I haven't read it yet (I ordered it a few days ago from a bookshop and it might not arrive for weeks - I had a book token to use and couldn't use it through Amazon), but the trouble with recreating someone else's journey is that your adventure, even if it turns out to be a good one, will have massively reduced sales potential for any book you might write about it.
You don't want to do anything too way out though - Frank Dye's book "Ocean Crossing Wayfarer: To Iceland and Norway in a 16ft Open Dinghy" shows where the limits are - he was lucky to survive, so you want to keep sea crossings reasonably short. A trip out to St Kilda (Scotland, not Australia) would be the longest one I'd dare to attempt in a Mirror, perhaps as part of a longer adventure travelling up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, then finishing at the top of Shetland. This would be best done with a small fleet of Mirrors, but it would be essential that everyone involved has plenty of time available so that there's never any pressure to set off in questionable conditions.
Sandy had a fairly open ended timetable. This is pretty rare and made his trip possible. Most of us have to juggle our time but this is no reason not to go, we just have to return sooner. Choose waters which are suitable for your boat and experience, provision well and take a boat tent and an anchor. When you return write something and tell us all about it.
For the past 4 summers I have done what I call the 5 harbours cruise. It started off as an attempt to recreate the experiences I had read about in Everglades Challenge reports. It is really a fairly modest round trip of the Solent but in a little boat can be a wonderful experience.
I didn't do a report last year. I've copied in below an article I wrote about Solent tides. It was based on and included my cruise report from 2012 and was written for our club magazine.
I hope you manage a trip which gives you a similar sense of achievement when the weather warms up a bit.
I'm not a gifted writer. Apologies in advance to anybody who can't face reading it. This is the best contribution I can make at present!!!
Happy Sailing
Cliff
Fickle winds and faithful tides
When we first learn to cruise sail and oar we begin by having a lot of bad days. We end up in the wrong harbour, lost, cold, wet, sailing in the dark, aground or frightened, normally a combination of the above. Boat modifications and camping gear often don’t work very well. We have to learn how to use gear not mentioned in RYA dinghy sailing courses. For me the early days were heartbreaking.
One of the most important factors in Solent Waters is predicting the tidal directions which are quite complex. Assuming the tide will flood for 6 hours then ebb for 6 hours is a mistake because it doesn’t. There are a lot of theories about Solent tides, most of them put the main blame on the Isle of Wight. I don’t think the Island has much to do with it, the tides in Poole harbour are similar and if anything crankier than the Solent tides.
For the last 3 years I have made a trip around the Solent. For me it’s a very special experience. I leave knowing how to sail a boat and return a few days later with the boat an extension of my being. Although I can swim I am scared of the sea. It will kill me if it catches me off guard. To be so intimately attached to my boat is a great comfort. This trip has become known as the 5 harbours cruise. To date I have always used my Mirror dinghy “Daydream”.
This year’s 5 harbours was dominated by light winds, I spent a lot of time rowing. Despite this I was able to complete the 90 mile round trip in 3 days without exhausting myself. I had to sleep around the times of useful tides but it's in my nature to sleep in bits and pieces rather than 8 hours each night all in one go. As it was midsummer there was plenty of daylight. All of this reminded me of the type of sailing described by Charles Stock and I spent a lot of time thinking about him and his book during the trip. How this trip was especially useful was that due to the light winds the tidal effects were very obvious.
Firstly I want to describe some terms so it is clear what I'm going on about;
Apparent wind. The wind direction and speed as it appears to the crew of a boat. The true wind is modified by the motion of the boat over the ground. This motion may be from the boat travelling through the water and/or movement of the water due to currents.
Spring tide. The bigger tides, typically 4.5m or more (Portsmouth) these have a high water around midday and midnight.
Neap tide The smaller tides, typically 3.9m or less (Portsmouth) these have a high water around 6 am and 6 pm
Flood tide. When the tide in the rivers rises. For the most part from low water to high water
Ebb tide. When the tide in the rivers falls. For the most part from high water to low water
Young flood stand. A slowing of the rate of rise of water during the flood tide. Approximately from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours after low water in Chichester Harbour and from 2 to 3 hours after low water on Southampton Water. Occasionally in Southampton water this will involve a very slight drop in the water level. The current due to the flooding tide will slow, stop or reverse.
Double high. Mainly in Southampton Water and the River Medina. The tide rises to around high water, falls a bit and then rises to another high around an hour and a half later. Sometimes the first high is higher than the second, sometimes the second is higher than the first.
East (going) tide. When the water in the Solent, English Channel etc flows from the west to the east.
West (going) tide When the tide in the Solent, English Channel etc flows from the east to the west.
River. A channel leading from the Solent or English Channel inland. This includes Newtown and Wootton creek, Langstone, Chichester and Portsmouth harbour and Southampton Water
Rules of thumb
When sailing from Chichester Harbour towards Hurst Narrows the fair tide runs for 8 hours, when sailing from Hurst Narrows towards Chichester Harbour the fair tide only runs for 4 hours This is due to an area of slack water which forms between Gilkicker Point and Ryde 2 hours before high water and 3-4 hours after high water. The water directions for each hour are shown on the tidal stream atlas and recorded on the tidal diamonds on the chart.
The young flood stand and double high are much more marked on spring tides than neap tides.
When sailing under Hayling Bridge expect the tidal direction to be the same as the tidal direction in Hayling Bay. This is recorded in a tidal diamond on the chart. Except for very small neap tides the area around the bridge will dry at low water stopping the flow entirely.
When navigating Hilsea Creek (the tidal canal North of Portsmouth) the water floods the creek simultaneously from both ends. Entering the creek 2 hours before high water from the Portsmouth end and at high water from the Langstone end has always worked for me. The rail bridges are very low. At high water a big spring tide will prevent the passage of a dinghy underneath. Entering 2 hours before high water may be worth trying from the Langstone end.
