Soverign Marina Eastbourne

Hi Scala - glad you "made it". You may recall we exchange PM's earlier this year and hope you "settle in" well.
 
I do remember, thank you, I had a walk round yesterday evening post-beer / pre-pizza, to see if I could see your boat, not sure where you are? We're now in N Harbour, S pontoon. Perfect for our needs (quiet, a bit remote, and sunny when there is any to be had). The only downer is the extended walk to the showers.

Premier people (three of their marinas used so far) have been really welcoming, been a great experience so far, despite the busy locks yesterday when I thought the lock master and assistants did a splendid job.
 
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Twin locks with big capacity; only a day's sail to Chichester Harbour; very friendly and helpful staff; reasonable prices. Those are the plus points, the minus points are that it's rather soulless; the parties in the the flats and drunks on Friday and Saturday nights can be incredibly noisy in the marina and it has terrible security, each time we've visited gates have been permanently left open or the opening button is just an easy reach from outside the gate, two weeks ago we visited and my daughter suggested trying the fob left over from last year on the gates - yes it worked just fine!
 
Visited there in June. Also found rather a lot of fishing markers right at the channel entrance, had to pay close attention while putting sails away. Channel seemed dredged well enough, no problems.

There's two locks, which cycle every half hour. Sometimes they crack gates on one of them at high tide to refill the marina. This can take a while, and while it happens the walkway across the lock gates is blocked (which is between the visitor berths and the facilities, but there's another [longer] route around).

Berths are well sheltered by surrounding buildings, although on the visitor pontoon we had there was wind funneling between buildings, so pick berth carefully. There are multiple basins, some with drawbridges.

Facilities are okay. Didn't see a lot of signs of liveaboards (bicycles etc.), but apparently there are a few.

Eastbourne cycle paths were a disappointment. There are some around the marina, but when you want to head along the beach into town the path soon begins to sprout "No cycling - £500 fine" signs. There's an Asda superstore in walking distance, along with a bunch of other shops. Town center is a fair bit away though. Lovely walk though and on a sunny day you can watch old people die peacefully on the many benches along the seafront.
 
Yngmar said:
Eastbourne cycle paths were a disappointment. There are some around the marina, but when you want to head along the beach into town the path soon begins to sprout "No cycling - £500 fine" signs. There's an Asda superstore in walking distance, along with a bunch of other shops. Town center is a fair bit away though. Lovely walk though and on a sunny day you can watch old people die peacefully on the many benches along the seafront.
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In the centre yes, but head to the west of the town and one can pick up the South Downs Way, then a demoralising first climb up past the golf course, from where it opens up and one can follow the trail through Jevington, Alfriston, Southease, Pycombe and beyond. Highly recommended and fantastic views.

Incidentally, the Beachy Head coastal route into Eastbourne is not allowed for bikes which, are forced to take the alternative inland route instead. Also this route is not suitable for road bikes though hybrids will be fine.
 
Talulah said:
Any one there care to share their experience?
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We used to be berthed across the fairway from Talulah in Royal Clarence until moving east 3 years ago. I naively thought I could commute to London from the boat in Brighton. I'm sure you've thought through the whole "yes but where will we sail to?" thing but it cannot be stressed how dull sailing is further east compared with the solent. Not just choices of destinations but the technical challenges and things to see. Beyond selsey bill it's flat and empty coastline. In Brighton your choices of marine services are very limited and not always top rate. Specialists will charge you to travel to the eastern hinterlands. At least *i think* (others can confirm) eastbourne has a chandlery open on a sunday though it might not compare well with your current combo of YouBoat and Arthur's. On the up side Premier's away nights are sufficient to allow you to leave your boat in Gosport or swanwick for a week a few times a year if you need work done there.

From Brighton it's a reasonable sail to chichester or the solent for an overnighter. Eastbourne adds another 2-3 hours plus lock shenanigans. Leaving Brighton on the ebb you can get to fecamp avoiding the TSS. No avoiding the TSS from eastbourne to france without a detour. Whenever I've been to Eastbourne it's been as others have said, a hike to the facilities which can be derailed by lock activity, but that might just be a function of random visitor berths you wouldn't face if choosing wisely.

I like Brighton as a city. Eastbourne not so much. YMMV. From the pure boating perspective you might not fully appreciate Gosport until you move east of chichester.
 
We're about to move from Burnham on Crouch to Sovereign Harbour. Contrary to posts claiming it's boring and there's nowhere to sail to, we expect it to be a revelation after being 2 hours up a ditch from the series of shallow muddy puddles that is the Thames Estuary.

I suppose it depends what you're used to.
 
MountainGoat said:
We're about to move from Burnham on Crouch to Sovereign Harbour. Contrary to posts claiming it's boring and there's nowhere to sail to, we expect it to be a revelation after being 2 hours up a ditch from the series of shallow muddy puddles that is the Thames Estuary.

