Where to put my boat?

[Tim Good]

Hello all. I am thinking of bringing my boat to the Bristol Channel (LOA 8m). I currently live in Bristol so I kind of makes sense. Anyhow there are many options and I was wondering if someone would be so kind to share the knowledge that you may have gone through in having the same dilemma yourself? Pros and cons of different places etc.

My thoughts. Would be nice to have the boat close in Bristol and there appear to be two options, Marina and Harbour. That said, sailing from Bristol must be a pain the BS!

Cardiff, an in-between option.

Swansea, close to Gower, Lundy and Pembrooke. Ideal for sailing but a good 1:45hr from home.

Any ideas, suggestions or things you have learned appreciated.

Regards

Tim

 

[sam_uk]

Portishead cruising club is certainly worth considering if she will dry on the mud happily.

A friendly and active club.

http://www.portisheadcruisingclub.org.uk/pccwebsite09012011/The_Club.html

 

[Oceanis]

We keep our boat in Swansea Marina. It is another 40 minutes drive along the M4 from Cardiff but I decided it was a good compromise between access to the Gower and beyond and the driving distance to get there.

Cardiff has a lot going for it with more boating activity, chandlery and clubs than Swansea. However, Swansea marina fees are good, the SYSAC is a friendly club, marina facilities are good and there are some reasonable places to eat and drink close to the marina. There's good lift out and yard facilities although the yard does fill up during the winter. There are two or three marine services companies on the marina, riggers and sailmakers.

I know it's a very personal thing and I certainly wouldn't argue with anyone who says Cardiff is better but for me Swansea is my choice just, and on balance.

 

[ropeworkuk]

NUSC

NUSC
Newport Uskmouth sailing Club
Nice hands on club, lots of racing winter &summer
One of the cheapest membership / mooring in the country

 

[RobF]

As with all these things, it depends on what is most important to you.

If you want a very cheap mooring and can dry out, Portishead, Newport / Usk are good value but you will be expected to help out with club stuff

If you want a picturesque area to sail and don't mind limited tidal access, Watchet on the edge of Exmoor is very nice

If you don't want to drive far for your boat, Bristol is great but does require a 2 hour lead time to get through the two swing bridges and along the Avon to the river Severn.

Portishead is a great marina and is local. It's also good value (for a marina) but is constrained by the tidal window and the solitary lock (locks are every 30 or 60 mins, 4 hrs either side of HW).

Penarth quays (Cardiff) has better facilities than Portishead and the advantage of the bay and 3 locks to enter the estuary (at any time). Similar cost to Portishead but entails an hour's drive (door to door) + bridge fees.

Swansea has two locks (IIRC) and is good value but is 2 hours drive.

I opted for Portishead marina as it was the best compromise between cost, distance, access to the estuary and facilities. The staff are v friendly and professional and the fellow berth-holders are a nice bunch too.

 

[PCUK]

Come and look at Watchet before deciding - less than an hour from Bristol!

 

[RobF]

Come and look at Watchet before deciding - less than an hour from Bristol!

I beg to differ. It's 60 miles between Bristol and Watchet and you're not going to average 60 mph considering it's 20 mins before you get on the M5 and the journey along the A39! Google maps suggests 1 hour 40 mins which is more in keeping with my experience.

 

[Allan]

Anyone who knows me on here will expect me to wax lyrical about Cardiff yacht club. Well.......
Everywhere mentioned before has pro and cons. I visited most of them before joining CYC in 2004. For access to sailing grounds it had to be Cardiff. In the bay CYC is half the price of some and a third the price of other places.
CYC also has a vibrant cruiser section and, like many other clubs, is full of friendly and helpful members.
I hope that didn't disappoint anyone.
Allan

 

[Sneds]

Cardiff would be my choice, but a bit of a drive and the Severn Bridge toll puts me off.
Portishead is very nice but double the price of Bristol and I hear that car parking is getting a little tight. ;-)
Bristol, cheap but very limited tidal window and two hours from berth to Avonmouth. Although you can sail around the harbour if you like and also useful for nights on the town.
Watchet, lovely but Portishead prices and a "good" hour or hour and a half from Brizzle depending where you live. Road access worse in the summer but by water you're half way to Lundy!
We are in Bristol but seriously considering Portishead next year, just trying to justify the extra cost to myself.
Good luck and pm me if I can help further or if you fancy a look around Bristol Docks.