The average water flow in the rivers is towards the sea. The rate will vary with rainfall. The rise and fall of the tide act with or against this flow to produce the currents within the rivers. Recent heavy rain will increase the effects of the young flood stand and ebb.
Going aground at the wrong moment can ruin a perfectly planned passage.
Other information
The average time between one high water and the next varies between springs and neaps. This duration is shorter during springs and longer during neaps. This variation contributes towards the stronger spring tides and the weaker neap tides.
Levels of high water tend to alternate between a big tide and a not so big tide. In my report (below) the variation is only about 0.1 of a metre and that is to be expected in Portsmouth. In Christchurch Harbour the difference can be very great.
The moment of high water (Southampton, also Poole Christchurch, Weymouth) is so indistinct that it is better to do all calculations from low water. Portsmouth is generally done from high water
The tides work on a 29.5 day cycle. Whatever the tidal times are on a given day, 59 days later they will be similar although the tidal heights may vary. This can be a useful guide early in the year when only last year’s tide table is available.
Easytide is a website which gives precise predictions of water levels in the major ports around the Solent. Water levels are shown on a graph. Precise does not necessarily mean accurate. Barometric pressure and wind direction influence tidal height. On a spring tide, a very low pressure coupled with southerly winds may cause exceptionally high water levels.
3 metres of tide is enough to get a light boat off its trolley at Warblington Road Hard or a regular dinghy onto the pontoon at Dell Quay
At around high water the currents towards the middle of Langstone Harbour are small and worthwhile progress can be made against them
Putting it all into practice in the 5 harbours cruise 2012
I won't mention the rain only that there was a lot of it except for Thursday
Tuesday 3rd of July
I launched from Warblington Road hard at the first opportunity in the evening (10pm) and sailed to Sandy Point where I picked up a mooring to start the 5 harbours the next morning. The first 2 hours of this passage was against the tide. I arrived at Sandy Point at 1 am.
Wednesday 4th July high water (Portsmouth) 12 35 BST 4.8m
I woke up a bit late. I finally got underway in a useful Southerly wind at 8. 30. The young flood stand was well under way and it was easy to tack out as far as the lifeboat station. At about this time the young flood stand decided to shut off and I was being dragged back into harbour. By sailing out on the east side of the harbour entrance I eventually managed to get clear by 9. 30. The tide in the English Channel was slack and due to turn west and I had no problem making good progress westwards .My early morning rush had meant no breakfast and no flask. I wasn’t taking proper care of myself. There was a bottle of water in the cockpit locker and some oatcakes to keep me going but not a good start when I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I sailed to Cowes on port tack mostly close hauled then began beating down to Hurst. The water off Lepe was a bit rough and the winds light slowing progress. I arrived outside Hurst Castle at 3 pm and took a nap then fed myself properly before refilling the flask.
At 5 pm I set off back eastwards and got into Southampton water at around 7.30 pm. I sailed into Power Station Creek, found a mooring which looked like it wouldn't dry and spent the night there
Thursday 5th July high water (Portsmouth) 00.49 BST 4.8 m, 1325 BST 4.9m
At 7 am I set off up Southampton Water under oar, occasionally sailing and by 9.30 am had reached Hythe. By then the young flood stand was in full swing and the water flow was going backwards. I anchored, I think I slept for a bit. At 11 am the flood tide had resumed and I set off back upstream to reach Eling for 1 pm. I filled up with water at the sailing club and set off back downstream. The wind such as it was was from the south east.
It was a surprise that the tidal flow continued upstream until 3.30 pm. After that the ebb set in and the water moved quickly. I don't think the wind blew more than 10 knots all afternoon but the ebb tide and the motion of my boat added to the apparent wind. It all got a bit exciting for a bit as I was in a situation where there wasn't room to tuck a reef in. An irrational fear set in and I had to remind myself that I do know how to sail a boat (pretty much anyway) and that my boat does know how to bob about on the water the right way up. Once clear of obstructions and oncoming shipping I hove to and set the proper amount of sail. This took me out past Calshot and into the Solent.
Entering the Solent was like sailing into another world. The choppy conditions on Southampton water were gone, replaced by a beautiful shimmering sea with just enough wind to get the boat moving properly. For some reason the wind direction had changed from North easterly to west north west. The tide was slack although I knew it was due to change and flow east any moment. As I approached the shipping channel off Cowes a couple of big vessels were on their way out of Southampton Water. As I didn't want to end up being swept east of Cowes Harbour I began beating west to gain a bit of distance. The first ship passed and then I noticed the second one had disappeared in the direction of Hurst Narrows. I sailed into Cowes Harbour and noted that quite a tide was still flowing out of the Medina.
I picked up a mooring. I prepared some food, had a coffee, filled the flask and noticed the tide was now flooding into the Medina. The buildings around Cowes tend to funnel the wind in a northerly or southerly direction and I was a bit lucky to have a fair wind for a change. It was a bit weak and I did get an oar out and scull clear of the chain ferry which had loaded up with passengers and was about to cross. Once clear of the Cowes buildings the wind was mainly from the west. I don't think there was more than a knot of it but the tidal flow was adding a couple of knots to that. Add my forward speed, maybe half a knot and there was enough apparent wind to fill the sails and give me steerage. Due to most of the apparent wind being from my motion through the water and the fact that the water was going in the same direction as I was, the wind appeared almost dead ahead. Only with the sails sheeted in tight could I make them draw. I was overtaken by a yacht on its way up to Newport. I caught up with it near Island Harbour Marina where they had gone aground. The skipper said they drew 4 or 5 feet but the tide would soon lift them off and all would be well. I wondered whether they'd have enough water before the young flood stand set in to get to Newport and decided at 4 or 5 feet draught they probably wouldn't. My centreboard (daggerboard) hit the bottom so I pulled it out and rowed the rest of the way to Newport. At every oar stroke I was taking a sounding and there was about a foot of water. I did drift around the channel a bit, there may have been deeper parts. At 9 pm I rowed into Newport Harbour. The water had recently covered the mud alongside the pontoon and I could just get up to it and tie up. I chatted with some of the other boat owners, had a meal, set the alarm clock for half past 5 and went to bed.
