Brighton Marina Full Today

Habebty

Habebty

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
4,534
Location
Norfolk/Suffolk
Visit site
Got turned away from Brighton today as they were full. Apparently dredging may be limiting their ability to accept visitors.
Didn’t fancy pressing on for a long f5 beat to Gosport forecast for later so having just passed Newhaven, turned round to give it a go.
A delightfully wonky old school marina with limited all tide berths, very helpful staff though. I shall await the arrival of the Dieppe ferry, as berth is fairly close to the link span. Does it come in astern or turn in the harbour!? Luckily the wind is blowing away from the scrap metal yard today. Be aware the outside berth has protruding piles which would be an issue if boat over 30 foot.
 
Last edited:
Ferry comes in Bow first, then backs out and turns outside when leaving. They take it pretty slowly once near the linkspan and I never saw any issue from wash or water displacement, but thats only from the deck of the ferry. Perhaps someone who berths there can tell us if its ever an issue?
 
Gosh, how often is Brighton dredged? I was there late last August 2021 and it was being dredged then.
 
Well, no issue from the close proximity of the ferry in Newhaven. Will try the Hope Inn later for a beer. Berth a little bouncy from passing occasional fishing/pilot boats (twas ever thus?) and pleasant enough in the sunshine. Oh, and a tenner a night cheaper than Brighton.
 
stuartwineberg said:
Continuously I believe. They have their own resident dredger which is a bit of a shock to meet in the entrance.
Click to expand...
I had that joy last summer :oops:

The racing yacht who thought it a good idea sneaking out while the dreger was positioning itself got an earful, as did us all, from the marina staff.
 
I was in Brighton Marina last week, with a booking. Brilliant staff and great facilities. I was impressed.
There is only one alongside pontoon available for visitors at present. It is in line with the harbour office. The other pontoons, between harbour office and harbour entrance, have been removed temporarily so the whole area is cleared for dredging.

If you do visit, I can recommend the town bike rental, known variously at BTN / Social
Bicycles /SOBI. There is a bike dock outside McDonalds at the marina and usually many bikes are available. The cost is £1 per trip plus 4p a minute, which works out cheaper than the bus fare to go from marina to the pier area. Of course you can always walk too.
 
Gosh they must be suffering at Brighton to turn visiting revenue away.

They used to put visitors in empty residence berths all over the E and W jetties , helpful and all ‘ can do’..

Aside from going aground in the entrance on the east side , which is harder bottom , once inside I used to be able to creep east by running a fenders width off of the outside pontoons , then get stuffed by the mud 100m from my berth , at lowish springs .?1.7m draft
Delighted that Newhaven is scooping up some cudos ?.
 
Blueboatman said:
They used to put visitors in empty residence berths all over the E and W jetties , helpful and all ‘ can do’..
Click to expand...

The denizens of my former pontoon on the east jetty have been entirely expunged and boats replaced with little floating houses, the owners of which presumably complain a lot less about their non-existent keels being in the mud for several hours a day. In other words, the number of spare berths due to bertholders being elsewhere is probably reducing.
 
In my recent experience, the Brighton marina team still have a ‘can do’ attitude. I asked to move from visitors’ pontoon to a more sheltered area and was offered a resident’s berth.
 
Rumours that the outer marina wall has got problems and it's hollow structure is being filled ?
Was a bit of a squeeze getting past the dredger and the wall recently but did get friendly wave as we indicated we would like to go past.
 
As a kid I used to go Rock-pooling where that marina is! Watched it being built… slowly. There’s nothing natural about it so it doesn’t surprise me if it has silting problems. It has entry problems too in anything above a F5 sou’westerly.
 
Newhaven is charming, in a slightly delapidated old-fashioned way, and the couple who run it are very friendly.
The area local to the marina is a peaceful, mainly pedestrianised area, and the castle is interesting to wander around.
Brighton? You can keep it!
 
R.Ems said:
Newhaven is charming, in a slightly delapidated old-fashioned way, and the couple who run it are very friendly.
The area local to the marina is a peaceful, mainly pedestrianised area, and the castle is interesting to wander around.
Brighton? You can keep it!
Click to expand...
The rather old entry on visitmyharbour suggests you would be lucky to get a visitors berth because of the windfarm vessels, that’s why we staggered into Brighton last time, any thoughts on that?
 
oldgit said:
Rumours that the outer marina wall has got problems and it's hollow structure is being filled ?
Was a bit of a squeeze getting past the dredger and the wall recently but did get friendly wave as we indicated we would like to go past.
Click to expand...

That was ages ago, when we were still there, around 2016 I think. Probably done by now, although you never know. Huge Dutch tugboat came with a bunch of barges and pinned them against the inside of the wall with its 500 HP bowthruster (which has its own diesel engine just for that and can run as long as there's fuel). The wash blew the fouling right off a rotting wooden liveaboard which immediately began to flood and the owner had to wait three days to get an emergency liftout because the lock to the boatyard was also being serviced :ROFLMAO:
 
stuartwineberg said:
The rather old entry on visitmyharbour suggests you would be lucky to get a visitors berth because of the windfarm vessels, that’s why we staggered into Brighton last time, any thoughts on that?
Click to expand...
I have been avoiding Newhaven for exactly the same reason! But I am equally out of date now, sorry...
 
Yngmar said:
... The wash blew the fouling right off a rotting wooden liveaboard which immediately began to flood and the owner had to wait three days to get an emergency liftout because the lock to the boatyard was also being serviced :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
It's interesting to hear what you find so hilarious, and that by your laughing emoji you assume that most other posters will also amused.
It's just so funny watching peoples's boats sink, and if they are wooden, all the more so.
But the cherry on top is the fact it was their home! Literally LOL.
 
Brighton was being dredged when we were there some years ago, with half the berths out of use. We were told that dredging couldn’t be done in the winter; something to do with it being forbidden because of spawning or developing sea-bass, or something.
 
dk said:
As a kid I used to go Rock-pooling where that marina is! Watched it being built… slowly. There’s nothing natural about it so it doesn’t surprise me if it has silting problems. It has entry problems too in anything above a F5 sou’westerly.
Click to expand...
And when it first opened there were no pontoons yet in the outer harbour, so everyone, including all the charter angling boats, used to have to lock through from the inner every day.

Of course, that was when the inner was full of pontoons, before they turned it into a luxury housing estate.
 
R.Ems said:
Newhaven is charming, in a slightly delapidated old-fashioned way, and the couple who run it are very friendly.
The area local to the marina is a peaceful, mainly pedestrianised area, and the castle is interesting to wander around.
Brighton? You can keep it!
Click to expand...

Peaceful? The junk yard crane dropping scrap metal in to a coaster 50 feet from your left ear until 3am made sleep a bit of a challenge. Then after it finally stopped you get an hour before the ferry arrives and starts hooting.

It also has a park bench dedicated to Eric "Eazy E" Wright of the NWA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top