Brancaster Staithe Sailing Club PSSA Rally 30^th June to 2^nd  July 2023

 

• All tide times and heights given are for Brancaster Staithe
• Blakeney Bar tide times are approximately 10 minutes before Brancaster Staithe
• Blakeney Pit and Morston Creek tide times are approximately 30 minutes after Brancaster Staithe

 

Friday 30^th June 2023

 

High Water 04:22hrs       7.4m 16:32hrs       7.6m

 

 

 

 

 

Evening meal and drinks in BSSC clubhouse.

 

Saturday 1^st July 2023

 

High Water 05:16hrs       7.7m 17:31hrs       7.8m

 

 

 

 

 

Day sail to Blakeney, route to be decided (Depart 0630hrs, Arrive 1630hrs)

Tender ashore for beach picnic at the old lifeboat station

 

Sunday 2nd July 2023

 

High Water 06:08hrs       8.0m 18:28hrs       8.1m

 

 

 

 

 

Day Sail to Brancaster Staithe, route to be decided (Depart 0700hrs, Arrive 1700hrs) followed by drinks and/or food in the BSSC Clubhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tides

Broadly, Wells and Brancaster Staithe can be accessed two hours either side of high water, Blakeney can be reliably accessed 90 minutes either side of high water for those without local knowledge.

The tidal flow turns eastwards along the coast from approximately two hours before HW Brancaster, turning westward again approximately four hours after HW Brancaster. This is key in passage planning for boats arriving from the south, as it allows crews to take full advantage of the fair (westbound) tide, arriving just as entry to Wells or Brancaster becomes possible. A further benefit to this plan is that it allows a four-hour window for entry should you arrive late.

The best (probably only) option for boats arriving when the ports are not accessible is to anchor in Holkham Bay west of Wells, close to position 52⁰58.8N 0⁰48.3E, this offers good shelter in anything other than winds from easterly through to northerly.

 

Passage Planning

The passage from Lowestoft to Wells-next-the-Sea typically takes 12 to 13 hours given a boat speed of 4.5kts. There are two clear options for crews planning to arrive at Wells two hours before HW.

 

The simplest option is a very early start from Lowestoft, possibly using the engine to keep the speed up as you push into the foul tide. At about the halfway point you will pick up the fair tide and the Norfolk coast will rush by as you close your destination.

 

The second option, which takes a little more planning is to take a fair tide from Lowestoft and then anchor through a foul tide somewhere around Winterton-on-Sea or Sea Palling, taking the subsequent fair tide up to Wells or Brancaster.

 

With an offshore wind and a slight sea state anchoring off Winterton-on-Sea has worked well for us in the past.

 

We have anchored inside the artificial reefs at Sea Palling once, it is an interesting and worthwhile experience, but I am not sure that it is much better than anchoring at Winterton. It is only safe to pass between the two (cardinal) marked reefs, but the entrance is clear and obvious. Skippers should note that the tidal range at Sea Palling is significantly greater that nearby Winterton-on-Sea, this should be borne in mind when planning anchoring depths.

 

Visiting boats may wish to use Wells-Next-The-Sea as their initial port of arrival. Wells is the only harbour on the North Norfolk coast that can easily be accessed without a local pilot, details of the buoyage and other harbour arrangements can be found on their Website. The harbour directions require visiting boats to call Wells Harbour on VHF Ch12 before passing the westerly cardinal buoy, if there is no reply, proceed into the harbour, they can usually hear you once you have passed the lifeboat station.

If you have any questions about passage planning, please get in touch at phill.smith275@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

The Rally

If you are planning to eat at the BSSC Clubhouse on Friday, please be sure to book with Alex (BSSC Members) or the rally organiser for non-BSSC members.

The cost of a visitor mooring at Blakeney is £10 per night, which I feel is very reasonable given the good work that they do. Payment is via the Blakeney Harbour Association (BHA) website. The visitor moorings are south of the Old Lifeboat Station and generally have white buoys with yellow pick-up floats.

The entrance to Blakeney Harbour is safe in suitable weather conditions, however it does change regularly, and the excellent buoyage can be difficult to follow if you have not looked at it before entering. Whether you are familiar with the entrance or not attempting entry without first visiting the excellent BHA Website would be a mistake.  The fleet will need some means of getting ashore, i.e. a tender or tenders.

Please note that fires (including barbeques) are not permitted ashore at Blakeney, there are however good toilets available adjacent to the Old Lifeboat Station. On the shingle beach at the old lifeboat station there may still be some nests (mainly Oyster Catchers), marked by stakes and ropes; it is obviously important that we don’t disturb the nesting birds.

Communication will be on VHF Channel 72.