North East Cruising Grounds?

[vandy]

We are seriously thinking of spending a season or two in the northeast as in-laws have just purchased a cottage in Lincolnshire and it allows to all get together up there - we visited Hull marina and then Grimsby... the marina in hull was nice with a lock, and quite a few bars and restaurants nearby. The marina in Grimsby was more or less in a disused industrial site (old factories, workshops) next to the bigger windfarm/fishing docks.

Our main issue is where to cruise given both marinas aren't accessible at all state of tides and there's not much around (in our unfamiliar eyes)... so I was wondering if any motorboater here has experience of that part of the country and marina/harbours nearby given the exposed nature of NE coast to the North Sea.

PS. we are in a 36ft Jeanneau Prestige

 

[inception]

Have you seen the berthing fees? cheaper than storing a bike! that's for a reason! That part of the country is hard to plan a day cruise due to the combination of tidal restrictions to exit/enter marinas and not having anything around... for longer cruises, you can try Whitby, and Scarborough which have marinas and cafes etc. Bridlington is a nice harbour with a marina but it dries out... plenty of windfarms to go and look at!

 

[Racingfrank7]

Depends what you want.
We are moored inland then travel to hull & Grimsby before exiting the Humber & going out to sea.
Yes you have to plan all this but the rest of the time there is plenty to cruise on the tidal &none tidal rivers around us.

 

[Momac]

Lincolnshire isn't the Northeast ! Its more like the East Midlands - but the long forgotten Eastern part.
Grimsby is almost all states access - just you have to pay outside of free flow period and can be a little restricted around springs when the tide is too high or two low to physically allow the lock to perate. Outside Grimsby marina is like the aftermath of a nuclear war.
Hull is more restricted plus or minus 3 hrs from HW. But the city is okay.
I am based inland at Farndon - R. Trent - and enjoy river cruising with a once year sea trip.

 

[elton]

Lincolnshire is not by any stretch of the imagination in the north east, of anywhere

 

[Portofino]

I cut my teeth - ,so to speak in Hull Marina in the 90 ,s .
We had two sailing boats .Initially a 19 ft day boat then a Gib Sea 7.6 .Oh how many times the lifting keel scraped along the mud ? :disgust:
You can access as said 3 h + or - HW , The tide runs fast ,so in a sail boat you end up washed along ,up to 7 knots .
Quite interesting really sailing against the current- boat to windward heeled over , water splashing on the toe rail ,crew sat outboard , log says 5/ 6 knots though the water ,boat going backwards when you look at the land .
We used to race in a winter series too .
The main channel bouys change about every two weeks ( constant river surveying going off ) , sand banks pop up randomly.
It’s ok for the guys ^^^ that do a one off “ well planned summer trip “ but when it’s your back yard like the Op ,it’s a fag .
On top of that scary river traffic ,even up @ hull - ships to Google .
There’s a nice gastro pub @ S Ferriby ,it had a jetty ,so @ HW + or - 2 h you may have a good meal if the tides are right .
Further down river even bigger vessels and the two ferry’s - North Sea .
Immingham is a massive and dangerous commercial port for a small boat - supertanker territory.
Grimsby s fish dock marina ,as said a dump ,more so when it’s raining !
At the mouth there’s all sorts of overalls and funny tidal goings on .
Brids a bit of a dump and the trip is as dull as dish water .
Things start to rise from near zero @ Scarborough and further N ,@ Hartlepool but these are not really day tripable ,and remember to get back up to hull you need water under your keel , and need to arrive @ the lock gate near HW .3 hrs .
Arrive outside this time - then I hope your cleats are well attached , there’s a jetty in the river to wait as the water rushes past @ 7 knots ,you can hear the cleats creak
South bound once out of the estuary the N Norfolk coast , Blakeny and Wells are worth a big multi day trip .Again loadsa tide calc s and unsocial hrs starts and worse still ends to a trip, - same rules apply universally you need water to boat in .
It’s all brown btw , your WE trips up / down the Humber , expect to find trees and debris washed down from the tributary rivers after storms .
All in all a pretty miserable place ( Hull ) to place a boat .
Oh I nearly forgot ,round the marina itself - yeh , pretty in the day ,but after dark the pubs , n clubs fill up with 9issheads and you may find a can ,glass or bottle lobbed into your cockpit , when you are awoken by the blue flashing lights of the emergency services dealing with an altercation.
In the end when the kids arrived , I just ended up going on “ lads trips “ .kiding ourselves that racing in February in the winter series ,when the air temp was minus 5 was fun .
Not fit for the fairer sex imho ,boating out of Hull .

 

[Momac]

Not fit for the fairer sex imho ,boating out of Hull .

You paint a fair picture of The Chocolate River . Sharing the estuary with numerous large ships and commercial vessels and usually no other leisure craft is all part of the excitement. Fortunately we are faster than the ships . AIS is handy .
Hull is perhaps not as bad as you suggest so may have improved with time. As visitors to Hull marina in recent years we have not seen any trouble.
However I am not tempted to move there as a home berth . I quite like challenge, but not every trip.

 

[Andibs]

I've had my boat in Hull marina for 18 months now. Not seen one speck of trouble in any of the bars in the area.

Andy

 

[jon and michie]

The downfall for hull is the brown silty water, on the upscale the facilities at the marina are top notch.
The area is getting better with restuarants/cafe bars as opposed to about 20yrs ago where it was more of a drinking ground especially on bank holidays where people used to jump in.
A lot of the boats in the marina do seem to be more stagnent and not used (i think some owners think their boats are more of a status symbol as opposed to actually getting out of the lock and going for a cruise.
some boats in there havent moved for at least 5 years so dredd to think what the state of their running gear is like.

when I was buying my boat I considered putting in hull but as I live there - I wouldnt be "getting away" and not much fun in brown water and weather is a little more bleaker than further down south hence why I am based in essex.

apart from that Hull was the city of culture 2017
Jon

 

[kashurst]

on the positive side the silty water helps keep your heat exchangers clean - the sand gives them a good internal scrub up
The Humber estuary is a pretty difficult place to navigate - try doing it in the dark. So if you can master it, it's great training for anywhere else. Have a go at the reverse transit at Burton Stather just around the corner at the top of the river Trent.

 

[pks1702]

Very much on the positive side (if you like fish and seafood) is Cerruti's.

http://www.ceruttis.co.uk/

No connection but a very satisfied visitor.