Swinging mooring Portsmouth harbour

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sailor211

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I am looking at swinging moorings in Portsmouth Harbour , access from Gosport side. Has anyone any experience and or preference between Portchester lake, or off Burrow island ?
Just a moring I would not spend many nights on board there. Dinghy probably from Hardway area . Possible a row as outboard is unreliable.
 
Gosport Boat Yard control a large part of the harbour south of Wicor.

They have the benefit of a ferry that takes you to and from your boat.
 
Anywhere near Burrow Island is subject to wash from ALL the vessels leaving the harbour north of you ... Fareham, Wicor, GBY, RNSA and worst, Port Solent. Even though the MoBos are restricted to 10 knots they really can't help the wash they produce at displacement speed.

The quietest place is Spider Lake but it does suffer a lot from bird 'deposits' :D

Re being run down, staying inshore obviously reduces the risk but if you go down through the moorings you shouldn't have a problem.
 
I had a mooring via Gosport Boatyard in Spider Lake.

Good mooring, but almost an expedition in a normal tender complete with fuel top-up so the launch service is everything; in my time - about 1988 - they were extremely helpful.

Never had any security problems but frankly out there one is asking for it; I entered a friend's boat and left a gift, might as well have been a thief as I was invisible, so an alarm with at least a strobe light if not nowadays a ' phone home / help ' system would be a good idea.

Also look at car and tender parking; last I saw no secure place for the car and no place at all for the tender, like many non-club moorings anywhere.

When I had the fin keeler I tried Bosham Channel - unhelpful and put obstacles in my way to even get my tender but that may have changed -

Hayling Island Sailing Club - exposed moorings in lumpy waves, wear on the mooring strops and cuts via barnacles under the buoys, at that time an unreliable launch -

Hayling Yacht Co, Mill Rythe - sheltered mooring but only accessible by dinghy +/- 3 hours either side of HW, no tender stowage and no secure car park -

Then Gosport Boatyard, no tender stowage, no secure car park but good launch service.

Unsurprisingly I decided ' sod this ' and bought my lift keeler back, returning to my sheltered mooring 5 minutes row from the locked dinghy pen, clubhouse, 2 old pubs, 24 hour fuel station if I need it, nature reserve and walks...

I found a fin keeler in the Solent area too costly, and I don't mean just financially, more hassle.

I'd like a berth in Emsworth Marina though, have been there a few times over the years but I will have to use the boat a lot more again to justify it to myself and SWMBO.
 
I guess it depends on what you mean by secure parking. Barrier and a man on the gate? No. But a short walk away from their jetty is a car park that, to the best of my knowledge, has never had any problems.

GBY supply a pass for it.

I used to keep my dinghy in a rack on their jetty.

There is also a lot of dinghy storage in their yard but the OP would have to offset the proximity of the yard against the increased wash by being close to it.
 
We were on the RNSA moorings up by the warships graveyard just off hardway. Getting out to the mooring needed a mooring taxi, but when on the boat it was great - we often used to go back to our mooring rather than going into a marina elsewhere in the solent - sitting on the boat with a glass of wine while the sun goes down - whilst not the med - was lovely.
 
neil1967 said:
We were on the RNSA moorings up by the warships graveyard just off hardway. Getting out to the mooring needed a mooring taxi, but when on the boat it was great - we often used to go back to our mooring rather than going into a marina elsewhere in the solent - sitting on the boat with a glass of wine while the sun goes down - whilst not the med - was lovely.
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Agree with those sentiments. Our mooring was alongside 57 pile ... the junction between Portchester Creek and Fareham Creek. If we got back too late for the ferry we would pick up a spare mooring in Spider and it was a close run thing between the calmness there and Newtown Creek!
 
I could walk to their yard, but Hardway would be by car. So parking will be used. My current plastimo tender is stable but low in the water and too heavy to lift out. I am not sure if we will always be back by last ferry. I recall racing from spider lake in the early eightys and having to bribe a lad to take us out.

Porchester lake looks a long way in a small dinghy whereas burrow island is though the moorings.m
 
Bav34 said:
I guess it depends on what you mean by secure parking. Barrier and a man on the gate? No. But a short walk away from their jetty is a car park that, to the best of my knowledge, has never had any problems.

GBY supply a pass for it.

I used to keep my dinghy in a rack on their jetty.

There is also a lot of dinghy storage in their yard but the OP would have to offset the proximity of the yard against the increased wash by being close to it.
Click to expand...

Maybe their use of the jetty has changed, I don't remember dinghy stowage on the jetty - presumably we're talking of the long one near Hardway, by the old ordnance loading area.

There used to be a useful pub -' Jolly Roger ' there but I have a feeling something happened, did it close ?

The chap running the launch was the epitome of kindness & help, but maybe might not be there now ?