Friday 6th July High water (Portsmouth) 0137 BST 4.8m, 1413 BST 4.9m
I was awoken at midnight by a lot of noise. The yacht I had passed had arrived and getting mooring lines rigged involved a lot of revving the engine and shouting at a wife who’d forgotten how to tie a bowline. Soon after I passed them they would have floated but it's likely they didn't know about the young flood stand. It must have been frustrating watching the water rise and then stop rising just as it was getting dark.
Newport Harbour is very sheltered but tends to be a bit noisy. I didn't sleep very well. At 5.45 I woke up and wondered why the alarm hadn't gone off. I got the jibstick out and took a sounding, less than a foot of water. Quickly I untied the boat and tried to paddle clear but the boat wouldn't quite go over the mud. In a panic born of despair I jumped out, pushed the boat over the mud and rolled the back 2 feet of the boat tent forward. I sculled the boat down the river in search of deeper water. With the tent still rigged, fenders dangling, mooring lines trailing a Mirror dinghy was being frantically sculled over the transom by a ragged hippy wearing only shirt and underpants. A bait digger on the foreshore leant on his fork and gawped. Further down the river was a sign saying “Commercial traffic no anchoring in the fairway” and “Vessels anchoring will be charged harbour dues”. I attached the little kedge to the aft mooring line, dropped it over the transom and got the boat in a fit state to enter the Solent. There was a bit of water in the flask from the previous evening which wasn’t very warm. I had a couple of coffees I didn’t much enjoy. I knew there wasn't a lot of time to get out of the river before the tide turned which it did approaching Cowes. The strongest current is where the chain ferry crosses but with quite a lot of effort I managed to row past, into the outer harbour and out into the Solent.
The tide in the Solent was set east and had been for about an hour and a half. There was no wind. I was aiming for Gilkicker Point which is east north east of Cowes. Due to the tide I decided to row due north lining myself up with a back transit to keep the boat straight. An occasional look at the steering compass was needed as the action of the current kept taking me off station with my previous transit and I had to get the boat pointing north again and select a new one. When I was about a mile from the mainland shore the wind picked up. I could just see Hill Head SC to the north west. I sailed the rest of the way to Portsmouth Harbour. It had taken 2 hours to cross the Solent meaning that the young flood stand in Portsmouth would be over and the tide running in fast. The wind through the harbour entrance was from the south and barely enough to keep the sails filled so I helped the boat along with an oar until I was clear of the marina entrances. I drifted up in the direction of Fareham. I barely had steerage and rowed at times.
By the time I had got to the public slipway at Fareham the tide was pretty much up so I tied to the wall, made sandwiches and filled the flask. I didn't get much help from the tide getting back down the river but the wind had come back and for a while I made good progress. The wind later dropped and a good illustration of apparent wind was there in front of me. A spinnaker training session on a Sunsail yacht was in progress. This involved hoisting the spinnaker and then driving the boat backwards under engine to fill the kite while the crew fiddled with the sail controls. I worked my way further down the harbour and picked up a mooring by the marina entrances.
The tide in the Solent wasn't due to turn until about 2 hours before low water and there was hardly any current to help me out of the harbour. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the entrance than was strictly necessary. I had a snack and another sleep.
By the time I woke up the ebb was flowing well and there was a bit of wind from the south. I tacked my way out of the harbour, the tidal flow was a lot more than my boat speed and it felt strange going out of the harbour sideways first on one tack and then the other. Wind against a spring ebb made for quite rough water but very little spray came on board and I managed to suppress the fear I had felt the previous day. When I got into the Solent I found the tide had turned east and I reached Chichester bar at 7.30 getting into the harbour for 8 pm. The tide was flooding in well so although there was very little wind I reached Fowley Rythe off Emsworth for 9 pm and picked up a deep water mooring.
A new record, despite the very light winds I had completed the 5 harbours in 3 days, knocking half a day off the previous two years.
Saturday 7th July High Water (Portsmouth) 0223 BST 4.7m, 1457 BST 4.8m
The wind was howling from the south east and I was really glad I had pushed on, got back into Chichester and I wouldn’t have to cross the Solent. I stayed in bed until noon and then rigged the boat and sailed under reefed main to Warblington Road hard.
Giacomo di Stefano (http://www.manontheriver.com/) built a Ness Yawl in 2010 and more or less followed Jack de Crow's wake from the Thames to the Black Sea in the following years, arriving in Istanbul in 2012. He too had to interrupt his his journey due to a severe illness.
The full story, illustrated by tons of video clips, is on his home page*. But a Ness Yawl is not a Mirror ...
Cheers,
Gernot H.
* scroll down the right-hand side of the page and click on the respective month in the "THE FULL STORY" panel, e. g. http://www.manontheriver.com/2011/05/ is the chapter with the Channel crossing. It has to be followed in blog fashion, i.e. from the bottom upwards.
@Cliff : has the magazine relinquished copyrights or was this no issue ? If so, couldn't we link a copy on our "Documents" page (assuming you have a usable file)?
If not, I shall cut and paste your text, print it out, pour a glass of something for myself and put a map on my knee while tracing your progress ;-{) thanks for posting!
Gernot H.
@ Cliff : have you got a formatted file (WinWord or similar)? Of course an html file with pictures would be optimal.
If so, please send it me as an attachment (to gernot(at)mirrordiscussforum.org). I'll do my best to put it up on the documents page soon.
Greetings,
Gernot
I never really intended it to end up in the documents page as it was a really modest trip. On the other hand Sandy's voyage started off in a really modest way.
I don't know if I was a motivating factor but while I was doing my 5 harbours last year my girlfriend was enjoying an extended cruise in local sheltered waters also in an 11 foot open boat with a boom tent. We both returned with stories to tell.
