Cheap overnight mooring buoys in the Solent?

[Seajet]

Quiddle,

I am a mooring ' owner ' too ( laid it myself and replaced the topchain just a week ago, but it remains courtesy of my club and a rent to Chichester Conservancy for doing sod all ) - I am very happy for anyone vsiting to use my mooring while I'm away - of course they will have the courtesy to stay or at least leave someone competent aboard to move / juggle the boats to temporarily raft up, when I return.

The snag is when something the size of one of the new RN aircraft carriers latches onto a mooring designed for a Leisure 17, drags it out of it's dug hole and buggers it leaving it dangerously able to skip across the seabed, all before the unwitting owner returns.

Moorings in Chichester Harbour are graded - mine's a ' C3 ' which means ' half tide, medium / moderate size boat up to 29 ' - and of course a stranger picking one up will hopefully judge by the chain and position as to whether it's suitable, but in these times when novices start on 40 footers one cannot assume any logic appearing in the equation.

I would be a bit uneasy if I had a mooring in a popular Salcombe-esque tourist spot...

This was one of the problems which soon came to light when studying ' Environmentally Friendly Moorings ' for BORG, re their use at Studland.

Not only are EFM's themselves distinctly dodgy / unsuitable there, one would never be able to pick such a mooring up happily knowing all was well & secure, as the last boat on it may well have been the largest super-high windage thing Sunseekers had yet managed to congeal, in a Force 9 !

Normally, sense prevails and I love the idea of sharing one's moorings while away, but note when I said sense I didn't say ' common ' ...

 

[TwoHooter]

Just to say that we spent 2 nights on the newly laid visitors' moorings in the Beaulieu River a couple of weeks ago, £10 a night, harbourmaster & staff all very friendly (and the Beaulieu River Sailing Club lent me a can of petrol because I had been misled about what was in our tender tank after the outboard had been serviced). A wonderful, unforgettable bit of boating. We spent nearly 70 hours in the river, explored upstream with the tender, had the benefit of the entrance dolphin, and all the markers, and the buoy itself, and a harbourmaster's launch that would have whizzed down the river to us if we had needed help - all for £20. Magic.

 

[Seajet]

It does indeed sound as if things have improved a lot on the Beaulieu River; no longer are the berthing fees at a level which made running the Space Shuttle seem like a moped, the huge array of selfish dinghies at the pontoon has apparently been sorted, and in the old days that harbourmaster would have run over, not to you, at 20 knots then demanded dues !

Tell me the pervy harbour staff bloke jumping across cockpits and trying to open hatches at or before 08:00 has gone ( he must have retired or been shot by now ) and it may well have become the destination it always deserved to be - amazing what a new even slightly enlightened type at the top can do, when numbers are down everywhere...

 

[Bobc]

Rip-off Solent! Any advice on overnight moorings for mere peasants?

Newtown River - £17 a night - very nice but not worth that sort of money. Do National Trust members get a discount?

Beaulieu River - probably more expensive than Newtown?

Keyhaven? £16 a night - little bit cheaper than Newtown.

Bembridge? Need a bilge keeler.

Wootton Creek? Like the idea of staying there. Could I take a vacant mooring buoy for the night?

Anywhere else?

P.S. What's the etiquette on taking vacant mooring buoys - just be prepared to move if someone arrives?

What's wrong with your anchor?

 

[Seajet]

Wasn't the choice of anchorages covered a long time ago in this thread ?

There aren't many good secure ones, as funnily enough in an area with the most valuable lands in Britain, most places are sewn up by developments...

There's a good one in Chichester Harbour I'm not going to tell you lot about, otherwise just upriver from the Folly ( Medina River S of Cowes ) is worth a try for those with medium / less draft.

Langstone Harbour has some good anchorages as long as one likes wildlife and just about zero else - and it must be said, it would be an idea to keep a mild watch out for light fingered gentry from the Western - Portsmouth side - shores.

Suggest you read this from the start, inc sharing moorings.

 

[drakes drum]

Yes, we do it lots of times and only ever make brief visits ashore if we do. When I had a mooring I was delighted for others to use it and once or twice I had to moor up on another until they came back or even tie up to them. Lots of threads about rip off marinas, well here's a chance for us to pull together!

A commendable attitude I agree with entirely. Picked up a Frenchmans mooring once and we were in mid dinner when he arrived back. Dont worry, he said, I'll pick up another buoy and come back in the morning. Transformed SWMBOs view of the French in one simple gesture.

Its nice to be nice rather than mean.