As a local yachtsman for many years, Chris Woods, proprietor of U2R Design, has had a strong facination with the Deben Bar since beginning sailing in these waters over 20 years ago. Crossing the Bar was his first ‘difficult’ trip, only to be rewarded by arguably one of the most pleasant rivers on the East Coast.
For many years, the Felixstowe Ferry harbourmaster, John White and Small Craft deliveries proprietor Terry Clarke surveyed and produced the much photocopied (illegally) chartlet we had all come to know.
In 2003 with the blessing of the authors, U2R Design decided to produce a glossy handy format chart, sponsored by local businessman and yachtsman, Paul Griffiths, allowing for aerial photography and local distribution.
In 2004, debenentrance.com was born as a practical solution to avoid frequent re-printing of the deben entrance chart due to shoal or buoy movements allowing for the downloading and printing of the latest chart but also providing navigation notices and a source of general East Coast boating information.
Popular demand made it neccesary to include Orford Entrance chart and information which was made possible by the provision of the Orford Haven survey by Trinity House in the abscence of a Shingle Street Harbourmaster.
Today, Trinity House commission Marine Surveys (East & South) Ltd to survey the Deben and Ore Entrances in association with U2R Design and Paul Atherton. This collaboration has resulted in more accurate bathymetric charts than ever and has made it possible for eastcoastrivers to produce sketchmaps from it’s own data and also include areas such as Southwold and The Walton Backwaters approaches.
Future developments include the further expansion of the service to include the approaches to Brightlingsea and the creation of an online shop through which pilotage guides and books of local interest can be offered to users.
This project has one main objective, to assist the boating community by improving safety through the provision of information. The enterprise commercially ‘breaks even’ as the chartering of planes, creation of artwork, website construction/updating and distribution are not cheap.
It is the intension to provide the promoted sketchmaps free of charge to the user in both printed and digital form for the forseeable future.
We wish you safe and happy boating