I cant over emphasise the need to be able to reef on the water for this sort of thing or for decent ground tackle. Euan demonstrated a near perfect anchoring technique in his video with Muckle Moose
Reefing on the water is easy and a pleasure as it makes uncomfortable situations suddenly become no problem. A video is long overdue, I must talk to David about filming one.
Having read most of the book now (just the Danube left to do, but that's all downhill), it occurs to me that the only sane way to make a trip like that is to have a motor for all the places where the current makes the risk excessive or where you can't make any progress without getting a tow from someone. A propeller may be a liability though, but it occurs to me that it may be possible to build a jet ski engine into the hull near the middle and have the steerable jet come out next to the skeg. This would make it possible to get up rapids with little or no damage, and would also be extremely useful for getting out of the way of ships if you're becalmed in the middle of the English Channel.
I do like the idea of repeating at least part of his trip now, though it would need some modifications. I would look into the idea of bypassing as much canal as possible by going up the river Somme, then cut across to Paris and take the Yazne east from there (if that's the right spelling - I'm going by the map on p158) and do the stretch of canal that goes through the final tunnel and across the aqueduct into Toul. Going down the Moselle is a must, and then the jet ski engine would come into play for getting up the Rhine and the Main to the canal that connects through to the Danube. Without engine power for the uphill parts, the trip would just be too long and gruelling.
The lightest jet skis appear to be 150kg - far too big and powerful. We'd probably only need about 15mph rather than 40+, so a smaller engine would have to be adapted to work with an impeller.
Sandy McKinnon took tows and had a lift on a barge.
I've no Idea as to what "Man on the river" Giacomo di Stefano did on the upstream bits (haven't managed to read all his blog texts - http://www.manontheriver.com/the-journey/ - but he even got to Istanbul from London.
Kayakmann Andreas Gabriel (http://www.der-mit-dem-wind-faehrt.de/) actually "circumnavigated" most of Europe (N. Germany - Danube- Black Sea - Mediterranean - Gibraltar - Bay of Biscay - around Britanny - back home) in a catamaran built of two double-seater kayaks, but had an outboard engine for the uphill runs.
Cheers,
Gernot
A greener option may be an electric engine, batteries and solar panels. There are pretty good motors available for bicycles now and they could probably be adapted. You could potentially turn the sails into solar panels too, if you don't mind them being an attractive shade of black.
The Vikings reached the Black Sea via Russian rivers, so I've been taking a little look to see what possibilities might be on offer tere for travel by Mirror. One option doesn't actually touch Russia at all, but starts near Gdansk in Poland and goes up the Wisła to Warsaw, then up the Bug to a canal connecting on to the Dnepr, taking you into the Ukraine for the rest of the trip, starting with the Pripyet Marshes. I don't know if it's possible to do the Chernobyl section, though it may be open (so long as you don't land anywhere) as it should have been flushed clean by the river. Apx 1200 miles judging by a superficial look of it, though you should probably add several hundred more to account for the meandering nature of rivers.
The other possible route is much longer, starting at St. Petersburg and following lakes and canals to the Volga, then the Volga can be taken all the way to the Caspian Sea. More canals link the Volga to the Black Sea, coming out by the Crimea. It may be better to do this trip starting from the Black Sea end and travelling north with the Summer, unless the Volga flows too fast for this to be practical. There may be time to take a diversion up to the Urals, but that wouldn't be essential - it would just be a pity not to go there when you have the chance. There is a fairly direct route to St Petersburg, but an alternative one might be possible by switching onto the Dvina - it looks as if the Sukhona connects this to the Volga. There's a canal back down from the White Sea linking through eventually to St Petersburg, so this leads to the possibility of a gruelling round trip starting at Gdansk and visiting the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Urals, Arkhangelsk and St Petersburg before sailing back to Gdansk via the Baltic. This would probably need to be done over the course of two summers.
For journeys on this scale, finding a way to integrate electric power with a Mirror would be wise (suitable electric propeller motors are available), using solar panels to reduce the need for endless rowing when the wind's not being helpful, and batteries which can be taken into houses of friendly natives for overnight charging to ensure that a reasonable daily milage can be maintained throughout the trip. Adventures of this kind may become very popular a decade from now once most people have been permanently liberated from work by advances in artificial intelligence.
Here's a link to a 44 minute video of a 4000 mile Wayfarer journey which makes for good winter viewing. Parts of it (the Nile) would be fun in a Mirror too, by the look of it:-
I'll have to hook up my laptop to the telly to look at that video from a comfortable sofa.
That raises a question: how does one upload a 44-minute video to YouTube? It took about 2 hours to upload my "Checking Ell-tea" video which is just 9 minutes. Do these folks have fibre-to-the-home and a super-fast host/server?
smilicus
Tue, 03/25/2014 - 15:49
Permalink
Busy Reading
Hello Jay
Busy reading the book, but must say that with todays technology and a bit better planning that Sandy did one should be able to make it...
BUT one would have to be careful and do you research and homework first, not a light hearted voyage to undertake.
jasonpay
Tue, 03/25/2014 - 16:26
Permalink
Oh, I'm not considering it!
Oh, I'm not considering it!
Just a hopeless romantic who spends days and days dreaming.
Members from my sailing club sailed in a convoy of wayfarers across the channel last summer.
I think the unplanned nature of his trip is to me magical!
David Cooper
Tue, 03/25/2014 - 20:10
Permalink
Do something new and write a book about it.
I haven't read it yet (I ordered it a few days ago from a bookshop and it might not arrive for weeks - I had a book token to use and couldn't use it through Amazon), but the trouble with recreating someone else's journey is that your adventure, even if it turns out to be a good one, will have massively reduced sales potential for any book you might write about it.
