Portsmouth marina options

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jonjo

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My offer on a sailing yacht has been accepted so with a bit of luck I will be looking for a Solent marina berth.

So far I have ruled out IOW marinas due to the fact it takes 2.5 hours for me to drive to Southampton so I don't want to add an extra leg to the journey. Likewise Lymington is noticeably further away. I assume the waiting list for a Beaulieu berth is many years. Ocean village is noisy with building work and dominated by super yachts or corporate boating. I think the free flow at Hythe is limited hence lock queues are a problem. Hamble is too expensive apart from Deacons where passing motor boats agitate the moored yachts.

So this brings me to Portsmouth where I have surveyed my options. Could anyone comment on the following pros and cons.

Haslar:

+ Fairly sheltered.
+ 10% cheaper than Port Solent.
+ New hence no established old-boy cliques.

- So new there is little of interest in the immediate shore side hinterland.

C & N

+ Active sailor's marina, hence does not feel like a nautical multi story car park.
+ All that nautical heritage in sight opposite.

- Yachts always seem a bit agitated due to exposed location.
- Probably takes years before established bethholders finally decide you are not a visiting Sunsail crew.
- 10% more expansive than Port Solent.

Port Solent

+ Very sheltered hence peaceful nights.
+ Free winter hardstanding.
+ Lock watching and themed shore side venues provide a distraction for non sailing guests.
+ Seems like a lively place and maybe the enforced conviviality of locking is part of the fun?

- Lock queues on peak summer days but "2 to 5 hours" of free flow should help mitigate this.
- 30 minute motor down harbour, but that is nothing compared with Shamrock Quay to Calshot.

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What's so special about the Solent? There's much more to do and see on the East Coast, and it's much more accessible from Cambridgeshire. Cheaper, too.

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I see from your bio that you are based in Cambridgeshire.

Have you considered the Clyde?? Troon perhaps??

No, I am not crazy. Look at Ryanair.com - Flights Stanstead to Prestwick with Troon about 15 mins away. Could be quicker that trying to get to Portsmouth/Solent, and the Clyde is a lovely crusing area.

(SL)easy jet also fly Luton to Glasgow as an alternative.

Might be worth looking into.

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Try Southsea Marina (Premier Marinas) in Langstone Harbour - a lot cheaper than those you have listed. Nice and friendly about 300 berths access +- 3hrs of high water (never causes us any grief) and there is a waiting pontoon.About 15 mins from the sea and 45 mins from Porstmouth entrance.

Need I say more?

Cheers

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Jonjo,

You've missed one good one in Portsmouth Harbour - Royal Clarence Marina. We are there, and it's great. There's a load of shoreside building work going on at the moment but that won't last forever. Deep water, very sheltered, very close to harbour entrance, opposite the naval dockyard. New marina last year, but hurry because I think it's nearly full. See www.royalclarencemarina.co.uk.

rob

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The best marina really depends upon where you are travelling from. Both C&N and Gosport are convenient for the harbour entrance and are not affected by tide, however the road access to both can be a bit awful at the wrong time of the day. Porto Solentee is much easier to get to by road, with what used to be easy access from the motorway until the city "planners" screwed up what was a large roundabout and created a traffic light nightmare. However, Porto Solentee has by far the best environment for those bad weather days when you want to go to the boat, but dont feel like sticking your nose outside the harbour.

What about swanick marina up the hamble?

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Port Solent, Against: That sea school/charterer,noisy in the evening and traffic noise all the time, poor rail access and a long way to the habour entrance. For: Lots of eating places, a long way away from the weather sea, big chandlery and other boating services..
Haslar, Against: Long walks from the car park and where do all the trolleys go?, some mooring get wash from the ferries, security may be poor (two incidents of major boat to boat damage and nobody saw anything). For: Mary Mouse bar/restaraunt, very close to Gosport ferry (for Portsmouth city and train connections).
C&N, Against: Wash from large vessels passing. For: Good local boating services.

PS Both Haslar and C&N quite close from the land side on foot and therefore share good access to Gosport "highlife".

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<very close to Gosport highlife> errrr.... but my brother berths at Haslar, having tried Port Solent and Langstone, and reckons its the best.

He reckons security is at least as good as the others (his boat was broken into a Port Solent), no queues for the locks, no Sunsail, easy road and rail access (although the Gosport rad can be a abit of a grind at peak hours), but best of all its only ten minutes from open water.

Next best is Langstones Southsea marina, BUT the tide runs very hard through the narrows, and the bar can be terrible.


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> Southsea Marina (Premier Marinas)

This marina was on my list and I called round there yesterday evening. The limited 50% access over the cill would not be a problem but it then occurred to me that having waited for the flood tide to lower the cill on exit a yacht will then struggle against the current at the harbour entrance.

Also I imagine the entrance to Langstone would be problematic at low tide with a Southerly F6+?

Have you encountered these problems?

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Re: Royal Clarence Marina

> You've missed - Royal Clarence Marina

Indeed I had missed it. Someone PMed me about this marina earlier today. Going by a harbour chart it looks equivalent to Campers in terms of shelter?

I will check it out next week-end, the rates are 10% lower than C&N next door.

When your boat is 2.5 hours away it fulfils a bit more of a floating cottage function so the marina environment needs to be restful and pleasant. I think the building work at Royal Clarence would irritate me.

