Upper Clyde run to city Sun 7th Sep

[BruceB]

Some planning going ahead for a run up the Clyde from around Cloch point to city centre and return on Sun 7th September.
The hope is to tie up somewhere for lunch near the city and just have a run up and down the river.
Anybody interested in tagging along stick up your hand!
Meeting points can be arranged at any point, rough timetable to follow and once sorted out a bit more will be posted for those who may wish to come to add their tuppenceworth and abuse
Any relevant and facility info for the area gratefully received to avoid re-inventing the wheel

[Bigmuz7]

Having never been from the tail o' the bank , up the river, how long a cruise is it so I can work out my fuel requirements and what sort of speed do we all anticipate ? The deep water channel gets plenty of heavy traffic so I'm sure speed is not an issue, but a rough idea would be good

[BruceB]

I have never been further up than Greenock myself, will get the charts down from the attic tomorrow and have a look at them as the boat plotter charts only go up as far as Erskine.
My understanding is that there are no actual speed limits but I was planning on an average speed of around 15knts for planning purposes. Obviously this is an average so would expect actual speeds to be around 20knts? Basically lowish planing speeds especially in the upper reaches where its fairly narrow above Erskine.
I am open to input from anyone that knows better?

[GC1]

I'll be there.

We are based at Kip anyway so just let me know departure times.

We went up for the river festival - about 60 - 65mins from Kip at 23 - 24 knts.

Note its not always as sheltered as people expect ! The deep channel and the shallows in way of the sand flats either side can create a confused sea state depending on the wind / tide conditions. Returning from the river festival in a Northerly F4 - F5 we were down to 8 -10 knts between Bowling and the container terminal at Greenock due to the confused sea and the wavelength. This was bourne out in the return time of 1 hr 45.

[BruceB]

So based on that its around 25miles? I'll check on the charts tonight but all being well I'll be leaving around 10:30 from dunoon but if there is more than one boat leaving Kip I'll be there for 10:30 and we can all leave from Kip meeting any others on the way.
I expect a bit of chop until Erskine but would expect reasonable calm past this point. I always wanted to go see the sugar boat so may look at this on the way past.
There is a dearth of pontoons, all the council ones are shut but I am awaiting a call from the SECC about using theirs, seems we should be OK but just awaiting confirmation and it should be free AFAIK. It is unfortunately not secure I am led to believe.
There is also the option of using the Tall ship pontoon which we can use, is a bit more secure and there is a cafe on board. We would need to pay the entrance charge of £4.95 each to do this though. I will have to book this and we would probably need to raft up to get in though.
I must admit I fancy the tall ship, run up river, wander round the ship, have a coffee and bun and go back down
Anybody have the tide times handy? I don't have a tide table for the area and its a bit far ahead for easytide, will need to go and buy a set I suppose

[BruceB]

OK tide times are quite good and almost neaps.
LW 09:57
HW 16:45
for millport so we will have the maximum water depth going up and down the river and the tide with us against the river flow going up with HW for recovery at the days end.

[BruceB]

Ok guys,
how about this for a plan?
10:30 start from Kip Marina. LW 1.1m approx 10am at Kip.
Head up river picking up anyone else along the way, times dependent on pick up point TBA
Stop at Sugar boat and nip up to Glasgow calling in at the various radio points in the channel. Clydeport have been informed and are fine with us going upriver in a group as long as we call in on the day. 30miles approx total distance.
Speed limit of 15knts in deep water channel and above but I'm sure we can maintain approx 20 or so without any fuss.
Midday arrive at Tall ship pontoon and moor/raft on pontoon, pay to get into ship (£4.95 a head), tour and have lunch in cafe onboard.
1:30ish start heading back down the river and recover back at Kip approx 3:30-4pm Total distance approx 60miles.

For those who don't want to pay to moor at the ship there is another pontoon at the SECC which AFAIK is free (but still waiting for confirmation of this)Both pontoons need booking in advance for the number of boats so, while there is no deposits etc, you do need to let me know at least a few days in advance if you are coming, preferably at the beginning of the week so I can let them know how many RIBs to expect.

The distances are approximate off large scale planning charts, I don't have paper charts for the upper Clyde apart from these. There is a small map downloadable from Clydeport that shows the guidance etc on using the rivver and the major bouys.

Any other wrinkles that folk want incorporated fire away, the usual disclaimer applies as I am only co-ordinating timings rather than arranging a run. I do enough risk assessments and paperwork at work already!

[Bigmuz7]

Sounds good to me Bruce

[speedy]

Just a bit about pontoons, the SECC pontoon has a large motor cruiser berthed there on a semi permanent basis so a lot of the space is gone. There is room for rafting though. The SECC pontoon has never had any security issues as it is in full view of the hotel there. The City Council pontoon up in the city centre is out of action as they are building the new footbridge beside it. Normally thats a great one, its free, has power and water. All you have to do is book it on the councils website normally.

The Tall Ship pontoon is small and most probably know it is the operating base for my business and certainly anyone is welcome to use it but might be a bit of a problem as we have a busy weekend that weekend and will have boats coming and going from it all day. We have a couple of large sausage type ships fenders there maybe we could rig something up to raft on.

It can get very rough on the leg up from Port Glasgow to just upriver of the Erskine Bridge in a wind against tide but its easy to predict and you generally dont get caught out by any surprises. A bit of caution is necessary when passing Govan as the neds tend to lob everything from golf balls to bottles at you but you can see them hanging around from afar and keep way over onn the channel.

There are few shipping movements on the Upper Clyde now. Although the exisiting speed limits have never been changed no one complains if you are sensible. What drives them nuts up there is wash hammering against pontoons such as the one at Breahead shopping centre. We have a dead slow policy passing pontoons. I think that all the no wash areas are marked on the guide issued by Clydeport http://www.clydeport.co.uk/cms_uploa...ide_1313BA.pdf

[BruceB]

I have the downloaded leisure guide already with the restrictions and guidance.
I had already talked to the council re pontoons and am aware that both the old Broomielaw and the new Pacific quay pontoons will not be available for some time.
I have talked to SECC and they said no security, I am originally from glasgow myself and even I won't leave a RIB tied up and alone in the centre of glasgow no matter how it is "overlooked" by the hotel
I also spoke to the manager of the Tall ship yesterday and he said the pontoon there belonged to them, are you saying it doesn't and it belongs to you? He told me we were free to use it, albeit rafting, as long as we paid the entrance fee to the ship.
Is this not true and we don't have permission from the owners? I would like to clear this up before planning to use it and also calling the manager back to confirm...........
I was at Dunoon today for a meeting and checked out the slip which is still there I'm on bar a hurricane that weekend