Isle of Wight | Cowes | Folly Reach advice

[Andrew E]

After many years moaning about the busyness of the South Coast, my partner and I are seriously considering up sticks to the Isle of Wight. Property prices are scarily good and because we're both able to work from home, we'd have no lengthy commute to the mainland. A property around the Northwood area in Cowes would be our ideal choice.

Keeping this thread boaty related, the obvious marina for us would be East Cowes but at £420 per metre it's considerably more expensive than our current berth in Southampton. The benefits East Cowes offer like the free storage at Deacons, unlimited short stays and 14 free nights at Haslar, Portland and Weymouth make it seem more affordable but I'm a concerned about how busy East Cowes can get in the summer with visitor traffic and the difficulty of mooring in the strong currents. Berthing in West Cowes is out of the question as it's just too busy.

Another potential option is Island Harbour. Berthing there is much cheaper than East Cowes, but being restricted by the lock is a huge problem as we like to get out early and arrive back late.

My favourite and most affordable option is the Folly reach pontoons. I haven't read much on the Folly but I'm assuming it's a little like the Hamble river pontoons - they're like gold dust? I'm also not sure where you could launch a tender from to reach the pontoons?

Willing to consider other options around the Island, but we love idea of having the boat in Cowes, centrally positioned in the Solent allowing us to turn left or turn right each trip.

Any advice is greatly welcomed.

 

[jonjo]

I met an IT contractor on the IOW ferry heading off to the mainland on a Sunday to start his working week, we had a good chat during the crossing. After 3 years he and his partner were thinking of relocating back to the mainland, the main reason was that they did not like the two tier class system that the economic realities of the IOW create. The social structure of the IOW is polarized around the wealthy retired of independent means and the rest who get by on seasonal minimum wage jobs. Cowes seems to dispel the picture he painted but it is a cautionary tale worth noting.

My IOW dream would involve a home west of Cowes within the 7 mile limit that qualifies for Yarmouth Harbour local status, a swinging mooring the wrong side of the Yarmouth road bridge would suit me combined with a draft that would allow haulout at the River Yar Boatyard which is the sort of place Dylan Winters would approve of.

I heard that the plan for the new east Cowes marina inside the new breakwater is not as advanced as the glossy Harbour Commissioner brochure would have you believe.

 

[Greenheart]

I visited the Folly two days ago. Nice spot and a tolerable pub. Is there a decent bar at Island Harbour? It looked like a long walk/row from the Folly, if not.

 

[alancollins]

Island Harbour has a reasonable bistro-type restaurant and bar. The walk up from the Folly takes about 15-20 minutes and is very pleasant in good weather. I would hesitate to row there though, unless you can organise the tide both ways. Their pontoon dries out.

 

[Andrew E]

I met an IT contractor on the IOW ferry heading off to the mainland on a Sunday to start his working week, we had a good chat during the crossing. After 3 years he and his partner were thinking of relocating back to the mainland, the main reason was that they did not like the two tier class system that the economic realities of the IOW create. The social structure of the IOW is polarized around the wealthy retired of independent means and the rest who get by on seasonal minimum wage jobs. Cowes seems to dispel the picture he painted but it is a cautionary tale worth noting.

Very interesting. You just have to visit East Cowes to see that.

 

[AndrewL]

I hope I will be able to help, just under 3 years ago my wife and I moved from the mainland to the Isle of Wight and we live in Northwood. We keep our boat on the Medina on the Folly moorings, for the first 2 years I had a mid-stream pontoon and this year I changed to a swing mooring.

On the Medina there are mid-stream pontoons (no walk ashore access) and mooring buoys. Opposite the Folly Inn there are 4 pontoons reserved for visitors but all the other pontoons and buoys are for annual mooring.

