I haven’t sailed much recently and when I have been out I've been practising with my new Lightning dinghy. Today's conditions at West Oxford Sailing Club where very gusty indeed. I launched Calculus and sailed only a few hundred yards before I was literally blown out of the boat! I was so exhausted after my swim that I decided to call it a day. Instead I've been using the afternoon to plan some day trips for the spring. For those of you that have never sailed on the sea or planned a short dinghy cruise here is a simple guide. It’s a method that works for me but please make sure you understand tides and weather as I’m no expert and I can’t give advice on these matters.
It will help to have some knowledge of how tides work and it may be best to plan your sailing on a day when neap tides are expected. The tidal range of neap tides is less and the current does not flow as quickly. It may also be a good idea to plan your first cruise inside a harbour or river as the current tends to flow up-river on the flood and down-river on the ebb making for simple trip planning. Whatever the conditions it will be important to note down the times of high and low water. You must also choose a launch site that suits your plans as some ramps or only accessible at certain states of tide. Visit - http://www.boatlaunch.co.uk/ for a full list of the UK's launch sites and accessibility issues.
Navigation is not as difficult for dinghy sailors as it is for those who sail larger boats. We have the luxury of a very shallow draft and are not as restricted as keel boats. It is also not as important to worry about getting lost when sailing within the safety of a harbour or river estuary. However, we should never set to sea without a plan of tides, weather and suitable charts. Charts can be expensive and most charts are useless on a small dinghy. I only use charts that I can tape to the hatch of the rear locker. See these images from a previous post - http://gulldinghysailing.blogspot.com/2008/10/solent-2008.html .For sailing in places like Langstone or Chichester harbour in a shallow draft dinghy like the Gull it may even be useful to use an OS map. My method is to visit http://www.visitmyharbour.com/ , find the area I wish to sail and copy the "free - not for navigation chart". These charts are NOT FOR NAVIGATION! That’s all I'm going to say on the matter. You can pay for the proper charts that are identical or you can cut the small visible sections of the sample chart from the website and stick them together using Photoshop or Paint. I won't say what I do but I will once again remind you that for dinghy sailing in sheltered waters basic charts of the area are more than adequate. Whatever your method, it will be necessary to print the chart off on to A4 paper and have it laminated as it will get wet!
Once I have the chart on my computer I open it in the "paint" programme and add the GPS way points. These are the little yellow arrows that can be seen in the sample above. Once I'm out on the water I can see at a glance where certain way points are and I can then dial them up on my wrist mounted GPS. This way I always know where I am and where I’m going. On longer journeys along the Solent I always mark my position on the chart every 10 - 15 minutes with a grease pencil. This is very important as you will need to know where you are if your GPS goes down or visibility drops.
Make sure you have oars or an outboard. If the wind drops and you don't have alternative propulsion you will go where the tide is going and not necessarily where you want to go! Also have an anchor and warp ready to drop in an emergency. Flares are important on coastal trips but I only have a whistle for small sheltered harbours. Handheld radios are excessive, in my opinion, and they require you to have a licence. Take a mobile phone in a waterproof case and let someone know where you are and what time you expect to be back. If you launch from a harbour or marina where you have to pay a small fee for the privilege, you will find that the harbour master will become aware of your intentions and will keep an eye out for you.
It all sounds a bit daunting to the uninitiated but it really is worth doing. I tend to do these trips alone on weekdays as the launch sites are usually empty and most places are much quieter. I carefully study the weather to make sure conditions are suitable and I generally avoid spring tides as it makes launching and landing more of a consideration and rowing requires a lot more effort. This guide is for sheltered harbours or estuaries only. Coastal trips require a lot more planning and equipment. If sailing on a reservoir can be likened to sailing inside a big bath tub then sailing in a natural harbour is like sailing in a bath that is being drained for a few hours then filled again alternately. It’s not very difficult unless you go down the plug hole and out into the open sea! I do this from time to time..........intentionally, of coarse!
As you can see from the chart, I am planning a short day trip in Langstone harbour. I’ve never sailed there before but it seems like an easy sail for a nice springtime day. I'll let you know how I get on.
1 comments:
Very helpful Chris. I'm getting a bit bored with racing at the moment, so a bit of cruising sounds just the ticket to mix things up a bit. It always feels a bit more daunting thinking about setting off alone, but as you say, harbour's or rivers are a relatively safe way of doing it.
I'm still traumatised by launching a Wayfarer off Broadstairs slip when I was mere slip of a sea-scout. We only got to Ramsgate before calling it a day! The sea is a different level of challenge IMO
Jon
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