Emsworth - anyone with local knowledge please

I

ip485

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 Feb 2013
Messages
1,614
Visit site
If anyone knows Emsworth well please could you hazard a guess the earliest this Saturday evening it will be possible to get a tender off the mud at the end of the Fisherman's Quay? Low tide is at 9.48 PM - but it is a highish low tide.

Thank you.

Havent been up there for a few years, but I assume the visitors pontoon is still in place a little further down the channel?
 
In my opinion as a local who occasionally uses this approach to Emsworth, The worst case is at low tide and if you are happy to get out of the tender and walk towing it up the stream bed for the last 100 or so meters then I estimate that you can get to the pontoon, the one that comes off the tide pond seawall at low tide. You will however get muddy, but not so bad you cant move as the bed of the stream is largely gravel, it is getting the last 10 yards where the mud issues really is, either on to the pontoon or the fishermans warf which is the gravel bank running out along side the stream / moorings on its west side. a good friend did it a couple of weeks ago on a similar tide. Take a bucket with you to wash any mud off. The satellite images are quite useful if you google it, showing the bank and the stream on google at the moment.
 
Last edited:
I'm not quite clear where you mean by "Fisherman's quay". However I can back up Seumask description of the gravel bed that you can drag a dinghy along...either all the way to the hard or simply to the pontoon coming off the tidal pond wall, I have done it many times. It is squidgy gravel not firm and I have lost a croc there and there is a lot of mud I would not want to get stuck in close by.
If you are trying to avoid getting muddy you might be lucky as it is close to neaps, but equally that means if it is too shallow it is likely to stay that way a lot longer. So ideally an hour before low water or an hour and a half after low water.
BTW the isolated all tide pontoon off Fowley island is still there.
 
seumask said:
In my opinion as a local who occasionally uses this approach to Emsworth, The worst case is at low tide and if you are happy to get out of the tender and walk towing it up the stream bed for the last 100 or so meters then I estimate that you can get to the pontoon, the one that comes off the tide pond seawall at low tide. You will however get muddy, but not so bad you cant move as the bed of the stream is largely gravel, it is getting the last 10 yards where the mud issues really is, either on to the pontoon or the fishermans warf which is the gravel bank running out along side the stream / moorings on its west side. a good friend did it a couple of weeks ago on a similar tide. Take a bucket with you to wash any mud off. The satellite images are quite useful if you google it, showing the bank and the stream on google at the moment.
Click to expand...

Years ago when working at the now defunct Emsworth Sailing School we used to be able to access the school moorings (beside the main channel, just east of the fishermans walk) by walking from the slipway near the ESC race hut along the main channel.

The bottom of the channel was fairly gravelly and clean. The only time there was no access was at low tide springs when we used to have to walk the boats and anchor them besides Fishermans Pole.

Upstream of the slipway was probably the same but the bottom of the channel will probably be cleanest towards the river rather than the quay. Still, a bit of Emsworth mud never hurt anyone and is often the start of a great tale... :)
 
seumask said:
, it is getting the last 10 yards where the mud issues really is, either on to the pontoon or the fishermans warf which is the gravel bank running out along side the stream / moorings on its west side. a good friend did it a couple of weeks ago on a similar tide. ...... The satellite images are quite useful if you google it, showing the bank and the stream on google at the moment.
Click to expand...

If I was unfamiliar with the channel I would be quite wary doing it in the dark. The gravel bank you can see on google earth is significantly higher than the channel to the pontoon so no need to walk along it, you are better off using the tender. (If trying to launch from the gravelbank track/fishermans wharf you would need a lot more water not to get very muddy.)

If you are walking up the bed of the channel to the pontoon it is worth noting the patch of mud immediately lying 2 or 3 metres paralell with the East face of the pontoon. Google earth shows you need to bear just a little more west (right next to the first moored boat south of the pontoon) and then resume north the last few metres.
 
Maybe I have the wrong name - I am referring to the pontoon just off Emsworth Town. The aim is to go into Emsworth Saturday evening for dinner, and probably leave the boat on the public pontoon further down which doesnt dry - I draw just under 2 metres. We would go up in the tender and was obvioulsy hoping to neither get muddy or get out and walk! Hence the question as to people's best guess as to when the tender will be afloat again after low tide. Alternatively we might just squeeze ourselves into Emsworth marina which would avoid all these problems but although we have done it before we only just fit and wouldnt be able to leave until Sunday evening.
 
Whatever the name then yes we are talking about the same pontoon. Being on the safe side my guess is something like 11.30pm (call it closing time) but possibly midnight (high pressure is predicted). The water does hang about but is often not quite deep enough hence talking about walking the last bit, but that shouldn't be necessary. The reason I am not more confident is we used to keep our dinghy on the hard at Emsworth and my notes are based on getting all the way there. If you are relaxed about the time I'd go for it, use oars not outboard the last bit. The deepwater pontoon is a lovely spot, I'd do that anyday over the marina.
 
Right, ok. I didn't reply earlier as I didn't know where you meant by "Fisherman's Quay".

Assuming the landing stage sticking out from the wall of the Mill Pond is what the Conservancy mean by "Emsworth Jetty" (they're not very clear either), it's apparently usable for a boat with 1m draught 3.5 hours either side of high water on neaps.

Using the Northney tides, which seem nearest of those available, next neaps has 2.4m rise of tide 3.5 hours after HW. Being conservative by imagining the Conservancy allowed nothing under the keel of their 1m boat, that means it dries 1.4m at that jetty.

