Tidal Treats—Sharpness to Bristol

A GREAT deal has been written recently of the dangers of the unwary taking to tidal waters, being completely unprepared, but here is the story of a cruise on the tidal waters of the Severn Estuary, that proved most enjoyable.

When our good friends Peter and Jennifer of Deryn Du (Welsh for Blackbird or as we put it, Daring Do) talked about going down the Severn Estuary, we readily agreed. writes David Jarvis.

Had to drop out

We assembled a group of four boats last year but about a month prior to the off, one developed terminal engine problems and less than a week before the third boat sadly had to drop out following a parent's sudden death, so there were just two boats.

We originally planned to travel via Lydney with a generous offer of help from the Lydney Yacht Club, but with the uncertain weather conditions making two consecutive good days unlikely we reluctantly had to cancel the visit. The picture shows the boats leaving Sharpness.

Early start

A visit to the Dockers Club in Sharpness set us up for an early start in the morning. Up at 5 o'clock, we passed by two large swing bridges (swung for us by the harbour master) and a couple of ocean going ships in the port of Sharpness before joining four small sailing yachts in the enormous lock leading to the Severn Estuary.

Our pilot who had joined Deryn Du in the lock took us out into what was for us quite a strong incoming tide which we stemmed (fought) for the next 15 minutes or so. The skies were grey with a very light breeze which was just perfect for the trip. Once the tide had turned we picked up speed and were soon passing down under the M48 and M4 bridges and logging an unheard of 13 miles per hour on the GPS.

Steerer's constant attention

The true scale of these bridges can only really be appreciated from below and as they are at a narrower part of the estuary the turbulence demands the steerer's constant attention. We were enjoying brighter skies and the vast panorama and all too soon we passed the entrance to the Avon and Bristol and soon after reached Portishead, pictured, where we were required to circle ('stacking' in airline parlance) whilst waiting for the vast lock there to empty. (In the picture from left to right are Sylvia Jarvis, Peter Macillivray, Jennifer Macillivray and Teg, ship's dog of Deryn Du.

The lock fortunately has pontoons in it as the water coming in when filling is something akin to Niagara. Portishead is a modern yacht marina surrounded by flats, restaurants, pubs and even supermarkets.

Tide turned

In a few hours the tide changed and we were off to Bristol on the Avon on a rising tide. Our Bristol pilot travelled with us on Orchid II, the Gloucester pilot had travelled with Deryn Du, and proved to be a mine of interesting information and great company as well as being very experienced on all sizes of ships. The picture shows David and Sylvia Jarvis, taken by the pilot.

This section of the journey was pure joy, including as it does the the magnificent Avon Gorge with all its history and climaxing in Brunel's Clifton Bridge and the entry to Bristol Harbour. A most enjoyable destination with its vast array of seagoing and inland craft and marine and industrial heritage. A great highlight for the boating year.