You don't want to do anything too way out though - Frank Dye's book "Ocean Crossing Wayfarer: To Iceland and Norway in a 16ft Open Dinghy" shows where the limits are - he was lucky to survive, so you want to keep sea crossings reasonably short. A trip out to St Kilda (Scotland, not Australia) would be the longest one I'd dare to attempt in a Mirror, perhaps as part of a longer adventure travelling up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, then finishing at the top of Shetland. This would be best done with a small fleet of Mirrors, but it would be essential that everyone involved has plenty of time available so that there's never any pressure to set off in questionable conditions.
sail_and_oar
Tue, 03/25/2014 - 21:28
Permalink
The 5 Harbours Cruise
Sandy had a fairly open ended timetable. This is pretty rare and made his trip possible. Most of us have to juggle our time but this is no reason not to go, we just have to return sooner. Choose waters which are suitable for your boat and experience, provision well and take a boat tent and an anchor. When you return write something and tell us all about it.
For the past 4 summers I have done what I call the 5 harbours cruise. It started off as an attempt to recreate the experiences I had read about in Everglades Challenge reports. It is really a fairly modest round trip of the Solent but in a little boat can be a wonderful experience.
I didn't do a report last year. I've copied in below an article I wrote about Solent tides. It was based on and included my cruise report from 2012 and was written for our club magazine.
I hope you manage a trip which gives you a similar sense of achievement when the weather warms up a bit.
I'm not a gifted writer. Apologies in advance to anybody who can't face reading it. This is the best contribution I can make at present!!!
Happy Sailing
Cliff
Fickle winds and faithful tides
When we first learn to cruise sail and oar we begin by having a lot of bad days. We end up in the wrong harbour, lost, cold, wet, sailing in the dark, aground or frightened, normally a combination of the above. Boat modifications and camping gear often don’t work very well. We have to learn how to use gear not mentioned in RYA dinghy sailing courses. For me the early days were heartbreaking.
One of the most important factors in Solent Waters is predicting the tidal directions which are quite complex. Assuming the tide will flood for 6 hours then ebb for 6 hours is a mistake because it doesn’t. There are a lot of theories about Solent tides, most of them put the main blame on the Isle of Wight. I don’t think the Island has much to do with it, the tides in Poole harbour are similar and if anything crankier than the Solent tides.
For the last 3 years I have made a trip around the Solent. For me it’s a very special experience. I leave knowing how to sail a boat and return a few days later with the boat an extension of my being. Although I can swim I am scared of the sea. It will kill me if it catches me off guard. To be so intimately attached to my boat is a great comfort. This trip has become known as the 5 harbours cruise. To date I have always used my Mirror dinghy “Daydream”.
This year’s 5 harbours was dominated by light winds, I spent a lot of time rowing. Despite this I was able to complete the 90 mile round trip in 3 days without exhausting myself. I had to sleep around the times of useful tides but it's in my nature to sleep in bits and pieces rather than 8 hours each night all in one go. As it was midsummer there was plenty of daylight. All of this reminded me of the type of sailing described by Charles Stock and I spent a lot of time thinking about him and his book during the trip. How this trip was especially useful was that due to the light winds the tidal effects were very obvious.
Firstly I want to describe some terms so it is clear what I'm going on about;
Apparent wind. The wind direction and speed as it appears to the crew of a boat. The true wind is modified by the motion of the boat over the ground. This motion may be from the boat travelling through the water and/or movement of the water due to currents.
Spring tide. The bigger tides, typically 4.5m or more (Portsmouth) these have a high water around midday and midnight.
Neap tide The smaller tides, typically 3.9m or less (Portsmouth) these have a high water around 6 am and 6 pm
Flood tide. When the tide in the rivers rises. For the most part from low water to high water
Ebb tide. When the tide in the rivers falls. For the most part from high water to low water
Young flood stand. A slowing of the rate of rise of water during the flood tide. Approximately from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours after low water in Chichester Harbour and from 2 to 3 hours after low water on Southampton Water. Occasionally in Southampton water this will involve a very slight drop in the water level. The current due to the flooding tide will slow, stop or reverse.
Double high. Mainly in Southampton Water and the River Medina. The tide rises to around high water, falls a bit and then rises to another high around an hour and a half later. Sometimes the first high is higher than the second, sometimes the second is higher than the first.
East (going) tide. When the water in the Solent, English Channel etc flows from the west to the east.
West (going) tide When the tide in the Solent, English Channel etc flows from the east to the west.
River. A channel leading from the Solent or English Channel inland. This includes Newtown and Wootton creek, Langstone, Chichester and Portsmouth harbour and Southampton Water
Rules of thumb
When sailing from Chichester Harbour towards Hurst Narrows the fair tide runs for 8 hours, when sailing from Hurst Narrows towards Chichester Harbour the fair tide only runs for 4 hours This is due to an area of slack water which forms between Gilkicker Point and Ryde 2 hours before high water and 3-4 hours after high water. The water directions for each hour are shown on the tidal stream atlas and recorded on the tidal diamonds on the chart.
The young flood stand and double high are much more marked on spring tides than neap tides.
When sailing under Hayling Bridge expect the tidal direction to be the same as the tidal direction in Hayling Bay. This is recorded in a tidal diamond on the chart. Except for very small neap tides the area around the bridge will dry at low water stopping the flow entirely.
When navigating Hilsea Creek (the tidal canal North of Portsmouth) the water floods the creek simultaneously from both ends. Entering the creek 2 hours before high water from the Portsmouth end and at high water from the Langstone end has always worked for me. The rail bridges are very low. At high water a big spring tide will prevent the passage of a dinghy underneath. Entering 2 hours before high water may be worth trying from the Langstone end.
The average water flow in the rivers is towards the sea. The rate will vary with rainfall. The rise and fall of the tide act with or against this flow to produce the currents within the rivers. Recent heavy rain will increase the effects of the young flood stand and ebb.
Going aground at the wrong moment can ruin a perfectly planned passage.
Other information
The average time between one high water and the next varies between springs and neaps. This duration is shorter during springs and longer during neaps. This variation contributes towards the stronger spring tides and the weaker neap tides.
