Feasible costal marina for someone living in East Midlands

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Paddy Fields

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Hi all

This is my very first post :-)

I live in land locked Nottingham, which I believe is pretty much as far away from the sea as you can get anywhere in the UK. Despite this, I have an urge, brought about by weeks spent on sailing and diving livaboard holidays (albeit in sunny climes), to get myself a yacht with the distant ambition of it becoming a livaboard.

The first pragmatic hurdle would be to look into long term berthing options “near” where I live. I got a copy of the imray guide for the bit of the sea that is closest to me as the crow flys, which is helpful. But I’m hoping for pointers from people who have been in the same conundrum as me, and had to weigh up travel distance, cost, amenities, sailing and “vibe” of the various options on offer.

Welcome any pointers,

Thanks

Dan
 
Being from Nottingham and having been through the options for moorings myself here's what I came up with:

Nearest is http://www.fosdykeyachthaven.co.uk/ which allows semi-limited access to the Wash via the Welland. Have a look on Google Earth -bit remote. Not the easiest area to navigate through for a beginner and not that much to see. Interesting non the less. The tide comes whizzing in to Fosdyke and the low road bridge comes up pretty quickly! Actually the closest tidal club is at Skegness, cheap moorings, friendly bunch but limited in getting out as you need a good Spring tide to navigate the twisty channel and a draft of less than 4ft. www.skegnessyachtclub.co.uk Again tides and sandbanks comm in to play.
Next is Wisbech and all it's glories - quick walk in to the town, long trip out to the Wash on the Nene and you need to have your wits about you passing Sutton bridge and out in to the Wash. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/wisbechyachtharbour
Next up is Grimsby - both the GCYC and also Humber Cruising Association. Both are lock ins and outs on to the Humber. I sail out of here on mates boats, mainly racing or a jolly up and down the Humber. Big tides, lots of big ships.
Then it's down to the East Coast Rivers where you have a good choice from either fully serviced marinas on the Orwell and Ipswich. Slightly cheaper moorings, marinas and clubs on the Deben and the Ore/Alde.
After that it's Essex - Tollesbury, and the Blackwater or start looking over towards Wales/Liverpool way.

I'll give you a hint - I started on the Lincolnshire coast and the boat is now on the Deben 2.5-3hr drive! Boat is on a mooring at Felixstowe Ferry - friendly club, good boatyard and you can sail pretty much in any wind condition/tide even if it's just up the river.:cool:

With regards to the Liveaboard plan I figure it's worth nosying around an area for a while to see what it's like. But it you went for it, the lack of salty water in the Nottingham area wouldn't be an issue as you wouldn't live there!
 
Hi we live in Sheffield and have tried all the up and down the east coast at some time we are currently in Ipswitch haven marina it takes about 31/2 hours on Friday night and we go every weekend from March right through to November we have motor boat but sail regularly with some freinds that have a yacht great area to sail even when weather is bad you still have the Orwell to play in. Love Hartlepool but never managed to get good weather up there it about as far as I want to drive on a Friday night
 
Wellcome on board, were in Lincoln and our boat is on the Humber at Winteringham Haven, Humber Yawl Club. Very friendly club with hardstanding, slip and full lifting facilities FOC for members. Your welcome to come and have a look.
 
I get on the M1 at J26 so not a million miles from you.

We started our boat owning life (been boating many years prior) on the Norfolk Broads and soon felt slightly constrained by the clat to get to sea. We moved to Shotley at the confluence of the Orwell and Stour; that was 9 years ago and been there ever since. Like Andromeda we use our ship right through the year, winter every other weekend normally rather than every one.

Good run is 3.25 hours bur the M1 excavations arounf J24 are a royal pain at present. Depends which side of Nottingham you are but if A1 side your journey might be a tad quicker. The Broads were a 3.75-4 hour run.
 
We are a tad further Sth between Peterborough and Stamford - but having spent a couple of weekends looking for the ideal location ThecWash to The Blackwater we have settled on the R Orwell. This has been for 10 yrs now. There are moorings or all year marinas and offers sheltered sailing when it’s blowing hard and all tide access to Nth, Sth and East. Lots to do and always things happening. The East Coast Rivers guide would be worth picking up so you can see what is on offer and gain a great insight into this area.
Welcome and good luck.
 
