Ryde isle of wight - harbour entrance silting up

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’ve lived in, or around, Ryde, for 47 of my 53 years, so it’s home. I’ll always overlook it’s faults :)

The council in Newport, not so much!
 
I see that the council is bidding for Vectis Hall ? they could redevelop those wasted council offices in Newport as housing as opposed to wesridge farm and all move to Vectis Hall -be interesting to see how the Vectis hall project goes if the council are involved.
 
Remember that the harbour has only been there a short while.
Actually since 1990, longer than I'd have guessed.
Sands shift.
Would the harbour be a commercial success under different management?
Would the market bear the costs of x-amount of dredgiing?
IS it more viable just to use it for RIBs etc?
People say it'sa cheap place to stay, would they stay there if the bill reflected the price of dredging?

In the time that I've known the area, things have changed.
Once upon a time there was a serious amount of 'barrier' between the fort and the island.
I wonder if that's changed the game?

It's not the only or worst silted harbour, try sailing a barge into Pentewan these days.
 
I see that the council is bidding for Vectis Hall ? they could redevelop those wasted council offices in Newport as housing as opposed to wesridge farm and all move to Vectis Hall -be interesting to see how the Vectis hall project goes if the council are involved.

Think it’s the Town Council re Vectis Hall not IWC. I was contemplating a cheeky bid myself, then I saw the reports of the offer RTC were putting in.
 
I used to go in there a lot with the kids when they were young on our Beneteau 36 fin keel drawing 1.5m, and lean it against the wall.
 
Didn't visit last summer but the year before I would lean my fin keeler on the wall regularly 1.5m draft.


At the end of March there was a post on Facebook with a photo showing a bloke stood in 6inch of water in the middle of the harbour 1hr before high.

Unless you have a kayak I reckon ryde is out of bounds until some serious dredging is done
 
Questions, because I've no idea...

Putting aside feelings about the town's or the island's council, is there an engineering reason why a cill wasn't originally, still hasn't, or isn't likely to be adopted as the way forward for Ryde? Is there any point in dredging, if the same problem will probably recur?

Does anybody have a sensible considered view of the real costs of contracting barges/lighters, a tug, and a couple of big excavators?

Would the wet sand in the harbour and outside, support a big-wheeled haul-truck that could dump a large tonnage of sand, far out?
 
Last edited:
It would be great if Ryde was dredged properly, but I guess there is a problem with shifting sand and silting up. (Although it could equally be a problem with the dopey council and/or Half a Sausage Seeley..)
The River Medina (Cowes, Newport etc) is being busily dredged as I type, the dredger has spud legs and a flat bottom so it would be ideal. Medina mud has to go to landfill, they aren't allowed to tip it at sea, too stinky.
 
Any update for the 2021 season? What are the chances for 1.4 metre draft on a spring tide which would also coincide with a lunchtime stop?

They‘ve done a lot of clearing of the sand at LW with a digger, so I’d say pretty good, AFAIAA more or less normal entrance now. It’s a regular cycle ride of mine.

If you were thinking of a peaceful walk E to Appley, don’t. its a civil engineering work fest due to a sinkhole and main Ryde sewer.
 
It would be great if Ryde was dredged properly, but I guess there is a problem with shifting sand and silting up. (Although it could equally be a problem with the dopey council and/or Half a Sausage Seeley..)
The River Medina (Cowes, Newport etc) is being busily dredged as I type, the dredger has spud legs and a flat bottom so it would be ideal. Medina mud has to go to landfill, they aren't allowed to tip it at sea, too stinky.
We do like to make life difficult for ourselves; unless it's got industrial waste in it dumping it downriver is hardly an envirocrime.
 
It would be great if Ryde was dredged properly
If you think it through fully it would be a total nightmare if Ryde were dredged properly. The harbour is tiny and dredging would lead to an increase in traffic, which would lead to congestion, which would ultimately lead to a lot more boats ending up on the sand outside at low water. At least while the harbour remains difficult the traffic is manageable :)

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if there was a nice marina there with 24x7 access...
 
If you think it through fully it would be a total nightmare if Ryde were dredged properly. The harbour is tiny and dredging would lead to an increase in traffic, which would lead to congestion, which would ultimately lead to a lot more boats ending up on the sand outside at low water. At least while the harbour remains difficult the traffic is manageable :)

Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if there was a nice marina there with 24x7 access...
Established IoW protocol must be observed.... the nice marina will occur when a fat enough brown envelope reaches the council planning dept.
 
I'm pretty confident he wasn't heading to Ryde. Possibly caught out by the strong onshore winds and inexperienced crew.
 
like this one last weekend, as seen on the Ryde Inshore Rescue FB page.
View attachment 114290

It'd be a brave man who took one of those into Ryde!

I watched a boat refloating after a similar episode from Ryde Harbour wall a few years back. It was a bit bumpy, and things weren't helped by the wake from the cruise ships going past. He looked to be having such a nasty time I called the CG, who were aware, and keeping an eye on him. Even with bilge keels I treat Ryde sands with a lot of respect - that sand is hard when you're being bounced on it.
 
Top