Updates for the Book
There is currently one update available which you can download here or from the Imray Web Site.
This provides details on changes affecting the text, some recent valuable experience of depths over the Sunk Sand at both the Barrow No 2 crossing Point and the Sunk Beacon in July 2008 (Note that the Sunk Beacon collapsed onto the seabed at the beginning of 2010) and updates to Southbound table B for 5, 6 and 7 knots and the Eastbound Table E for 4, 5, 6 and 7 knots. For greater accuracy these should be used instead of the original pages.
Please note one other correction:
Page 8: Table of Routes. In the list of Sectors for Ramsgate to the Crouch via the N. Edinburgh Channel. Please amend Sector B4 to read B5 (both North and Southbound). A similar amendment needs to be made to the Schedule of Routes and their Sectors at the back of the book.
Other Downloads
There are eleven downloads currently available:
Copy of a 2011 article reprinted from EastCoastSailing.co.uk providing an update on the crossing places for the Sunk Sand. Using in conjunction with the chart of the SW Sunk below.
Download the Sunk Sand article here
Data on depths in Bradwell Creek. This chart is from soundings taken in September
and October, 2010 and a re-
Download the Bradwell Data here
Data on depths at the Sunk Sand between the SW Sunk and the collapsed SW Sunk beacon. This data is from soundings on 12th May, 2011. I found this a viable crossing point which is convenient for Fisherman’s Gat.
Download the SW Sunk Data here
Data on depths at the Spitway (June, 2009 and July 2010). The download is a pdf file containing a plan, text and photographs.
Download the Spitway Data here
Data on the Ray Sand between the River Crouch and Rivers Colne and Blackwater (Completely revised July 2011 and amended in August, 2001). The download is a pdf file containing an entirely new chart including part of the new Crouch buoyage and now includes two Safe Water Marks.
Download the Ray Sand Data here
The comprehensive buoyage planned for the River Crouch is now laid (16.07.2011). Download the Crouch Harbour Authority Chart here or the CTTE version which is more suitable for A4 printing.
Download the Crouch Harbour Authority Chart here
Download the CTTE version here
A chartlet of the North and South channels into Tollesbury. Do not be fooled by the East Cardinal Buoy! It should be a lateral starboard buoy!
Download the Tollesbury, North and South Channels Chart here
A chartlet of the Leavings, Tolesbury completed from soundings taken during 2011.
Download the Tollesbury, The Leavings Chart here
A chartlet that I have done simply because I had the data! It shows how the Nass has retreated over the years. This chart has been amended on 9.01.2012 to include the UKHO NtoM dealing with the wreck adjacent to the Nass Beacon.
Download the Mersea Quarters Chart here
A pdf file replica of the Planning Assistant that folds-
Download the Planning Assistant with Example Working here
This second pdf is the Planning Assistant without the example working. This provides more rows for alternative workings.
Download the Planning Assistant without example here
Remember to set your Printer to ‘Landscape’
Supplement 1 -
New Sectors for Princes Channel added, providing 10 New Routes
Including Essex Rivers to Ramsgate via Princes Channel and links to Sea Reach No. 1 for timing your arrival at the start of the Thames
Following a request from a reader, I have added eight new sectors in this supplement which will enable you, when linking these sectors with those already in the book, to add ten new routes. For those of you without the book, I am afraid you will find these tables incomplete!
The new Routes are:
- Ramsgate to each of the Essex Rivers via the Princes Channel and the Swin – this avoids the necessity to cross the Sunk Sand but does add the certainty of some adverse tide somewhere in the passage and a little extra mileage.
- Ramsgate to Medway via the Princes Channel – this avoids the shallow Hook Spit.
- Ramsgate to Thames (Sea Reach) – for those planning a trip up the Thames.
- Each of the Essex Rivers to Thames (Sea Reach).
- Each of the Suffolk Rivers to Thames (Sea Reach) via the Spitway and Swin.
This at the time of writing, as the Nore Swatchway is closed and as there was space for an extra sector in the table, I have added data for the Medway Landfall to Sea Reach. Subject to demand, it would be possible to add two or more sectors to cover the Queens Channel route from Ramsgate to the Swale and Medway. Let me know if this is of interest.
The Thames Estuary we enjoy is constantly changing:
- Buoyage is now solely for shipping and altered for their needs and not ours;
- Many fixed marks are not maintained and are crumbling;
- Depths alter both after poor weather and naturally over time;
- Tide data out of the main channels is patchy.
As a result it will benefit all of us to keep as up to date as possible.
If you wish to provide any update or additional information, or indeed comment on any aspect of the book, please email us via the Contact page
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