Impalas and raced at Burnham and on The Solent. Janet shared a Twister and later a Dragon with her father, and in recent years she and her husband sailed a lifting-keel Fox Terrier on the River Ore.

Nowadays Janet sails on her sister’s lifting-keel Parker 325 based on the Deben and Orwell rivers.

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Introduction

Blue Shoal sails up the River Orwell, bound for Ipswich

The East Coast rivers of Suffolk, Essex and Kent, bounded by Lowestoft in the north and Ramsgate in the south, present endless and varied possibilities for the cruising yachtsman. From the remote St Peter’s Chapel on the Dengie peninsula to Tower Bridge in the hurly burly of the Pool of London, there is something to appeal to everyone.

For remoteness, peace and wildlife there are the Roach, the Stour, or the Alde and Ore, none of which has a marina or many places to get ashore. These rivers tend to be visited by self-sufficient sailors who want to get away from it all.

The Deben, possibly the prettiest of all the rivers, has so many shoreside delights between Felixstowe Ferry and Woodbridge that you could easily spend a week-long cruise there.

For the adventurous sailor the entrances to the Deben and the Ore can present a challenge, as can sailing into Harwich Harbour when huge container ships are coming or going at Felixstowe Docks.

Just a few miles away from the shipping lanes is the entrance to Walton Backwaters where following in the wake of Swallows and Amazons will lead to another world of winding creeks and miles of mudlarking.

The Orwell has much to offer with Pin Mill barges and The Butt and Oyster, beautiful Suffolk parkland on either bank, and many marinas to choose from - two of them in the Wet Dock in the heart of Ipswich.

On the Colne the Essex riverside villages of Wivenhoe and Rowhedge or The Hythe at Colchester can be reached if the tide serves, but the little port of Brightlingsea and, across the river, the anchorage in Pyefleet Creek are more popular destinations.

Fine sailing can be had in the Blackwater. Its three islands, Mersea, Osea and Northey; the canal basin at Heybridge; barges at Maldon and smacks at Tollesbury all add to the character of this incomparable river.

Burnham-on-Crouch has long been a popular yachting centre, particularly for racing, while further up the Crouch, North Fambridge, which boasts a marina and an all-tide pontoon, has been home port for many East Coast cruising boats since the early 1900s.

In Kent the Swale and Medway are sometimes overlooked, apart from Queenborough which is a good staging point for a cruise up the Thames. But behind the isles of Sheppey and Grain there are many miles of creeks and saltings to be explored. Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is a not-to-be-missed nautical destination, and, with a shoal-draft boat, the historic town of Faversham, home of Shepherd Neame brewery, is well worth a visit.

Bilge or lifting keels are not essential for East Coast cruising. However, there are places where, if you know that your boat will sit upright when you take the mud, you can stay the night rather than having to turn round and head back downriver before the tide turns. With a fixed keel drawing more than one metre or so, extra care will be needed in working out the tide times and more attention paid to watching the echo sounder (and noticing if the gulls are walking).

YACHT CLUBS

Some of the sailing clubs on the East Coast are among the oldest in Britain; several have already celebrated their centenaries. The Blackwater Sailing Club, founded in 1899, has always been home to cruising sailors -soon after the first world war one its members, George Muhlhauser, voyaged around the world in his yacht the Amaryllis. More recently the late Charlie Stock sailed from there in his diminutive cruiser Shoal Waters.

Even older is the Royal Harwich Yacht Club formed in 1845, originally at Harwich but now in fine modern premises at Wolverstone on the Orwell.

The other four ‘royal’, and also centenarian, yacht clubs are the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk at Lowestoft; the Royal Temple at Ramsgate; the Royal Burnham and the Royal Corinthian on the Crouch at Burnham. The latter club has what is possibly the most imposing clubhouse on the East Coast, the listed 1930s building being a prominent landmark for anyone sailing up the Crouch.

At least two clubs have their headquarters aboard ships: the Essex Yacht Club on the ex-minesweeper HMS Wilton at Leigh-on-Sea, and Haven Ports Yacht Club on LV87, an ex-lightship in Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the Orwell. Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club has its home in the eponymous old railway station; and part of the North Fambridge Yacht Club clubhouse started life as a mobile hospital unit for the Crimean War.

