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HW Sharpness

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Arrived at Oldbury pill 0600 Tuesday 29th September. Helm Dave Allen with crew Mike Street. Boat DB474 Constance. HT Sharpness 09:30 10.1m

Prepared tender and equipment while pill began to fill. High water was to be 0930 at Oldbury, and we were able to board at 0630. 
07:00 By close to 0700 we left pill and headed towards Counts marker with wind around 8kn NE. Sailed past Olbury power station reservoir and tacked some way short of Counts with the general intension of Sharpness docks in mind. Surface water very disturbed over Oldbury sands, so we met waves just off head on by sailing close to wind and finding calmer waters in the general area of the shipping channel.

Wind speed increased to 10kn plus as we tacked past Berkeley power station and on to Lydney Harbour. Here the river narrows and we became aware of being propelled more quickly up river as we came within a few yards of Naas cliff just North of Lydney.

O8:00 Passed Sharpness harbour at 0800 and in choppy and swirling water we took only three more tacks to be past Tites point and on to the wide expanse of Framton Sand.

The hoped for calmer waters were not to be found here so we stuck to the North bank in the main channel. At the mouth of Brims Pill we headed out towards the centre of the river as water was choppy everywhere over The Noose. We saw The steeple of Awre church to our left as the river began to narrow once more with a sharp change of direction looming on our port side.

It was 0915 as we shaped to receive the NE wind from our starboard side, but this didn't happen as we were required to remain close hauled due what seemed a channelling of the wind along the course of the Severn. Awre passed again, this time to our South, as wind speed dropped and surface water became calm for the first time since we left Oldbury.

Not knowing quite what wind or water was doing here we put in a couple of tacks from bank to bank. This was a mistake as I had not realised, until too late, that not only was Bullo Pill looming to port, but increased water speed allied to decreased wind speed meant that we could not reach the small mouth of the pill on our current tack. After some dithering we passed the blocked mouth of Collers Pill a hundred yards up stream and decided to test the strength of the tide by sailing down stream on reach while heading towards Arlingham Passage Inn.

09:45 Calmer water here allowed us to nose into a mud bank, now opposite what remains of Newnham Harbour. It was warm and sunny by now, and with the time at 0945 with high water at 1045 we decided to have a quick bight and cup of tea.

At 1000 we decided to sail against tide on the inside of the bank. After a few minutes we realised we could make progress into the middle of the river so made last try at entering Bullo Pill.

10:20 Entered Bullo Pill at around 1020. Inside we observed a number of house boats on land and said hello to a some people standing around one which had moved a bit in the high tide. After quick photos headed straight round and into out going tide and wind coming from NE.

10:30 ish Tide slackened and turned

With predicted wind rising to 15 knots we had two hours minimum to return to Oldbury. I had calculated that having returned from Tites point with similar wind some weeks before in under an hour, we had a chance at least. Having rounded bend into The Noose we experienced light wind however, and I began to feel that the visit to Bullo could have been a waste of valuable time.

Wind had definitely dropped as we moved forward, with jib stick out, just a knot or so above the out going tide. We had some wind increase around Gatcombe and after passing through a strange set of waves near Tites Point, we had some increase near Sharpness also.

11:50 Surface water was now quite flat as we passed Berkeley at 1150, and had prayers answered by more wind as Oldbury power station approached. At this point we decided to gamble a cut across the station reservoir to save time. Centre board was lifted as we went over first wall, and were relieved to scrape past second wall and see TSC club house in the distance.

With strong tail wind now we sailed with mouth of the pill to port and swung boat in at last minute, passing over muddy saddle with aid of our own bow wave and into slightly deeper water in front of the slip. With last of wind in pill we headed towards mooring, but decided it was too high up to pull onto and would make an attempt at floating jetty with sail and oar power. We failed to achieve this by 15 ft as the boat caught in mud and our journey was over. I decided to use floor boards to reach nearest mooring, and once on board a cruiser was able to haul boat and crew out of stream, tie onto cruiser and get to bank via mooring chain.

It was past 1230 now but did not record exact time when pill was entered. After clean up, I bought crew a couple of well deserved pints in the Anchor and returned home. The shabby ending to our journey, resultant re-mooring and cleanup did detract from the achievement a little, but did not remove the exhilaration of a great cruise on a sunny day which produced such a variety of changing shorelines and at times bewildering surface conditions. Another go at this is still beckoning, but there are not many times in the year when all the necessary conditions are lined up.

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