Whitehaven deserves proper exploration but the wind seemed good and it would be a shame to miss a sailing day when the weather is generally very light.
There is not a big tidal window for this trip – you can get out of Whitehaven at HW-4 according to the book, and would like to approach Ravenglass before HW. Whitehaven look up the draft of the boat on their tidal curve to decide at what time there is sufficient depth. We opted for a draft of 1.4m (rudder fully down) and got in the lock with a motor boat. No messing with sluices, they just crack open the gates a bit to let the water out. A few yachts got in the next lock and seemed to mess for ages moving up to make room for other boats. We were very grateful for the early lock as we never saw any sails behind us as we turned S round St Bees Hd. At this point the wind was far abeam and we went a bit slowly, even with the cruising chute up. It would have been a pleasant sail in the sunshine if we weren’t on a deadline to get into the shallow estuary at Ravenglass. After a while we made good speed with a bit more wind and passed Sellafield reprocessing plant. Against the tide all the way, contrary to my reading of the charts. Unfortunately the Eskmeals firing range was active and so their range safety boat kept us waiting for 20 minutes. We therefore entered Ravenglass against the ebb. The back leading mark was invisible behind tall trees, but the turning buoy was visible. We anchored in a likely spot and soon moved to shallower water on advice from a nearby yachtsman.
In the lock at Whitehaven
Leaving Whitehaven
Sellafield reprocessing plant
Dried out at Ravenglass
Now all the water has gone
Sunset at Ravenglass
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