.gif)
Leg 16 Hartlepool to Hull
120 miles, 11 hours and a big challenge. The challenge was to balance the fuel with the speed and to hit the tidal window I had for entry to Hull marina.
It all started with a visit to the lock office in Hartlepool to take a look at the wave heights being reported by the buoy in Hartlepool Bay. These had been up to 3.5m over night but were now showing a more sensible 1.5m. None the less, even 1.5m in my little boat is quite a big sea but I was encouraged by all the forecasts agreeing (for a change) that things were improving throughout the day and so I was happy to go.
But to go to which port? Scarborough was the original plan but with the chance of a high pressure building later in the week and if today’s weather was good I wanted to push on and make the most of any good weather I got. I have had precious little of it and so I didn’t want to waste it! So, if when I were out there the conditions were good I would consider going on to Hull and skipping out Scarborough (nothing personal Scarborough!!!).
Locking out of Hartlepool I said goodbye to the lockkeeper (all the keepers were very friendly and hugely helpful) and set off. The sea immediately had a biggish swell (1.5 – 2m) as the wave buoy had promised but the waves were long duration and I could still plane by just gliding over the top. Once I was closer in to land the sea state improved with more shelter and my speed was good at mostly 18kts. Keeping my speed up meant that the fuel usage was good too for the trip to Hull and I was hopeful that Hull would be my destination.
At Flamborough Head things changed somewhat. I knew it could be rough around the head and so I stayed in close to the shore but I could have been in much closer and I caught the inside edge of the big waves that I could see offshore. It wasn’t long before I was surfing down 3m+ rollers, not breaking fortunately, as I worked my way further in shore to get out of the rough water. After about 10 minutes of this big sea I was in more comfortable water and continued on but my trip across the bay from the Head to Hull was exposed to the north-westerly wind and my speed varied quite a bit as a result. By this time I was committed to Hull and so I had to manage my speed and fuel to ensure that I got there will a sensible reserve. I slowed down in the worst of the rougher sea to displacement speed of about 5kts and this helped a great deal saving fuel. Slowing down wasn’t a problem from a time point of view as I couldn’t lock in to Hull until 1910 hrs anyway but I did know that it would be slow going up the River Humber as the wind was north-westerly and I would be going directly into it whilst going upriver and as it was a flood tide it would be wind over tide all the way.
I entered the river estuary at about 1430hrs and spoke to the Humber port control (Humber VTS) on the radio to tell them what I was up to. I was following the yacht recommended route so they weren’t really bothered about me but it is well worth listening out on CH12/14 when in the Humber… it is a very busy place and not to be treated lightly. The wind over tide made it hard going upriver and at 6kts I settled in for the long trip. Soon the tide kicked in and my speed over ground was up to 8.5kts. In a quite part of the river I turned around and went the other way to see what My speed would be and it was down to 3.5kts… that was 2.5kts of tide.
Eventually I made it all the way to Kingston-upon-Hull (or Hull as it is more commonly called). By that time there was enough water in the marinas basin to get in and moor on the waiting pontoon but if I had got there an hour earlier then I might have had to float around in the river as I couldn’t see anywhere else to moor up to wait. Worth making a note of when you visit Hull.
Yes, a good trip and a safe one with over 60 ltrs of fuel remaining. Good job too as petrol here is the most expensive of the trip so far at £1.53 per litre but it has been going up all the time I have been away hasn’t it!
