Tidal Thames meet 18-19 Aug 2018

Prof Pat Pending wrote:There’s a pontoon at Limehouse, but I don’t know how many boats it can accommodate

These are for entry to limehouse. I am not sure they are accessible at low tide. They are not that big.  Leaving Richmond at 8:30 you will make limehouse to lock in before 11:30. Tide turns at London Bridge I think you said 1:30. I know what it's like fighting the tide in an F23. It's a bad experience. We want to avoid that. If we want to take it slow and go to barrier for tide turn that's possible but then we could be back at limehouse say 14:30 so would need to wait an hour I think. It would be good to have an hour booked at Greenwich yacht club on the mid station...just to have a break. I done a 7 hour stint today but done 8 locks...the thought of doing that long without getting out the boat once is not good.

Ok, I'll say this one more time, the plan is to depart Richmond at about 8.30-9.00 cruise down sedately with plenty of photo calls en-route we will be down at the barrier by low water, which I understand to be about 1.30 we will probably need to stooge about for a bit or go onto Greenwich Yacht club trot moorings, I have contacted them, they've responded  and its feasible, they are deep water moorings without a jetty but I'm guessing some of us will have dinghys, it may just be a case of rafting up and waiting for the incoming tide. Limehouse are expecting us to start locking 15.30 onwards, I'm doing this based on advice from limehouse and paddington narrow boat cruising club who think nothing of doing this trip. Obviously we need to be well prepared and seaworthy. If we are doing this we have to accept there will be few opportunities for "comfort breaks" Departure from Limehouse is on the afternoon tide which should see us back off the tideway by 5.30-6.00pm in time for a pint in the white horse at Twickenham.  Olive if you read this, please tell me if I've got it horribly wrong, but I did spend a lot of time discussing this with various bodies.

Chris

Thanks Chris.  W.r.t one more time that’s the most detail I have seen so far! 
PLA tide tables for sat 18th are 
London Bridge 
Low 01:36
High 07:36
Low 13:48
High 19:53
19th
Low 02:11
High 08:24
Low 14:28
High 20:47
All time BST (not GMT as in tables)
Advice is normally to leave teddington 30 mins before HW ie 0806 but that’s if you are going direct to limehouse. 
Good news about having Greenwich yacht club as a place to chillax for a bit. Thanks for organising!

Sounds good to me Chris.

To start bringing the next stage (or should that be the previous stage) together.
Gentle Drift will be departing from Grafton on Friday the 10th, picking up Anne in Oxford on Sunday the 12th. We aim to meet Piero Gianni II in Windsor on Wednesday the 15th and carry on to Teddington for Friday afternoon. Anyone wishing to join along the way is more than welcome

I’m probably going to stop for fuel at Penton Hook, can anyone confirm that they still sell petrol 

Hi all, and specifically MinervaI think the original post/details about planned itinerary is way back in the mists of time but it was typed out many times in posts on FB and on here.  however looking at Minervas comments I'm wondering if my Sunday departure is correct, we should be able to exit at about 16.30 (2 hours either side of low water) which in my estimation should give us plenty of time going up on the incoming tide, obviously speed over the ground will be less than on the saturday but still feel we will have margin of safety.  Re petrol,fairly sure that Penton Hook still do it, Shepperton as well.  If its just a top up and you carry cans, a cheaper option, just below Staines and near to Penton Hook  TW183LS it's a riverside park with mooring  https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4193776,-0.5137083,3a,60y,145.67h,85.05t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEalXkNI1dmyWagIK4OJaPw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 just across the road from and asda 24 hour petrol station. click the link and rotate the view.

Re Pat's post, Bounty on the 14th?

Chris, re journey back the advice here

http://thamescruising.co.uk/?p=27

Is to leave 3.5 hr before high water. I.e 17:17
This I think is to time it with Richmond half weir opening
Which will be 19:47 on the 19th.
No problem with leaving at 16:30 on 19th but it means you will need to go through Richmond lock which is good fun but £7 a boat!