Scrolling the tides back to this Saturday, after the inconveniently-timed low water, we see 1.4m (so the mud just covered) at 23:15. You'll obviously need a little more than this for the dinghy to float; it's not rising especially fast at about 0.1m per fifteen minutes so I would plan to get off at midnight, hope to manage it earlier, and not be totally amazed if it came a little later due to Conservancy optimism re silting, weather conditions, and the difference between Northney and Emsworth.

So the theory lines up pretty well with Dave's empirical approach above :encouragement:

Pete
 
If in the mud, keep an eye out for my left shoe, lost it during a L/W dinghy exploit when I moved off the 'stream bed'...
 
Thank you so much one and all. I feared it would be that late - I know it is only an hour, but an hour earlier would have been perfect. I sometimes after dinner an hour at the end in a pub is not quite so attractive waiting for the water to come in!

I cant think of any alternatives? I dont mind walking - it is the issue of getting back on the tender somewhere it will be afloat.
 
ip485 said:
I cant think of any alternatives?
Click to expand...

Looking at Google satellite view - which is at lowish tide but presumably not the lowest - that jetty looks to be the place where land touches deepest water. So no, nowhere better; that's presumably why the jetty exists where it does.

Fisherman's Walk stretches out towards deeper water (again, presumably why it exists) but I imagine that's not somewhere you want to be in the middle of the night after a pleasant dinner.

Pete
 
Yes, me to the Google satellite seems to show reasonably low tide and still afloat. Obviously it drys even further, in fact I know it does because I have seen it. I will look again at Fisherman's walk - dont mind being there after dark and a good dinner but I wonder if it offers a bet opportunity to get the tender away.
 
prv said:
Right, ok. I didn't reply earlier as I didn't know where you meant by "Fisherman's Quay".

Assuming the landing stage sticking out from the wall of the Mill Pond is what the Conservancy mean by "Emsworth Jetty" (they're not very clear either), it's apparently usable for a boat with 1m draught 3.5 hours either side of high water on neaps.

Using the Northney tides, which seem nearest of those available, next neaps has 2.4m rise of tide 3.5 hours after HW. Being conservative by imagining the Conservancy allowed nothing under the keel of their 1m boat, that means it dries 1.4m at that jetty.

Scrolling the tides back to this Saturday, after the inconveniently-timed low water, we see 1.4m (so the mud just covered) at 23:15. You'll obviously need a little more than this for the dinghy to float; it's not rising especially fast at about 0.1m per fifteen minutes so I would plan to get off at midnight, hope to manage it earlier, and not be totally amazed if it came a little later due to Conservancy optimism re silting, weather conditions, and the difference between Northney and Emsworth.

So the theory lines up pretty well with Dave's empirical approach above :encouragement:

Pete
Click to expand...

From a kayaking trip up that way a year or so back I recall that the "Emsworth Jetty" reaches out as far as the "gravelly" bit of the channel. So you can walk up the the jetty and climb out without getting your feet too muddy. (Which is what I did.)

Not sure if that helps.
 
ip485 said:
Yes, me to the Google satellite seems to show reasonably low tide and still afloat. Obviously it drys even further, in fact I know it does because I have seen it. I will look again at Fisherman's walk - dont mind being there after dark and a good dinner but I wonder if it offers a bet opportunity to get the tender away.
Click to expand...

I really don't think Fisherman's walk helps, at the end of it you are going to have a really muddy scramble to the tender. There is no access point to the water better than the Emsworth pontoon. Sorry to be a damp squib. But if you fancy following the shingle along the sea bed towing a solid tender (maybe with a lighter adult in the tender, grounding a bit)) and wearing shorts and knee high wellies I reckon you will have no problems at 11pm. Emsworth curry houses are my favourite, but as you walk away from the centre of the bright lights along the sea wall into the mist, it can feel kinda lonely:).

Otherwise Itchenor as a destination will deliver much longer time on the water during the day and access to the pub at night. And dry feet. I haven't done it yet though, and have a sense you are much more likely to have to pay and share a bouy. Emsworth you might not get charged at all at this time of year.
 
FairweatherDave said:
I really don't think Fisherman's walk helps, at the end of it you are going to have a really muddy scramble to the tender. There is no access point to the water better than the Emsworth pontoon.
Click to expand...

+1

From my above mentioned kayak trip, that was what I found. I was there at lowish tide and just hopped out at the "Emsworth Jetty". It was daylight and it was very obvious that carrying on further into Emsworth (where I'd launched) would have been harder and muddier. Ditto Fisherman's walk, which was so unpromising I didn't even notice it.
 
Thanks one and all.

I think it will either be into the marina or some welly boots and pull the tender down the river so to speak until finding deep water. Not sure as to the final decision yet. We have been into Emsworth marina before and acrtually found it very good. Unfortuantely we are a little large for the marina but they looked after us well last time. On this occasions the issue is potentially that of course we will not be able to get over the sill until late Sunday.

36 on the Quay is the venue which I can recommend from past experience.
 
FairweatherDave said:
Otherwise Itchenor as a destination will deliver much longer time on the water during the day and access to the pub at night. And dry feet. I haven't done it yet though, and have a sense you are much more likely to have to pay and share a bouy. Emsworth you might not get charged at all at this time of year.
Click to expand...

I believe Itchenor is the base for the Conservancy boats; certainly you're not going to sneak under their radar there. I doubt that's a particular concern for the OP anyway. Depending on arrival time you might or might not get a buoy to yourself; if they're all taken I tend to go on up to the visitors' pontoon rather than raft on the moorings (though I have done that a handful of times too).

Not a vast choice of eateries which seems to be the purpose of the trip, though. Is there anywhere other than the Ship? Not to imply that there's anything wrong with the Ship, of course, I've had some pleasant enough meals there.

Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top