Sandown Bay, IOW, good anchorage?

[Poignard]

I have often sailed past Sandown Bay en route to/from France [sometimes I have spent hours looking at it, when I did me sums wrong ] and wondered why it does not seem to be a more popular anchorage. Sheltered from the prevailing wind, scenic, a beach.....

What's wrong with it? Bad holding? Jetskis? Or what?

 

[chubby]

I have often thought the same! The back of the IOW can be empty when the solent is busy, we sometimes anchor for lunch in Whitecliff bay which is just next to sandown bay but working the tides around bembridge ledge can be a fiddle, we once anchored there overnight for an early cross channel start but the swell gave us a wallowy night and the only good thing was tht we were up early! There are visitors bouys of the tiny harbour at ventnor and I am sure I read somewhere about a visitors bouy of one the pubs in Sandown or Shanklin

 

[Poignard]

Thanks for that. I might have a look in there this weekend as the Solent on a Bank holiday does not appeal.

 

[capt_courageous]

We once spent the night anchored off Shanklin when it had a pier. As Chubby said although it was sheltered there was a continuous swell coming in. The tide made the boat lie at right angles to it so maximising the discomfort.