Hazard spot
Thames Estuary: Shallows and grounding
Thames Estuary: A maze of sands that looks different with every tide, plus wind farms and wrecks. Without current charts the estuary is no place to practise.
- Cause
- Shallows and grounding
- Main season
- all year
- Position
- 51° 30,0' N 001° 12,0' E
On the map
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Thames Estuary: how the place works
A labyrinth of sandbanks that look different on every tide, plus wind farms, wartime wrecks and a channel that leads between all of it. The tidal range is large, and what is a route at high water is sand six hours later.
Thames Estuary: what breaks there
Grounding on a bank on a falling tide means the boat dries out and can fill again on the flood if it has gone over on its side. That is the case that turns a grounding into a total loss.
Thames Estuary: what this means for your policy
Settle whether involuntary drying out is covered as a grounding and whether salvage and refloating are insured separately. In the Thames estuary the salvage is regularly more expensive than the damage.
Read this in full: A grounding is not a small claimCruising range
This spot lies in the cruising range the calculator lists under this step: EU inland waters
Calculate a premium for this cruising rangeNearby
And what applies right now?
This page shows what holds at a spot at any time. Whether an official warning is out for it this minute is on the warning map, by your position and updated hourly.
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