Ryde isle of wight - harbour entrance silting up

[PaulR]

 

[PaulR]

Photos taken today. Ryde entrance huge sand bar. Used to be useable harbour sad to see it being allowed to get like this.

 

[C08]

Thanks for posting that - just have to remmber next year!

 

[Gary Fox]

I will never understand why harbours are not dredged by the authorities, it seems to be wilful neglect of our national infrastructure.
A JCB on a barge costs chicken feed compared to other projects.

 

[lustyd]

At Ryde it's a JCB on the beach so even worse. They can even sell the sand I imagine!

 

[seadog30]

We used to visit at least once a year (to see the scooters) now however not only is it silted up the place is also a dump. I guess we should expect this as it is run by the same clowns who manage the Cowes chain ferry.

 

[Stemar]

It isn't the entrance that bothers me, it's the approach. I draw change from a metre and I chickened out a couple of years ago not far off high.

 

[ashtead]

I suspect a tour of the island could be run seeing the sights of the Iow council failures -
After taking the hovercraft to Ryde start with the one ice rink built too small and now closed due to lack of council support, a quick stroll takes you to the silted harbour so we’ll pictured above then a short bus ride or cycle to bring you to the Westridge swimming pool now home only to water displays as sold off after hoards of local fundraing and help of Tesco 9 where you also take in the latest mass housing development site to overload the local GPS etc) taking you past the decaying pool at the Ryde boating lake. Then it’s off to east cowes to catch a rare glance of a working chain ferry but if not working (which is the norm) a quick trip to the £10m project to create tailbacks on the road from cowes to Newport to watch the never ending source of frustration then on to Northwood house to see another wasting local asset before visiting the south Wight to see the potential TT race track on south Wight which is intended to wake up the local residents before a visit to the ventnor marina for a quick look at another failed opportunity.

 

[Greenheart]

It really is very sad, but it also invites contempt.

I was looking at videos of "Harcourt Sands" this week, having walked from Ryde to Seaview in the past and wondered what the overgrown dilapidated buildings were (abandoned in 2006).

I wonder what the Isle of Wight council can be thinking, if its ongoing policy is to neglect hideous eyesores like the ex-arcade at Ventnor promenade, and not to take charge of derelict sites such as at Puckpool, allowing either profitable redevelopment as housing, or pleasant reversion to a new 'greenfield' seaside park with wonderful views.

So many opportunities missed, and by consequence the islanders' reputation is embedded as negative, hostile, tight-fisted, grossly mismanaged or just myopic in terms of their own interests.

I can't believe potential money-making sites are wilfully pared-down rather than invested in. Can there be a good reason?

 

[ashtead]

You just need to read the letters page in the county press to see how welcoming those in the west Wight are -cannot believe they publish some of the comments made given the the islands dependency on tourism. Sorry I missed off the missed opportunity of Puckpool park and the continuing dilapidation of Harcourt Sands from my guided tour .

 

[wombat88]

The Island always looks better from a distance. This from someone who lived in Selsey.

 

[matt1]

I guess councils are really really cash strapped right now, especially after Covid. When you have so little funds it’s hard to justify even if it would make sense to us

Maybe they should try and sell the harbour off and perhaps a private investor could make something of it or at least make it viable, but even Bembridge and Island Harbour have had their challenges and they are far nicer locations. Ryde is great if you have shallow draft and children ...

 

[ashtead]

I think the nub of these many disasters are the council engaging in commercial ventures of which they have no expertise without the ability to recognise their shortcomings and engage competent advisers. What’s always surprising is how French authorities seem to be able create attractive new facilities by way of comparison.

 

[girlofwight]

I’d like to defend my Local Authority.

Really, I’ld like to.... But of course, I can’t.

Whether its Conservatives or Indies at County Hall we seem to be cursed with a lack of vision and a lack of competence.

I‘ve sat on several third sector boards contracting with the Council, and it’s always pitiful. Silted up Ryde Harbour is just the latest shenanigans. They are desperately short of money, but so is everyone - private sector, public sector, third sector - the challenge comes in having the vision and ability to leverage beyond resources. It sounds trite, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Yet it’s such a quagmire at County Hall I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole - I walked away from an invitation to sit unpaid on a council committee - the risks were too great.

