Anyone live in London? And sail???!!

[roblpm]

I am from London originally but saw sense and moved to Edinburgh 18 years ago. Sail a bit from Port Edgar racing and sometimes on the West Coast on my mates boat. Was planning to stay forever and buy a boat on the Clyde sooner or later when I have financially recovered from my divorce!! However, due to said divorce and new partner turns out we might have actually to earn some money. (I was planning on just sort of sliding into poverty in Edinburgh but new partner maybe not so keen....!).

So one idea might be to live in London for a few years so my partner can join the rat race! I am only 53 so really am a bit young to give up the ghost! Then move back to Scotland eventually as it it is obviously a much better place!

I know London. And my Father used to live in Gosport and have a boat at Hardway. But what would be really useful is any current experience about the practicalities of getting to the Solent, any tips on berthing for less than a million quid a year. And how it generally works. Brighton marina seems not great for weekend trips as nowhere to go? East Coast? Bought the previous boat off a guy in the Medway. What's that like? I can actually work anywhere so I can imagine me going somewhere on a Thursday and my other half turns up Friday evening. Chichester?

Any thoughts gratefully received!

 

[Daydream believer]

Look at Burnham on Crouch for plenty of mooring places & mid week evening racing in keel boats that will not break the bank. Choice of sailing clubs that are welcoming. Parking not to bad , free & ample near the marina . Plus limited train service from Wickford. Not a nice road due to being busy, Just needs patience, but no major traffic jams, if taking the Burnham road via Woodham Ferrers.
Regular train service into London from Wickford but I have never tried it.
If you lived somewhere like Thurrock, Train service to London for partner & it is 50 mins to Burnham by car ( Done it hundreds of times.) My daughter gets to Canary wharf from home in Grays in 35 mins front door to desk.

 

[ashtead]

It really depends where you want to sail and if coming from northern lands you want to stay north of the Thames to make trips back in Scotland.
If however you want to sail in the Solent then next question is type/size of boat you want to sail. If you accept lifting or bilge keels prices go down so somewhere up say Fareham creek offers cheaper berthing and clearly the delights of Gosport not so far away .If you live in a good commuting town like Surbiton easy trains into London and say an hour to Fareham depending on timing of leaving home clearly. Partner could always catch train to Portsmouth and green ferry across to Gosport etc. chi is lovely to berth in but a long way from both sea (and a lock to traverse) and a rail station. Also trains to chi might not be so good as to Pompey. If you say size of boat and type you aspire to that will no doubt help in berthing options. Any marina on south coast unless you are ex services and get cheap berths at Hornet is pricey . To keep prices down a buoy in Chi harbour but will that suit your weekend sailing plans?

 

[vertford]

We live in north west London and kept a small 23ft on a buoy at Fambridge Yacht Haven on the River Crouch for 4 years. An an hour and 15mins mostly door to door. Fambridge is fair way up the river from Burnham, so depends on what you are looking for sailing wise. Had a pleasant 4 years pootling around before the work/sailing/maintenance scales became a bit unbalanced.

 

[Minerva]

Having lived in Edinburgh, sailed on the west coast and had work projects that’s taken me to London frequently; I’d be doing everything humanly possible to avoid living in London. Great place to visit, but live…

Surely in this WFH world and it being Edinburgh - the gains In employment between Edinburgh and London isn’t going to be that great to offset the downsides….

 

[bedouin]

The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives for mooring within easy reach of London. From where I am (5 mins from the M25 to the south of London) Brighton is the easiest - about 45 mins - but parking is a bit of a pain (or was when I was there) and not many places to go.

Chichester was probably my favourite - 75 minutes and a good place to sail. Most of the Solent marinas are about 90 minutes or so. Most places on the South coast also have a pretty good train service from London - especially if you are there with a car to pick them up from a convenient station.

Buoys in Chi/Langstone/Portsmouth are the cheapest but they add time and complexity to getting to the boat. Marinas are expensive unless you have a small boat and/or can take ground every tide.

