OK, it's not a disaster but word has reached me that Newhaven is full of wind farm construction and support vessels and not accepting visiting yachts.
That's a bit of a booger is that.
The obvious alternative is Brighton but that gets complicated. We're almost certainly going to have to time our arrival and departure into and out of Dover to coincide with the tidal gate into the Granville Dock opening times (having spoken with Dover Marina recently, I'm advised that the tidal basin is frequently rammed due to the redevelopment works and that visitors need to go into the Granville) which means we'd be arriving off Brighton around 2 to 2 and a half hours before low water on a falling tide (we'll have to be underway from Dover no later than 06:00BST, preferably earlier)
And the trouble with that is that the entrance to Brighton is a wee bit shallow and whilst I'd risk it on a rising tide, I'm not going in much after half tide on the ebb. So Brighton looks out
Shoreham is another possibility but it would be a long day
So it looks like Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne for the overnight break. It makes the next day to Gosport longer and I'd have preferred to avoid the inevitable delays involved in locking in and out but needs must
Mind, if the weather is benign we might just drop the hook for a few hours kip off Eastbourne but it'll have to be pretty calm to make that an attractive option
Oh and we're also going to have to make a very early start from Fambridge, as in crack of dawn about 3am BST, and keep the average speed over the ground up over 5 knots on the first leg from Fambridge to Dover. That makes the possibility of dropping downriver the night before and anchoring in the Brankfleet attractive as it will give us an extra hour in bed
No comments:
Post a Comment