Tuesday 31 January 2017

Notices to Mariners Week 6 - Notices to Mariners for the Southern East Coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Notices to Mariners for the southern east coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

3 Permanent UKHO notices:

1. Admiralty Charts to be published 23 February 2017: Chart 1975 England - East Coast, Thames Estuary, Northern Part. 1:50,000.
2. ENGLAND - East Coast - Shipway and Harwich North Channel - Depths. - 2 reductions but unlikely to hinder leisure craft;
3. BELGIUM - Westhinder to Schooneveld - Legends. Notes. Wreck. - The Belgium HO has notified that 8 wrecks have been designated as Historic Wrecks.
Temporary - a few this week

1. Medway VTS being ungraded - during which the surveillance monitoring will be reduced. Details at:
http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html - and select the Temporary list.
2. Medway Approach Channel - Survey and dredging work - now in survey now, dredging to start on or about the 3rd February for about five days;
3. Great Yarmouth - Outer Harbour Southern Breakwater illumination defective at present which will make the Wave wall difficult to see. Illumination intermittent until repaired;
4. Access Restriction at Reedham and Somerleyton *Swing Bridges - Network Rail are undertaking works *on Reedham and Somerleyton Bridges during the following period:
Friday 24 February 2017 23:59 hours until Monday 6 March 2017 07:00 hours. Going underneath may be possible;
5. Port of Wells dredging;
6. Havengore Bridge still defective.
Local NtMs compiled by and reproduced by kind permission of Roger Gaspar, author of Crossing the Thames Estuary


Sunday 29 January 2017

Our "neighbours" on BBC1 Inside Out - Monday 30/01/2017



Tales about bodies buried on the beach and supernatural devil dogs - Deadman's Island gives up grisly secrets of Kent's past. You can see the full video on Inside Out, on BBC One South East and London on Monday 30 January at 19:30 GMT, and later on the BBC iPlayer.
Posted by BBC South East Today on Saturday, 28 January 2017

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Notices to Mariners Week 5 - Notices to Mariners for the Southern East Coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Notices to Mariners for the southern east coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Permanent

1. ENGLAND - East Coast - Dunwich Bank E - Wreck. - a new wreck about 12nm east of Southwold but at 25m so unlikely to be a problem to us;
2. ENGLAND - East Coast - Thames Tidal Barrier - Depths. - 4 new reduced depths to the west of the Thames Barrier - north side of the River. Clearly a 'bank' is building towards the channel of the river;
3. ENGLAND - South East Coast - Isle of Thanet NE - Buoyage. - Two new wave recorder light buoys north-east and south of the Thanet Wind Farm.
Temporary

1. Trinity House have published a notice about DGPS - basically how it works and can be vulnerable;
2. A temporary experimental buoy has been placed in the Cork Hole (the usual experimental space) - called 'Trial' it is an East Cardinal Buoy of no navigational significance - other than hitting it!;
3. River Crouch - Whitaker Channel and Swallowtail to be precise - the Swallowtail West cardinal buoy is off station at present. Would need care I would suggest.
4. Lowestoft Bascule Bridge closed: 2 nights 23rd and 24th January. No small boat openings. 29th January to 14th February - 17 nights. No small boat openings but they might accommodate along with a special 2 hour window of opening for shipping if possible. See details at:
http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html in the Temporary list.
5. Extension to Closure of Rockland Boat Dike & Rockland Staithe on the Broads until Friday 3rd February;
6. Port of Wells - dredging;
7. Now got the detail of last weeks Broads NtM - Dredging work in Haddiscoe New Cut 13 February 2017 to 31 March 2017 - some detail in the NtM about the restrictions in the Temporary list.


Local NtMs compiled by and reproduced by kind permission of Roger Gaspar, author of Crossing the Thames Estuary


Friday 20 January 2017

Frozen Creek


Some pictures from Mick Drury of the creek this morning.

We’ve now had continuous frost (in the shade) for 8 days at the creek and 4 days with -7 at night, mostly due to the ‘frost pocket’ effect under anticyclonic conditions. I still have a small patch of snow on my compost heap.

This is cold enough to freeze salt-water and I thought you/the Club might like to see what it looked like this morning……





Tuesday 17 January 2017

Notices to Mariners Week 4

Notices to Mariners for the Southern East Coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Four Permanent UKHO notices this week:

