Move to Southsea, Chichester or Northney?

C

Cathy*

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We've been in a Plymouth marina for 7 years and although there are so many lovely places to visit or just to drop anchor our visits rarely seem to coincide with the periods of comfortable seagoing weather. We sit on our boat listening to the 20kn winds and look enviously at the conditions further east. We're currently visiting family in Southsea and have been checking out the local marinas. We want to be East of Portsmouth and so far have a short list of Chichester and Southsea, both Premier, and Northney MDL. I also want to visit Birdham but looking at it on Google Earth I don't think that will really be in the running. Leaving aside the Sill at Southsea which wouldn't worry us is anyone here currently a berth holder in any of the 3 who could give me some pro's and con's please?
 
Chichester - you have the lock to deal with. Probably fun for the first few times, possibly not quite so much fun if there's a queue at the wrong time, and it's blowy. But it's a quiet enough spot. It's a fair trundle to get out to sea.

Northney - slightly shorter trundle to get out to sea. No lock to contend with. Small cafe onsite, Langstone Hotel close. Royal Oak and Ship Inn just across the bridge. Traffic noise from the main road nearby if you are sitting on the boat.

Sparkes Marina - short trundle to get out to sea. No lock to contend with, but you do have paddleboarders / dinghies in the channel sometimes. "Drift Bar" onsite - also does food. Quiet spot. Difficulty here is you could get "stuck" on Hayling Island in the traffic if you leave on a hot Sunday evening. Not an issue for me as I live there :)

Southsea Marina - no clue, never been there.

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FlowerPower said:
Sparkes Marina - short trundle to get out to sea. No lock to contend with, but you do have paddleboarders / dinghies in the channel sometimes. "Drift Bar" onsite - also does food. Quiet spot. Difficulty here is you could get "stuck" on Hayling Island in the traffic if you leave on a hot Sunday evening. Not an issue for me as I live there :)
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Thanks, useful stuff. we'd discounted Sparkes because of the traffic. I've been trying to make sense of the charges for visiting boats to Chichester harbour generally. Very confusing. We're used to dropping anchor without having to pay for the privilege but that doesn't seem to be the case there. I need to read up properly.
 
Cathy* said:
Thanks, useful stuff. we'd discounted Sparkes because of the traffic. I've been trying to make sense of the charges for visiting boats to Chichester harbour generally. Very confusing. We're used to dropping anchor without having to pay for the privilege but that doesn't seem to be the case there. I need to read up properly.
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With the Hayling Island traffic, it all depends on your timing. If you arrive Friday evening, then good. If you try and leave on a hot Sunday at 5pm, that could be very bad. If you leave later (8-9pm or later) then it is generally okay, but that doesn't help if you have a long way to go and an early start the next day.

As a marina berth holder, you'd pay annual harbour dues.

£135 per year for an 11m boat, for example.

https://www.conservancy.co.uk/page/harbour-dues-and-charges

This isn't included in the marina fees.

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I was in Chichester for a year, loved it, the lock and long trundle to the sea are a thing as FP says, but the location is great. Wildlife, walks, pubs, onsite cafe is good, yacht club too. We had one visitor night in Southsea and are unlikely to return despite the Indian.... Birdham is very tidally constrained, more so than Chi marina.
 
I'm happy with Southsea marina...

It's a friendly place.. With just the one marina bar, motor boaty and saily people all mix and all get along really well..

An excellent Indian restaurant upstairs.

Easy access to the sea then a choice of right towards the Solent, straight on towards the Isle of Wight or left a bit towards open water ..

If you can't make it from work in time for the cill, the marina staff can easily take the boat or to the holding pontoon for you ( and vice versa when you get back)...

Just realised.. you could even stay within the harbour. All in all a very small but friendly marina. Very welcoming.
 
Martin_J said:
I'm happy with Southsea marina...

It's a friendly place.. With just the one marina bar, motor boaty and saily people all mix and all get along really well..

An excellent Indian restaurant upstairs.

Easy access to the sea then a choice of right towards the Solent, straight on towards the Isle of Wight or left a bit towards open water ..

If you can't make it from work in time for the cill, the marina staff can easily take the boat or to the holding pontoon for you ( and vice versa when you get back)...

Just realised.. you could even stay within the harbour. All in all a very small but friendly marina. Very welcoming.
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All true ref the Marina itself, but surrounding Southsea (if that's what it's called) was not a place for venturing out on foot or bikes for early beers or later suppers, we felt threatened and unwelcome. Not a happy place. All IMHO of course. We tried it, and won't choose to go back.
 
