Category: Archive News

Morning all, hot off the Yachting Monthly press:

Gravesend Sailing Club, established in 1896, celebrates the opening of a new pontoon on Saturday 3rd May.

The club – opposite Tilbury Fort on the River Thames is a useful stopping off point for cruising yachts visiting St Katharine’s Dock hard by the Tower of London. From here it is a one-tide sail to Tower Bridge.

For more information see: www.gravesendsailingclub.co.uk
Read more at http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/536365/new-pontoon-for-thames-sailors#dUsyFRZRzx8CZGjX.99

And from the East Coast Pilot:

Foulgers Gat Buoyage to be reinstated as of 2nd April

The Long Sand Inner and Outer buoys, removed in 2011 for the London Array construction, are to be returned, together with an extra third buoy, on or around 30th April.

Details as follows:

Long Sand Inner: 51° 38’.775N  001° 25’.435E; Spherical; Red and White vertical stripes; Morse “A” 15 seconds.

Long Sand Outer: 51° 34’.610N  001° 28’.338E; Spherical; Red and White vertical stripes; L.Fl.10 seconds.

Long Sand Middle: 51° 35’.600N  001° 26’.450E; Spherical; Red and White vertical stripes; Iso. 5 seconds.

Better day today in the harbour with plenty of sunshine at the moment. Wind here in the marina averaging around 10 to  16 knots and westerly as forecast. However out of the shelter of the harbour its blowing around 23 to 27 knots. Forecast looking quite good for rest of the week, wind dropping off before the weekend. Last week we had the Dutch tall ships visit Ipswich for an overnight in the wet dock before leaving on the Friday. Don’t forget for your diary the Shotley Point Yacht Club ‘Grand Boat Jumble’ here at the marina on Friday 18th  April 10 till 2pm, admission free.

Welcome to the midweek Ships Blog. Bright hazy sunshine after quite an overcast start. This pattern seems to be staying pretty much the same  for the next few days with winds from the East going round to the South West over the weekend. Also there will be a little more wind as well in the next few days. We still have the dredger ‘Shoreway’ working in the harbour. The Environment Agency’s survey boat ‘Thames Guardian is due in the marina this evening staying a few days as part of her normal rotation of surveying in the Thames.

In the yard boats already launched are ‘Pennifold’ and the ex sea school motor boat ‘Finesse II’ which is on brokerage. A reminder for everyone if you are down at the marina during the week working on your boat then always ‘touch base’ so to speak with Andy and Craig in the yard just so that you can park any vehicles you have out of the way of the travel hoist. As you will appreciate things are getting busy with boats being lifted back in for Easter.

Morning and welcome to Tuesdays’s Ships Blog. Beautiful day today with bright sunshine and the temperature already climbing the thermometer. The sunshine continues for tomorrow but not much wind about for the whole of the week, no good if you want to sail but great for the fishing boats and motor boaters!

We are still on Spring tides and today’s predictions are:

HW 13.46 4.17M and LW 19.22 0.30M so predicted depth of water over the sill will be 1.8M at low water.

In the yard the lads, Andy and Craig are busy launching more boats. Going in today so far are ‘Frejya of Orwell’, ‘Charisma’ ‘Samphire and ‘La Boheme’. On the way to work we managed to get a snap shot of the mist over the fields adjacent to the village of Shotley and the river Orwell.

Morning and welcome to Monday mornings Ships Blog. Still as a mill pond in the harbour this morning. Forecast for today and the week looking very settled with relatively little wind. Some sunshine tomorrow but remaining cloudy otherwise. We had a few visitors over the weekend and plenty of berth holders down working on their boats getting ready to launch. Today’s inshore waters forecast:

Gibraltar Point to North Foreland

For coastal areas up to 12 miles offshore from 0600 UTC Mon 31 Mar until 0600 UTC Tue 01 Apr

24 hour forecast:

Wind Variable 2 or 3, occasionally 4.

Sea State Smooth or slight.

Weather Fog patches later.

Visibility Moderate or good, occasionally very poor later.

Outlook for the following 24 hours:

Wind Variable 3 or less, becoming easterly or northeasterly 3 or 4.
Sea State Slight.

Weather Fog patches.

Visibility Moderate or good, occasionally very poor.

Today’s tides HW 13.06 4.17M LW 18.41 0.32M Predicted depth over the sill at next LW (18.41) is 1.82M

In the yard Andy and Craig are launching ‘Ciel Bleau amongst others. Note for your diary, Shotley Point Yacht Club’s Grand Boat Jumble on Good Friday 18th April, 10.00 to 14.00 hours. Concerning our weather station we are currently awaiting arrival of some new equipment to replace the current gear we have have on the roof of the Control Tower etc.