Langstone harbour

[chubby]

Is this a hidden secret or have I missed something?

I used to dinghy sail from the Tudor SC in Langstone several decades ago but it rarely gets a mention in cruising circles as everyone bettles between Chi and the solent.

I went to langstone for a day sail from Portsmouth, seemed quiet and plenty of space to anchor outside the channel up by Binness islands, a change from Priory bay or Osbourne bay, OK not near a pub unless you dinghy up to Langstone village.

Southsea marina always looks abit tight for me, maybe a place to sail from not too. There are some visitors bouys in the entrance and I daresay ECA would sell you a pint, so why is Langstone so little mentioned?

The pilot book says anchoring with the HMs permission but didnt see anyone about and Langstone Hbr radio didnty answer the VHF.

Any fans of the place got any hints and tips or do you want to keep it secret?

 

[VicS]

Is this a hidden secret or have I missed something?

I used to dinghy sail from the Tudor SC in Langstone several decades ago but it rarely gets a mention in cruising circles as everyone bettles between Chi and the solent.

I went to langstone for a day sail from Portsmouth, seemed quiet and plenty of space to anchor outside the channel up by Binness islands, a change from Priory bay or Osbourne bay, OK not near a pub unless you dinghy up to Langstone village.

Southsea marina always looks abit tight for me, maybe a place to sail from not too. There are some visitors bouys in the entrance and I daresay ECA would sell you a pint, so why is Langstone so little mentioned?

The pilot book says anchoring with the HMs permission but didnt see anyone about and Langstone Hbr radio didnty answer the VHF.

Any fans of the place got any hints and tips or do you want to keep it secret?

Not secret I dont think... just not many people find it an attractive place to visit.

Visitors buoys near the entrance are located, IIRC, where the ebb tide runs very fast.

I've only been in there once in 30+ years of sailing from Chichester and that was not in my own boat and only to spend a night in Southsea marina.

 

[Giblets]

No you don't want to go to Langstone. There be dragons and all sorts (including the dredger Norstone who takes no prisoners ). Keep away, nothing to see there!

<Says he who sails out of Southsea Marina >

Have to say that the Marina Cafe & Bar at Southsea is very good as is the curry restaurant above it. Getting in to Southsea is not really a problem if you follow the marked channel. It is a problem if you don't!

The tide can run up to 3.7 knots through the entrance - not a place for engine failure! But once in there are many little channels to enjoy and, if b/k, take the ground.

 

[prv]

The charted visitors' buoys on the east side of the entrance don't exist, or didn't when I was last there.

A pity, as I had weighed anchor under sail that morning and was quite looking forward to picking up one of the buoys under sail to tick off another engineless day. By the time I realised they weren't there I was well downtide of the ECA buoys on the other side and to tack up to them would have been labouring the point, so I put the donk on. I didn't stay on the ECA buoy though; the position was a bit exposed, so I anchored deeper into the harbour, and was very glad I did. Much nicer surroundings, and a seal playing round the boat as I had a drink before dinner.

Pete

 

[Poignard]

Don't go.

One of those places best viewed from the A27.

Last time I was there (many years ago) I picked up one of the visitors' buoys in the entrance channel. It wasn't a very attractive area (except for the fact that nobody came for any money) and I spent the time there in fear of being run down by a fishing boat.

 

[Seajet]

I sailed in or out of Langstone Harbour for over 40 years; in short, it's grim !

Fine as a quicker access to the Solent than Chichester, but unlike Chi' there's frankly nowhere to go if the weather plays up or one is short on time.

There used to be visitors moorings on the E side of the entrance just by the ( adequate ) Ferry Boat Inn, but for some reason they've been removed.

There is a water-ski lane further down on the Eastern side; that seems to attract prats in speed boats and jetski's etc.

On the plus side, there is a lot of wildlife, and WWII history too for those who care to research it, not least the section of Mulberry floating concrete harbour which went adrift on D-Day and made its' way through the entrance.

The tide is all of Giblets' 3.7 knots, my Carter 30 had a struggle against the full spring ebb with a 13hp Volvo.

ECA is said to be a friendly club, but have never been in.

Tudor Sailing Club is OK as far as I know, not really set up for visitors.

Langstone Sailing Club at the N end of the harbour is a good spot for twin keelers if they can organise a mooring - certainly not a place to anchor, the space between the pillars of the old rail bridge and the sole road bridge to Hayling Island is completely taken up with moorings, and dries to soft mud; their website gives contact details if one fancies visiting, this applies to that NW part of Chichester Harbour too.

