Liverpool vs. Fleetwood ???

[Neddie_Seagoon]

I've just agreed to buy a yacht currently located in Liverpool Marina, which I intend to use for coastal cruising in the Irish Sea, possibly popping over to the Isle of Man, Bangor in Northern Ireland etc.

I had intended to berth the boat in Fleetwood Marina, but before I definitely decide I thought I'd ask if anyone has views on the relative pro's and con's of Liverpool Marina vs. Fleetwood Marina. It is about 75 minutes drive to either from home, so not much to choose for convenience (Glasson would be a bit further, but I'm not ruling it out). Any thoughts on sailing area, access, security & safety etc?

All comments appreciated !

Thanks,

Steve

 

[Kilter]

No experience of Fleetwood but I disliked Liverpool a lot. Now at Conwy which is much nicer.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

a friend sails out of Liverpool...... feels that there is little for them to do in terms of short sails....

 

[ParaHandy]

i know an auld goat who's got his tub in fleetwood, took it down there from oop north and haven't heard a cheap from him since. must be a black hole?

 

[Jonny_H]

Hi,

We are looking at keeping our boat in Fleetwood. My father used to keep his boat there.

Adv's:
- Cheaper than Liverpool!
- Spare berths at the moment

Disadv's
- Access only 2 hours either side of high water
- Tide can run at upto 6 knots in the channel - care needed!
- Sailing area quite limited for weekend trips.

From Fleetwood, getting to Glasson etc can be tricky as you need to think about tides to get out of Fleetwood and getting into Glasson - which leaves quite a tight window. Glasson is harder to get into as you have to cross Morecambe Bay and it can get very shallow in places.

Sailing from Fleetwood - the channel is nice enough to potter around in - you can head down the river to the creek (home to Blackpool & Fleetwood Yacht Club) - they have drying jetty moorings and a hoist and hard standing available at cheap rates.

You can head across to Barrow which is ok for the weekend. Other than that local sailing is quite slim - however Isle of Man is around 10 hours away, Scotland not too far, and then down to Liverpool is managable.

We are considering it as a good base for longer passages (exploring Ireland, IOM, Wales, Scotland) - I would not recommend it for 'day sailing' or weekend pottering as the number places to go runs out quite quickly!

You'll certainly learn a lot about tides (and avoiding the P&O Ferry which uses the whole channel to do a 180 degree spin when docking - he doesn't like it if you stop in the channel to flake your sails while he's coming in!!)

Can't give any more info on Liverpool I'm afraid - only sailed there a couple of times (it is a lot busier than Fleetwood in terms of commercial traffic though).

Another place to consider is Preston Marina (although this is not as easy to access as it is a 6 mile (?) motor up river to the marina). Sounds like this may be closer to you than either Fleetwood or Liverpool (its almost bang in between the two)

Hope this helps.

Jonny

 

[Richard10002]

Dont know much about Liverpool but, having been in and out once, would probably never consider it due to the long channel and tidal restrictions.

Fleetwood marina is a bit of a dump with limited facilities and the town isnt up to much. Tidal restrictions tend to mean that once you are out, you cant come back until next high tide. It's good for getting to IOM, Solway Firth area, and Ireland isnt too far.

Glasson Dock.. very nice place. Good facilities. Long channel. Can only enter between Dawn and Dusk, and then only at HW.

How far are you from N Wales.... Conway, Bangor, Holyhead, Pwllelli?

A friend of mine toyed with moving his boat to Whitehaven.... nice place, not too restricted by tides, easy to get to IOM, Southern Scotland, N. Ireland, and not bad for short day/weekend sails.

 

[peteandthira]

Glasson is superb - quiet, protected (but FRESH water) and is a bit of a faff getting in and out.

Worth looking there for the quiet scenery, good pubs and a nice location.

NB that the channel bouys have been moved considerably.

 

[Jonny_H]

I would back Pwhelli 100% - awsome sailing venue - shame about the 3 year waiting list for berths!!

 

[Jonny_H]

With regards Fleetwood itself - not sure when you were last there but there has been a lot of re-development over the last few years - only one chandler still, but a huge supermarket has just opened near the marina and lots of new shops on the high street. Also, the retail outlet centre which overlooks the marina has just been re-vamped and is quite nice now.
Access to the marina itself (by car) is still via the fishing docks, however there weren't that many trawlers there 10 years ago when our boat was kept there, and now there are even fewer (half a dozen max!)

I would agree its not the most scenic place to sail, but the town itself has improved a lot recently.

 

[eebygum]

Steve,
Hi, I had my previous boat in Fleetwood for two years (Hunter Horizon 26 bilge keel) and my Contessa 26 (deep keel) in Liverpool for it's second year now. I live in Manchester so Liverpool is slightly closer and also easier to get to from work. I faced a similiar choice at the end of this season and went for Liverpool again.