The advantage of the Northern Thames Estuary is the number of choices available for a weekend cruise, as well as its proximity to the Continent. If I were coming from the Midlands I would probably be fed up with driving by the time I'd done with the A14, so I would be inclined to start at Ipswich. Although it is a hour or two from the ocean, the river allows for plenty of safe sailing in bad weather and a chance to gain experience before perhaps moving to some of the other places mentioned.
 
Use to live in Lincoln and then Huntingdon and because Shotley was available all states of the tide 24x7 and very safe behind the lock, we kept boats there for 6 years.

Worked well; the only downside was the A14 but by picking the right time that could be managed.

A great cruising area so when we retired and had more time we moved to Walton and took the other boat south.
 
We live near Sleaford in Lincolnshire (someone's got to) and we were torn between Bradwell and Shotley. We settled on Shotley about six years ago and have never regretted it. Apart from the Friday night A14 which, to be realistic will be much better in a year or so. It takes us 2hrs 20 to 2hrs 30 generally but that will be cut by 15 minutes when the A14 is finished between Huntingdon and Cambridge.
There's a titchy marina at Boston but like many of The Wash rivers it's too restricted and where would you go.
Ipswich is great but having driven two hours to get there I'd rather drive another 15 minutes than sail an hour and more the next day to get out into Pennyhole Bay. Ipswich is a great destination but not 'home port' for me.
Overall the drive can be a pain but anywhere from the Deben down to the Blackwater is worth it from the East Midlands.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

Looks like I will have to jump in the car and have a good look round.

I’m leaning towards making do with something nearby, and then moving somewhere more interesting though further afield if and when the limits become frustrating. A lot of this is going to depend on how the other half feels about it.

I also suspect that most of the boats on sale will be located towards the south west, so I am tempted to just keep the boat down in the south west (or where ever it may be) and enjoy it there for a while, moving it to the east coast as and when the epic commute down there becomes a grind.
 
Paddy Fields said:
I also suspect that most of the boats on sale will be located towards the south west, so I am tempted to just keep the boat down in the south west (or where ever it may be) and enjoy it there for a while,
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Why the south west? Is it a particular type of boat you're looking for? There are some lovely spots down there, but the journey is awful!
 
Grimsby at Humber Cruising Club is good value and the river Humber is interesting, but scenic it isn't. Been made very welcome and the beers cheap. Tidal free flow 2 hours either side of high water but high springs and the flood boards go in and you are stuck for an hour or more.
Fosdyke is more a place to start from than a destination but nice owner and yard staff.
The A14 is dreadful and will be until they finish working on widening.
 
Most posters are saying Marinas on the Deben, for a reason, which is basically 24 hours access and shelter of the river. I would take their advice. Here are two things you shouldn't do:
1) Spend too much money on your first boat. They are easy to buy and difficult to sell, and you don't know how you or your partner will like it
2) Don't consider keeping a boat anywhere where the only access to the sea is out to the Wash - you might as well just throw away £5k as it is guaranteed to you and your partner off sailing.
 
pvb said:
Why the south west? Is it a particular type of boat you're looking for? There are some lovely spots down there, but the journey is awful!
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Just seems that a lot of boats for sale are on the south coast (I guess I meant south coast rather than south west). I would only keep it there for a few months.

In terms of type of boat - Im looking for a sailing boat. We have spend a bit of time on a westerly fulmar, and my other half felt that that was too small. She was much happier on a 40'ish AWB. I think having a single large aft cabin would really sell the whole living on a boat thing to her. That, if I'm not mistaken, would dictate a centre cockpit, and a loa of at least 40'. Does that rule out an AWB?
 
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Paddy Fields said:
Just seems that a lot of boats for sale are on the south coast (I guess I meant south coast rather than south west). I would only keep it there for a few months.

In terms of type of boat - Im looking for a sailing boat. We have spend a bit of time on a westerly fulmar, and she felt that that was too small. She was much happier on a 40'ish AWB. I think having a single large aft cabin would really sell the whole living on a boat thing to my other half. That, if I'm not mistaken, would dictate a centre cockpit, and a loa of at least 40'. Does that rule out an AWB?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure you're entirely serious about this, and for that reason I'm out!
 
pvb said:
I'm not sure you're entirely serious about this, and for that reason I'm out!
Click to expand...

Well, Im new to this I admit. So far Ive got a lot of food for thought, and some of my previous misconceptions have been blown out of the water. Thanks for your contribution anyway!

Meanwhile I will try and second guess what other assumptions I have made are dumb :-)
 
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