 

[Allan]

I totally agree with Sneds on all except the trip to Cardiff. A lot depends on where in Bristol you live. I live a few hundred metres from the M32. Cardiff is about 30 miles further than Portishead, in my car it is about £8 a trip, plus £6 for the bridge so £14. My mooring is £640/year, add say 40 trips to that and the cost is around £1100. Portishead would be around £2400, I think.
If I have some work up north I try to organise it to allow me to come down the M50 to the boat.
I hope that helps.
Allan

 

[Oceanis]

As with all these things, it depends on what is most important to you.

If you want a very cheap mooring and can dry out, Portishead, Newport / Usk are good value but you will be expected to help out with club stuff

If you want a picturesque area to sail and don't mind limited tidal access, Watchet on the edge of Exmoor is very nice

If you don't want to drive far for your boat, Bristol is great but does require a 2 hour lead time to get through the two swing bridges and along the Avon to the river Severn.

Portishead is a great marina and is local. It's also good value (for a marina) but is constrained by the tidal window and the solitary lock (locks are every 30 or 60 mins, 4 hrs either side of HW).

Penarth quays (Cardiff) has better facilities than Portishead and the advantage of the bay and 3 locks to enter the estuary (at any time). Similar cost to Portishead but entails an hour's drive (door to door) + bridge fees.

Swansea has two locks (IIRC) and is good value but is 2 hours drive.

I opted for Portishead marina as it was the best compromise between cost, distance, access to the estuary and facilities. The staff are v friendly and professional and the fellow berth-holders are a nice bunch too.

Swansea Yacht Club moorings has one lock and the marina has two but the marina lock into the river is often on free flow. The lock out of the river is large and you will only need to queue on very busy days. The lock is often closed one hour either side of LW Springs. But there's a dredged channel out into Swansea Bay so the only problem is the sill out of the lock if you have a fin keel.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

If you want a very cheap mooring and can dry out, Portishead, Newport / Usk are good value but you will be expected to help out with club stuff

Thats a plus not a minus- being part of a sailing community in a way that never applies in a commercial marina!

Dont forget the bridge tolls. The best area for facilities is Cardiff bay without a doubt. 4 marinas ( two club, two commercial), easy access to the sea with sufficient locks unlike Swansea or Portishead. Sensible costs - my club marina pontoon at CBYC for a 35 footer is £1500 and Cardiff Yacht club is even cheaper though they arent real pontoon berths and you do need to be fit and young to use them. IMO of course.

Moorings at NUSC are foc but limited for fins. Club has excellent facilities including extensive winter storage and an active if a little monotonous social scene. On this side of the river there are also Barry Yacht Club and Chepstow and District Yacht Club , the latter being a 50 member club for basic small yacht boating but maybe the friendliest of the lot.

On your side of the river there are the Bristol facilities which I would not consider for the reason you mention. There is Portishead both club and marina - the Portishead Crusing Club is a very active and friendly one with their own moorings. Upstream there is Thornbury SC which has a bias towards dinghies but has some cruiser facilities.

Best thin g you can do is to spend a weekend driving from one to the other to see whats on offer. Depending on comittments I'm happy to show you round NUSAC or CBYC or Chepstow ( what there is to see).

PM me if you want to chat

 

[Allan]

Bosun, totally agree with you about the boating community.
You are also right about all us CYC members being young and fit. You missed out how handsome and intelligent we all are! Our ladies are gorgeous too! I'm quite sure why any of these are required for me to step onto my boat but I appreciate your comments.
Allan

 

[RobF]

I find it hard enough to find time to do the maintenance on my own boat and do sailing in my free time. Finding more time to do bar work, trot mooring maintenance etc is out of the question. I can't even commit to a single week night for a club meet. For this reason, I would prefer to pay a team of people to do the maintenance of the mooring facilities.

