Marina Deathmatch - Largs vs Inverkip vs Troon?

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salad

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Which marina would be your pick and why?

All are a similar distance for me, so it comes down to facilities, shelter, midges, marina overnight comfort and cruising potential. We would travel by car only.

Would be great to hear from seasoned veterans.

Cheers
 
Troon and Largs owned by same company. There is reciprocal free berthing arrangement between them. I'm in Largs and if I sail to Troon I stay for free. All three are pant wettingly expensive and each year the price goes up regardless. They all have decent shore side amenities.
 
Largs was my choice over Kip. I don't think Troon Marina existed way back then! The main reason was the entrance/exit, not the vehicle one, the boaty one. To be fair way back then I had a Sadler 25 with an outboard and there would be times when it would be impossible to get out of Kip. The argument was less strong later when I had a boat with an inboard diesel but I remained at Largs. For cruising potential, unless you want to head up river, Largs would be my choice. Troon is more sensible if you want to sail to Ireland or west of Kintyre regularly.
 
All are good marinas.For family sailing, Largs and Kip have the advantage of leading out to very sheltered waters. Why not consider Clyde Marina? Cheaper than the others and a few miles nearer to the sheltered upper Clyde than Troon. The staff at Clyde are top notch.
 
I was in Troon some years ago but moved to Clyde Marina (Ardrossan) around 2010 mostly due to better location for Clyde sailing. Looked at Largs but put off by the much higher cost. Best decision ever made, the staff there are great, the location is ideal for me and the cost has remained the lowest.
 
Clyde looks to have commercial port activity near by. Did you sleep on your boats happily, or was it a bit noisy?

I've discounted Troon now, as it looks a bit commercial and it's a fair way south. We're unlikely to be cruising the Western Isles or Ireland until we have built up a significant number of sea miles, so proximity to them isn't top priority. Shelter and comfort for sleeping aboard is the priority followed by marina facilities (shore power/showers/toilets/chandlers/milk/bread/access), local facilities (screwfix, food shops, general interest) and then day sailing potential and scenery. Cruising, until we know what we are doing, is last. If everything else is fantastic, price is not as much of a concern. £3k berth next to a 24/7 commercial port would grate on me, but £5k in relative bliss probably wouldn't. I know I'd rather £5k on a berth than a static caravan park with a load of tanked up teenagers tromping about at all hours.

I've narrowed it down a lot thanks to all the input from you kind folks. Swinging mooring is now off the table for us. We will bite the bullet on costs for walk ashore for reasons of access, distance from home, safety (with children) and ease of use.

I hope all my nonsense and your helpful responses assists someone else going through the same thing in the future. It's so much information to process and distill into logical thought.
 
SaltIre said:
Largs was my choice over Kip. I don't think Troon Marina existed way back then! The main reason was the entrance/exit, not the vehicle one, the boaty one. To be fair way back then I had a Sadler 25 with an outboard and there would be times when it would be impossible to get out of Kip. The argument was less strong later when I had a boat with an inboard diesel but I remained at Largs. For cruising potential, unless you want to head up river, Largs would be my choice. Troon is more sensible if you want to sail to Ireland or west of Kintyre regularly.
Click to expand...

This might be a bit cheeky, but I dont suppose you have an old passage plan I could use a reference to help me learn?
 
salad said:
Clyde looks to have commercial port activity near by. Did you sleep on your boats happily, or was it a bit noisy?
Click to expand...
The only commercial activity at Ardrossan is Calmac, they make very little noise and don't operate at night anyway, so it's quiet. The ferries do take priority for exit and entry but not too onerous.
I note that you intend to travel by car, but the rail access to Clyde Marina is very good, 2 mins. walk, which can be useful for crews arriving separately.
 
A lot depends on what sort of sailing you want to do and who is living on the boat and where you are coming from
Troon ardrossan and James watt are converted docks so more industrial in feel
Kip and Largs are purposely built as marinas and more attractive if living on boat and perhaps more child friendly especially Largs
largs has better racing facilities than Kip although Kip had Wednesday night racing for years and it was practical to leave your work in Glasgow and be intime for 7pm starts
james watt is convenient for the sugar boat courses racing run by Helensburgh YC
we used Kip for aBout 40 years after being on a mooring at Largs and did consider Largs Marina but found they had very squeezed pontoon s
if you are day sailing both large and Troon were ideal with both having a variety of options
james watt I believe would suffer as does Rhu from the run up from the Cloch every time you go any where this is particularly notable as you pass Kip with another hours run
both Ardrossan and Troon are great for going further afield but not that great for day sailing but both have rail and road links
all above are with price not taken in considuration
 
earlybird said:
The only commercial activity at Ardrossan is Calmac, they make very little noise and don't operate at night anyway, so it's quiet. The ferries do take priority for exit and entry but not too onerous.
I note that you intend to travel by car, but the rail access to Clyde Marina is very good, 2 mins. walk, which can be useful for crews arriving separately.
Click to expand...

Just looked. The rail journey time is 7 hours, 3 or 4 changes and it costs £360 for us all. Good old UK rail prices. I get personal fuel allowance from work so the car wins this race by several lengths.
 
