Lyme Bay Harbours

Ripster

Ripster

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Just planning another short excursion up the coast for a few days, this time East from Torquay. Will start by a straight run across to Weymouth then back round the Bill and bimble down the coast to Lyme Regis, then on to Exmouth and/or Teignmouth, prob overnighting in each if poss.

I am fine with Weymouth and Teignmouth, but have not done the other two by boat. Exmouth I know is either the Marina or a VB up river a bit, so fairly straight forward, but what about Lyme Regis? I Know it dries out in the Harbour but, think there used to be some VBs outside the Harbour that don't dry? Not sure how exposed these are.

As always, any advice, tips etc are welcome.
 
We visited west bay and lyme regis by car on way back from brixham , lyme regis has i think 4 visitors bouys that are sheltered from the south west but could be rolly if there is any kind of swell running ,but its exposed from the south / south east . West bay has a new harbour wall and pontoons but not sure about depths , it is also open from the south east .
 
You can get a serious swell outside the wall and its very shallow. I've done a number of sailing events there and seen loads of boats snap masts trying to get back in. In fact I think another forumite Springer may have been one of them. Wouldn't be my first choice.
 
Not during school hols I suspect, but you might get into Bridport if you want a couple of hours break. There are some plastic floating pontoons, but any swell and forget it. Its more for speed boats, but we were ok for a lunch break.
 
Thanks to all for the replies. When I had brief look on the net, I suspected that it may not be straightforward. I do not (and SWMBO certainly wouldn't) fancy either a rolly night or the thought/risk of insufficient depth. Will check how the tides are and may just call in for a daytime break at West bay - if we can get in.

Our aim on this trip is to travel on the return leg back from Weymouth at disp speeds and see how we get on with it, trying to plan tides better, so as to spend more time on the journey not always at the destinations - more like the Raggies do. Give the AP more to do and see if we stick with it. We are so used to blatting about trying to cover longer runs in short times, that we thought we would try to do something (for us) a bit different.

On a recent run back to Torquay from Salcombe in the early morning, SWMBO said lets go back a Yacht speed and take in the journey, so we tried it but couldn't stomach 4kn so settled for 7-8. We only got to Prawl before we opened the taps! So I think its going to be a challenge.
 
There were some pontoons just outside the harbour at Lyme Regis last year. I wasn't there as a boater, but I'm sure they were for visitors. I don't think you could walk ashore though. As you aproached the harbour they'd be on your left.
 
There is a good description of going into Axmouth & West Bay for the first time with some photo's, by an experienced chap, here;

www.anderson22class.co.uk

Select 'Owners comments', 1st item.

A sail-boat, but good info from a trans-atlantic sailor.

As for Lyme Regis, I'd reckon one's chances of getting a space inside the Cobb harbour wall poor at this time of year; the moorings outside don't appeal one bit, very exposed.
 
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I assume you mean going slow along the coastline, not straight across?
While some of the coastline is interesting, there are stretches of the inside bay that arent that varied. I think a slow 20 knots is going to make it more enjoyable. 50 miles at 4-7 knots is going to be seriously boring!
 
gjgm said:
I assume you mean going slow along the coastline, not straight across?
While some of the coastline is interesting, there are stretches of the inside bay that arent that varied. I think a slow 20 knots is going to make it more enjoyable. 50 miles at 4-7 knots is going to be seriously boring!
Click to expand...

Yes around the coastline was the thinking. We've always been straight across, so this time thought we do a slow passage back and see whats there with stops along the way. You could be right and we end up at the usual 20 odd knots. I think a lot will depend on the weather etc. It seems overnights will be limited to the Ex and Teign unless conditions are settled and we drop the hook somewhere.
 
gjgm said:
I assume you mean going slow along the coastline, not straight across?
While some of the coastline is interesting, there are stretches of the inside bay that arent that varied. I think a slow 20 knots is going to make it more enjoyable. 50 miles at 4-7 knots is going to be seriously boring!
Click to expand...

Yes that was the thinking. We've always just gione straight over, so this time thought we would go right along the CL and see whats there. Its seems that overnights are very limited to either the Ex or Teign. Unless conditions are nice and settled and we drop the hook somewhere. You mabe right and 7-8kn is just tooo slow. I think a lot will depend on the weather.
 
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