The aforementioned is a small selection of the 60 or so clubs situated between Lowestoft and Ramsgate; some have modest premises at the head of tidal creeks with drying moorings while others are more grand and have their own marinas or pontoon berths. Many have useful websites and can share local knowledge. All are friendly and will welcome visiting yachtsmen, particularly if arrangements are made beforehand.

CHART DATUMS

Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT)

Although it has the effect of indicating that some creeks, swatchways and anchorages sometimes dry out, when many of us have never seen them without water, adoption of LAT as the datum for this book is necessary in order to be in accord with Admiralty charts. Horizontal datum of waypoints is WGS 84.

BEARINGS

The bearings given throughout the book are magnetic (unless otherwise stated) and the variation in the area of the Thames Estuary is approximately 0.3 degrees west (2016), decreasing by about 8 minutes annually.

TIDES

Although there are times when tides, as Para Handy said, is chust a mystery, they do tend to follow patterns that are useful to know. Spring tides occur a day or so after both new and full moons - hence the term ‘high water full and change’ (HWFC).

Neap tides occur midway between each spring tide. Remember there is always more water at low water neaps than at low water springs.

The time of high water at any given place is roughly 50 minutes later each day.

All tidal information is approximate, so allow a safety margin whenever possible. Watch the barometric pressure - a change of one inch in pressure can make a difference of a foot in the level of water.

The level of water does not rise and fall at a constant rate during the flood or ebb tide. The amount by which a tide will rise or fall in a given time from high water can be estimated approximately by the ‘Twelfths’ rule, which is simply indicated as follows:

CHARTLETS

All the chartlets in this book have been simplified and should not be used for navigation.

The green shading indicates that the area dries at the Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT), the dark blue signifies that there is up to five metres at LAT and the pale blue shading illustrates that there is over five metres of water at LAT.

Soundings are represented in metres and tenths of metres, showing the depth of water above chart datum with the underlined soundings referring to drying heights above chart datum.

WAYPOINTS

It is advisable to check the waypoints in this book, especially if using them with a GPS, and at regular intervals plot your own position manually on the chart in case your GPS should fail at any time. Our waypoints are referenced to the WGS 84 datum so positions must be adjusted before plotting on charts referred to the old OSGB 1936 datum. Key waypoints have been given at the beginning of each chapter to make it easier for you to pinpoint the area on the chart and help with your passage plan.

DISTANCES

All distances relating to the sea are in nautical miles, written as ‘M’ (1M = 2,025 yards / 1,852 metres) and metres, written as ‘m’ (1m = 1.094 yards).

Navigable Distances (M)

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

BUOY COLOURS, LIGHTS AND FREQUENCIES

The green conical Mid Knoll is one of the buoys marking the entrance to the Deben

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Chapter one

Lowestoft

Yachts approaching the open bridge to the Inner Harbour at Lowestoft

In Coastwise Cruising (1929) Francis B Cooke describes ‘the element of pleasurable excitement about entering a strange port in one’s own vessel, for one never knows quite what one will find inside the pierheads.’

He wrote this on his approach to Lowestoft from the south and, having passed Kessingland, home of the novelist Sir Rider Haggard, they looked through the glasses and saw ‘...smack after smack emerge from the pierheads, bound for the Dogger Bank in quest of the nation’s breakfast.’

Once inside the harbour they found it to be ‘...a jolly nice place. The band is discoursing music for us on the pier, and pretty girls in white frocks gaze at us as we get tea ready in the well. We have not been berthed very long ere a boat comes alongside with a cordial invitation from the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club to make use of their club-house during our stay.’

The nation no longer eats herring for breakfast and the fishing fleet is not what it was, but visiting yachtsmen continue to appreciate the unique mixture of seaside resort and commercial port to be found at Lowestoft. The beaches north and south of Claremont Pier have Blue Flag awards.

The once-thriving fishing community, some of whom lived in upturned boats in the ‘Beach Village’ which existed around Ness Point, were said to be the inspiration for David Copperfield. The original site was developed by Birds Eye and not much remains but there is