where to go on the english coast?

[martin schulz]

This year I will crew onboard the Willow Wren when she is sailing back from Brest/Dourananez.

We will have to stop somewhere along the way to get off the owners wife with the dog (apparently you can enter the UK with a dog coming with a ferry, but not with your own boat) and then will head for Southhampton. Later on we will travel along the south coast up to Ramsgate and will sail from there directly to Cuxhaven/Germany.

So, what I am asking is if anybody here has got some good ideas.

Where we can take this 118 years old Lady to?

Or let me put this in other words.

Where can we make the most impressive appearance :cool:

or:

Where will we be invited with a red-carpet already rolled out? ;)

http://www.tallship-fan.de/images/hs03_f117a.jpg

http://www.tallship-fan.de/images/hs03_f1223.jpg

Now with a much higher topmast and a lug-yawl-mizzen

[martin schulz]

Oh - and Andrew - care for a german beer on board?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Martin - I will assume that you will have, predominantly, SW winds.

There really is nowhere on the South coast east of the Solent that is worth even a moment's consideration, except that I think I would make Dover not Ramsgate (there are arguments for both)

Starting in the West - The Helford River*. Falmouth. Plymouth. Salcombe. Dartmouth*. Portland (maybe) Poole (maybe) the Beaulieu River* and of course Sacred Cowes, for absolute maximum show-off effect. Then straight back home!

* indicates the best.

[Meerkat]

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapimages/europe/england/england.gif

I'm confused - exactly what is the "south coast"? I would think it's the part that runs east-west at the bottom of the island, but you seem to be making a distinction I don't see based on some of the names you've mentioned.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

The South Coast runs from Land's End to the White Cliffs of Dover, the Solent is the bit in the middle that separates the Isle of Wight from the mainland and the good bit of the South Coast is all west of that.

Even odder, the yachtsman's East Coast starts at Dover but stops at Lowestoft, which is just a shade North of Cambridge. This is because Lowestoft is the last decent harbour before the Humber.

[Meerkat]

The Solent would be roughly from Portsmouth to Plymouth on this map?

The mouth of the Humber is at Hull - or is it the bay south of there that has "England" superimposed over it?

If you can scare up a somwhat more detailed small scale map per chance? smile.gif

[ 06-17-2004, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Meerkat ]

[Hwyl]

Meerkat, the Solent is that stretch of water inside the Isle Of Wight (roughly from Bournemouth to Portsmouth on ACB's map). Should be lots of maps of the solent on the internet. Here is one, http://www.solentforum.hants.org.uk/maps/studyarea.gif

There are sailors who spend their whole lives on the Solent and still don't see it all. Uffa Fox used to hold a cricket match on one of the sandbank (I think the Bramble bank) at astronomically low tides.

Andrew, Martin. My I humbly second Salcombe.

[ 06-18-2004, 04:46 AM: Message edited by: Hwyl ]

[martin schulz]

Andrew.
It's Ramsgate instead of Dover because Dover is such a dump and Ramsgate has such a nice traditional Yacht-Club were one gets the feeling that time hasn't changed. Our "Smack" friends desperately tried to invite us to the East Coast but unfortunately our schedule is pretty tight and going up the East Coast doesn't fit in. So Ramsgate is all we could promise.

How about places like Brighton or Hastings which lie in between? Is there really nothing between Southhampton and Dover? we won't go west from Southhampton, that is for sure.

http://img.multimap.com/cs/bgb//X22/Y40/X2200Y400S1000W700H400.gif

[ 06-21-2004, 04:48 AM: Message edited by: martin schulz ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Martin,

The general opinion of just about everyone who sails between Dover and the Solent is "Don't stop anywhere, unless you absolutely have to do so!"

If a stop is completely unavoidable, Brighton Marina is the best of a bad job, but it's a dump, and the entrance is none too special in an onshore wind.

Rye (home of Henry James), on the Rover Rother, is charming and delightful - and has a VERY dangerous entrance! Don't even think about it.

If you find yourselves with an easterly, and get fed up with it, the best thing, if you can get that far, is to anchor in Dungeness West Road, where you can feast your eyes on a fine specimen of a 1960's nuclear power station (and irritate the hell out of the Army firing range, if you are really lucky!)

