Solent Visitor Mooring Customer Service

[DJE]

- space is of course finite.

Finite but flexible in extremis. Squeeze three small boats into the gap between two fingers, raft up on the hammerheads, use the fuel berth and boat lift berth, etc.

But I repeat that in such weather there won't be many visitors about - in the Solent at least.

 

[ashtead]

From a previous poster "the trouble with Yarmouth I suspect is some book,pay up their 100 squid and then don’t turn up." Maybe his is bigger than yours?
[/QUOTE
That was 2 nights - it might be that price at gunwharf in Portsmouth though .

 

[ashtead]

It’s useful to know that yacht haven at Lymington do ring you up on the day if you have booked weeks ahead to check if you are still planning arrival and eta no doubt to go to waiting list for others if not. Whether all places are so structured I don’t know.

 

[ashtead]

Yes at Portland there is some flexibility and they have told me they don’t turn boats away -ironically there is quite a lot of unused pontoon berths opposite inside the actual marina(probably an Olympic legacy) and lift out area but maybe it’s a bit shallow. There also buoys outside marina in what is Portland rade which are probably protected I guess even in adverse weather. I also noticed quite a few empty buoys down at what might be termed the naval end wall where RFA tideway berths etc. I guess they might be naval yacht club buoys at super cheap subsidised rates for former navy sailors like hornet marina etc but might offer a nights relief .

 

[laika]

A pox on pre-booking. Isn’t the point of sailing that you end up where you end up, and that’s why we write “towards” in the log book? Cross Lyme bay westbound and whether you end up in salcombe, Dartmouth, brixham or Torquay is in the hands of the gods on the day.

pre-booking is like panic buying. Once people think it has to be done everyone starts doing it.

“If I pre-pay and lose my money that’s my business” is all very well but given the amount of money in yachting, a group of city traders on a jolly could book a berth everywhere in the Solent for a weekend and only use one a night. Pocket money to them, blocks out others who could use the berth.

First come first serve is how it always used to work and strikes me as the most egalitarian.

This is the first year I’ve encountered the concept of “full” marinas (other than Poole).

weirdly not only were we not *not* rafted in salcombe last night, there was a totally unused visitors’ buoy. Space in salcombe on a Saturday night in august? Well maybe something to do with the dire weather.

 

[lustyd]

It’s generally To in the Solent rather than Towards. You’re essentially crossing a lake. We’ve had full marinas for at least 10 years and I once was turned away from every one in the west Solent after a particularly horrid passage in a 20 footer while suffering exposure until Berthon presumably heard the panic in my voice at the prospect of several hours return trip and let me have a berth far too big for my boat that wasn’t technically free. Pre booking would have allowed me to make such trips with confidence but as it was I just stopped doing bigger trips.

 

[Daydream believer]

One reason I keep away from the Solent are these stories of being unable to get a berth. I get sea sick on many of my trips, which brings on migraine & visual issues. A month a go I was struck within 4 miles of leaving my home marina- which is not the first time- & when I arrived at my destination, unable to get in it was panic. Fortunately I know the area & was able to get a berth nearby for one night. The HM seeing my plight & knowing me, extended that to 2 nights, as I needed a day to recover. I was the last boat he let in that day.
If I was sailing in the solent in an area I do not know, I could be in real difficulty. Anchoring would make me worse, even if I knew where to anchor.
When sailing westward it is the reason that I have stuck to the French side & crossed to Falmouth from Guernsey. However, circumstances have put a spanner in that option.

 

[ashtead]

The advantage of the Solent is nowhere is that far apart particularly with tides so say Portsmouth Lym with tide 3 hours ish but if you had failed to book and no space then town quay always seems to have space particularly if sub30foot . I learnt for first time there are trot moorings in Lym if all else fails but don’t have any first hand experience but Dan B tends also to help out I think if they can. As said main marinas rely on people departing for space.

 

[Dutch01527]

Cowes Water Taxi service have set a new high in the Solent “do not give a stuff about customers“ competition.

Planning to stay in Cowes on Sunday with non sailing guests. Access to shops and places to eat and drink are important to them enjoying their mini holiday. Marina’s are rammed full and only viable option seems to be mid river pontoons. That is understandable . water taxi is therefore important.
1) Usual operating times stop at 5.00pm on a Sunday, (yes-5.00pm, on a Sunday, in Summer, in Cowes)
2) Cowes harbour said that they might run later given that it is a very busy bank holiday but they are somewhat erratic, phone them
3) They do not have a web site
4) Calls and texts not answered
5) Spoke to operative and the boss who said - not sure what times we will be working, call us on the day

Do not think that I will trust them to get back to the boat. Have borrowed an extra tender and we will look after ourselves

 

[Yealm]

I guess 2 things might happen over time (if Covid effect continues).
Marina prices increase, and demand falls.
Marina capacity increases.

In Salcombe, up to 5 on a buoy !!

 

[ashtead]

Don’t rely on the chain ferry as you will need your guests to bring their own ? but you might be able to rent a few Beryl ? to bring the shopping back from Waitrose but remember they close early for a Waitrose in east cowes maybe so staff don’t miss out on fun of Medina way .