Ah,ok, I hadn't factored the 1/2 lock aspect, duly noted, so play by ear on the day methinks not critical as opening hours do give us leeway, and yes it was you I saw yesterday as you came past Wootens

Btw...last stop for fuel is shepperton marina. £1.61/litre unleaded I think. For the 23s that means you will use a gallon down to teddington and have 14 gallon left for the trip. For the bigger boats on diesel I guess you don’t need to worry so much. I guess full tanks might stabilise a bit for the RIB wash fury...

Hopefully everyone who has registered has now received a booking form for Limehouse?

If you haven’t please let me know 

Please note the payment terms, if you cancel within 7 days, Limehouse will invoice you individually. 

If you haven’t yet registered, it’s not too late to join us

Note shepperton fuel sales open 9 to 4pm
I just missed it today.

As a first stab an an itinerary on the way down we’re thinking 

Ken will leave Inglesham for Oxford on Friday afternoon. 

A small flotilla will then leave Oxford on Sunday mid morning and cruise to Wallingford, dinner and beer in the boathouse optional.

Monday night at Thames and Kennet marina for food, beer, showers and toilet disposal on site...not necessarily in that order

Tuesday night at Bourne end for a session in the bounty with the event organiser 

Wednesday night at Windsor, picking up PGII 

Thursday night at Penton Hook or Shepperton, all the usual marina facilities, plus some convenient but expensive fuel.

Friday at Teddington, figure it’s worth getting there early to grab as many moorings as possible.

We can work out the return trip on the way down. I’ll probably take another expensive but convenient fuel stop, toilet disposal and showers.

Feel free to join us at any time, even if it’s only for a Lock or two

I’m going to put a GoPro on the front of our boat for the cruise through London...anyone else got one 

Prof Pat Pending wrote:I’m going to put a GoPro on the front of our boat for the cruise through London...anyone else got one 

Had to look that up, (Luddite !) 
For the benefit of the equally uneducated   a sort of waterproof dash cam for boats etc

( Should be useful at the enquiry ! . Sorry this was a joke !    )

I made a new hatch stay and incorporated a camera mount into the design. I’m hoping that the view from there should be quite good tootling through London

Prof, can you do the whole lot and time lapse it?

Program it to record each unlicenced boat you'll pass. May need more memory!

That’s what I was hoping to do

Then you'd better appoint a steersman. Your own eyes too busy. And forward your conclusions to Tony Riley at TMBA, our best hope of getting anything done!

No licensing required on tidal section. It's run by PLA not EA

PLA - more reading here ... https://server1.pla.co.uk/Safety/SMS/Safety-Campaigns
And here ... http://www.pla.co.uk/Must-Have-Recreational-River-Users-Guide-Launched-by-the-PLA

If no licence required I was looking to see if TP insurance and any sort of safety certificate are enforced upon other tidal-section craft (as safeguard to members here en passage)

I think the main thing is 30m of anchor rope for when you break down.

Perhaps the flotilla/convoy could agree to share one and carry it in turns ...?

Checking in on this as it's been a while! As someone who broke down next to Waterloo Bridge right in the path of a Clipper ferry, I'd highly recommend the long anchor chain!
As I understand it you only need a safety cert if you are carrying passengers.

As a reminder, here are some timings I did. Of course, some might go faster than me, we are one engine only 

Sailing timings – approx. 5 knots, travelling with tide
 
09:00   Brentford
09:15   Chiswick Quay
09:41   Hammersmith Bridge
09:56   Putney Bridge
10:07   Wandsworth Bridge
 
10:18   Battersea Bridge
10:21   Albert Bridge
10:27   Chelsea Bridge


10:36   Vauxhall Bridge
10:41 Lambeth Bridge
10:45   Westminster Bridge / Parliament
 
10:50   Waterloo Bridge
10:56   Blackfriars Bridge
10:59   Southwark Bridge
 
11:01   London Bridge
11:08   Tower Bridge
 
11:26   Limehouse Marina
11:36   South Quay / Greenland
11:50   Greenwich
12:20   O2 arena (ferry station)
12:50   Thames Barrier (best guess as tide turned at O2 so we didn’t go all the way to the barrier)