Swinging Mooring Poole harbour

[wizard]

Can anyone point me in the right direction to find out who I contact to get a swinging mooring in Poole harbour as we are moving to the south Dorset next year it seems the most practical place to be.

Also if you have local knowledge:

some idea of waiting times
approx prices for 31ft
any disadvantages to the area

Many thanks for any help or advice

 

[Rustyknight]

Have a look HERE for a list of boatyards/moorings contractors....

 

[ChrisE]

Anvil Yacht Charters usually have a few every year, look in back issues of YM for their ad. We swung on their moorings, which are off Brownsea Island, for 5 or 6 years.

Prices were about £700 a year (in 2002-ish). Pros - delightful quiet mooring area away from the hub-bub, cons - a long way on a dinghy (about a mile from the nearest land) across what can be quite a rough bit of water.

 

[Fergus]

Stevenson moorings 01202 675738

 

[tom52]

The only disadvantage to the area is limited day sailing destinations compared with Solent and sailors are heavily outnumbered by mobos. There also seems to be a local colregs variation where biggest/fastest has right of way in all circumstances and you keep to whichever side of the channel that suits. If fishing, drifting or anchoring in the channel is allowed.

 

[duncan]

I understand what you are saying with [ QUOTE ]
The only disadvantage to the area is limited day sailing destinations compared with Solent

[/ QUOTE ] as there are few marina options within a day sail (well none outside the harbour!) however with a tender you have Studland and Swanage outside and a number of great anchorages in the harbour - you will probably prefer to stay on board at anchor in a quiet zone rather than on your mooring where you will be affected by wash/wakes at all hours. With anchorages available protected from all winds.
Weekend trips bring Weymouth, Yarmouth/Lymington Newton Creek all into the equation easily as well as Cherboug and Alderney so overall I think it's options are well up there with the Solent...........but I admit to being biased!

 

[wizard]

So is the consensus that the swinging moorings would be very uncomfortable due to the wake/wash ?

We tend to spend long periods on the boat so this could be a problem

A friend has mentioned that there is a yacht club there -Parkstone he thinks with pontoons does anyone have comments about this place , costs, waiting etc

 

[duncan]

Parkstone is very nice and really friendly but the realities of Poole are that marina berths are very expensive!

a lot depends on where the mooring is but the main channel will have commercial traffic at all hours - fishboats as well - and if the water is really calm then the wake will roll on to all areas.

summer weekends are of course the worst.

simply highlighting that it is a port and has a 10 knot limit rather than a 4/5/6 that might offer some 'protection' from wash/wake. A recent poster on here cited it as a reason for selling up after a year - sure it contributed but ........

Bluntly it's a significant reason behind the trot moorings being around 25% or less of the marina berth costs.

 

[Rustyknight]

As Duncan says, it all depends where the mooring is.

Our first mooring in Poole was with Arthur Bray, and was close to the "Stakes bouy". The wash from the traffic coming out of Cobbs Quay used to be horrendous, especially as they cleared the 6Kt limit and turned into the main channel. The mooring there was the only place my partner has been seasick!

The next year we moved down to Lilliput Yacht Station, and even though the mooring was next to the main channel, it wasn't too bad. We stayed there until the yard closed.

Now we're at Lake Yard, and thats Ok too...... just takes longer to get to the sea.

The chartlet below shows roughly where the moorings are in Poole...... some you'll find close to the busy channels, some not.

If you looked at the link I posted earlier in this thread, you'll have seen the list of companies letting moorings in the harbour. Some will just take you money and leave you to it, others have yards you can park in, somewhere to launch your dinghy and racks to store it, showers and toilets, and some have launch services.

Some you need to wait for a lifting bridge, others the tide.....

I could/would reccommend Lake Yard in Hamworthy, but would suggest looking at the chart and "that list", and then using the phone, asking for availability, prices, and services..... and where the mooring is in the harbour!

 

[tom52]

I believe that the club does not operate a waiting list and is full.
Also existing members wait years/decades in the hope of a pontoon berth. The rates are near commercial not subsidised.

 

[ChrisE]

The moorings by Brownsea Island are generally free from wake as they are sheltered by a large shallow area lying between the main channle and the trots. As Duncan says when it is calm you will get wake just about anywhere in the harbour but in the years we were there I think we had only 1 or 2, "what the f*** was that" moments

 

[wizard]

Looks like this is not going to be as straightforward as I thought but at least I am starting in plenty of time for next years season.

Many thanks for all your advice and knowledge.

 

[duncan]

[ QUOTE ]
Looks like this is not going to be as straightforward as I thought but at least I am starting in plenty of time for next years season

[/ QUOTE ]

you are doing better than that - you are now about 5 years along the learning curve too!

all the best - and wave if you do get down there. If you don;t know the harbour itself and want a quiet potter around one weekend day then get in touch - if I am around we can cover every harbour channel/area in an afternoon.

 

[jonathankent]

[ QUOTE ]
at least I am starting in plenty of time for next years season

[/ QUOTE ]
You might not get a lot of response at this time of year.... current mooring holders normally have until Dec/Jan to decide if they are continuing for next season. Soon after they will allocate any available moorings, BUT you would need to show an interest now.

I was in exactly the same position a couple of years ago. I rang around a lot of places and got the same answer each time "waiting list full, not adding to it, 4-5 years to wait" type of thing. Then 6 wks later I got a phone call back to say a mooring had become available - I grabbed it whilst it was there. Then when moving to my current mooring at the club, one phonecall and all sorted. Bit different this year... they now have a waiting list for moorings.