advice for poole trip from gosport this weekend please.

[atlowers]

Want to meet my daughter and boyfriend who are camping at swanage this weekend. Weather not looking brilliant for saturday night, bit blowy and new area for me so advice sought please. As I say first time to Poole so Where is best place for the nights mooring I have heard dolhin marina is good option, and any ideas for good atmoshperic pub for drinks and food please. Anything I should be be careful of re the passage and navigation. All advice welcomed as usual.

 

[RIN]

Fairly easy navigation out thruough Hurst, up to North Head buoy then straight across to the new East Looe channel which should have plenty of depth for your Falcon.

Best to go up through the Harbour in daylight if it is first visit (Also up to date chart reqd) as spotting the red and greens will b difficult agaist the town lights. Dolphin Quay good but even for 23' you will need to book.
Cobbs Quay (MDL owned) will probably have a berth (through or under the lifting bridge into Holes Bay) - will need taxi to get into Poole from here though.
It is possible to raft on the Quay itself but you will probably get knocked about a bit.
Plenty of watering holes to choose from in Poole. Many suggestions will shortly appear from other forumites

Richard

PS Just looked at the forecast, blowing F4/F5 pos F6 from SW up to F8 on Sunday. I would take the car cause it would be very bouncy in a 23 footer

 

[atlowers]

Thanks Richard, Yes I have been keeping an eye on the forecasts and plans are being put on hold, although metcheck is still showing reasonable conditions but with possibility of f6 and wind against tide, I wil be taking the sensible option.Some Bloody summer really am getting hacked off with it /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif. Anyway, another day so thanks for the advice.

 

[dpb]

RIN's advice is pretty good though the forcasts I have checked are less pessimistic!
If the winds are from anywhere but the North or East why not anchor in Swanage bay just off the shore, you will need your dinghy to get ashore in the evening, (water taxi usually around during the day) and it is very sheltered from the prevailing SW winds. Plenty of pubs and restaurants in Swanage and it is Carival week so fireworks at 10:00 and other events too. (Bands ect).
If staying with the Poole idea, the Dolphin Haven is ideal but as RIN says usually booked up summer weekends. Another alternative other than Cobbs would be Salterns where there is a fairly posh hotel, restaurant and bar with beer garden overlooking the marina on site but no problem using them.

 

[RIN]

Yes I noticed that - the BBC forecast for Poole was not too bad showing 10mph on sat and sun, but the inshore forecast from 18.00 Tonight (fri) was

Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis 24 hour forecast: Southwest, veering west for a time, 3 or 4, occasionally 5, later increasing 4 or 5, occasionally 6. Rain then isolated showers. Good, occasionally moderate at first. Slight or moderate.

Outlook for the following 24 hours: Southwest, veering northwest later, 4 or 5, occasionally 6, increasing 6 to gale 8 for a time. Rain or showers. Good, becoming moderate or poor for a time. Slight or moderate increasing moderate or rough, occasionally very rough.

So that's another weekend gone!
Richard

 

[Solitaire]

This is a good site for seeing live weather in Poole - Poole weather

While I'm about it, and in case others have not seen them before, here are some other useful weather sites.

Cowes
Metcheck
Windfinder

A point to ponder about your trip. The winds have been fairly high most of this week ( and from the west) and have whipped the seas up in the Western Solent a "bit" so once you leave Hurst it will be fairly bumpy. It takes time for the sea to quieten down after a consistent blow and that may well effect your trip - particularly across Christchurch Ledge and around Hengisbury Head. I would avoid using the East Looe Channel and go straight to No 1 bar buoy and in through the Swash way. We are also heading for Springs so you will start to see the effects this weekend. I trust you have a decent chart of Poole - it can get very shallow and the tidal range is not that great - 1 meter today and 1.1 tomorrow. Keep to the buoyed channels and even then on some of the smaller ones keep to the center.


I may go to Poole this weekend as well, but Poole Town Quay marina is fully booked. In terms of anchorages, you have areas around Brownsea Island and then there is Studland Bay and of course Swanage Bay itself.