1. ENGLAND - South East Coast - Dover S and E - Wrecks. - three revised (less shallow) depths over wrecks south and east off Dover. All three amply deep enough for leisure craft;
2. ENGLAND - East Coast - River Blackwater - Depths. Drying heights. - my fault I'm afraid. UKHO have adopted my survey of Mersea Quarters last autumn so they have marked up 5 reduced depths including two drying heights. There is, the usual image, showing the revision but I have also added my chartlet of the survey - probably in tedious detail because it was drawn for the fairway committee. Both the UKHO and my charts are showing last year's buoyage but the Committee will be referring their revised plan to Trinity House for approval shortly, maybe even this week. The buoyage will change and I (and UKHO) will notify details to you all asap. You will note that 2m CD is no longer universal in the Quarters. Access around the moorings is fine; it is the movement of the Quarters Spit which is the problem.
3. ENGLAND - East Coast - Aldeburgh Napes - Wreck. - a new wreck off Aldeburgh - but well off and at 14.1m;
4. ENGLAND - South Coast - Port of Dover - Prince of Wales Pier and Eastern Arm - Buoyage. Maritime limit. - Legend. - works on the Prince of Wales pier and Eastern Arm - restricted area affecting the approach to the marina and the western side of the Outer Harbour. Still plenty of room though.

Please see all the images on the usual page at
http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html

Temporary

1. EAST COAST OF ENGLAND - CROMER LIGHTHOUSE -On or about 7th February, 2017, for a period of up to 3 days the AIS service will be interrupted to facilitate the fitting of new equipment.
2. CROUCH HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS - Admiralty Chart Addition No 3750 Rivers Crouch & Roach advising a misprint: Burnham Fairway No 1 Buoy has been misprinted as Fl G 6S, the actual sequence is QG.
3. Ipswich Lock - Temporary Lock Closure for essential maintenance on the Flood Gates by the Environment Agency, Tuesday 17th January 2017 - 0730hrs - 11 OOhrs and Wednesday 18th January 2017 - OSOOhrs - 1130hrs
4. Norfolk Broads - Dredging work in Haddiscoe New Cut 13 February 2017 to 31 March 2017. That is all I can add at the moment as the web site is locking me 'out'!
5. Port of Wells - dredging - see details in the Temporary list on the above page.

Local NtMs compiled by and reproduced by kind permission of Roger Gaspar, author of Crossing the Thames Estuary


Friday 13 January 2017

3m Storm Surge 13th January

Further details here

The 3m surge is predicted at Sheerness at approx. 21.00 which is about 4hrs before HW (01.24  5.9m). There's another 1m surge predicted for around 03.00. Hopefully this will just mean two or three high tides tonight.

Wednesday 11 January 2017

AGM Agenda posted on web site

The Agenda for the AGM on 27th January 2017 has now been posted in the Members Area of the site.

Adam Turner's travels with his Club Burgee in the South Atlantic


The club burgee at 'the end of the world' Ushuia, Tierra Del Fuego




Falkland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula, and Cierva Cove

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Notices to Mariners Week 3

Notices to Mariners for the Southern East Coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Permanent

1. A glut (7) of soundings reductions in the River Thames to the west of Sea Reach. Of 6 of the 7 are soundings around the edge of the Shipping Channel and of little consequence of us. One though, north of the Mucking No 1 SHB at 1.3m. Images of course at:
http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html
2. Really just off the monitored area north of the Wash, deletion of 5 cardinal and special buoys installed for the construction of the Lynn Wind Farm. The Lynn Wind Farm is well finished so the lights on the wind farm are marked via the conventional wind farm yellow buoyage. Image of course available.
Temporary

1. Peel Ports (Medway) has brought forward all local NtoM from 2016 that remain in force to 2017 and renumbered. There is nothing new but I have listed the six relevant buoys in the new numbering. They are, of course, relevant to us;
2. River Crouch - Rice and Cole Pontoon off station for annual maintenance - beware the unlit piles;
3. Lowestoft, Lake Lothing Compass Buoy has been damaged and therefore is currently removed;
4. Port of Wells - dredging;
5. Approach to Kings Lynn - new local chart of the approach WE 3.01.2017. The Temporary NtoM page will provide the link to download the revised chartlet.

And that is that.

Local NtMs compiled by and reproduced by kind permission of Roger Gaspar, author of Crossing the Thames Estuary


Tuesday 3 January 2017

Notices to Mariners Week 2

Notices to Mariners for the Southern East Coast of the UK and across to France, Belgium and part of Holland

Only two Permanent:

1. UKHO announce they are issuing Edition 11 of the Leisure Folio SC5607 - Thames Estuary - Essex and Suffolk Coast on 26th January, 2017. So don't get the folio at the Boat Show yet! I would suggest anyone who wants the new Folio to go to Imray (web link on the NtM page:
http://www.crossingthethamesestuary.com/page9.html). I understand the UKHO are planning to redo the full Admiralty River Blackwater chart sometime this year.
2. Not the most exciting - small reduction of depth at the edge of the Westhinder ship anchorage - at 16.5m and then a contour change (at 10m) at the northern finger of the Oosthinder sand. Image of course as usual on the above page. There is a download available of the contour change from the Dutch HO. More hieroglyphic than the UKHO NtM!
No temporary NtM.

Local NtMs compiled by and reproduced by kind permission of Roger Gaspar, author of Crossing the Thames Estuary



Monday 2 January 2017