North Fambridge Marina

[jon and michie]

Hi - we are based at Essex Marina on the Crouch and while the marina is ok and in the middle of nowhere we have found mooring up a bit of a challenge due to the fast tide and sometimes high winds (although it was a neap tide last weekend and the tidal flow seemed a lot slower and berthing was much better than previous).

we are thinking for next season to go to Fambridge further up the river as it would appear to have sheltered mooring and really good facilities i.e shower block etc.

Can anyone give any pros and cons on Fambridge.

many thanks in advance

Jon

 

[MoodySabre]

As a visitor: sheltered, best loos and showers on the east coast, friendly staff, good breakfast at the West Wick YC in the marina. A few basic provisions available plus full yard facilities. Long way from a proper shop and a longish walk to the pub. Downside is that it is well up river so getting out of the Crouch takes ages.

 

[Boz]

As a visitor: sheltered, best loos and showers on the east coast, friendly staff, good breakfast at the West Wick YC in the marina. A few basic provisions available plus full yard facilities. Long way from a proper shop and a longish walk to the pub. Downside is that it is well up river so getting out of the Crouch takes ages.

Pretty Much as I would have put it. The distance from Whitaker is a major disadvantage and they do have an ongoing silting problem that requires constant dredging......

 

[Ali-alshira]

We have just moved there from Bridgemarsh. The staff have been very helpful and welcoming. The facilities are excellent. They have been very accommodating in the way they calculate our mooring fees, so that it costs us about the same as Bridgemarsh (because we are away during the summer). The electricity is stupidly expensive, unless you buy a metered lead.
Having said all that, have a look at Bridgemarsh too - poorer facilities, rather rickety pontoon, little silting, not quite so far from the sea, cheaper for normal folk, alongside berthing in some tide (but much weaker tide than Essex), friendly, helpful staff - we were very happy there for 12 years.

 

[nigelm]

With respect to the metered lead , you don't have to buy it from the marina , ive just got one off fleebay for £25 .............saved a few beer vouchers ?

 

[rubberduck]

We spent some time at fambridge & found it 1st class. Will return at some point in the future when we have finished exploring.

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Are we talking about west wick or the other one actually in the main channel of the Crouch?

 

[Bru]

Are we talking about west wick or the other one actually in the main channel of the Crouch?

West Wick as such is no more, it's now Fambridge Yacht Haven

Fambridge Yacht Station (the swinging moorings and mud berths on the main channel) is part of the Yacht Haven operation (two sites, one operation)

The marina in Stow Creek does, as mentioned by Boz, suffer from silting however this is being addressed with the suction dredger now being full time at Fambridge (previously it was shared with another Yacht Havens Group marina). Access in and out of Stow Creek itself can be a bit tidally dependent (or quite a lot in the worst cases) depending on draught but then if you're working the tides you'll be going downriver on the ebb and coming up on the flood anyway. If you really must arrive or depart close to low water, the river pontoon is available for waiting

The various swinging mooring packages are well worth a look at anyway. Unless you want/need to leave the boat connected to shore power all the time, valet berthing offers virtually all the advantages of a marina berth at a significantly lower cost (the boat is on a swinging mooring spring through autumn, you phone up and give reasonable notice and the marina staff bring her alongside the river pontoon ready for you. You leave her on the pontoon at the end of your trip and the staff put her back on her buoy. In the winter, if you stay in, you get a vacant marina berth)

With the exception of a lack of anywhere within the village to buy basics like milk and bread (the on site convenience shop is long gone), the facilities are excellent

For berth holders with access to a vehicle as opposed to visitors, there is an excellent mini-supermarket 5 minutes away by car at Cold Norton. It's 2.5 miles so do-able by bike too but a bit of a hike on foot. Plus Asda 10 or so minutes away in South Woodham Ferrets, Morrisons about the same at Maldon, both by car of course. And the train to Burnham will land you right next to the Co-Op if all else fails

The toilets and showers are modern, clean and spacious, there's a bar and food at The Yacht Club within the marina and the Ferry Boat pub (good beer and good food although the food did take a bit of a downturn for a while last year but it's been fine of late). The only drawback with the Ferry Boat is that there's this weird bearded long haired pagan who drinks in there on a far too regular basis

Yacht Havens do not, themselves, provide engineering services. It's an open site as far as contractors are concerned, as long as they have liability insurance. There's a variety of independent engineering and service operations based on site (including, ahem, me!). There's also a small but useful chandlery operated by Anodes Direct at the marina

The staff are friendly and relaxed. It's not a rules bound place at all. Security is, perhaps and in comparison with some other marinas, a little lax but then this rarely seems to be a problem. A couple of big powerful outboards were stolen off powerboats in the trailer park a few years back (a pre-planned targeted operation by my reckoning) and some scrotes nicked my RIB and outboard last year (my own stupid fault, I forgot to make even a rudimentary pretence of securing the thing) but we got it back and apart from that I'm not aware of any actual incidents

The "slog" up the Whitaker channel and on up the river is an issue for day sailers / weekenders who want to be sailing in clear water shortly after leaving their berth I grant. If that's important to you, Fambridge isn't ideal. It doesn't bother us as when we go out we tend to go for at least a long weekend (3 to 4 days) or more. Even so, the delights (or otherwise) of the Blackwater are just a few hours away, the Stour / Orwell are a comfortable day sail and so on. And in inclement weather, a hop down to Burnham is almost always feasible for a change of scenery and pub. The Roach offers several excellent anchorages (a fairly common trick of ours is to anchor in the Brankfleet, in the first reach of the Roach off the Crouch, as a departure or arrival point to either get a head start the following day outbound or if we're a bit late back in after a long day and want to knock off rather than spend another hour or so getting all the way back)

As you can no doubt tell, we love it at Fambridge!

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Thanks for that But. One more question; what about visitors? We're visiting Ramsgate and toying with the idea of going up there on the way back to the Orwell.

 

[Bru]

Thanks for that But. One more question; what about visitors? We're visiting Ramsgate and toying with the idea of going up there on the way back to the Orwell.

Visitors are very welcome

Primary visitor spot is the 120m pontoon on the main river from whence it's a short walk to the pub

Visitors can also be accommodated in the marina if preferred (best to phone ahead on that one to get a berth allocated especially at weekends when the office may not be manned if the weekend staff are out and about)

It's £2 per metre per night on the river pontoon, £2.50 in the marina and if you're a hardy soul £1.50 on a swinging mooring (the trot boat runs from 08:30 to 17:00 Sat and Sun, after that it's own tender territory)

And no, I'm not on commission but at this rate I ought to be