Directions to Tollesbury Cruising Club
Click Here for a local road map and directionsArriving by Boat
Tollesbury is on the North shore of the River Blackwater, some 8 miles East of the historic town of Maldon. The Cruising Club is situated within Tollesbury Marina on the Western edge of the Marina basin.
Entrance from the Nass Beacon (River Blackwater) 51.45.839 N 0.54.888 E
From the Nass Beacon, follow the red and green
cans West towards Tollesbury leavings. The channel becomes shallow by
the entrance to Tollesbury Fleet (North Channel, but is available to
most vessels after half tide. Continue on and turn into Tollesbury Fleet
(South Channel). There you will find yacht moorings marking the centre
of the channel. Follow the channel until you see further red and green
cans to port (marking the entrance to Woodrolfe Creek). You will see
a tide gauge at the entrance to the creek marking the height of tide
over the marina sill (do not enter unless you have enough water to clear
the marina sill).
The chartlet below shows the best water route through Woodrolfe Creek
(updated January 2008).
The creek carries a fair amount of water until the lightship is approached,
at which point care should be taken. The deepest water lies on the starboard
side of the channel, by the lightship, then moves to the port hand side
around the final bend before the marina entrance.
Negotiating Woodrolfe Creek
Entrance to Tollesbury Marina is available to
most vessels 2 hours of either side of high water, obviously depending
on the tidal range and the draft of the boat. The sill dries to 2.3m
above chart datum. Visitors who are unfamiliar with the creek should
preferably enter 1 hour before HW, when even at Spring tides the saltings
will not be covered.
Entrance on the top of Spring tides is not recommended
as many of the familiar landmarks will be covered.
There are two tide gauges in Woodrolfe Creek showing the depth over the Marina sill.
The first is on the North side of Woodrolfe Creek, about 100 metres
from the entrance. The second is adjacent to the marina sill.
Please note that the tide makes rapidly in Woodrolfe Creek, so you
will not have long to wait if you arrive early!
1
- After channel markers (number and exact position may vary) keep to
the centre of the creek, through moorings
2 - Abreast the Saltings
cut keep well to Starboard towards lightship
3 - After lightship, approaching
the bend South, move over to the Port side of the channel
4 - After rounding the
bend move back into mid channel
5 - Leave tide gauge 3
meters to starboard for best water over the sill
Please Note: this chartlet is provided for general
information and whilst believed accurate, should not be relied upon
for navigation through Woodrolfe Creek
You can click on the
chartlet
for a printable version of these directions
Many thanks to Robin Kemp for his assistance in compiling this chartlet
Base image courtesy of Google Earth
Entering Tollesbury Marina
The
marina is dredged to approximately 2 metres below sill level, so
most boats will remain afloat when in the basin at any state of the
tide.
Call the marina office on VHF channel 80 to reserve your berth
before entering the marina. If you are unable to arrange a berth
beforehand, please make your way to the fuel berth (no. 7 on the
detailed plan; under the crane)
and moor temporarily before locating the harbourmaster who will
allocate you a visitors berth.
You can click on the small plan to the left for a larger plan with
more detail that you can print if necessary.