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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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The Solent & English Channel Tidal Currents October 30, 1999, Written at Limehouse Basin, London 
Leaving Dover at 0520 we caught the tide just ahead of Low Water to maximize the current helping us as we motored along the coastline. We can predict the currents along the English Channel coast from the current diagrams at the top or bottom of our Imray charts. These diagrams are a series of13 sketches of the coastline indicating the direction and speed of the currents along the coastal area covered by the chart. They are arranged in hourly segments from High Water at a nearby reference port, in this case, Dover, and for each of six hours before and after. We can identify the times of high and low water at Dover (or any other port in all of Britain) from our Nautical Almanac. So, if we are, say, 50 miles west of Dover and the time is two hours past High Water (at Dover), we just look at that specific hourly sketch of the coast and can visually see the current direction at that time indicated by arrows and the speed of the current in numbers at the base of the arrows. Similarly we can look ahead to see how and when the current will change by looking at the sketches for 3 , 4, 5, and so on hours past High Water or before the next High Water. 
We have the Macmillan Nautical Almanac which covers all the ports in the British Isles (including the Scillies and the Channel Islands), Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France and the Netherlands. It is a 914 page reference book that gives valuable information on tides and currents as well as navigational information on hundreds of ports in the areas covered. It gives small chartlets of each port together with written descriptions of the characteristics of these ports including tidal and entrance considerations. In addition, we have all the necessary charts and other guides or pilots to the different areas in which we will be sailing. Thus with a little bit of homework we can have a good picture of the situations we will be facing as we transit various bodies of water or approach different ports. These charts and books cost money, but are essential to the safe navigation of any vessel. Up Into The Solent On this leg from Dover across the south coast to the Solent, we had the tidal current with us for over 13 hours until it started to shift against us by about 1830, dropping our speed by 1.5 knots. Because of light winds, we motored or motor sailed all the way to the Solent. Incidentally, the Solent is that large, historic, strategic body of water around the Isle of Wight, including the eastern passages up to Portsmouth and Chichester Harbour, and the western passage around the Isle of Wight up to Southampton. The body of water to the northeast between the island and the entrance to Portsmouth is Spithead, the scene of many royal fleet reviews. By 2200 we were motoring up into the eastern approach to the Solent, heading for Portsmouth about 15 miles ahead, when suddenly we lost our steering! The wheel would just spin, but not turn the rudder! It was dark, we were in a busy shipping channel, feeling our way into a strange port for the first time, and now had to contend with a steering breakdown. We floundered for a few minutes while we emptied the starboard cockpit locker to identify what the problem was. The steering cable had broken! It could not be repaired and would have to be replaced. We do not carry an extra steering cable. However, we have an emergency steering tiller that can be attached directly to the rudder post, and with considerable effort and inconvenience manually steer the boat. We put this in place, and called Solent Radio to inform them of our position, destination and steering problem. We indicated we could handle the problem but would need assistance getting into Haslar Marina, our destination in Gosport, across from Portsmouth. As there was not much vessel traffic, they permitted us to proceed and arranged for an inflatable launch from the marina to come out for us when we reached the entrance of the harbour. Navigation that last 15 miles was difficult as I had to try to steer a compass course, but as the tiller was so low and difficult to manipulate, I could not see outside of the cockpit to identify the various buoys and lights. Maintaining a steady course was also difficult. Judy had to con me through the maze of lights, buoys, lit and unlit, shoals, and off-lying gun forts at the entrance to this important commercial and naval harbour. The work boat from Haslar Marine came out to the entrance and, tied alongside our starboard side, towed us into a slip in the marina. We finally secured at 0140 after a 20 hour sail of 110 nautical miles. We thanked the launch crew for their assistance. There was no charge for the tow in. NOTE: Nov. 1 - A news story in today's paper told of a 35 foot sail boat that struck Shag Stone shoal at the mouth of Plymouth Sound and was wrecked, killing the skipper, but the other three crew were recovered. We passed by that shoal when we left Plymouth last August. The heavy weather was blamed as it was force 9 or 10, yet the forecast said only force 7 or 8. This is one of the reasons we are not trying to continue our sail around the U.K. during the winter months. Next Log |
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