If the price doesn't frighten you then go for Largs. I think it's the only one that has a chandlery. Inverkip is closer to Screwfix. Ardrossan is nearer to B&Q and also has an ASDA about 100m from the pontoon.
I'm in Largs and unlike Scottie I don't find the berths tight.
 
salad said:
This might be a bit cheeky, but I dont suppose you have an old passage plan I could use a reference to help me learn?
Click to expand...
Passage plan to where? Also depends if power or sail - presumably sail because you ain't in the MoBo forum!
To be honest in/around the Clyde, with it being pretty non-tidal current wise it is pretty obvious how long it will take to get from A to B. Most of your "passage planning" in the Firth of Clyde will be simple speed/distance calculations. There are some bits where tidal streams matter, for example off the south end of Arran in particular and perhaps the entrance to Loch Fyne off Tarbert at Skate Island - to avoid getting caught out in wind against tide so lumpy seas and trying to go against an impossible strong stream.

West of Kintyre and rounding the Mull of Kintyre tidal streams very definitely do matter a lot, though. A worthwhile purchase would be the Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas NP218 to see where the strongest streams are. If you cut it up the spine and put the pages into A4 "knitting pattern sleeves" you can then write the times of HW Dover for each hour of the day in question and plan from there. Use a chinagraph or a non-indelible marker for re-use. Mine which I bought in 1986 is copied below... The string holding it together is similarly pre-historic. I see there is one for the Firth of Clyde itself, NP222, but I only used my NP218 if venturing west of Kintyre.
You can find the same information in Pilot Books and Almanacs, but I used NP218 almost exclusively.
NP218.jpg NP218a.jpg
Edit:
There's loads of information about passage planning available...
 
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earlybird said:
The only commercial activity at Ardrossan is Calmac, they make very little noise and don't operate at night anyway, so it's quiet. The ferries do take priority for exit and entry but not too onerous.
I note that you intend to travel by car, but the rail access to Clyde Marina is very good, 2 mins. walk, which can be useful for crews arriving separately.
Click to expand...
One thing about Ardrossan is that for safety purposes the ferries always contact "port control" on VHF before entering/leaving for a wind report! Freely available to those who pay attention. :)
 
SaltIre said:
Passage plan to where? Also depends if power or sail - presumably sail because you ain't in the MoBo forum!
To be honest in/around the Clyde, with it being pretty non-tidal current wise it is pretty obvious how long it will take to get from A to B. Most of your "passage planning" in the Firth of Clyde will be simple speed/distance calculations. There are some bits where tidal streams matter, for example off the south end of Arran in particular and perhaps the entrance to Loch Fyne off Tarbert at Skate Island - to avoid getting caught out in wind against tide so lumpy seas and trying to go against an impossible strong stream.

West of Kintyre and rounding the Mull of Kintyre tidal streams very definitely do matter a lot, though. A worthwhile purchase would be the Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas NP218 to see where the strongest streams are. If you cut it up the spine and put the pages into A4 "knitting pattern sleeves" you can then write the times of HW Dover for each hour of the day in question and plan from there. Use a chinagraph or a non-indelible marker for re-use. Mine which I bought in 1986 is copied below... The string holding it together is similarly pre-historic. I see there is one for the Firth of Clyde itself, NP222, but I only used my NP218 if venturing west of Kintyre.
You can find the same information in Pilot Books and Almanacs, but I used NP218 almost exclusively.
View attachment 139410 View attachment 139411
Click to expand...

Very useful information, thank you. I knew about almanacs and roughly what they contain, but I've not seen a tidal stream map like that before. I was trying to purchase an Admiralty leisure folio, but they have been discontinued, so I think I'll just get a standard chart to begin with and use it for practice. Also seen Imray, but I like how the admiralty charts are presented.

In terms of a passage plan, any sailing plan would do. I've never actually seen one before, even though I know roughly what goes into one. I did the RYA course on essential navigation once, which touched on it, but wouldn't have been as in depth as day skipper will be.
 
SaltIre said:
One thing about Ardrossan is that for safety purposes the ferries always contact "port control" on VHF before entering/leaving for a wind report! Freely available to those who pay attention. :)
Click to expand...

Probably audible from Largs too I'd imagine?

Is radio power poor in the UK? I'm sure I read somewhere that we're restricted on how many kilowatts we can use, unlike the US, where their VHF radio's could probably power a space shuttle.
 
Max is 25W which is plenty. For a chart pack... Charts It also contains the tidal atlas for the area.

Edit to say there is also a wire bound version instead of separate sheets. Charts
 
Jodel said:
Max is 25W which is plenty. For a chart pack... Charts It also contains the tidal atlas for the area.

Edit to say there is also a wire bound version instead of separate sheets. Charts
Click to expand...

Just wondering if you sleep aboard in Largs? How do you find it?

I'll check out those Imray sheets, thanks.
 
Jodel said:
If the price doesn't frighten you then go for Largs. I think it's the only one that has a chandlery. Inverkip is closer to Screwfix. Ardrossan is nearer to B&Q and also has an ASDA about 100m from the pontoon.
I'm in Largs and unlike Scottie I don't find the berths tight.
Click to expand...
Both Largs and Kip have good chandleries. But for my money (literally), Largs beats Kip hands down in terms of scenic location and scenic nearby islands and anchorages.
 
dunedin said:
Both Largs and Kip have good chandleries. But for my money (literally), Largs beats Kip hands down in terms of scenic location and scenic nearby islands and anchorages.
Click to expand...

Largs is beautiful and I love that you can see Cumbrae and further afield from it.

What inspired us about the West coast originally, other than our previous holidays there, was this 360 drone image:

Google Maps

I mean, it's just stunning.
 
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