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| Don't stop! |
A change in the wind direction on
Friday meant that we could finally depart Dover Marina and head for
Ramsgate, our penultimate stop. Procedures for departure were made
and we headed out of Granville dock just after lunchtime in order to
carry the ebb tide out of the harbour then along St Margaret’s
Cliff and ‘round the corner’ towards Deal.
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| Waiting for the green light |
Once again strict protocol had to be followed in order to avoid the seemingly never ending stream of ferries arriving and departing through the narrow eastern harbour entrance. We were directed to ‘The Knuckle’ lighthouse, a temporary safe refuge tucked just inside the outer harbour walls close to the eastern entrance. Here we awaited the ‘all clear’ which we duly received in the form of a brief radio communication from Dover Port Control and a bank of green lights. “Distant Drummer you are clear to depart, head due north out of the eastern entrance and don't stop” came a calm but authoritative female voice. It felt a little bit like the start of a formula one Grand Prix.
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| Who's going first? |
Nicola eased the throttle forward and Distant Drummer made headway through the turbulent choppy waters of the harbour entrance. As we cleared the harbour wall perimeter we could see three ferries all headed in line for the same 600 foot narrow gap through which we had just exited! Thankfully, in a few minutes we were clear and could relax a bit as we made rapid progress along the chalky coastline leaving the frenetic ferry activity behind. This passage was to be one of our shortest both in terms of time and nautical miles covered. With Deal pier in sight the wind dropped and the sea state became much calmer. We chose the inshore route to Ramsgate avoiding the sandbanks on the edge of Sandwich Bay. It was a really pleasant sail and quite a novelty to hug the coast at such close proximity often no more than a few hundred yards off. We had followed another yacht out of Dover but it was clear to us that its skipper dared not risk the shallows as he headed out to sea following an alternative offshore route north.
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| Made it! |
We met up that evening in Ramsgate marina. The skipper of the other yacht admitted that he and and his crew had discussed the matter at length and in the end plumped for the security of the greater depth offshore despite being tempted to sneak inshore as we had done.
We had a brief sortie ashore in Ramsgate enjoying a celebratory beer in the pub as the realisation of the near ending of our voyage sank in. Just one more passage across the Thames Estuary and Distant Drummer would be ensconced in her final berth at Tollesbury marina.
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| Fake smiles at dawn |
We slept soundly, setting our alarm for dawn (5am). Ramsgate to Tollesbury was to be one of our longer passages and also the shallowest so much planning had taken place prior to proceeding across this tricky stretch of water. Many thanks to Roger Gasper and his truly excellent book appropriately titled 'Crossing the Thames Estuary'. We studied it intently and gained an understanding of the shifting sands. We elected to follow a fairly direct route heading roughly north west through Fisherman's Gat, a narrow channel through the sandbanks clearly marked by red and green buoys. The 'Gat' offers sufficient depth for those craft drawing around 10 metres so fairly sizeable craft sometimes make use of it. We met just three yachts travelling south in convoy.
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| Red to the left, green to the right |
Black Deep is essentially a 'motorway' for ships crossing the northern end of Fisherman's Gat and is considerably deeper averaging around 20 metres. This channel is plied by container ships heading for Tilbury docks. We scoured the horizon in both directions before 'crossing the road' and spotted a tiny object on the north east horizon. Experienced had taught us that such objects, no matter how seemingly innocuous, were ignored at one's peril. Our caution was vindicated as the 'tiny object' rapidly turned into a giant container ship heading our way at high speed. We elected to hold our course and we crossed its bulbous bow with several hundred yards to spare. These ships are truly impressive, creating vast bow waves as they plough through the water. If in doubt, aim for the stern!
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| Turbine 'trees' |
We switched on our radio to listen to the royal wedding. It seemed strange to be at sea as Harry and Meghan made their vows at Windsor Castle. We spotted a solitary dolphin surfacing briefly but saw little else other than than the enormity of the London Array offshore wind-farm; a vast forest of turbines. DD negotiated the 'South West Sunk' shallows and also the equally shallow 'Swin Spitway' where depths can fall away to just a couple of metres. A thin strip of yellow sand at Jaywick etched the northern shore of the Thames Estuary.
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| Narrow entrance to Tollesbury Fleet |
We headed further west towards Bradwell Power Station, a concrete castle on the south shore of the Blackwater, and savoured the final moments of our voyage which had started so unpromisingly on a misty Falmouth morning 37 days earlier.
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| Home sweet home |
The flood tide carried Distant Drummer into Tollesbury Fleet, a narrow channel bordering the Wick Marshes RSPB reserve. Several small yachts, racing dinghies and powerboats dodged past us as the channel narrowed still further into the marina entrance. Nicola had to bring DD to a halt more than once to allow small sailing dinghies to squeeze past us.
At 2.30pm on Saturday 19th May Distant Drummer settled alongside E11, a small wooden pontoon in the centre of Tollesbury marina. Nicola and Robin and Distant Drummer had arrived at their new home (until we decide to set sail again).
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| Mud initiation arrival ceremony |
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