I suppose it depends what you're used to.
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I am currently holidaying in ostend & reading this thread i thought how boring the sailing would be if i had to be based here. Just like being at eastbourne.
Then i started to think how lucky i am to be based at Bradwell with such a wide variety of destinations to pick depending on my inclination or the wind direction
& there is you glad to leave the Crouch!!!!!!!
Somehow i expect that you might be back one day having regretted your decision
 
Daydream believer said:
I am currently holidaying in ostend & reading this thread i thought how boring the sailing would be if i had to be based here. Just like being at eastbourne.
Then i started to think how lucky i am to be based at Bradwell with such a wide variety of destinations to pick depending on my inclination or the wind direction
& there is you glad to leave the Crouch!!!!!!!
Somehow i expect that you might be back one day having regretted your decision
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From BYH to the start of the Swallowtail channel (I draw 1.75 - no way I'm risking Ray Sands) is 10 nautical miles. BYH to Bradwell is 24 nautical miles. And if I arrive there, or at Brightlingsea at low tide, I can't get in. Most of the journey is buoy hopping in a narrow channel which the prevailing wind makes a dead run.

Eastbourne to the Solent is only 15 miles further than Burnham to Bradwell, passes Brighton, and doesn't involve having to follow the exact same GPS trace every time and deal with a tide that runs at over half my hull speed.

Perhaps we will come back to the Thames Estuary sometime, but I want to sail in deep water and be able to get a decent angle on the wind without having to gybe away from a sandbank every few minutes.

And I haven't even started to talk about the fouling.
 
MountainGoat said:
From BYH to the start of the Swallowtail channel (I draw 1.75 - no way I'm risking Ray Sands) is 10 nautical miles. BYH to Bradwell is 24 nautical miles. And if I arrive there, or at Brightlingsea at low tide, I can't get in. Most of the journey is buoy hopping in a narrow channel which the prevailing wind makes a dead run
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Sure, the lower reaches of the River Crouch are not at all picturesque but I'm not sure why you have ruled out the Ray Sand Channel. Plenty of boats, mine included, with similar or deeper keels use it regularly. It does require a spring tide but they are conveniently around mid-day/early afternoon.

If going the "scenic" route via the Spitway I try and time the trip so I take the ebb tide out of the river and then pick up the flood just before the Spitway so there is a fair tide for the second half of the trip and sufficient water to arrive at places like Bradwell or Brightlingsea.

MountainGoat said:
Eastbourne to the Solent is only 15 miles further than Burnham to Bradwell, passes Brighton, and doesn't involve having to follow the exact same GPS trace every time and deal with a tide that runs at over half my hull speed.
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Having done both those trips I am reasonably confident that the difference in distance is substantially more 15 miles (it certainly felt that way!). There is also two tidal 'gates' to consider - Beachy Head and Selesey Bill if going between Eastbourne and the Solent
 
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Little Grebe said:
Sure, the lower reaches of the River Crouch are not at all picturesque but I'm not sure why you have ruled out the Ray Sand Channel. Plenty of boats, mine included, with similar or deeper keels use it regularly. It does require a spring tide but they are conveniently around mid-day/early afternoon.
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I don't trust the charts. Did it a few times in previous boat which only drew 0.9 and it got a bit hairy at times. And if it goes wrong, it goes very wrong.


Having done both those trips I am reasonably confident that the difference in distance is substantially more 15 miles (it certainly felt that way!). There is also two tidal 'gates' to consider - Beachy Head and Selesey Bill if going between Eastbourne and the Solent
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Just checked properly in Navionics. BYH to Bradwell is 25 miles, SH to Selsey Bill is 45, so yeah, I underestimated a bit. However, within that 45 miles there are multiple harbours including Brighton which is really quite a fun city to visit.

Regarding Beachy Head as a tidal gate, Sovereign Harbour to Beachy Head is the same distance as Burnham Yacht Harbour to Crouch North Cardinal. Rather puts things in perspective and one can reasonably fight the tide there for a bit if necessary. In contrast, fighting a Crouch spring ebb against the prevailing wind is soul destroying and drinks diesel. Obviously I try not to do this, but that then limits days when I can realistically leave the Crouch to go anywhere to days near neaps, otherwise the timing just doesn't work.

So maybe you're right. Maybe I'll regret it, but I don't think so. Where you are in the Blackwater does give you more destinations in easy reach, but at the expense of being really shallow.
 
I'll admit to having a few moments when the water has been rather to 'thin' for my liking when going through the Ray Sand but that has usually been due to me being too early on the tide or trying to cut the corner. Otherwise no issues with getting to Bradwell, Tollesbury or Bightlingsea.

Once through the Looe channel it is another 10 miles or so to Portsmouth so I make that about twice the distance! I always end up when coming from Brighton/Eastbourne it being near Low Water which takes away Bembridge as an option and makes Chichester bar potentially 'interesting'

Also my east coast sailing was mostly from the Orwell, think you might be confusing me with somebody else?
 
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