Marina Advice please ? (Essex location or near)

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mikebates

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Hi,

My wife and I are currently planning our Motor Cruising Exams, being first time newbies at this. We have visted Chichester Marina (Very Nice but too far) and will be going to Ipswich & Southend shortly. Our aim is to purchase a boat next year and hopefully practice and learn like mad up to that stage, prior to finding a suitable mooring.

Our question, if anyone is kind enough, would be about marinas/harbours local to our area, any reccomendations?

We are happy to drive for an hr or so to get to 'it' but as we have two children as well, we wondered if anyone has good advice / experiences with any within the Essex +/- area?

Boat wise, we will be aiming for a 34-37 footer and will want to eventually take it coastal + further (after racking up the experience and exams required).

Many Thanks!
 
Hi Mike and welcome!

Essex Boatyards on the River Crouch is cheap and cheerful. There is a good bar which serves food and a small yachtclub on site. Facilities are improvingall the time. Oposite on the oposite side is Burnham Yacht Harbour which is in a different class if you have a few more pounds to spend is a better bet.

These are the only two I have tried, so which boat are you looking at, maybe a Cranchi Z34?


Cheers

Paul /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I can personally recommend TitchMarsh Marina (Walton on the Naze) and Tollesbury Marina on the Blackwater.

Best thing is to do as you are, drive round and have a look if you like what you see.
 
Thanks all, that's a good start. Will pootle around Saturday and bore the kids:)

Boat wise, looked at the Sealine F 34/37, which looks really nice and the wife likes them both.

Just checked the Cranchi website and the 34/37 also look great, not come across them before and will research them all.

I guess I shall create a mad list of desired boats and then check the bank balance nearer the time and get us a dingy;)
 
Bradwell is nearest to open water if that is what you require, depends a lot on where you are coming from, M25, A12, A130, and then about 20 miles of reasonable roads, due to in no small way the building and now decomissoning of the power station, lots of green water (pardon the pun) but we like it.
 
I spent 25 years on the East coast so know pretty much most harbours, creeks etc etc.

I would suggest Titchmarsh as a good spot as you have the backwaters which you can explore as well as the rivers Orwell, stour, Deben. If you want to go on a bit of a trip then you can blast along the coast to the reivers Blackwater or Crouch.

Another positive for titchmarsh is the fact that when the weather is rubbish you can always take the kids to the nearby swimming pool or arcades (ooh I hate them).

The crouch is not nice, you have a long trip to get out to sea more often than not you are fighting a horrible tide and dodging around all the sailing boats.

Tollesbury is quaint but it has a bar so there is limited access, not sure on affect for motor boat.

I used to live on the outskirts of Harlow and I could get to Titchmarsh in 1 hr 15 minutes. On soem occassions when I was in the fast car I could do it in 50mins but dont tell the essex constabulary.

Happy hunting and do research as could be big price differences.
 
We were in essex marina for a few weeks, and it gets a bit bleak in a strong NE, plus its a fair way from anything other than its own facilities and one pub within walking distance. On the plus side you do have the option of jumping in the tender and going across the river to Burnham, which is altogether nicer. As others have said its a slog to get out to sea, and even then its not proper sea like wot we get on the south coast /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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