Anyone any experience of Christchurch harbour ?

[dunkelly]

Hi, looking to take our 1 meter draught boat up to Christchurch over the next few weeks , has anyone any info on long term berths in the harbour and depths / entry concerns .

 

[Homer J]

I know it’s a fierce tide - I saw a mbo fail to get in against the tide and I have seen someone ground there - all from the shore - never been in myself.

I’m sure this is not terribly helpful advice but serves to show care needed - but then I guess you know this already or you wouldn’t have asked the question.

Actually now I’ve typed this I’m considering deleting it, but having gone to the effort....

 

[Rafiki]

I used to do this regularly on a similiar draft boat ( Westerly Konsort, bilge keel), no probs providing you enter and leave at the right times, plenty of water inside for you and I recall there is a long "stand" at high water - or two high tides?. We always got a short term berth at the sailing club against their pontoon, but there is also a marina/boat yard further up towards the east, in a dredged pool sorry can't recall the name,
Used to love it there, but we now have bigger boat and based on East Coast.

 

[dunkelly]

i am coming at this from the other way round , have done the big boat - 2 atlantic circuits living on board for many years and now back home in our dotage and now exploring the delights of our own shores that we could never get to with 2.2 meter draught - so thanks for the advice and enjoy your travels .

 

[seadog30]

Hi dunkelly,

Used to have a mooring in Christchurch, yes it can be difficult with very strong tide flow and many shallow areas.

However if you plan it you find it fine for a 1Mtr draft. Make sure that you time it to cross the bar into the "run" approx an hour before first high, follow the marked channel and DONT cut corners. Have a look at the Christchurch Sailing Club website they have some piloting info.

For visitor mooring phone the sailing club they usually have room on their walk ashore pontoon (their bar and food is also good).

Good luck

 

[Boathook]

Christchurch tides are similar to those at Poole. You should be ok entering about 3 hours after LW until second HW. As been said, don't cut corners as you will go aground. Christchurch isn't visitor geared up as most avoid due to the shallow waters. Christchurch sailing club is the best place to contact about mooring and in the past they had all the tide information. If the wind is southerly to easterly through the SE best not to enter if the wind is over a F5 as the entrance is exposed. Sometimes the seas break across the entrance (did last Tuesday) but the depth is ok. Be careful as entering the 'run', as if the tide is on the flood it will try to take you on to the harbour wall so make full used the engine power!
https://www.christchurchsailingclub.co.uk/links

Edit - added link

 

[dunkelly]

Thankyou Seadog and Boathook - very useful detail , without these challenges life would be boring , looking forward to it

 

[Rafiki]

Dunkelly,
If you are going to be solent based in your 1m boat then also try Wareham, you can get all the way up to the town itself at high tide, or the Redcliffe (spelling?) sailing club has a floating pontoon and lets visitors spend up to two nights there - lovely spot and a nice walk into Wareham. Then you could eat at the lovely riverside hotel -- all for a lot less than it cost you to moor up for one night in your big boat!

 

[dunkelly]

Hi Andrew ,
thank you for the suggestion Wareham was also on our list and didnt look quite as terrifying - fortunately anchoring in our old tub was still cheap - big dosnt always mean expensive . will definitely give the riverside a try , again thanks for the local knowledge.
Nigel

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Christchurch entrance is one of those places that has the tide ripping through it for an hour or two while and then goes nice and tranquil - the double high tide really works in your favour and, as long as you time it to come in just before the top of rising tide the only risk is a gentle stirring of mud. One thing to watch is that the second high tide can be very small so check it carefully before relying on that to get you off if you do hit the mud. Other than that the only thing is to avoid the temptation to cut across the buoyed channel on the approach - if you get a chance to go to Mudeford Quay at low tide you can see the channel very clearly.

This site https://eoceanic.com/sailing/harbours/485/ has lots of pictures and this one shows the Run particularly well. You can see the channel up to the entrance quite well in this one but it moves around a fair bit, especially after a storm.

You can see a couple of boats that have been caught a bit flood on this one exactly as boathook warns.

 

[Boathook]

Hopefully this will help with your trip.

 

[dunkelly]

Thats very helpful boathook where can i get them from , i would also like june ,july and august

 

[Boathook]

Thats very helpful boathook where can i get them from , i would also like june ,july and august

There is also a tidetable on Christchurch sailing site in the links section. The tables can be bought locally in Christchurch, Davis fishing tackle shop in Bargates being one place.