I appreciate others are in a different position to me (I've got a very young family) but I think I would struggle to get a club mooring to work for me (as you rightly need to be committed to the club to have a club mooring).

Am very happy to be corrected on these points.

 

[trapezeartist]

As with all these things, it depends on what is most important to you.

If you want a very cheap mooring and can dry out, Portishead, Newport / Usk are good value but you will be expected to help out with club stuff

If you want a picturesque area to sail and don't mind limited tidal access, Watchet on the edge of Exmoor is very nice

If you don't want to drive far for your boat, Bristol is great but does require a 2 hour lead time to get through the two swing bridges and along the Avon to the river Severn.

Portishead is a great marina and is local. It's also good value (for a marina) but is constrained by the tidal window and the solitary lock (locks are every 30 or 60 mins, 4 hrs either side of HW).

Penarth quays (Cardiff) has better facilities than Portishead and the advantage of the bay and 3 locks to enter the estuary (at any time). Similar cost to Portishead but entails an hour's drive (door to door) + bridge fees.

Swansea has two locks (IIRC) and is good value but is 2 hours drive.

I opted for Portishead marina as it was the best compromise between cost, distance, access to the estuary and facilities. The staff are v friendly and professional and the fellow berth-holders are a nice bunch too.

I agree with everything Rob says, and I also came to the same conclusion.

Cardiff does have the advantage of being closer to the more westerly end of the BC, but Portishead can't be that bad judging by the number of Cardiff boats that visit!

Allan makes a case for Cardiff on the grounds of cost, but he has only taken account of fuel and bridge tolls. I generally reckon that it is a more reasonable measure of cost per mile if you double the fuel cost, to take account of servicing, wear and tear and depreciation.

Having the boat close to home is also a great advantage when you have a few little jobs to do and just the odd spare hour to do them in. Likewise when you get home after a weekend sailing and say "Did I turn off the gas?"

 

[Allan]

I find it hard enough to find time to do the maintenance on my own boat and do sailing in my free time. Finding more time to do bar work, trot mooring maintenance etc is out of the question. I can't even commit to a single week night for a club meet. For this reason, I would prefer to pay a team of people to do the maintenance of the mooring facilities.

I appreciate others are in a different position to me (I've got a very young family) but I think I would struggle to get a club mooring to work for me (as you rightly need to be committed to the club to have a club mooring).

Am very happy to be corrected on theseu points.

Luckily our club understands your sort of position. We all pay an extra £100 which, if like me, you can do 10 hours work for the club a year, you get it back. If I couldn't do 10 hours it would cost me £750 a year for my 33rd boat.
As far as the driving costs, look at your car and decide for yourself, like I have.
Allan

 

[Sneds]

Sorry for being nosey, but I have to ask, what do you drive? It sounds very fuel efficient.

 

[RobF]

Sorry for being nosey, but I have to ask, what do you drive? It sounds very fuel efficient.

Certainly more fuel efficient than going from Bristol to Cardiff on a PowerBoat

Round trip Bristol to Cardiff is about 80 miles, so you'd need to be averaging 64mpg to do this round trip and pay £8. I think I could do it for just over a tenner averaging high 40s mpg.

 

[Allan]

Sorry for being nosey, but I have to ask, what do you drive? It sounds very fuel efficient.

No problem, I drive a Ford ka. I get a little better than 60 mpg. In the figure above I assumed a little worse but the mileage was the extra over a trip to Portishead.
We hope to be in Portishead 24/25th of March, will anyone be around? Last year there were about a dozen boats.
Allan

 

[Sneds]

I must become a little more sensible with the motor car choices, 60mpg is amazing.
The boat does about 3!
I must learn to sail.