I remember spending a week at Eastbourne marina last year where the deck was coated with a lot of building dust, has this been a problem for you?

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No Lock queues at Hythe...

..... well very little anyway, probably no more than 20mins at most, in my experience (albeit only 9 months.) It has other benefits such as shelter and security.

It depends on the size of your new boat - most of the pontoons are intended for about 10m.

<hr width=100% size=1>I'm average size, Its just that everybody else is short.
 
You missed another option in Southampton - Shamrock Quay.

It's a proper working marina/boatyard with all services available. It has easy access by road and good parking - none of that long slow drive into Gosport.

It has full 24 hour tidal access and is about an hour from Calshot. Being in central Solent you have favourable tides every weekend - you just need to decide to turn left or right. Compare this to Portsmouth or Lymington where the run of the tide is against you every other weekend unless you opt for non Solent locations.

On top of all this, it's one of the less expensive options - on a par with the Gosport marinas when I did a price comparison two years ago.

I can certainly recommend it...

Ed

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Re: I queued

> 20 minutes

Strange, the only occasion I have berthed at Hythe I was kept circling outside for over an hour along with a queue of 10 other boats. This was on a Saturday evening around 7pm July last year.

Leaving at 9:45 Sunday morning we went straight into the lock.

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Re: Royal Clarence Marina

It's more sheltered than Campers (which incidentally is now Premier Gosport marina) because it is set further back from the main harbour channel so you don't get the wash from the ferries et al. There's only a small wind sector when you can get some movement at Royal Clarence and that's really winds over F6 from the ESE or E. Rat Island offers shelter from N round to ENE, from SE round to N there is complete shelter from the land.

The dustiest work has just finished with the demolition of the 1960's buildings adjacent to the waterside and we have been ashore at Port Solent during this time so we've missed it all thankfully. Last summer there was work going on but we had no nuisance from dust. Frankly the "Fawley fall out" on the Hamble was worse during our three seasons there.

Other's have said that the road to Gosport is a pain - and they are right. So we time our arrival/departure to minimise this effect and generally we can be from J11 M27 to the marina in < 15mins. No great shakes.

Big plus at Royal Clarence is security. 24hr manned security to entrance and of course Portsmouth harbour waterside is generally very secure anyway because the MOD police are always floating about. They come down the fairways at Royal Clarence during the night - on a couple of occasions I've been woken with a start as they are turning right in front of where I'm sleeping at 0400hrs! - But I think it's great to have the MOD guys about - free waterbound security!

New facilities (loos and showers) also just opened at Royal Clarence.

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Re: Shamrock Quay?

I have mixed feeling about Shamrock Quay.

Last March/April I was charged £35 overnight to berth alongside a rusting ex fuel barge.

There was a 1 hour hold-up sorting about an electric cable for their odd sized sockets.

The small children were in danger of falling through rotting teak planks.

The damper on the sprung gate had failed so the clash of the closing gate spoilt the evening peace.

The floor of the new shower cubicle changing area had no gradient which meant wet socks.

The tide runs quite hard through the marina so the all-tide-access claim is only true for a fully crewed yacht.

Finally there is that awful dust bowl of hard standing upwind the prevailing wind.

I do like the old industrial shore-side architecture, the setting of the bar and the chandlery.

Also I take your point that once road travel is factored in the central Solent is not so far away but when passing the Nab on return from France, Shamrock Quay is still 3 to 4 hours a away I guess.

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Re: I queued

Only problem I've had at Hythe is LWS when there is'nt enough water. With the HW stand in Soton Water its surprising how long free flow lasts. Like BigNick longest wait has been c30 minutes but its mostly straight out and straight in.

<hr width=100% size=1>I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
 
I wouldn't dismiss Deacons. I keep my boat there, but must say I've never noticed a problem with wash from passing MB's. They are generally going pretty slowly to negotiate the bridge.
In fact, the main thing I like about Deacons is that the moorings are very sheltered, especially in comparison to previous trot moorings I have had further down The Hamble. Downside is it's 20 - 30 minutes to the mouth of the river, but it is at least on the boat through interesting and enjoyable scenery rather than stuck in the car trying to get down to Gosport.


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Re: Shamrock Quay?

Can't comment on charges - it does sound a lot - how big was the boat?

Re: the Pontoons at Shamrock Quay. All the pontoons connecting to the down river bridge heads (the old A, B & C Pontoons) are in the process of being replaced with new Walcon finger pontoons. The bridge head gates will also be renewed. The tide can run fast at times but the further your berth is into the bank, the easier it is. However, even at its worst, Shamrock Quay is nowhere near as difficult as the tide in East Cowes marina.

Re: the dust - the problem was a concrete crushing plant across the river which was not using damping down equipment. Following lobbying by MDL and the Shamrock Quay Berth Holders Association, the council and the Environment Agency stepped in and the problem is now reportedly fixed but will be monitored as the summer progresses.

Your point re: France is well made - but I think I would rather sail for a couple of extra hours a few times a season than sit in the car for about an extra 45 minutes each way *every* time I used the boat.

Best wishes,


P.S. I should probably declare an interest - I am Shamrock Quay berth holder and secretary of the Berth Holders association.

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