Brilliant Bembridge

[BetweenBoats]

Having a couple of great days in Bembridge.

I've never seen a harder working, polite, customer service focused team of marina staff anywhere.

Hats off to Gordon and the team. I wish he could put my home marina through whatever training programme he has

 

[darrenw]

I concur.

We spent last night in Bembridge on the inside corner of the visitors pontoon right behind the water taxi and the chap controlling the incoming craft today was run off his feet, yet he always remained calm and polite.

I think I heard them say they had 6 rallys staying tonight and we counted rafting 5 deep in places. We avoided it ourselves, but only because our stern was at right angles under the bow of a Squadron 58, so getting the dingy off was a bit of a challenge.

Excellent coffee and bacon & egg rolls at The Ralvins too, where they were also very welcoming.

Lovely place, but madness on a sunny Saturday in the school holidays during Cowes week !

 

[KevB]

I agree, great location and excellent staff.

 

[Firefly625]

We were in Bembridge a few weeks back, Gordon is a superb harbour master and he is the boss no doubt (especially when folk don't do what they are instructed to do..). Funny enough he used used to live in the same village as our business for many years... small world stuff.

Anyway a few pics from Bembridge for your info

a great view when you sit and have a evening meal in the Baywatch On The Beach (which is a good place to eat)

and if you sit there long enough the tide comes back in!

family fun weekend..

we reserved a finger berth, which we just fit on, but berthing staff so helpful, took lines and were great.

took a load more pics, some of us leaving Bembridge about 3hrs before high water and 1.8m over the bar which may interest some folk, but as first day back in the office after a few weeks I will post later tonight..

 

[stranded]

Love Bembridge but swmbo has fallen out with Gordon after he rafted 6 fully crewed (by elephants by the sound of them on our decks) boats outside us but none outside the bigger boat ahead of us. She asked the skipper of said boat what one had to do to get a private berth and he just said he was a mate of Gordon's. Normal jolly tolerance when rafting was a bit strained on that occasion.

 

[Offshore57]

+1 good team and love Bembridge....Gordon not so much

 

[KevB]

We were in Bembridge a few weeks back, Gordon is a superb harbour master and he is the boss no doubt (especially when folk don't do what they are instructed to do..). Funny enough he used used to live in the same village as our business for many years... small world stuff.

Anyway a few pics from Bembridge for your info

Were your pictures from The Family and Dance on the Duver weekend? We were there for that.

 

[Firefly625]

Were your pictures from The Family and Dance on the Duver weekend? We were there for that.

Yes it was

 

[Firefly625]

for anyone interested, some pics of us leaving Bembridge around 3 hrs before high water springs, didn't bump once, we draw 1.2m, now we do have a protected skeg and keel and a few bumps I don't mind, however if i had a shaft drive planning boat with props as my lowest point I think I would wait another half hour..

for interest below a pic when we entered on Saturday about 1hr before HW and it looks rather different

facilities are a bit basic but we like Bembridge.

 

[olam]

A view from the other side.

Have been going to Bembridge for 30 years,Love it.
This year for some strange reason the harbor staff insist on making all boats moor up facing one direction.
Watched many yachts arriving rigged with lines and fenders ready to moor driving into the fairly fresh wind as
you would & should.Only to be quite forcefully told to change sides and come in down wind .
So instead of simple nose in ,bit of astern and parked.now stern blown off and lines thrown ashore to be hauled in.
Apparently this is so they all leave in the same direction.
Cant think of any where else they do that.
May be different for power boats but half the yachts walk in opposite ways astern let alone long keelers can barely steer going backwards and now find themselves doing just that to get out.
What surprised me was how experienced skippers did as they were told even though it was clearly poor seamanship/boat handling .
Saw one older couple almost in tears after a good shouting at by a very rude Scot. I guess that must be Gordon .
On the up side the staff were really good at getting all the boats in one way or another on a very busy weekend.
Its a shame because Bembridge has always been such a relaxed place until recently.

 

[benjenbav]

The last time I went into Bembridge the Channel Pilot's top tip was to check the tide gauge near St Helen's Fort before entering the harbour. Now the harbour website has a live reading of tide height over the bar which I imagine makes a useful second point of reference:

http://www.bembridgeharbour.co.uk/

 

[Firefly625]

The last time I went into Bembridge the Channel Pilot's top tip was to check the tide gauge near St Helen's Fort before entering the harbour. Now the harbour website has a live reading of tide height over the bar which I imagine makes a useful second point of reference:

http://www.bembridgeharbour.co.uk/

Absolutely, when we last left it read 1.8m over the bar, we seemed to have a bit less than that under us when we went over the bar with our depth alarm beeping away showing 0.1m under us, but a great bit of info to have at hand.

 

[Wavey]

We really need to give Bembridge another go as we have heard such good reports about it. The only time we tried to moor we were directed to go alongside a Hatteras who needed his boarding ladder on the port side to get on and off the pontoon. We were faced with an impossible climb given the difference in our freeboards that I would have struggled with and for SWMBO was impossible. There was quite a bit of free pontoon space but they had a couple of rallies booked in so it was either the Hatteras or leave. Unfortunately we had to go elsewhere.

 

[superheat6k]

A more helpful harbour crew I have yet to find. 32' was £33 / night including electricity.

Gordon was polite and extremely helpful, and took time to explain how the Premier berths are available to book at a higher price of £45 / finger, but there are several alongside berths by the Premier fingers, and these can be reserved at standard rate by a simple phone call. Also worth noting is the mini shop in the harbour office where a decent selection of crucial groceries are available.

I work on the rule the if the rocks around the fort are covered then there is sufficient depth, but in addition to the tide gauge on line, there are useful marks along the pontoon on a couple of the piles, showing height from the level of the pontoon.

When I was going in I passed right by the old tide post, to find the tide gauge there gone, just a rusty ladder.

We left this afternoon with 1.8 m on the pontoon gauge mark, and the lowest I saw was 1m beneath the transducer, giving us 0.6m clearance.