Langstone may be an idea as a stop off if wanting to get away from it all and enjoy wildlife, but in really serious conditions the entrance is dangerous; not as bad as Chichester ( but a lot less clearly marked ), but one is still better off not attempting it but carrying on probably to Cowes, in an onshore gale.

Langstone harbour seems to have a fair degree of professional boat thieves and yobs, something to think about if the boat is out on her own in the middle of the harbour - much the same as Portsmouth, maybe a touch worse.

Southsea Marina has a well marked entrance channel - beware errant mooring buoys etc in the channel - and a sill, it's moderately tight to manouvre once in there.

I wouldn't particularly want to stroll around the area outside the marina late at night, but unless one fancies visiting Old Portsmouth (fairly long walk or cab, I'd definitely have a cab back if late ) there's not much reason to be enticed out anyway...

 

[Giblets]

One of those places best viewed from the A27.

Last time I was there (many years ago) I picked up one of the visitors' buoys in the entrance channel. It wasn't a very attractive area (except for the fact that nobody came for any money) and I spent the time there in fear of being run down by a fishing boat.

Good man, that should help to keep the hoards away!

 

[mickywillis]

Yep, stay away, don't go there, its horrible, nothing to see, move along please!!

Thats why I hate the area and moor my boat at Tudor SC.

Shhh, keep it a secret, don't let anyone know it exists!!
Always amazes me that when anyone asks where's your boat, I have to explain exactly where Langstone Harbour is!!

 

[sailorgirl]

Always amazes me that when anyone asks where's your boat, I have to explain exactly where Langstone Harbour is!!

+1

We love it cos its quiet so please ensure it remains that way by reading the directions in the Admiralty Pilot which friends tell me would give you nightmares. They are also probably why we've encountered more than one potential visiting boat hanging around by the Fairway Post hoping that someone will show them the way in

And I have to agree that the cafe bar and the Bombay Bay are both excellent places for a bite to eat.

 

[Giblets]

Always amazes me that when anyone asks where's your boat, I have to explain exactly where Langstone Harbour is!!

Also +1. Conversation goes along the lines of:

"You know where Portsmouth Harbour is?"

"Yes."

"And you know where Chichester Harbour is?"

"Yes."

"What's in between?"

"Ahh!"

 

[DJE]

Also +1. Conversation goes along the lines of:

"You know where Portsmouth Harbour is?"

"Yes."

"And you know where Chichester Harbour is?"

"Yes."

"What's in between?"

Err, Hayling Island?

 

[Flapjack]

We used to keep out 25’ there on a deep water mooring just north of the ferry pontoon, can’t say I would go back, fighting with the tide and aggressive idiot jetskiers on the slipway didn’t make for a relaxing start to the day, much prefer where we are now in Chi.

 

[Ehecatl]

Langstone

Was told by inshore CG once when they were rescuing a windsurfer that there was a paupers graveyard on the upper east side. in storms, the shore would erode and bodies would break free and as they had been in clay soil was difficult to tell if they were very dead from the grave yard or more recent drownings that had been in the water for a day or so. Some while ago, they put in wooden walls to hold the sides up and the water out. On a really rough day as it was then, it did smell of corpses. Another story.

 

[Seajet]

It nearly had a couple more residents !

A good few years ago now, my late colleague Dennis Warren and his son Mark were trundling through the harbour late on a Sunday evening, when they spotted a bloke beside a speedboat waving on one of the mudflats.

It turned out they'd been in a speedboat and fell out when it hit a wave; the boat then circled and hit one of them, chewing him up badly, then it beached at high speed, impossible to refloat on a falling tide.

Of course they didn't have any flares or radio and this was before mobile phones; the injured guy was bleeding to death.

Dennis & Mark managed somehow to get to them in their Pageant ( no.1 of the class actually ) and rushed them ashore, saving one if not two lives.

As to wartime history the whole harbour had a network of sophisticated decoys to lure the Lufwaffe away from Portsmouth docks; a friends' father, Robin Milne was a Test Pilot at Airspeed by the Eastern Road, one of his lesser duties was to go up and count the bomb craters in Langstone every day, to see how effective the decoys were.

He also discovered a passageway through the barrage balloons there straight to the docks which he demonstrated to the guy responsible for such things, and got the gap closed; he always suspected a '5th columnist' was responsible.