Liveaboard in Brighton Marina - or somewhere near

[Wilful]

Hi!

We are considering bringing a boat (28-ish ft long) from Sweeden to liveaboard as close to the Gatwick Airport as possible - work related reasons yet be able to cruise and explore Normandy and UK coast.

The obvious choice would be Brighton Marina, yet information we could find on it are rather inconsistent.

I found out that Premier Marina rules changed in 2010 and that they officially don't allow liveaboard (yet they give the option to pay for the postbox service?) and that there may be a vibrant underground (underwater in this case?) community of liveaboards.

I would love to get some firsthand information. Is there anyone living there currently from the forum? Or maybe you could introduce us?

Alternatively, is there any option for us somewhere close? Newhaven maybe?

Looking forward to all the helpful tips.

 

[laika]

Brighton has a lot of unofficial livaboards. DAMHIKT.

You do need to factor in getting from your boat to the airport. Your problems here are:
1. The bus from the marina to the station is slow(up to 45 mins) although a new route is proposed which should cut the time a bit
2. The train line between Brighton and Gatwick is one of the worst in the country. There is currently unofficial industrial action happening with many trains cancelled. My journey back from London to the marina last friday took almost 4 hours.

Newhaven has a good bus to Brighton station but takes longer on average than from the marina (and less frequent).

Brighton is also not the best place to explore the UK and French coastlines (the solent or further west has more potential) but yes, Brighton is convenient for Gatwick.

 

[nauticalnomad]

Dont bother.. Brighton is a dirty run down place. France is much nicer.

 

[sailorman]

Dont bother.. Brighton is a dirty run down place. France is much nicer.

Is France Nr Gatwick

 

[laika]

Is France Nr Gatwick

Depends. If coming from the Eurostar, change at London St. Pancras for Thameslink services.

 

[Wilful]

Before you start dissing Brighton so much - have you ever tried Crawley I wonder?

As for the transport - we've got a car here and we are thinking of getting a bike (free parking spots around the city is a nice gesture) which brings the question of parking... I know that there is a free visitors parking - but how about the residents?

As for the France - yes, I'm a big fan, hopefully, we will be doing a lot of canal crossings, but unfortunately, we sometimes need to get to / or from the airport at weird hours.
On the footnote, if we were to get to the Gatwick from France - definitely a plane - not a Eurostar.

 

[Gwylan]

If you are bilge keel, look at Rye.
If you are fin, still look at Rye but with more care.

Facilities are a bit basic and you need to choose your location carefully.
Prices are more realistic too.

But you can get the train to Brighton and then to Gatwick.
Can get to Ashford for the High Speed train to London - about 1 hour travel time.

Also you can always [ depending on the tide] pop out for a sail around the bay.
Eastbourne and Dover are near for an excursion and Boulogne is a day sail away.

 

[laika]

But you can get the train to Brighton and then to Gatwick.

It's an hour and a half *to Brighton* on the train from Rye with one train an hour, never mind getting to Rye station, waiting for a train and then waiting for a connection to Gatwick and travelling to Gatwick.

 

[mikenfi]

If you want to live aboard at Brighton you must speak with Dan the manager! Feel free to call him! He's quite approachable! Nice chap and if you are there as a crisis of base I am sure there would be no problem.

My choice would be Fecamp but you may struggle as it is quite small. Richard is you guy in fecamp