We left Burnham-on-Crouch at 0800 hours, dictated by tide to cross the sandbanks of the Thames Estuary, bound for Ramsgate. A very trying passage. The wind started as a flat calm, then gradually increased as the day wore on to Force 4 to 5 from ahead accompanied by an unpleasant lumpy sea. Occasional rain completed the picture. Much of the time was motoring sometime with sails set, sometimes without. Alcyone’s course was up the Whittaker Channel, across Black Deep and across the Sunk Sand, to where the Sunk Tower used to be, and into Barrow Deep and then into Fisherman’s Gatt and escape (or so it seemed) the southern estuary. It was unnerving to be out of sight of land crossing the Sunk Sands with only 3 meters of water at times. It was with relief that the white cliffs of North Foreland and then round to Broadstairs and Ramsgate appeared.
On arriving at Ramsgate, even before Alcyone was fully berthed and lines made fast, various skippers appeared wanting to know what route we had taken across the estuary. Stories abounded of water depths experienced – the winner seemed to be a 36 foot yacht that had come across between Black and Barrow deep on a “new route” and only had 2 meters of water.
Ramsgate Marina has long pontoons forming a basin for visiting yachts in which boats raft up, totally unsupervised by the Harbour Master. Chaos. Alcyone found herself between two much larger boats with the outer one declining to move to a more suitable berth. During the night, for HW ± 2 hours, it became agitated in the harbour with all boats rolling around, mercifully without any serious damage beyond lost sleep and wet pyjamas.
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