North of the Folly Inn the moorings are owned by Cowes Harbour Commission, they are well maintained and regularly inspected. Although it depends on your length and draft, I think you should be able to get a mooring, there seem to be spaces at the moment. I had no trouble getting a pontoon mooring, and when I wanted to switch to a swing mooring there were several to choose from. The office at Shepards Wharf Marina handle the administration of permanent moorings http://www.cowesharbourcommission.co.uk/shepards_wharf_marina. All the staff at Shepards are very helpful, give them a call and I am sure they will be able to help.

South of the Folly Inn the moorings are owned by the IoW council https://www.iwight.com/Residents/Leisure-and-Sport/Harbours/Newport-Harbour/Newport-Harbour1. In general they are not as well maintained, I am told they are cheaper but I have not looked into it.

I keep a dinghy at the compound by the Folly Inn, this is owned by the Medina Mariners Association http://www.medinamariners.org/ and the space costs me approx £30 a year and £12 membership. There is a concrete slipway and you can launch at any state of tide, although on low springs the ramp is quite steep but manageable.

At least half the time I use the Folly Launch water taxi rather than drag the dinghy out. They operate from the walk ashore pontoon by the Folly Inn (07884 400046 or VHF 72 Folly Launch). During the summer they run 7 days a week from around 9am until around 11pm and will cost you around £3 per person to a Folly Reach mooring. In the winter they run at the weekend from around 10-4.

I often see tenders coming up stream from Cowes going to moored boats, but I've never worked out where they are stored.

From Northwood it is around 20 minutes to drive to the Folly Inn, there is parking for non-pub users, it can get a bit muddy but is free.

Depending on your usage you may find Island Harbour too restricted on access. The lock timing is obviously one restriction, but there will be times when deeper draught vessels cannot get upstream as far as Island Harbour even when the lock is operating.

Hope this helps.

 

[Andrew E]

That's very helpful, thank you!

Have you ever had issues with theft or anything like that? That's always my biggest worry with the leaving the boat on a river mooring.

We're a lifting keel so draw next to nothing, but the idea of not being able to go out at 3am if i so choose to would annoy me, so Island Harbour is out of the question.

 

[jonjo]

Island Harbour has a reasonable bistro-type restaurant and bar. The walk up from the Folly takes about 15-20 minutes and is very pleasant in good weather. I would hesitate to row there though, unless you can organise the tide both ways. Their pontoon dries out.

Island Harbour is in the middle of a major upgrade and the business aspiration is most peculiar. There is talk of an additional upmarket restaurant and a shoreside health spa. Given that the historical role of IH was a simpler semi rural counterpoint to West Cowes it will take a brave businessman with deep pocket to turn the place into a swanky Mobo'esce Monte Carlo on Medina.

Island Harbour is a veritable graveyard of failed business ventures.

 

[jonjo]

We're a lifting keel so draw next to nothing, but the idea of not being able to go out at 3am if i so choose to would annoy me, so Island Harbour is out of the question.

The restriction at IH is not just tidal, the lock office maintains a minimal 9 to 5 routine throughout the year, openings outside of basic office hours in winter requires advanced notice.

In summer the small pool of water retained inside the marina creates further problems as neap high tides cannot replenish water lost during locking operations.

Having said that I think you should reconsider your need for unrestricted 24x7 boat access as part of your Island downsizing lifestyle change. Sailors have worked around tides for millennia, I find this adds much needed structure to the day.

 

[Greenheart]

I wonder how much dredging would be required, both to ensure deep-draft access along the Medina to Island Harbour, and to keep the basin itself permanently open?

I don't imagine there'd be much deposition of sediment in the Medina to clog things up if a determined effort was made to clear it.

Then again, it's difficult to see any particular appeal at that location - four miles by road to East Cowes, more than two to Newport.

 

[jonjo]

Then again, it's difficult to see any particular appeal at that location - four miles by road to East Cowes, more than two to Newport.

That was its attraction.

Not sure what will emerge once the current invasion of JCBs has departed.

 

[Greenheart]

Remoteness might attract you and me, but not so easy to see how the designers/investors expected it would earn back the cost of development, without much on the doorstep.

