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News - archive page

News Archive

Older news items will be left on here for about six months. The very latest items are accessed from the home page.  

Archive items -

Deben Entrance (13th Sept 2011)

The Mid Knoll buoy at the Deben entrance was moved a few metres recently (the exact position is shown on our Deben chapter updates page) and it is appropriate to explain why. For some time the standard advice has been to stay close to the shore between the Mid Knoll SHB and the Deben PHB, but this year some skippers have disregarded this advice, run in a straight line between the two and found themselves on the shingle bank of the bar. The Mid Knoll was moved to shift that straight-line route away from the bar, but Harbour Master John White, who is our Honorary Port Pilot there, especially asked us to remind you that you really do need to do as we said in ECP - keep to the W side of the river avoiding the steel poles on the ends of groynes, and don’t go too far E and run onto the bar itself. If you do he’ll have to come out and tow you off!

Raysand Channel - buoys (13th Sept 2011)

The Crouch HM has placed two buoys over the shallows at the south end of the Rays’n to asist skippers needing the best water. They are shown on the updated version of Roger Gaspar’s chart, available from our Downloads page.

Withies at Bradwell (updated 11th August 2011)
The Bradwell entrance channel has gained six new withies marking its western edge, bringing the total up to seven.
The new marks were installed the day after our latest survey of the channel, but
the chartlet available at www.eastcoastsailing.co.uk now includes the positions of these new withies.

Crouch Buoyage (21st July 2011)

Installation of extra buoys along the Crouch has been completed. These are designed to aid pilotage of the increased freight traffic which will be bringing spoil to Wallasea from the London Crossrail project. Printable replacemen chartlets and rolling roads for the Crouch chapter of ECP are available on our Downloads page.

Gravesend - mooring developments (21st July 2011)

Gravesend is set to gain new visitor mooring in the Thames. London River Moorings (LRM), a subsidiary of Gravesend’s Embankment Marina, has been set up specifically to provide and manage moorings for visiting yachts and commercial craft at Gravesend.

The work will take place in three phases. Phase One is the provision of half-tide moorings alongside the quay wall between the Three Daws Public House and St Andrew’s Church along the Gravesend riverfront. Phase Two will provide an all-tide 40m long pontoon bridged off Gravesend’s Town Pier, which will provide moorings for leisure and commercial craft. This pontoon is planned to be operational before the end of 2011.

Phase Three will be the provision of all-tide mooring buoys along the river from the new pontoon towards the Royal Terrace Pier. This last phase will be completed before the 2012 Olympics commence. It is possible that a fast-ferry service will be in operation by then, providing an alternative means of getting close to the Olympic site from Kent.

Raysand Channel (21st July 2011)

Originally announced here in June, Roger Gaspar’s newly surveyed and drawn chartlet of the Raysand Channel area has been further improved. It’s also available from the ‘East Coast Sailing’ website via our Downloads page .

Foulgers Gat (27th May 2011)

Earlier in the Spring we added a useful briefing note to our Downloads page. This is about Foulgers Gat, written by RYA-East, and advises on the effects of wind farm construction for those thinking of using the route. However, Trinity House has now temporarily removed the two Foulgers buoys, the Long Sand Inner and the Long Sand Outer. Clearly this is designed to discourage mariners from using the route, although it remains open and the only requirement is to keep at least 500m clear of windfarm works which are ongoing there at present. We do not know when the buoys will be put back in position.