Levels of high water tend to alternate between a big tide and a not so big tide. In my report (below) the variation is only about 0.1 of a metre and that is to be expected in Portsmouth. In Christchurch Harbour the difference can be very great.
The moment of high water (Southampton, also Poole Christchurch, Weymouth) is so indistinct that it is better to do all calculations from low water. Portsmouth is generally done from high water
The tides work on a 29.5 day cycle. Whatever the tidal times are on a given day, 59 days later they will be similar although the tidal heights may vary. This can be a useful guide early in the year when only last year’s tide table is available.
Easytide is a website which gives precise predictions of water levels in the major ports around the Solent. Water levels are shown on a graph. Precise does not necessarily mean accurate. Barometric pressure and wind direction influence tidal height. On a spring tide, a very low pressure coupled with southerly winds may cause exceptionally high water levels.
3 metres of tide is enough to get a light boat off its trolley at Warblington Road Hard or a regular dinghy onto the pontoon at Dell Quay
At around high water the currents towards the middle of Langstone Harbour are small and worthwhile progress can be made against them
Putting it all into practice in the 5 harbours cruise 2012
I won't mention the rain only that there was a lot of it except for Thursday
Tuesday 3rd of July
I launched from Warblington Road hard at the first opportunity in the evening (10pm) and sailed to Sandy Point where I picked up a mooring to start the 5 harbours the next morning. The first 2 hours of this passage was against the tide. I arrived at Sandy Point at 1 am.
Wednesday 4th July high water (Portsmouth) 12 35 BST 4.8m
I woke up a bit late. I finally got underway in a useful Southerly wind at 8. 30. The young flood stand was well under way and it was easy to tack out as far as the lifeboat station. At about this time the young flood stand decided to shut off and I was being dragged back into harbour. By sailing out on the east side of the harbour entrance I eventually managed to get clear by 9. 30. The tide in the English Channel was slack and due to turn west and I had no problem making good progress westwards .My early morning rush had meant no breakfast and no flask. I wasn’t taking proper care of myself. There was a bottle of water in the cockpit locker and some oatcakes to keep me going but not a good start when I was supposed to be enjoying myself. I sailed to Cowes on port tack mostly close hauled then began beating down to Hurst. The water off Lepe was a bit rough and the winds light slowing progress. I arrived outside Hurst Castle at 3 pm and took a nap then fed myself properly before refilling the flask.
At 5 pm I set off back eastwards and got into Southampton water at around 7.30 pm. I sailed into Power Station Creek, found a mooring which looked like it wouldn't dry and spent the night there
Thursday 5th July high water (Portsmouth) 00.49 BST 4.8 m, 1325 BST 4.9m
At 7 am I set off up Southampton Water under oar, occasionally sailing and by 9.30 am had reached Hythe. By then the young flood stand was in full swing and the water flow was going backwards. I anchored, I think I slept for a bit. At 11 am the flood tide had resumed and I set off back upstream to reach Eling for 1 pm. I filled up with water at the sailing club and set off back downstream. The wind such as it was was from the south east.
It was a surprise that the tidal flow continued upstream until 3.30 pm. After that the ebb set in and the water moved quickly. I don't think the wind blew more than 10 knots all afternoon but the ebb tide and the motion of my boat added to the apparent wind. It all got a bit exciting for a bit as I was in a situation where there wasn't room to tuck a reef in. An irrational fear set in and I had to remind myself that I do know how to sail a boat (pretty much anyway) and that my boat does know how to bob about on the water the right way up. Once clear of obstructions and oncoming shipping I hove to and set the proper amount of sail. This took me out past Calshot and into the Solent.
Entering the Solent was like sailing into another world. The choppy conditions on Southampton water were gone, replaced by a beautiful shimmering sea with just enough wind to get the boat moving properly. For some reason the wind direction had changed from North easterly to west north west. The tide was slack although I knew it was due to change and flow east any moment. As I approached the shipping channel off Cowes a couple of big vessels were on their way out of Southampton Water. As I didn't want to end up being swept east of Cowes Harbour I began beating west to gain a bit of distance. The first ship passed and then I noticed the second one had disappeared in the direction of Hurst Narrows. I sailed into Cowes Harbour and noted that quite a tide was still flowing out of the Medina.
I picked up a mooring. I prepared some food, had a coffee, filled the flask and noticed the tide was now flooding into the Medina. The buildings around Cowes tend to funnel the wind in a northerly or southerly direction and I was a bit lucky to have a fair wind for a change. It was a bit weak and I did get an oar out and scull clear of the chain ferry which had loaded up with passengers and was about to cross. Once clear of the Cowes buildings the wind was mainly from the west. I don't think there was more than a knot of it but the tidal flow was adding a couple of knots to that. Add my forward speed, maybe half a knot and there was enough apparent wind to fill the sails and give me steerage. Due to most of the apparent wind being from my motion through the water and the fact that the water was going in the same direction as I was, the wind appeared almost dead ahead. Only with the sails sheeted in tight could I make them draw. I was overtaken by a yacht on its way up to Newport. I caught up with it near Island Harbour Marina where they had gone aground. The skipper said they drew 4 or 5 feet but the tide would soon lift them off and all would be well. I wondered whether they'd have enough water before the young flood stand set in to get to Newport and decided at 4 or 5 feet draught they probably wouldn't. My centreboard (daggerboard) hit the bottom so I pulled it out and rowed the rest of the way to Newport. At every oar stroke I was taking a sounding and there was about a foot of water. I did drift around the channel a bit, there may have been deeper parts. At 9 pm I rowed into Newport Harbour. The water had recently covered the mud alongside the pontoon and I could just get up to it and tie up. I chatted with some of the other boat owners, had a meal, set the alarm clock for half past 5 and went to bed.