Scala said:
All true ref the Marina itself, but surrounding Southsea (if that's what it's called) was not a place for venturing out on foot or bikes for early beers or later suppers, we felt threatened and unwelcome. Not a happy place. All IMHO of course. We tried it, and won't choose to go back.
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That's unfortunate, I lived there for a few years and never felt that way.
If you get a taxi to Old Portsmouth, it's as if you are in a different city.

I would agree that many parts of Portsmouth/Southsea really don't fit into the "everyone down South must be rich" cliche, but I never felt unsafe - unlike London, a punch on the nose still appears to be the generally accepted method for resolving a dispute.

Southsea Marina is on the list of places I haven't been to, and I'm looking forward to a Chicken Jalfrezi there, with mushroom rice and a plain naan, please:)

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PilotWolf said:
What about Haslar or Port Solent ( again has a lock).

With regards to traffic it depends on whee you are coming from to an extent.

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I was also going to suggest Haslar.

Sensibly priced, good condition thanks to a busy maintenance programme, 2 very good restaurants on site (they've recently refurbished the lightship) and you're straight out into the protected Solent. Chichester and Southsea are both unprotected by the Isle of Wight.

If you do decide on Haslar let me know and I think I'm right in saying you get a £250 referral discount as do we theoretically. Been there for over 10 years now.
 
FlowerPower said:
What's the traffic like getting to/from Haslar?
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We berthed in Royal Clarence in Gosport for six years. Traffic to and form Gosport is like Hayling traffic, get it wrong and it;s horrible. For example exit the M27 at 5pm of Friday evening and it can take 40 minutes to get to RC or Haslar just beyond. Exit the M27 at 7pm and it usually takes less than 20. Leaving the peninsular can be a hassle, but the worst traffic north seems to be in the mornings so was less of a hassle.

We berthed at Northney several years before Gosport. Agree with FP, though we never found the traffic noise to be intrusive. The last stretch of approach channel needs care around LWS... I managed to perform some minor excavation work with the props a couple of times, and pulled a yacht off the bank along the entrance channel one afternoon..
 
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We berthed in Southsea for a few years about 15 years ago. Delighted to hear the Indian restaurant is still there.

Great access to the Solent and never found the cill much of a hinderance. The surroundings never gave any cause for concern and the marina itself is in a quite cul de sac. Should you need it the lifeboat station is very close by!

The main drawback (in common with many marinas in this area) is the access by road. The traffic down the A2030 from the A27 can be really slow at peak times and when Portsmouth is playing at home. In that respect, it's still probably better than Haslar. On the other side of the coin, depending on where you're coming from, Chichester is a long way round. Port Solent probably has the easiest access by road.
 
We are another Haslar boat having been here since around 2002 . Main consideration might be where the OP is travelling from so if I lived in Chi I might be prepared to accept the small lock and bar for convenience of popping to boat at marina. So to start off need to consider usage of boat as if it’s a country cottage then Chi is as good a place as any but if you want to venture out then all states access is a great plus for those still working . Clearly when returning on a Sunday evening the run back to chi or say Wicor can be a bore as the season draws to a close and light fades.
Sparkes is impacted by tides - a number of the opal staff test sailing Bavaria demonstrated this and it’s quite tight. South sea probably does have more local restaurants in Albert road worth a look.
If you are interested in being close to road access look at port Solent of course and you can also take a sub letting of a pontoon at cheaper rates than Haslar plus some reasonable priced eateries which tend to be quieter than gun wharf . If based in the west though I would look at lymington as first choice location (O pontoon at Yacht haven Say) but its a nightmare drive from A3 direction.
Do pay a visit to Haslar though as it’s much quicker to get out to fleshpots of cowes for sausage festival or suchlike than being in the country at Chi .
 
Thank you for the replies everyone. I stopped getting emails after the first 2 so didn't realise there were more. Our daughter lives in Southsea and we've always felt safe here, especially when walking her rottweiler ? We're from Coventry so not much difference in the distances, all closer than Plymouth. We have a motorboat and generally potter between 6 and 8 kn. I looked at Lymington but the nearly £10k fees gave me palpitations. I haven't looked at the west of the island really just because I thought it's so popular and the sea would be very busy. However the protection given by the IOW is something to consider so I'll have a look. Thank you.
 
Cathy if in a shallow drafted vessel you might also look at places like Emsworth and thorney island then you have all the delights of Chi harbour to potter around and not too far to visit gunwharf for the odd day trip etc or look at Fareham creek etc . Agree with thoughts on Lym moorings prices but no where near what I was told the other day about Mallorca at £60k for a 50 something mobo ( is that really the going rate there?)
 
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