Advice On To Go South Or Stay North

[MatEvo]

I'm on holiday on the last week in october and was looking at heading south down to Oulton Broad. I have looked at the tide times and worked out that high tide is about 08:30 - 09:00. I was looking at

Leaving Acle at about 09:00 so just over 2 hours cruising time my main question would there be enough clearance to pass through Great Yarmouth at about 11:00 for a boat with 8ft air draft.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Phone the Yacht Station at the time, you may have to leave later. At 8ft and high tide at 9.00, you will be punching the tide at Breydon Water which means a long laborious slog.  If high tide is 09.00, low water slack will be 6 1/2 hours later at 15.30 ish. By that time, the tide will already be coming in over Breydon, so you will be going with it, and will have plenty of time to get to Reedham or St Olaves, then go to Oulton Broad the next morning. Just a thought.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello Mat,

I would use the Broads Authority tide tables which will give you the height of the low water, from that you can calculate the clearance under the Yarmouth Bridges.

Regards 

Alan 

[NorfolkNog]

The tides aren't particularly favourable that week. If you go through around low tide or slack water it will be dark. Same in the morning. As Neil suggests - if you must do it, try splitting the trip. You could even moor at Berney Arms so as to leave crossing Breydon as late as possible.

Having said that 8 feet isn't a huge amount, so as long as you avoid high tide you may be OK but is just depends on water levels on the day. Looks to be spring tides so the rise and fall will be greatest.

Not easy, if it were me, I would leave it as late as possible going through Yarmouth to allow enough time to moor up for the evening.

Good luck!

 

[vanessan]

Are you on your own boat or hiring? 

[MatEvo]

2 minutes ago, vanessan said:

Are you on your own boat or hiring? 

I'm hiring with the family I keep promising the kids we will cross Braydon Water but the tide times never seem to be right. The last time I went south I had to wait till low tide as we were on Fair Diplomat.

[Bluebell]

I would never consider going south on a weeks holiday, unless starting in the south and vice versa if that makes sense🥴

[vanessan]

18 minutes ago, MatEvo said:

I'm hiring with the family I keep promising the kids we will cross Braydon Water but the tide times never seem to be right. The last time I went south I had to wait till low tide as we were on Fair Diplomat.

 

38 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

The tides aren't particularly favourable that week. If you go through around low tide or slack water it will be dark. Same in the morning. As Neil suggests - if you must do it, try splitting the trip. You could even moor at Berney Arms so as to leave crossing Breydon as late as possible.

Having said that 8 feet isn't a huge amount, so as long as you avoid high tide you may be OK but is just depends on water levels on the day. Looks to be spring tides so the rise and fall will be greatest.

Not easy, if it were me, I would leave it as late as possible going through Yarmouth to allow enough time to moor up for the evening.

Good luck!

 

I think what Norfolk Nog has said is very relevant. The tides are really not favourable that week and phoning the Yacht Station for guidance would certainly be the most sensible thing if you must go south. At that time of year you will find the north much quieter and you can come back again another time to cross Breydon. That’s if you need an excuse! 

Welcome to the forum by the way. 

[NorfolkNog]

You don't say which day you hope to go through Yarmouth but the earlier in the week the better I would think.

The tide will be going down from around 10 to midday depending on when you go. I think it would be possible, not ideal and as others have said you could end up against the tide crossing Breydon although this is not as bad as going against the tide up the Bure. You just need to be very careful approaching Yarmouth and check the bridge height carefully.

Don't forget you need to get back too and the 'window' is closing all the time. At that time of year the daylight is fading fast too. You might be better putting it off until another time when the tides are more favourable. Don't forget on the return trip the next safe mooring after Yarmouth is Stracey Arms.

Maybe just stay North and relax!! Good luck whatever you decide though.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

2 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

 although this is not as bad as going against the tide up the Bure. 

I tend to disagree with you there Howard. If your punching the tide up the Bure, the only part that really slows you down is the bottom 3 miles at most. Whereas when you punch the tide over Breydon, you are still punching up the Yare or Waveney, which are much wider and deeper, so the tides run much faster over most of their lengths.  When we want to cross Breydon, i`d much rather head north on the ebb and punch up the relatively short distance on the lower Bure, Then when heading south, punch a much easier flood to take flood across Breydon. 

It`s always much better to cross at lws, but sometimes, like this, you have to take the lesser of two evils.

[NorfolkNog]

that's true, the worst bit is where the channel is narrowest. You get the under tow at Yarmouth as well which seems to make it worse.

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, Bluebell said:

I would never consider going south on a weeks holiday, unless starting in the south and vice versa if that makes sense🥴

I'd agree with you when daylight hours are short. If daylight permits, however, crossing Breydon and all that goes with it is fun and well worth it. 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

2 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

I'd agree with you when daylight hours are short. If daylight permits, however, crossing Breydon and all that goes with it is fun and well worth it. 

Especially when the tide is low and you can see the dippers on the mudflats, and the dipsticks too 

[annv]

You will waste/lose two days traveling their and back unless you want to drive the boat for a boring trip across Braydon and the hour or so to Yarmouth yacht station, or just go to Yarmouth moor up and take the kids to the pleasure beach front,perhaps you like rushing about on holiday, a holiday is doing what you want to do when you want to do it, children don't always allow this to happen. John

[MatEvo]

Thank you for all of your advice I think I will give the Yacht station a ring before I leave Acle. I did attempt something similar accouple of years back on Brooklyn Bridge but we were there when there  was a tail end of a storm so I deicide to give it a miss.

