One of my forum friends is doing a
delivery, and wrote to me offline to ask what to expect from the Kiel
Canal.
I thought I would post my answer in case anyone else needs the information.
The Kiel
Canal is a doddle -- no CEVNI needed and locks only at the ends. You pay for the canal fee at the Kiel end while you're in the lock -- climb up the lock wall and go to the machine.
To get into a lock, you have to call up the lockkeeper on the appropriate
radio channel (they speak English) or just follow in the gang of sailboats always waiting.
You can
motor sail (with motoring cone displayed!) but you must not sail without the
motor on. You are not allowed to navigate at night without
radar and
AIS and I would not do it even then because you will be hassled until you prove it.
There are no hazards -- the canal is very well dredged and marked. There are a few places to spend the night along the way if you don't make it through in one day, but it's only 53 miles (I think) from lock to lock, so easy to do in a day if you start reasonably early.
I found it extremely pleasant motoring along the canal after fighting headwinds in the
Baltic or North Sea.
Both Kiel and Cuxhaven are excellent staging/crew change points with good transport to Hamburg
Airport (Kiel by bus, Cuxhaven by train).
Provisioning crap in Kiel (unless you use a taxi) but excellent in Cuxhaven (Real hypermarket 10 minutes walk away). Kiel a very pleasant town to spend a few days resting or waiting for a
weather window.
On the way out of the Elbe, stop off in Helgoland for
cheap booze (cheapest I've ever seen in
Europe; 9.95 euros for a litre of export strength Beefeater) and
fuel (1.06 a liter), then from there, if the
wind serves, between the two TSS roads to the UK -- Great Yarmouth is a good landfall. Beware the giant (!) windfarm off Borkum which is NOT marked on any
charts (even up to the minute updated
Navionics chip). Very hard to get
water in Helgoland, so
water up in Cuxhaven.
If the
wind doesn't serve to go straight across, you can go along the German and Dutch coasts, but pretty tedious with very, very little refuge, and possibly dangerous in strong onshore
weather. German islands have treacherous, shifting channels -- even the most up to date
charts won't help you. You
lost lots of miles going into Borkum. Norderney very pleasant but expensive and tricky channels to get in. First decent port is actually Den Helder in
Holland, quite a ways from from Cuxhaven. So I would stay
offshore, between the two TSS roads, or beyond them, unless the wind forces you otherwise.
Don't approach the TSS to less than a mile -- the Germans will slap you with a 1000 euro fine. Don't cross it without permission from the German coast guard or VTS.
Coming or going in the Elbe approaches you have to call the German
radar control -- channels are in Reed's Almanac -- and follow their instructions. The Germans run the estuary and approaches like an
airport with fully controlled airspace, as it were. Don't mess about with the Germans -- they don't tolerate yachts sailing here and there and interfering with traffic. They will call you, they will expect you to be reachable and to follow their instructions. Stay outside the channels or at the very edges of them and ask permission before crossing them. Keep your
radio on and tuned to the appropriate channel. It's best (as we discovered) to have someone on full radio/radar watch, fully concentrating on traffic and communicating with VTS and Radar Control, until you are well clear of the estuary.
Good luck and ask if you have any other questions.
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