Itchenor Swinging Mooring

w0tty

w0tty

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Anybody got a swinging mooring at Itchenor ???

Wots the pros and cons over a regular marina.

At the moment I am moored at Brighton and during the summer, am tired of fighting my way through Joe Public to get to my boat. With all its restaurants and shops its too commercial for my liking.

I like the idea of having to get in a tender to reach your boat, but is this really a pain in the as /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif e ?

Wot about the security of a swinging mooring ???

Your comments please /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Quite a few years ago I kept a Tomahawk 26' sailing cruiser on a swinging mooring at Itchenor. I used to park the car in a car park a little way up the road from the Hard, opposite the pub. An inflatable dinghy was taken out of the boot and inflated before parking the car and it was then a short row to the mooring. It was really rather pleasant when the weather was nice but could be a bit of a pain in a blow or wet and cold in the off season.
 
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Got some "Swingers" on our moorings could be AC or DC
Don't want to find out either /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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You're jus a ph /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif cking perv /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

This was a serious question ya know /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
OH! i see, right as you have a little Sea Ray the answer is
obvious. You don't need a mooring at all, save yourself a
fortune, get yourself a trailer, and bung her in the garden
Just think no marina charges save a fortune on antifoul
Wotty bout that then. Anytime i can help. Tony
 
On our first boat, a single engine 26 ft sportscruiser, we used a swing mooring. This was in 1977 at Marsaxlokk harbour, SE Malta. Mainly fishing boats. Finger pontoons are the best. A stern in mooring can be difficult with a single engine because the manoeuvre is always different depending upon the wind direction. With a swing mooring the manoeuvre is always the same - pointy end into the wind, pick up rope from buoy and your hooked! Obviously you have to make provision for getting to the mooring - we transported dinghy on car roof and engine in the boot. No real problem.
 
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a swing mooring. This was in 1977 at Marsaxlokk harbour, SE Malta. ....... With a swing mooring the manoeuvre is always the same - pointy end into the wind, pick up rope from buoy and your hooked! Obviously you have to make provision for getting to the mooring

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Yes but Itchenor isnt quite the same as Ma's socks in Malta.... knowing both places, and mooring up in Itchenor is a bit more than just getting the pointy end into the wind. In fact usually, when had a mooring there, the important thing was which way was the 1.5kt+ tide running - wind was not often much of a consideration unless it was blowing quite hard.!

Keeping a dinghy at Itchenor is no problem, you buy a chains plaque from CHC for £40 or so, and leave it on the hard. But you dont row easily against that current if you are any distance from the hard, which means you must have a small outboard. A pain because the Car park is a couple of hundred metres up the road.

But the Itchenor moorings are as well sheltered as anywhere in the harbour, and even when the weather was bad we were always able to get to and from our mooring about half way up the reach. It just means you have to allow half an hour or so longer to get aboard or ashore than in a Marina.
 
We're on a swinging mooring.

Upside is that we're in tranquil surroundings and our mooring is very sheltered (several miles up a river) so no worries about dodgy weather. Picking up the mooring has far less gelcoat-knackering potential than coming alongside a pontoon.

Downside is that it adds time to the business of getting afloat and you still have to find somewhere to keept the dinghy, or to cart an inflatable around with you. If you have lots of gear to get aboard it can mean several trips out, unless there is somewhere you can bring the boat in to load up.

Our main reason for being on a mooring is one of cost; if expense were no object, I'd keep her in a marina but I'd miss the peace and quiet.
 
I'm on a swinging mooring on Itchenor Reach and really enjoy being there. Clearly there are some problems when needing to get lots of gear on board and at times it seems to take a long time to get on board. However, I have access all tides and don't have to queue to use a lock. I have access to a Conservancy boat house at Westlands and the main problem is at low water when there is a reasonable walk along the hard to the water. There is a water taxi during season from Itchenor to take you to the boat if you wish and on occassions when I have had to pick up crew and equipment I will use the jetty at Itchenor. Having moved from Brighton, I do miss some of the facilities but on the positive side it is a lot cheaper, more places to sail to for day / overnight trips and when the wind and waves would keep all but the hardiest of boaters on the pontons, we have been able to get out on the water.
 
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It just means you have to allow half an hour or so longer to get aboard or ashore than in a Marina.


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Interesting comment. At busy times locking in and out of Chichester Marina can take much longer than this but, for me, this is offset by convenience of facilities such as easy access to a fuel dock, shore power, shower blocks etc. Also, it's fair to say that the times when there is a long wait to lock in or out are fairly predictable.
 
The queues for Chi Marina lock is legendary! I used to have a drying mooring at Dell Quay, and was wel aware that boats heading for the marina would still be waiting at busy times by the time I was home with my feet up - well, mowing the lawn or whatever task SWMBO had kept for me - and long before some poor souls who had preceded me up through Itchenor had been called by te lock keeper!

What I meant was the extra time leaving home to stepping aboard is longer. What happens after that is another story! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Re: Tomahawk 26?

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Quite a few years ago I kept a Tomahawk 26' sailing cruiser on a swinging mooring at Itchenor

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Ah, that must have been one of the special King-sized Tomahawks then. The bog-standard Marcon moulds were only 25ft long . . .
 
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