[Cal]

12 hours ago, Bluebell said:

I would never consider going south on a weeks holiday, unless starting in the south and vice versa if that makes sense🥴

Why?

We always manage to cover a fair amount of both the north and south broads on a weeks hire and plan to do the same again when we are down there on our holiday starting next saturday.

It is perfectly possible to have a few days on the southern broads and a few days on the northern broads within a weeks hire.

[Cal]

9 hours ago, annv said:

You will waste/lose two days traveling their and back unless you want to drive the boat for a boring trip across Braydon and the hour or so to Yarmouth yacht station, or just go to Yarmouth moor up and take the kids to the pleasure beach front,perhaps you like rushing about on holiday, a holiday is doing what you want to do when you want to do it, children don't always allow this to happen. John

It is interesting to see others opinions but we find the salt marshes either side of Breydon to be some of the nicest stretches of the rivers with the most wealth of wildlife to be found. Spotted our first Crane on the run to Yarmouth. Great moment.

[Paul]

Like Cal I don't see the time taken crossing Breydon at all wasted, in fact Breydon itself is one of my favourite parts of the Broads, so much so that we named our second child after it. Given your tide times I would plan passage through Yarmouth for early afternoon on Sunday, around two hours before the ideal slack water passage time, but this should still give plenty of clearance under the bridges. I would call the Yacht Station as I pass Scare Gap and ask them to confirm clearance under the bridges if in any doubt. I never like to enter the Tar Works reach leading up to the bridges on a falling tide without being sure of the clearance as turning here on a fast running ebb can be challenging, even for experienced skippers. Once you turn past the yellow post on to Breydon the tide will be running against you. I would simply take my time and amble across enjoying the scenery and head for the Fishermans Inn at the mouth of the River Waveney and hole up there for the night. The pub there is under new management and is very nice. That gives you all day Monday to plan your trip down to Oulton on the incoming tide on Monday morning and have you in Oulton Broad around lunchtime. Depending on how long you want to stay south for the trip back I would head back to the Fishermans, or to Berney Arms at the Yare, overnight there and then "wet the bed" as they around here, get up early, boil the kettle and set off at first light to pass Yarmouth around 8am, which works on Wednesday or Thursday. You will be against the incoming tide across Breydon but once round the Yellow post into the Bure you will have the flood behind you to carry you up to Acle. 

Doing it this way will mean your are travelling with the tide for most of the journey which means you will use much less fuel, and not have the noise of an engine thrashing away pushing against the tide. 

[ranworthbreeze]

Because we need 9 foot 8 inches (our air draft) we advise all our fellow owner that we need 10 foot. A simple rule of thumb going down river(we found this out many years ago) that if you can see 7 rungs of the ladders out of the water at the start of the yacht station moorings there is at least 10 foot clearance under the two bridges at Yarmouth.

Regards

Alan 

[Cal]

31 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Because we need 9 foot 8 inches (our air draft) we advise all our fellow owner that we need 10 foot. A simple rule of thumb going down river(we found this out many years ago) that if you can see 7 rungs of the ladders out of the water at the start of the yacht station moorings there is at least 10 foot clearance under the two bridges at Yarmouth.

Regards

Alan 

That's a handy tip.

[grendel]

my only concern about crossing at a different time than low water would be to make sure you have clearance at the bridges as I think you said you need 8 foot, ideally if you wanted to cross at a time other than low water slack, then high water would be the next best thing, but I believe the bridges have less than 7 foot at high water, so obviously that isnt an option., going south i would try for a bit later than low water so that you fight the tide going down the bure (which should avoid you getting swept under the bridges unintentionally) and then you will take the tide up Breydon. 

as mentioned above, your first point of contact should be the yacht station at great yarmouth, they will know what the tides are doing on the day, and be able to advise on the height at any given time.

another alternative would be to go down to the yacht station and moor up ready for an early start next day as near low slack as daylight allowed.

 

we will be down just a few weeks before you (12th to 19th October) with 3 jewel of Lights and Broad Ambition and we will be heading South across Breydon, with the low water at 4.20pm aiming for reedham to moor up before sunset (18.06). on the way back later in the week we are aiming for great yarmouth arriving before low tide while the tide is still against us, as low tide and sunset coincide that day(17.59), so we will get under and moor up at the yacht station rady to proceed the next morning. we will have 3 days down south with 3 up north and the odd day will be transiting between

[JanetAnne]

2 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Because we need 9 foot 8 inches (our air draft) we advise all our fellow owner that we need 10 foot.

 

Until now? Your secret is out

[Travelman]

It looks like we will be doing a very similar thing as we are on the Broads the same week and hope to do a bit of the south too. An afternoon crossing on Sunday and then probably a very early start on Wednesday heading back north. Which boat are you on?

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[marshman]

I must admit I agree with those who suggest why bother? The tides are as difficult as they can be, levels are pretty high, daylight is going rapidly and with the amount of water there is at the moment, tides will be running quick. Thats a lot of extra diesel just to go and see the south which some love because of the solitude, and others just don't bother with! Its not as though the Northern side is less attractive and there is nothing to do - quite the reverse.

I go south fairly regularly - but then I also cross at slack at neaps when the tides are nearer the middle of the day. I like an easy life!!!!

P.S. ST - have you actually seen a dipper on Breydon? That would be pretty unusual being an upland bird? Not saying you havn't but it would be something of a rarity in the region methinks.

[Smoggy]

This time of the year you may as well make the most of the northern rivers being quieter and do the southern rivers in mid summer next year when the northern rivers are in full silly season.