Which marina??

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horsa

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Hi all,we've just taken the plunge and bought our 1st boat.Next problem is where to keep it.Quite fancy Chichester marina for the rural location etc. Anyone have any advice about the place and other marinas serving the Solent?
Just dashing out to remortgage the wife!!
 
welcome to the forum.

sorry cant coment about chi apart from the lock access. may get busy if it's not free flow on a hot summers weekend. Also chi bar maybe a cosideration. so whats the new toy
 
Have a look up and down the recent threads, I think Universal on the Hamble are crying out for new business.

You can then sail to Chichester harbour for a weekend visit.
 
how about portsmouth... straight out into the solent and easy access across the channel, haslar, premier or royal clarence. port solent you will have to lock in and out off like chi unless free flow.
 
We're in Chichester and I really like being there. Possible drawbacks, the queues for locking in on a Sunday afternoon and you've got to run the gauntlet of dinghy racing to get in and out of Chichester Harbour.

Good bits, showers and the like are well-maintained, and of course the location. That's both the marina itself and the fact that you can burble around Chichester Harbour if it's a bit miserable to go anywhere else.
 
You could try Northney. Very nice, but quiet and a little treck down to the Chi bar, but it is a very pretty motor / sail... It is also frationally cheaper than the Hamble. No locks (like Chi marina) but on springs the depth just into the marina stop you gtting in for an hour or so. The folk there are also very pleasant especially he head honcho... I forget his name.... (the 'ole short term is going :-)
 
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Would need to know the type of boat to know what to suggest really.

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And what kind of cruising you like.

I can recommend Chichester, the facillities and staff are both top notch. The open sea in only an hour away and the access is very good, both by boat and by car.

If you like to get out into open water quickly then Sparkes is great, not sure what the new owners will be like though and of course driving the length of Hayling is a process in itself.
 
Universal has places, you can have mine. Place has gone to the dogs in the last year. I know they have a lot of work on but they now treat the paying customer like some thing they found stuck to their shoe. Maybe see you in Chicester once the boat goes back in the water.
 
Hi horsa,

I've been in Chichester marina since 2002 first with a saily boat and latterly power. I like it very much because the facilities are excellent and the harbour is lovely.

Do be aware that it does take an hour to get to the open sea from the lock and that the lock will be busy at peak times. For example, if you wanted to go out tomorrow you would radio the lock and be told to slip your lines straightaway but try to do the same thing at noon on a hot Summer's Sunday and you will have to wait.

The worst wait I've had was two hours but that was exceptional and, in fairness, would have been less if my handheld vhf batteries hadn't packed up while I was waiting, meaning that I missed my turn! Likewise you may have to queue outside the lock to come back in at a busy time e.g. Sunday evening.

The only other thing I would mention is that, once out of the harbour, most of the best places are in one direction - west. (Stands by to be flamed by devotees of Brighton and points east!)
 
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Stands by to be flamed by devotees of Brighton

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Are there any? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Birdham is a lovely oldie worldie marina with new facilities. unfortunately the lock has very limited times and no access at low tide.

I can vouch for Chi Marina, great place with great staff. The lock can be beaten if you get your times right. Long free flows and virtualy access at any state of tide.
 
Pretty and quiet but you need to be able to plan when to come and go because it is not accessible for much of the tidal range.
 
Another "good bit", Chichester Marina is quite a bit less expensive (still not cheap) than the Solent based marinas. For example, it's a whopping £2500 per year less to moor our 13 metre boat at Chi than it was at Hythe. Not the reason we moved, but it's easing the pain with the loss of red diesel!!
 
When we looked at Chi marina the one plan we had was to leave on a Friday eve and 'borrow' a buoy down stream, thus we would at least beat the Sat morning wait.

Take your point about Birdham, I thought it was the same access as Chi.
 
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virtualy access at any state of tide.

[/ QUOTE ] I've sat outside before the dog leg run in to the lock, sat in the mud waiting for the tide to rise a few times... the muds soft no need to put the anchor out /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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