I visited the dock at Newport too, and if it's as easy as it seems to moor-up there, I think that on days when drying out at a quiet spot on the river didn't please me, I'd tend to go the extra couple of miles to reach Pizza Express in the town.

Although I have heard there's a regrettable record of delinquency/crime by the river in Newport...that would persuade me to park elsewhere.

 

[Angele]

I wonder how much dredging would be required, both to ensure deep-draft access along the Medina to Island Harbour, and to keep the basin itself permanently open?

A heck of a lot, I think. From memory, Island Harbour was originally a tide mill, so the basin was designed to hold only enough water to operate the mill from one tide to the next. This didn't require any great depth of water in the basin itself.

Putting aside dredging the Medina above the Folly up to Island Harbour (and the entrance channel), the volume of material that would need to be removed from the marina in order to allow 2m+ draft boats to stay afloat at LW springs would be enormous. Add to that the fact that you would need a complete redesign of the gangways down onto the pontoons (to allow for a much greater rise and fall) and the marina would never recover the investment.

I happen to love Island Harbour as a location, because it isn't in either Cowes or Newport, but I only go there infrequently.

 

[Tranona]

Although I have heard there's a regrettable record of delinquency/crime by the river in Newport...that would persuade me to park elsewhere.

That is a rumour put over by seajet on here - without any evidence, and probably dates from 1987 which was the last time he went there. In anything it is rather gentrified now.

 

[l'escargot]

Have a look at pontoons P,Q & R at E Cowes, there is less tide and predominantly annual berth holders up there.

 

[l'escargot]

That is a rumour put over by seajet on here - without any evidence, and probably dates from 1987 which was the last time he went there. In anything it is rather gentrified now.

Very few problems at Newport, probably less than at Lymington Town Quay. If anything, I would say you are more likely to get a boat broken into or damaged down at Folly Reach or on the Cowes mid river pontoons these days

 

[Greenheart]

I'm glad to hear better things of Newport nowadays, than previously. Interesting to hear about the origins of Island Harbour too.

 

[Fantasie 19]

Stopped off on one of the mid river pontoons north of the Folly just last week - lots of spare room, but the pontoon was pretty shabby, and also abandoned boats.... we also stayed in East Cowes and although we were at the furthest extremity there were only four boats on four entire pontoons - visitors though and the permanents looked pretty full..... if I was to do it, then like one of the other posters above, I'd be looking at a swing mooring in Yarmouth... lovely place....

 

[Boat441]

We have just moved our boat from Cowes, being fed up with how busy the Solent is and the nuisance of all those hoorays from London and the motorboats!

As AndrewL says, if you are willing to put up with a pontoon or swing mooring the pontoons and swinging moorings up the Median are run by the Cowes Harbour Master. You will want your won dinghy to get to them; as taxis service out of normal hours and winter times can be limited. This was one of our biggest issues. You can keep a dinghy at the Folly dinghy park for a reasonable fee and parking is fine. We could never seem to find anywhere else to keep a dinghy without paying marina type fees. Pontoons are a reasonable price, but you generally have to keep them clean yourself; i.e. brush the duck pooh off! If you go this route and can fit, get one on the inside; as a lot of ribs/motorboats don't seem to obey the speed limits/no wash rules, so you get some protection being on the inside.

I believe moorings are available at Yarmouth, but you need to live within the parish council; or some similar boundary. Check with the Harbour Master there. I'm not sure about bembridge. Depending on the size of your boat, there is also Ryde and Wooten Creek to consider.

Not sure when the new marina will be built in East Cowes; but understand the contracts have been signed with Campers. Will this drive down process at East and West Cowes...who knows.

Good luck; and enjoy the IOW!

 

[l'escargot]

...I believe moorings are available at Yarmouth, but you need to live within the parish council...

You have to be resident within 7 miles of the town church for the duration of your mooring licence and I think you will find there is a waiting list for the bigger berths.