slips on the Bristol channel

[Ivorbigun]

Hi all new guy here so might be a few questions coming ,
here's the first one
can any of you recommend any slipways that are safe to leave the car and trailer for more than a day,
I want to explore the english side of the channel and camp out.
anywhere between portishead and say minehead area, I live near Wells so the closer the better.
I have a small (14") dinghy that can be hand launched or car launched.

 

[PCUK]

Watchet Marina. Still open with parking.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Hi all new guy here so might be a few questions coming ,
here's the first one
can any of you recommend any slipways that are safe to leave the car and trailer for more than a day,
I want to explore the english side of the channel and camp out.
anywhere between portishead and say minehead area, I live near Wells so the closer the better.
I have a small (14") dinghy that can be hand launched or car launched.

"can any of you recommend any slipways that are safe to leave the car and trailer for more than a day,"
Don't forget the tide!

 

[PCUK]

Watchet Marina.

 

[Bodach na mara]

I don't come from the area so I may be talking rubbish but, when I had a Y W Dayboat dinghy, the YWDB National Championships were held one year at Weston-super-mare so that may be a possibility.

 

[Ivorbigun]

"can any of you recommend any slipways that are safe to leave the car and trailer for more than a day,"
Don't forget the tide!

that's obvious isn't ? , I have just bought a bcya blue book (haven't seen it yet as I'm working away )

 

[Ivorbigun]

Watchet Marina. Still open with parking.

thanks I'll look into it.

 

[graham]

Clevedon Sailing club launch dinghys down a slipway into the channel .

Thornbury Sailing club also has an active dinghy fleet though its a bit outside the area you mentioned. They also do dinghy cruising. I met some of them in Bristol harbour once.

 

[Graham_Wright]

that's obvious isn't ? , I have just bought a bcya blue book (haven't seen it yet as I'm working away )

I saw two submerged boats dragged up a slipway in Caen (I think).
Very amusing - but only for the onlookers.
Park at the top!

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Depends what you are launcing really. There is a slipway at the Nore in Portishead where they launch dinghies.

However the real problem is that all slipways east of Watermouth and Ilfracombe get covered in mud within days. With a 14m potential tide you dont want your towing vehicle anywhere near the mud, so must lower via a rope or rod, or lower at near high tide only thus retreive near high tide also. A steep slipway van keep vehicle wheels dry while boat floats but a steep slipway can get vehicle to join boat in the water if friction lost.

Uphill Marina slipway however is a nice one, and being a marina has access to hosepipes, mud washing off facilities etc. The Parish wharf adjacent has a less fancy one. Of course one then has to negotiate Uphill Creek and the River Axe to get to sea.

I have seen small boats launched from Uphill Beach at HT, but it needs a large crew, a v good 4by4 and an understanding of the dangers to man and machine (the sand/mud has swallowed both)

I know things have been launched from Knightone Harbour in Weston Super Mare

Burnham YC has a slipway, but ive only glanced at it.

 

[MisterBaxter]

Forgive me if you know all this but small boat exploration is challenging in the Bristol Channel. You can't make much progress against the tide, so when you travel down channel, you arrive at low tide, generally with a great deal of soft mud between you and the shore. And slipways etc don't necessarily reach down to the low tide mark, so if you launch at high tide, you tend to be stuck out until the following high tide, with whatever the weather chooses to serve up to you. With a westerly against a falling tide this can be quite nasty.
Then of course if you beach a boat at high tide, you're high and dry for twelve hours; beach it at low tide and it doesn't stay beached...
I'd be more concerned about where to land and camp than where to launch. Where were you thinking of cruising to?

 

[oldmanofthehills]

At Uphill we set of from moorings about 2hrs before HT and made sure we got back before 2 hours after unless heading for a lock in at Cardiff

The tide at Uphill slipway will do nearly that, which is enough time for a whizz or even potter around Weston Bay

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Having said that if going down along it takes more than an ebb to get to Ilfracombe as one needs to punch the tide after Foreland then go into Ilfracombe on next rise

The alternative is to go down along to
Blue Anchor Bay and take next rise back up to Watchet

So its 12.5 hours or a local 3.

Woodspring Bay nice to hang out in for the day, but it has v strong tides and sandbanks so chart plotter and depth guage useful. Oh and the banks are quicksand as it rises so exploring via dinghy can br fraught