Friday 6th July High water (Portsmouth) 0137 BST 4.8m, 1413 BST 4.9m
I was awoken at midnight by a lot of noise. The yacht I had passed had arrived and getting mooring lines rigged involved a lot of revving the engine and shouting at a wife who’d forgotten how to tie a bowline. Soon after I passed them they would have floated but it's likely they didn't know about the young flood stand. It must have been frustrating watching the water rise and then stop rising just as it was getting dark.
Newport Harbour is very sheltered but tends to be a bit noisy. I didn't sleep very well. At 5.45 I woke up and wondered why the alarm hadn't gone off. I got the jibstick out and took a sounding, less than a foot of water. Quickly I untied the boat and tried to paddle clear but the boat wouldn't quite go over the mud. In a panic born of despair I jumped out, pushed the boat over the mud and rolled the back 2 feet of the boat tent forward. I sculled the boat down the river in search of deeper water. With the tent still rigged, fenders dangling, mooring lines trailing a Mirror dinghy was being frantically sculled over the transom by a ragged hippy wearing only shirt and underpants. A bait digger on the foreshore leant on his fork and gawped. Further down the river was a sign saying “Commercial traffic no anchoring in the fairway” and “Vessels anchoring will be charged harbour dues”. I attached the little kedge to the aft mooring line, dropped it over the transom and got the boat in a fit state to enter the Solent. There was a bit of water in the flask from the previous evening which wasn’t very warm. I had a couple of coffees I didn’t much enjoy. I knew there wasn't a lot of time to get out of the river before the tide turned which it did approaching Cowes. The strongest current is where the chain ferry crosses but with quite a lot of effort I managed to row past, into the outer harbour and out into the Solent.
The tide in the Solent was set east and had been for about an hour and a half. There was no wind. I was aiming for Gilkicker Point which is east north east of Cowes. Due to the tide I decided to row due north lining myself up with a back transit to keep the boat straight. An occasional look at the steering compass was needed as the action of the current kept taking me off station with my previous transit and I had to get the boat pointing north again and select a new one. When I was about a mile from the mainland shore the wind picked up. I could just see Hill Head SC to the north west. I sailed the rest of the way to Portsmouth Harbour. It had taken 2 hours to cross the Solent meaning that the young flood stand in Portsmouth would be over and the tide running in fast. The wind through the harbour entrance was from the south and barely enough to keep the sails filled so I helped the boat along with an oar until I was clear of the marina entrances. I drifted up in the direction of Fareham. I barely had steerage and rowed at times.
By the time I had got to the public slipway at Fareham the tide was pretty much up so I tied to the wall, made sandwiches and filled the flask. I didn't get much help from the tide getting back down the river but the wind had come back and for a while I made good progress. The wind later dropped and a good illustration of apparent wind was there in front of me. A spinnaker training session on a Sunsail yacht was in progress. This involved hoisting the spinnaker and then driving the boat backwards under engine to fill the kite while the crew fiddled with the sail controls. I worked my way further down the harbour and picked up a mooring by the marina entrances.
The tide in the Solent wasn't due to turn until about 2 hours before low water and there was hardly any current to help me out of the harbour. I didn’t want to spend any more time in the entrance than was strictly necessary. I had a snack and another sleep.
By the time I woke up the ebb was flowing well and there was a bit of wind from the south. I tacked my way out of the harbour, the tidal flow was a lot more than my boat speed and it felt strange going out of the harbour sideways first on one tack and then the other. Wind against a spring ebb made for quite rough water but very little spray came on board and I managed to suppress the fear I had felt the previous day. When I got into the Solent I found the tide had turned east and I reached Chichester bar at 7.30 getting into the harbour for 8 pm. The tide was flooding in well so although there was very little wind I reached Fowley Rythe off Emsworth for 9 pm and picked up a deep water mooring.
A new record, despite the very light winds I had completed the 5 harbours in 3 days, knocking half a day off the previous two years.
Saturday 7th July High Water (Portsmouth) 0223 BST 4.7m, 1457 BST 4.8m
The wind was howling from the south east and I was really glad I had pushed on, got back into Chichester and I wouldn’t have to cross the Solent. I stayed in bed until noon and then rigged the boat and sailed under reefed main to Warblington Road hard.
Can't wait for next year
Cliff
PuffinInTegel
Wed, 03/26/2014 - 16:56
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UK -> Black Sea -> Istanbul
Giacomo di Stefano (http://www.manontheriver.com/) built a Ness Yawl in 2010 and more or less followed Jack de Crow's wake from the Thames to the Black Sea in the following years, arriving in Istanbul in 2012. He too had to interrupt his his journey due to a severe illness.
The full story, illustrated by tons of video clips, is on his home page*. But a Ness Yawl is not a Mirror ...
Cheers,
Gernot H.
* scroll down the right-hand side of the page and click on the respective month in the "THE FULL STORY" panel, e. g. http://www.manontheriver.com/2011/05/ is the chapter with the Channel crossing. It has to be followed in blog fashion, i.e. from the bottom upwards.
62816inBerlin
Thu, 03/27/2014 - 16:10
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5 Harbours
@Cliff : has the magazine relinquished copyrights or was this no issue ? If so, couldn't we link a copy on our "Documents" page (assuming you have a usable file)?
If not, I shall cut and paste your text, print it out, pour a glass of something for myself and put a map on my knee while tracing your progress ;-{) thanks for posting!
Gernot H.
sail_and_oar
Thu, 03/27/2014 - 19:13
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Copyright
Hi Gernot.
No problem with copyright, please go ahead.
Cliff
David Cooper
Thu, 03/27/2014 - 19:17
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That's good - it'll make it
That's good - it'll make it easier to find it again.
PuffinInTegel
Sat, 03/29/2014 - 21:15
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File available?
@ Cliff : have you got a formatted file (WinWord or similar)? Of course an html file with pictures would be optimal.
If so, please send it me as an attachment (to gernot(at)mirrordiscussforum.org). I'll do my best to put it up on the documents page soon.
Greetings,
Gernot
sail_and_oar
Sun, 03/30/2014 - 14:20
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Fickle Winds and Faithful Tides
Hi Gernot,
I've sent you a word document of the above piece.