Head straight North out of Brest and make your stops West of the Solent.

[martin schulz]

Originally posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett:
Rye (home of Henry James), on the Rover Rother, is charming and delightful - and has a VERY dangerous entrance! Don't even think about it.Yes - that's what I thought. I visited Rye last year, just to have a look if I could stay there when I come over with my boat.
certainly a nice place to go, but the entrance is...I can't even think about trying to get in there in bad weather with no place else to go. :eek:

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

In November 1928 the Rye Lifeboat was capsized off the entrance, killing all 17 crew. Not a nice place in onshore weather.

[igatenby]

Nice boat Martin

Just bring it a bit further south. You'd be welcome in Sydney. Nice harbour to enter too.

Ian :D

[martin schulz]

Thanks for the Sydney invitation...Ian. Just a bit of course I am afraid ;)

andrew - how about Lime Regis? I was there and thought it to be a nice harbour (with my boat in mind of course). Will Willow fit in there?

[William R Roche]

Lyme Regis dries out and entring Lyme Bay leaves you having to get around Portland Bill. If you must visit Lyme Bay, the harbour at West Bay is being rebuilt and should be safer than it was, with water in the outer harbour at low tide (http://www.westdorset-dc.gov.uk/media/pdf/WestBaySchemeLeaflet-web.pdf).
Otherwise, it is the Solent with numerous harbours from Poole to Chichester, some more expensive than others! Going East, there is a deep-water marina at Eastbourne and then on to Ramsgate. The military firing range at Dungeness can limit the usefulness of the West Roads!

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Martin - head for Dartmouth. Hideously expensive marina, but a lovely river port, with something of its Elizabethan atmosphere remaining, (and a fine steam railway!)

[Jeremy Burnett]

There is nowhere worth sailing east of St Catharines point(Isle of Wight).Crowded,muddy etc.

[martin schulz]

Originally posted by Jeremy Burnett:
There is nowhere worth sailing east of St Catharines point(Isle of Wight).Crowded,muddy etc.what about: "the magic of the swathways"?

[Jeremy Burnett]

The Swatchways can be fun if you dont draw too much and like anchoring around.I agree with Andrew about the river Dart,we have just returned from a few days up there,Dartmouth is a pleasant town with good facilities and inexpensive anchorages(by English standards).All the west country rivers are good.Falmouth,Fowey,Plymouth,Yealm(Crowded)Salcomb e(Expensive)Dartmouth.With a good W or SW wind you can do the crossing from the French coast in under 24 hours.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Martin, it's no use asking a Cornishman about our North Sea rivers and creeks! This is all you will get:

The Swatchways can be fun if you don't draw too much and like anchoring around ;)

Of course, coming from Germany, where your North Sea coast is similar, you already know better than that - but don't tell anyone! Our anchorages are still free! smile.gif

[Jeremy Burnett]

What are the pastys like up there?

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

What's the beer like down there?

This is a serious question, as Mirelle and I hope to visit Falmouth next Spring!

[ 06-28-2004, 04:55 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Craig-Bennett ]

[martin schulz]

I'll have to check with the owner if we can head for Falmouth first. Not because of the better harbours but because of scones and creamed tea ;)

And then we can also go to Brixham wher I can further do some research about my boat smile.gif

[Jeremy Burnett]

Andrew there are some good ones.I like one called "Doom Bar" a reference to the bar (sand) in Padstow. Look forward to seeing Mirelle next year.

[Hwyl]

Originally posted by Jeremy Burnett:
What are the pastys like up there?Post your recipe, my mouth is watering, the recipes I find on the web seem a little bland. I am sure that I've had pasties with fish in them (possibly in St Ives)or am I hallucinating as I approach my dotage? Of course the best Pasties are in Trinidad, but they seem to call them Rotis there.

I did have Star-gazy pie in Mousehole, but that was just a few years ago (not reccomended, the pie that is--Mousehole's great) but then Martin would be North of Cornwall and might as well carry on to Wales.

[ 06-28-2004, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Hwyl ]