Of course where you live is just as important as where you keep the boat - get too far within the M25 and driving anywhere becomes a nightmare.

Even from where we are the east coast (e.g. Burnham) is less than 90 minutes so there will be plenty of places in the NE of London that will be well inside an hour. Others will be better placed to advise on good sailing locations.

 

[roblpm]

Having lived in Edinburgh, sailed on the west coast and had work projects that’s taken me to London frequently; I’d be doing everything humanly possible to avoid living in London. Great place to visit, but live…

Surely in this WFH world and it being Edinburgh - the gains In employment between Edinburgh and London isn’t going to be that great to offset the downsides….

Yes of course. Problem is my partner is from abroad and I think the opportunities in NGOs, consultancies etc, probably related with South America to give her an in, are infinitely more than in Scotland. Especially when she is starting out. As I regularly say to her when she says she wants to move to the UK she is going to go from being an advisor to a minister here to working in a coffee shop....... Edinburgh is great, but for jobs not so much! I know the reality though so was thinking of a few years in London to get her going. Then back up North, and we can both work remote.

 

[dunedin]

Does your sailing need to be on a lead mine? If the objective is to earn money and restock the kitty, as a racer perhaps would be better to buy a dinghy that you can race at one of the many inland clubs round London?
Then go for a charter holiday once a year.

 

[laika]

Brighton is a great place to live and a rubbish place to sail from. When we moved off the boat and back to London we shifted the boat to Gosport. If taking the train from London, Portsmouth harbour is ~1h40 from Waterloo ( then ferry to gosport or bus to south sea marina (no personal experience of the latter)), Bursledon about 2 hours but Deacons and Swanwick are hardly "budget". Fareham busses are largely rubbish. The town quay is walkable from the station but wicormarine isn't so much...half an hour's walk from portchester?

If driving...live in south west London. From Rotherhithe to Fareham considerably more than a third of the drive is just getting to Wandsworth.

 

[roblpm]

Does your sailing need to be on a lead mine? If the objective is to earn money and restock the kitty, as a racer perhaps would be better to buy a dinghy that you can race at one of the many inland clubs round London?
Then go for a charter holiday once a year.

Yes this is the best idea. Any recommendations of clubs that I can peruse? I never fancy dinghy sailing much in Scotland as I am too much of a wimp! Might be more appealing in the sunny south and would be good for my (non existent) helming skills!

 

[roblpm]

It really depends where you want to sail and if coming from northern lands you want to stay north of the Thames to make trips back in Scotland.
If however you want to sail in the Solent then next question is type/size of boat you want to sail. If you accept lifting or bilge keels prices go down so somewhere up say Fareham creek offers cheaper berthing and clearly the delights of Gosport not so far away .If you live in a good commuting town like Surbiton easy trains into London and say an hour to Fareham depending on timing of leaving home clearly. Partner could always catch train to Portsmouth and green ferry across to Gosport etc. chi is lovely to berth in but a long way from both sea (and a lock to traverse) and a rail station. Also trains to chi might not be so good as to Pompey. If you say size of boat and type you aspire to that will no doubt help in berthing options. Any marina on south coast unless you are ex services and get cheap berths at Hornet is pricey . To keep prices down a buoy in Chi harbour but will that suit your weekend sailing plans?

Yes interesting...... I had lift keel before and got irritated with the difficult keel maintenance!

 

[finestgreen]

Yes this is the best idea. Any recommendations of clubs that I can peruse? I never fancy dinghy sailing much in Scotland as I am too much of a wimp! Might be more appealing in the sunny south and would be good for my (non existent) helming skills!

London Corinthian Sailing Club

 

[The Q]

London is extremely expensive to live in, live to the north of London commute in. If you live north east of London, then you've got several east coast places to choses from or many dinghy clubs inland.
South of London is still very expensive compared to the surrounds of Edinburgh.

Average rental London £1800, , Edinburgh £1063, houses buying even worse.
More importantly average price of a pint in London £5.99 Edinburgh £4.55.