I never really intended it to end up in the documents page as it was a really modest trip. On the other hand Sandy's voyage started off in a really modest way.
I don't know if I was a motivating factor but while I was doing my 5 harbours last year my girlfriend was enjoying an extended cruise in local sheltered waters also in an 11 foot open boat with a boom tent. We both returned with stories to tell.
I cant over emphasise the need to be able to reef on the water for this sort of thing or for decent ground tackle. Euan demonstrated a near perfect anchoring technique in his video with Muckle Moose
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELzRJPm9xpo
Reefing on the water is easy and a pleasure as it makes uncomfortable situations suddenly become no problem. A video is long overdue, I must talk to David about filming one.
Cliff
David Cooper
Tue, 04/15/2014 - 20:42
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A jet ski engine might help.
Having read most of the book now (just the Danube left to do, but that's all downhill), it occurs to me that the only sane way to make a trip like that is to have a motor for all the places where the current makes the risk excessive or where you can't make any progress without getting a tow from someone. A propeller may be a liability though, but it occurs to me that it may be possible to build a jet ski engine into the hull near the middle and have the steerable jet come out next to the skeg. This would make it possible to get up rapids with little or no damage, and would also be extremely useful for getting out of the way of ships if you're becalmed in the middle of the English Channel.
I do like the idea of repeating at least part of his trip now, though it would need some modifications. I would look into the idea of bypassing as much canal as possible by going up the river Somme, then cut across to Paris and take the Yazne east from there (if that's the right spelling - I'm going by the map on p158) and do the stretch of canal that goes through the final tunnel and across the aqueduct into Toul. Going down the Moselle is a must, and then the jet ski engine would come into play for getting up the Rhine and the Main to the canal that connects through to the Danube. Without engine power for the uphill parts, the trip would just be too long and gruelling.
David Cooper
Tue, 04/15/2014 - 21:14
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...Except they're all too heavy.
The lightest jet skis appear to be 150kg - far too big and powerful. We'd probably only need about 15mph rather than 40+, so a smaller engine would have to be adapted to work with an impeller.
62816inBerlin
Tue, 04/15/2014 - 22:52
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Take a tow
Sandy McKinnon took tows and had a lift on a barge.
I've no Idea as to what "Man on the river" Giacomo di Stefano did on the upstream bits (haven't managed to read all his blog texts - http://www.manontheriver.com/the-journey/ - but he even got to Istanbul from London.
Kayakmann Andreas Gabriel (http://www.der-mit-dem-wind-faehrt.de/) actually "circumnavigated" most of Europe (N. Germany - Danube- Black Sea - Mediterranean - Gibraltar - Bay of Biscay - around Britanny - back home) in a catamaran built of two double-seater kayaks, but had an outboard engine for the uphill runs.
Cheers,
Gernot
David Cooper
Tue, 04/15/2014 - 23:32
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Electric power?
A greener option may be an electric engine, batteries and solar panels. There are pretty good motors available for bicycles now and they could probably be adapted. You could potentially turn the sails into solar panels too, if you don't mind them being an attractive shade of black.
David Cooper
Mon, 04/21/2014 - 19:07
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Alternative routes to/from the Black Sea
The Vikings reached the Black Sea via Russian rivers, so I've been taking a little look to see what possibilities might be on offer tere for travel by Mirror. One option doesn't actually touch Russia at all, but starts near Gdansk in Poland and goes up the Wisła to Warsaw, then up the Bug to a canal connecting on to the Dnepr, taking you into the Ukraine for the rest of the trip, starting with the Pripyet Marshes. I don't know if it's possible to do the Chernobyl section, though it may be open (so long as you don't land anywhere) as it should have been flushed clean by the river. Apx 1200 miles judging by a superficial look of it, though you should probably add several hundred more to account for the meandering nature of rivers.
The other possible route is much longer, starting at St. Petersburg and following lakes and canals to the Volga, then the Volga can be taken all the way to the Caspian Sea. More canals link the Volga to the Black Sea, coming out by the Crimea. It may be better to do this trip starting from the Black Sea end and travelling north with the Summer, unless the Volga flows too fast for this to be practical. There may be time to take a diversion up to the Urals, but that wouldn't be essential - it would just be a pity not to go there when you have the chance. There is a fairly direct route to St Petersburg, but an alternative one might be possible by switching onto the Dvina - it looks as if the Sukhona connects this to the Volga. There's a canal back down from the White Sea linking through eventually to St Petersburg, so this leads to the possibility of a gruelling round trip starting at Gdansk and visiting the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Urals, Arkhangelsk and St Petersburg before sailing back to Gdansk via the Baltic. This would probably need to be done over the course of two summers.
For journeys on this scale, finding a way to integrate electric power with a Mirror would be wise (suitable electric propeller motors are available), using solar panels to reduce the need for endless rowing when the wind's not being helpful, and batteries which can be taken into houses of friendly natives for overnight charging to ensure that a reasonable daily milage can be maintained throughout the trip. Adventures of this kind may become very popular a decade from now once most people have been permanently liberated from work by advances in artificial intelligence.
David Cooper
Sat, 11/15/2014 - 23:12
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Some winter viewing which may give you ideas
Here's a link to a 44 minute video of a 4000 mile Wayfarer journey which makes for good winter viewing. Parts of it (the Nile) would be fun in a Mirror too, by the look of it:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuy4goz3stI
mirrorpete
Mon, 11/17/2014 - 15:03
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Some winter viewing...
Great video, thanks for posting it.
62816inBerlin
Wed, 11/19/2014 - 23:15
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Thx!
I'll have to hook up my laptop to the telly to look at that video from a comfortable sofa.
That raises a question: how does one upload a 44-minute video to YouTube? It took about 2 hours to upload my "Checking Ell-tea" video which is just 9 minutes. Do these folks have fibre-to-the-home and a super-fast host/server?
Cheers,
Gernot H.