*** Fleetwood advantages ***
Great weekend sails to Piel Island and if you have a bilge keel you can try out there or one or two places around Fleetwood. On the right tides it's also quite nice to do the Piel Island, Glasson Dock triangle over a long weekend.
24 access to the Marina, as opposed to Liverpool which tends to be 8 - 22:00

** Fleetwood disadvantages **
I believe it's now even more tidal than Liverpool; both have strong tides so you need a good reliable engine.
Amenities are very poor compared to Liverpool which has an excllent pub/food onsite; good facilities. No nearby pubs in Fleetwood I've found.
No Chandlers onsite but reasonable facilities and sailmakers down in Fleetwood.
Storage on the hard does not look very secure to me


*** Liverpool advantages ***
Excellent pub facilities with SKY television is your staying overnight !!
Good onsite chandlers; Tony will offer to match internet prices
Good engineering facilities' Steve Roberts surveyor onsite and I've used Gary Dixon the marine engineer for engine work at good prices
Secure storage on the hard, with easy access to water & electricity. They did not mind people working on their boats on the hard.
Personally from manchester I find it a lot quicker to get Liverpool than Fleetwood, the motorway connections get you a lot closer.
The Mersey is actually a very clean river, I've often seen porpoises on the Mersey but never at Fleetwood.
If crew need to meet you; transport links to Liverpool are better.
If your bored you can always offer to crew on the many racing boats out of Liverpool; three times during the spring when I was working on the boat I offered to crew for anybody who was short and got to go out on some large racing boats ~ not sure you would get this opportunity at Fleetwood.


*** Liverpool disadvantages ***
It's a long way to the sea ! but if your moving the boat in the summer (I move down to a mooring on the Menai Straits) it's fine for early and late season day sails.

You get a shorter chop in wind over tide rather the than the swells once you get out of the fleetwood channel
Apart from Hibre Island which I've not been to yet there's few places to weekend sail to and back.
Liverpool is still a busy commercial port so when you do venture down the channel the ships you need to avoid are a lot bigger than the trawlers of Liverpool ~ but you shouls be exercising the same level of seamanship.

In summary; definately prefer Liverpool. If your planning to sail down to Anglesey; check out the download section of my website which has some useful tidal chart compilations.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

[ QUOTE ]
I know an auld goat....

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah yes, I had the impression from his previous posts that Claymore had come out of the water at B&FYC, but wandering around the yard there while considering where to put a new boat I saw no sign of the aforementioned vessel. When I was mooching around Fleetwood Marina I didn't think to look for her, shame because if the auld goat had been around I'd probably have introduced myself. He has been very quiet lately.....

Steve

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

[ QUOTE ]
How far are you from N Wales.... Conway, Bangor, Holyhead, Pwllelli?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Richard,

Conwy 1hr 45m, Pwllheli, 2hr 45m. Whitehaven, which has been recommended to me by another, is also 2hr 45m. Doing mainly daysailing I'm afraid that such long drives would put me off going to the boat as often.

Fleetwood Docks/Marina could definitely do with a makeover - but I hope not to spend too much time there, I'm looking for a base to park and sail, so while it could be much better, the marina culture probably isn't very important to me.

Steve

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

Jonny, thanks for this.

I have sailed on the Fylde from B&FYC a couple of times, so it seemed to me that at Fleetwood I would have a choice of going into the estuary as soon as the lock opened, and pootling around for 2 - 3 hours pretending to be a dinghy before squeezing back into the marin just before the lock closed again, or going north-west and being out for a minimum of one tide.

Preston is certainly nearer, but the 6 miles on the engine means that it would be much slower for me to get to sea than L'pool / Fleetwood / Glasson.

Let me know if you do choose Fleetwood - I may see you there!

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

Andrew,

Many thanks for that - really helpful.

Actually I really dunno what to say to all of you. The comprehensive and high quality information / advice I've received within an hour and a half of my post is amazing. Thanks to all of you.

Steve

 

[starboard]

bring it here to Troon. We have loads of folk from lancashire/Yorkshire area,probably only a 3 hour drive but then the whole of the Clyde and west coast of Scotland on your doorstep.......a friendly bunch of berth holders too!!

Paul.

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

Troon. 3hrs 30m. A wonderful area, but for the moment 7 hours motoring for a day sail would be too much. I wish I had the time for more, perhaps next year....

Steve

 

[starboard]

Come for the weekend then, many do......at least when you get here you will have somewhere to sail to........where can you go from Liverpool/Fleetwood for the day?????????????

Paul

 

[Neddie_Seagoon]

I know, but I haven't had more than a dozen free weekends in the past 5 years; between work, family, & SWMBO's sheep (especially the sheep!) actually being able to say "right, I've got 48 hours to myself" is rather difficult. Because of recent changes at work I hope to be in a position within a year whereby I can say "sod it, work can survive without me for a few days", but unfortunately not there yet!

Cheers,

Steve

 

[LittleShip]

Have to agree with most things said on here............however

Liverpool is a very safe marina with a good clubhouse and night life a 10min walk away. 2Hrs to the fairway marker and then a long way to the next port of call.

Fleetwood is Fleetwood it always has been and always will be...... Cheap!

Glasson is a quaint little village with good pubs, downside lock gate opens 3/4 hr before HW and closes on HW, no day sailing possible.

Holyhead, all states of the tide, lots of work been carried at out the marina and it should all be finished next spring, excellent cruising ground but Holyhead town is a little sparse in the entertainment area.

If you are not after a marina as such try the sailing club at Holyhead, all boats on moorings and there is a water taxi for members. The club house is very friendly as well!

Let us know where you decide to go!

Tom

 

[Kawasaki]

Owes about Port Dinorwic?
Not many times you can't get a good day sail in The Straits.
Caernarfon close.
Then you could go Cruising to Conway/Holyhead etc.
Irish Sea's your oyster from hereabouts.
Don't know your whereabouts.
Tiss but 3/4 hour from Chester abouts!