There is talk of Ryde Town Council taking on the harbour, that would be a great idea, although the mayor is a bit of an oddball, the rest seem to have their heads screwed on.

 

[LiftyK]

I’d like to put in a positive word for Ryde. The discussion has quickly changed from a report on silting to commentary on how poor Ryde Harbour is, followed by disparaging comments about a great deal of the Isle of Wight. Ryde Harbour is in a lovely location, it remains affordable to stay there while other Solent mooring fees have gone wild. The harbour team are always friendly and helpful.

I understand that the silting started when the large flood relief outfall east of the harbour was moved inside the harbour. We can agree that this has unexpectedly triggered a major silting problem but let’s not forget that the harbour had been operating happily for years before that. The entrance was dredged when the silting first occurred and clearly it needs doing again, together with a rethink on what can be done to alleviate the impact of the of the relocated outfall. I did hear that it was expected that the outfall would have benefited the harbour through a sluicing effect. I do understand that this is against a backdrop of the harbour being put up for sale at least twice and moves by the town to try take over harbour ownership from the island authorities.

Is there a design fault with the in-harbour outfall? Undoubtedly, just like the design faults of Cowes breakwater and new chain ferry. Did the harbour team bring this upon themselves? No. My fear is that if any island council officers read this thread they could easily conclude that closing the seemingly unloved harbour is the simplest way forward. What a disaster this would be, especially for the many permanently berthed there. Ryde has a lot to offer. I just hope there is sufficient budget in these times of financial hardship to find a solution to the newly formed silting.

 

[Seven Spades]

What it needs is investment and a tidal cill. A cill that rises as the tide starts to go out would mean that harbour would be rammed every weekend for 6 months of the year. They would get their money back many times over.

 

[Elessar]

I’d like to put in a positive word for Ryde. The discussion has quickly changed from a report on silting to commentary on how poor Ryde Harbour is, followed by disparaging comments about a great deal of the Isle of Wight. Ryde Harbour is in a lovely location, it remains affordable to stay there while other Solent mooring fees have gone wild. The harbour team are always friendly and helpful.

I understand that the silting started when the large flood relief outfall east of the harbour was moved inside the harbour. We can agree that this has unexpectedly triggered a major silting problem but let’s not forget that the harbour had been operating happily for years before that. The entrance was dredged when the silting first occurred and clearly it needs doing again, together with a rethink on what can be done to alleviate the impact of the of the relocated outfall. I did hear that it was expected that the outfall would have benefited the harbour through a sluicing effect. I do understand that this is against a backdrop of the harbour being put up for sale at least twice and moves by the town to try take over harbour ownership from the island authorities.

Is there a design fault with the in-harbour outfall? Undoubtedly, just like the design faults of Cowes breakwater and new chain ferry. Did the harbour team bring this upon themselves? No. My fear is that if any island council officers read this thread they could easily conclude that closing the seemingly unloved harbour is the simplest way forward. What a disaster this would be, especially for the many permanently berthed there. Ryde has a lot to offer. I just hope there is sufficient budget in these times of financial hardship to find a solution to the newly formed silting.

Don’t start ruining a good rant with interesting facts and a balanced opinion. You risk turning it into a useful discussion.

 

[PaulR]

cill idea interesting - commonplace in france and would make quite a difference but given their is a large slipway in the harbour would have thought they could have and use a jcb type excavator to dig out and move sand easily to keep access open - is a nice harbour to visit - we have dried out with fin/bilge and centerboard boats in the past and with our current wingkeel and would like to be able to visit again - as someone else has said harbour staff have always seemed good too

 

[DJE]

Ryde is great if you have shallow draft and children ...

We used to go there a lot when the kids were small. At the time we had a bilge keel boat drawing 1.2m and we struggled to get in and out at neaps.

 

[Teko]

We have enjoyed visits to ryde, even with a 1.5mtr fin keel
A tidal cill would be huge benefit!