Thinking of moving the boat to cardiff

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Hi

thinking about moving the boat from portsmouth to cardiff possibly next year
Getting fed up with the drive from Bristol

Where do yachts based in cardiff go for day trips etc
We know Watchet and porlock

Most of our sailing will be wkend stuff and the odd bank holiday

Regards

 

[LizzyD]

Blimey! I'm not sure if I'm going to be much help to you here since you're fom Bristol, 'cos that's my favourite place to go. You can do Swansea, Ilfracombe and Minehead in a tide from Cardiff, where you can lean on a wall if you're not a bilge keeler. I did do Milford Haven in one day from Cardiff once. It took 20 hours. We were knackered by the time we'd got there and I don't thik I'd do it again.

Search this site and look for entries by Damo and Graham who are both well travelled withtheir boats.

Would I advise coming to Cardiff? Absolutely!

Take care,


Lizzy D

 

[Who]

If you live in Bristol, why dont you moor at Portishead?

I dont understand why you would need to drive to Cardiff when there is a great Marina at Portishead.

Portishead Marina

Dont get me wrong, nothing wrong with Cardiff, but the point would be easy access to the boat.

 

[duppamiller]

We were based in Bristol with boat in Chichester and also got fed up with the driving. Took more radical approach of moving both boat and home to Portishead a couple of years ago. On the plus side it's a lot less crowded around here and the people are friendlier. On the down side it's almost impossible to get anyone to work on the boat.

There's less places to visit, but we've not found this a problem for day / overnight trips (Cardiff, Penarth, Bristol, Watchet, Swansea) or longer trips (Padstow, Lundy, Milford, Ireland), but trying to squeeze in more than one place in a weekend is difficult. So we've found that we use the boat a lot more, but generally for day trips and the odd night away in a marina.

A seemingly random word of warning - you may start questioning your choice of boat as liveaboard comforts that were previously essential become unnecessary maintance overheads when home is only a few minutes down the road. And when it's 3 months after you've asked someone to fix something and it's still not been done then you may wish the boat was small enough to trailer down to the south coast!

So our only regret with moving the boat is that we carried on upgrading things for a couple of years beforehand, knowing that we may be moving her to Portishead, which has made it harder to justify trading her in . . . So if you're just about to install some new widgets I'd wait until you get down here!

That all said - would we take her back to the South Coast? Absolutely not!

 

[Who]

You must be talking about certain repairers in the Portishead marina.

I know exactly what you mean !

However, I found it more useful to take the boat to Bristol Yacht Brokers/ Channel Yacht sales in Bristol. They were excellent having everything done very quickly and economically. Full polish and clean, Service the engines sorting our a few other issues, really good service.

See: Channel Yacht

 

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

We actually live near the 1st severn bridge so Cardiff is 40 mins with full tidal access portishead is 20 mins with restricted access
We were in portishead for a couple of years but moved down the solent

 

[kds]

I have had good service and craftsmanship from guys in the Underfall yard in Bristol dock, in the past.
Ken /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Sneds]

Portishead is great, Bristol is cheaper and the downside is the 50 minute run down the river before you get to Avonmouth.
Love Cardiff but the drive over (M4) would put me off.
Would love to live in Port Marine (Portishead) and have the boat in the marina there, but SWMBO won't move! (house that is)!

 

[Allan]

I live in the middle of Bristol and even if the tides are right, from my house I can get out to sea quicker from my mooring in Cardiff than I could do from Bristol. If you add to that the small tidal window at Bristol, it is a simple choice. I would love to go to Portishead but the cost is something like four times what I pay and again the tide reduces usage etc.
Allan

 

[wotayottie]

After 15 years in the channel, I'm toying with going in the opposite direction! Boredom mainly.

The channel is a much nicer more interesting place if you can easily take to the ground. It also helps if the boat is 34 foot or a bit less. With a 41 ft Bendytoy, you will be more resticted to marinas and some of the bigger harbours if you are prepared to dry out against a wall. In high summer, you might even struggle getting into the marinas - Swansea for example can have difficulty in finding berths for boats above 35 ft or thats what they say.

If you are also limited to weekends, this means that from Bristol you will be visiting the same few marinas time and time again. Look at a chart and remember that you dont sail against the tide at the naffow end of the channel.

So against the much shorter commute you have to balance the relative lask of attractive destinations. Your choice.

 

[Elza_Skip]

I also live in Bristol but keep the boat at Cardiff.

Apart from the 24 hour access, sometimes it is just nice to go for a jaunt around the bay without the hassle of locking out into the Bristol Channel- especially if the weather is a bit iffy.

The is also a glut of berths at the moment with Cardiff Bay Yacht Club expanding and a boatyard becoming the new Cardiff Marina.