 

[suffolklass]

There are hundreds of sailing clubs around London, on the Thames, on reservoirs, all over the place, so where you find will largely depend on where you live in or around. When I lived in Southeast London I sailed at Shadwell SC and later (briefly) at Erith YC - one was more accessible for me after work and the other at weekends, which drove my choices. Both nice, friendly and not hideously expensive clubs back in the day, but my choice was entirely made on location and travel time. My advice would be to find somewhere to live and then find a club to match.

 

[westernman]

Yes this is the best idea. Any recommendations of clubs that I can peruse? I never fancy dinghy sailing much in Scotland as I am too much of a wimp! Might be more appealing in the sunny south and would be good for my (non existent) helming skills!

These two are good for starters.
Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club - Sailing and dinghy racing in Surrey, Middlesex and West London. Windsurf and Paddleboard or Learn to sail with us
Home » Queen Mary Sailing Club

Generally speaking good sailing all year around with almost guaranteed wind.

 

[Stemar]

We lived in NW London and kept a boat in Gosport for several years until I retired and we moved south. It worked, but we reckoned that if we couldn't leave by 3pm on a Friday, we'd wait until 8 because of the M25, Hindhead and the A32. Hindhead's no longer an issue, but the other two haven't got any better!

There are areas that are relatively affordable in London- my daughter's considering Forest Gate, for example, but you'll need to be sitting down when you compare what you can get anywhere with a London post code for the price of a home in Edinburgh. You may find it's cheaper to get a shoebox flat for working out of during the week and buying a home near where you want to sail, or, as a cousin of mine did years ago, get a place out of town but with an easy commute (forget driving, you'll go mad!) to work. To my mind that would certainly be the best way if you can arrange to work from home a few days a week.

As for sailing areas, there are three that I'd consider.
The Solent - there are many reasons why it's so crowded, you have so many places within easy reach for a weekend away.
The east coast, same, lots of possibilities, but you'll want a shoal draft boat to take maximum advantage,
The Medway - I've never sailed there, but lots do. I can't off hand think of anywhere else that has easy destinations.

 

[suffolklass]

If you can work from home and commute in occasionally from much further out (or even once or twice a week) you will save a fortune in living costs versus living in London or the main commuter belt and will have a much wider choice of sailing areas, for sure. East Anglia is lovely, the trains in aren't the quickest but if you're not doing it every day I'd think it would be bearable and there are some more affordable bits not too far from train stations on the mainline to London if you don't mind rural living. I grew up sailing on the Orwell and Deben and there's enough along the coast to keep you busy for a good while, not to mention across to the Netherlands in the holidays.

 

[flaming]

I think it depends on the type of sailing you want, and if you're looking to buy your own boat or sail other people's boats...

If you want to race yachts, at least semi seriously, then you need to be heading to the Solent. The good news is that getting rides on decent boats for JOG or other crewed racing is fairly straightforward, there's a lot of availability for vaguely competent people.

If your aim is to buy your own small boat and cruise, and you want your money to go further, then absolutely look towards the East Coast. I grew up (and still live) in Suffolk. And had I not got the racing bug I would be very happy cruising the east coast.

 

[Giblets]

We lived in NW London and kept a boat in Gosport for several years until I retired and we moved south. It worked, but we reckoned that if we couldn't leave by 3pm on a Friday, we'd wait until 8 because of the M25, Hindhead and the A32. Hindhead's no longer an issue, but the other two haven't got any better!

And with the new M25/A3 junction works having just started at J10 for the next two years things will probably get worse before getting better.

 

[Daydream believer]

The east coast, same, lots of possibilities, but you'll want a shoal draft boat to take maximum advantage,
.

That is a fallacy. I draw 1.8 & apart from getting into my marina a couple of hours either side of LW I have rarely found any problems sailing on the east coast for the last 50 years. One can navigate the banks quite easily & the rivers are quite accessible. In fact I find the deaper draft is an advantage with the oft need to sail to windward in choppy water.