The mooring in Spider Lake was fine, just very remote and exposed, weather and waves were not a worry compared to HISC !
 
They have three pontoons at the end of the jetty. The one on the right as you walk down has a dinghy rack.

The pub is still open and well frequented by diners.

All the ferry drivers are friendly. We called one from south of St Cats. and gave him our eta on the buoy. We needed to get home that night. Not only did he wait for us but he had picked up our mooring buoy (untangling it in the process) and took us ashore after his normal hours.
 
Bav34 said:
They have three pontoons at the end of the jetty. The one on the right as you walk down has a dinghy rack.

The pub is still open and well frequented by diners.

All the ferry drivers are friendly. We called one from south of St Cats. and gave him our eta on the buoy. We needed to get home that night. Not only did he wait for us but he had picked up our mooring buoy (untangling it in the process) and took us ashore after his normal hours.
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I have to go along with Bav34,

in my quest for a decent deep water mooring in the Eastern Solent, Gosport Boatyard turned up trumps; but beware the traffic onto Gosport at peak times, and check if a newcomer gets a dinghy slot; as for car parking, pot luck - let's say I wouldn't stroll around Gosport after closing time.
 
Seajet said:
I have to go along with Bav34,

in my quest for a decent deep water mooring in the Eastern Solent, Gosport Boatyard turned up trumps; but beware the traffic onto Gosport at peak times, and check if a newcomer gets a dinghy slot; as for car parking, pot luck - let's say I wouldn't stroll around Gosport after closing time.
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I will check re dinghy storage it was in my mind.

As a new Gosport resident I do stroll around after closing time but not yet on aFriday or Saturday night. And to be honest not in the town centre
 
Hi Sailor 211,

I do have personal experience in mind, but Gosport is not as bad as Somerstown in Portsmouth, I lived high up on the seafront at Southsea - St Marys Court, one of the row of old hotels - for a year which was more than enough, I was young then but the place was a PITA re parking etc.

Gosport's military housing, unless something radical has happened, was a poorly designed ghasty slum which the forces inflicted on the poor sods who had signed up plus their families, I can't help smiling when I see the shorebase HMS Dolphin converted into ' luxury apartments ' ! :)
 
If you'r restricted to oars, how far can you row in a strong sou-westerly.
Personal half a mile would be too much for me, which means you would have to use the GBY ferry service for most of their moorings.
Quay Lane boat Yard moorings are within rowing distance of their pontoon, but its dry for a large part of the tide.
Percy Smee may have something near Hardway, worth a call.

Plank
 
sailor211 said:
I will check re dinghy storage it was in my mind.

As a new Gosport resident I do stroll around after closing time but not yet on aFriday or Saturday night. And to be honest not in the town centre
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With a bazooka and flamethrower you should be OK ; think of a an ' Omega Man / Walking Dead scenario...:)
 
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Sailor211,

apart fom a mooring there are a few big considerations;

It may be a deep water mooring but how is tender access, very likely tidal + /- 3 hours either side of HW

Secure car parking

Place to leave a decent sized rigid tender - some deep water moorings are in such exposed places they require a small lifeboat just to get there !

Security; have a modern alarm sytem or fishermen down on their luck will help themselves, your kit next seen on a boat jumble...
 
Seajet said:
Hi Sailor 211,

I do have personal experience in mind, but Gosport is not as bad as Somerstown in Portsmouth, I lived high up on the seafront at Southsea - St Marys Court, one of the row of old hotels - for a year which was more than enough, I was young then but the place was a PITA re parking etc.

Gosport's military housing, unless something radical has happened, was a poorly designed ghasty slum which the forces inflicted on the poor sods who had signed up plus their families, I can't help smiling when I see the shorebase HMS Dolphin converted into ' luxury apartments ' ! :)
Click to expand...

Morning Seajet. I had a couple of Drafts to HMS Dolphin, that's certainly bought back memories! During the 70's and 80's when it was at its post war peak.

Suppose as waterfront, both there and the hospital were bound to be redeveloped eventually. An old oppo of mine who is now a Gosport Councillor is over in a few weeks, I'll talk to him about the plans, he is on the Borough Development Committee.

Anyway, try these 2 short news reports from a bygone era. (I know the Skipper and some of the crew!!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLrgch4OMI
 
capnsensible said:
Morning Seajet. I had a couple of Drafts to HMS Dolphin, that's certainly bought back memories! During the 70's and 80's when it was at its post war peak.

Suppose as waterfront, both there and the hospital were bound to be redeveloped eventually. An old oppo of mine who is now a Gosport Councillor is over in a few weeks, I'll talk to him about the plans, he is on the Borough Development Committee.

Anyway, try these 2 short news reports from a bygone era. (I know the Skipper and some of the crew!!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLrgch4OMI
Click to expand...

Interesting Skipper :nonchalance:
 
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