Shotley marina

Used to be at Shotley but moved to Woolverstone, staff at both marinas are great as are the facilities.

I moved from Shotley as I got fed up of the lock which is very slow when you have large groups of visitors from various clubs all trying to leave at once. No preference was given to residents and in fairness it would have been impossible to manage as most of the visitors just cast off and headed for the lock.

When I retire and can avoid sailing on the weekends I will probably move back to Shotley but until then I will stay at Woolverstone.

Gave up trying to get into Levington after 7 years on the waiting list, which I do not believe exsists. They made me feel unwanted each year as I visited them to see if a berth would be available. In any case I reckon Levington is about the windiest bit of the Orwell, I have been in and out many times with friends and it always seems tricky to berth due to cross winds.
 
Another vote for Shotley for the reasons given.

I like the idea of looking 'over the wall' to get an idea of sea state rather than sailing (Motoring) up river only to find conditions totally different.

When the lock gates open and you get called in..............


Some folks say the outlook is a bit industrial but I like it


Be careful of the strange Nav Lights though....
 
davidwf said:
Gave up trying to get into Levington after 7 years on the waiting list, which I do not believe exsists. They made me feel unwanted each year as I visited them to see if a berth would be available. In any case I reckon Levington is about the windiest bit of the Orwell, I have been in and out many times with friends and it always seems tricky to berth due to cross winds.
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7 years on the waiting list is nothing :) I signed up for an 8meter berth back in 1999 and have not yet been considered worthy of one despite over wintering there most years. The waiting list may well exist but there appears to be so many 'special cases' that those actually doing the waiting make very little progress up the list

Levington can be exposed to Southerly winds but is delightfully sheltered when a Northwesterly is blowing down the river. All the Orwell marinas have an element of compromise in terms of shelter, access, price and availability so its a case of which particular set suits your personal cicumstances and the standard of living your boat has become accustomed to.
 
simon14b said:
7 years on the waiting list is nothing :) I signed up for an 8meter berth back in 1999 and have not yet been considered worthy of one despite over wintering there most years. The waiting list may well exist but there appears to be so many 'special cases' that those actually doing the waiting make very little progress up the list
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Ditto - been on the list since 2003 (previous boat).
Had a swinging mooring at Levington and wintered there several years.
It seems a vacancy has never arisen. Over the years, noticed several 'new' boats our size though.
No doubt their dad put them on the waiting list when they were born. :rolleyes:
 
The Levington waiting list is an odd beast. When we moved to Shotley in Sept '09 we could have had an 8m berth at Levington. I recently enquired (thinking they were cheaper than Shotley, turned out they aren't) and were told they were full, but i could call them in a couple of months (think it was a couple) to see if they had any free, after they had the berthing renewals back from existing berth holders.
 
Made a hash of the lock last Friday

Made a right dogs breakfast of the lock last Friday morning .. About 7.45am .. Finished up stern one side and bows the other .. :eek: The guy leans over the rail when we get ourselve sorted and says ' Do you realise your still in reverse SIR .. :rolleyes: .. Bad enough sorting ourselve out let alone worrying about being in reverse as well ..

Anyway the water went down and down and down and down and then the same guy leaned over the railing again and said .. ' Are you still afloat ' .. ' Course we are we wound the keel up ' .. ;)

New Moon .. Low water springs and 1.4m in the lock .. We had 2.7 on the berth and 1.3m on the way out ..

Apart from that not a bad Marina .. Can get a bit noisy from the container port if the wind is in the wrong direction .

We have moved from Ipswich Haven for a similar reason but have gone down to Burnham Yacht Harbour .. Part of the same group so you get 50% reduction if you use the other Marina ..
 
Sounds fine. Decision made.

I had wondered about the industrial outlook, but I spend so few nights (3 in last two years) on board in my home marina I figure it doesn't really matter.

Many thanks to all who have contributed.

Cheers

Mark
 
Having been resident at both i am well qualified to reply. Shotley is better for all the reasons described, including the cost, also the shipwreck is good for a drink and ordinary food, the schooner club got all pretentious and drinker unfriendly when they decided to up grade the restaurant a few years ago. We have suffered less damage to the boat as well and i believe less fouling at shotley.
 
SYH waiting list

davidwf said:
Gave up trying to get into Levington after 7 years on the waiting list, which I do not believe exsists. They made me feel unwanted each year as I visited them to see if a berth would be available. In any case I reckon Levington is about the windiest bit of the Orwell, I have been in and out many times with friends and it always seems tricky to berth due to cross winds.
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In 2005/2006 I was told there was a waiting list of 3 years to get into SYH which came as a bit of a surprise as I had bought my boat and now had no where to put it!
I asked if I could use a visitors berth while I sorted myself out - they said that would be fine so long as I didn't mind moving my boat into different berths as and when they needed mine. I agreed this would not be a problem and moved my boat from south coast to SYH; after 2 or 3 weeks with no request from them to move my boat I contacted the MD and explained this to him and asked if they could convert my mooring into a permanent berth which he kindly agreed to do and I have been there ever since. SYH is ideal for me with no locks, 24 hour access and less than half an hour before throttle down and out to sea!
 
Mr Wolf said:
I asked if I could use a visitors berth while I sorted myself out - they said that would be fine so long as I didn't mind moving my boat into different berths as and when they needed mine. I agreed this would not be a problem and moved my boat from south coast to SYH; after 2 or 3 weeks with no request from them to move my boat I contacted the MD and explained this to him and asked if they could convert my mooring into a permanent berth which he kindly agreed to do and I have been there ever since.
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Congratulations on securing your berth at Suffolk Yacht Harbour :)

I am sure you will understand that some might feel SYH are being a just a little bit misleading by claiming to run a waiting list and then apparantly disregarding it when vacant berths do become available :confused:
 
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simon14b said:
Congratulations on securing your berth at Suffolk Yacht Harbour :)

I am sure you will understand that some might feel SYH are being a just a little bit misleading by claiming to run a waiting list and then apparantly disregarding it when vacant berths do become available :confused:
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Sorry, this wasn't a gloat. I was just trying to get across that in my naivety I bought my boat and then had about 8 weeks to find a berth. I thought this would be plenty of time until I went looking! I went to all the usual suspects on the river Orwell and everyone of them told me they had a waiting list (of varying lengths) and none of them had a system of allocation that I could understand!

In the end I ran out of time on the mooring the previous owner had on the south coast and was basically forced to bring the boat round and had to find a mooring. SYH (my preferred choice anyway) were the only marina prepared to let me stay long-term on various berths (at visitor rates) while I tried to find a permanent solution. What I was trying to say is, if I had just left it to the mooring master I think I would still be on visitor rates to this day!!!

Maybe I just got very lucky with my timing but to me I felt that explainng things to the MD had more impact than the mooring master on that occassion.
The only logic I can apply to getting a berth (in any marina) is they all seem to work on the premis of 'it's the squeaky wheel that gets the oil'.

As someone else already mentioned on a previous post, 'It seems a vacancy has never arisen. Over the years, noticed several 'new' boats our size though.'

During the season I have seen quite a few berths remain empty for several months at SYH so I can only assume that maybe in the current economic climate it maybe worth reapproaching them especially as the deadline for existing berth holders to confirm next years place has now passed.

Regards

Richard
 
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