Whitehaven marina

[[2574]]

I'm considering alternatives for next year; Whitehaven seems to have a reasonable cruising ground. Does anyone have any first hand experience of the place? It looks like a bit of a nightmare commute from anywhere other then close by. Interested in your views.

TIA

Rob

 

[earlybird]

I kept a boat in Whitehaven until 4 years ago. It's an hour's drive from the M6, but a railway station connecting to Carlisle is next door. As a cruising centre, it is quite good, although there is very little else on the English coast. The Isle of Man is nice, and a good stop-over for E. Irish coast. The N. Irish sea is not every-one's cup of tea however, exposed, strong tides and many harbours are tidal, including Whitehaven. Once you're out, most passages are 30 miles plus.

 

[Alfie168]

Whitehaven was once the fourth largest port by tonnage in the world, but its rather lost its 'raison'd'etre' unless you are thinking of reviving the slave trade.

In spite of lots of EU money being used to revitalise the harbour its still a somewhat down at heel town and quite a long sail to anywhere as indicated.

I'd go and have a look at the very least.

Tim

 

[JimC]

From Whitehaven going North & North-West you have the Solway ports: Kipford, Kirkcudbright & Whithorn are a few hours sailing away; as are Workington & Maryport on the English side of the firth. You might not want to go to any of these very often except for Kirkcudbright which is a pleasant river port. They all have restricted tidal access.

Going West you have the IOM, probably Ramsey, again tidal access but nice to explore the island and maybe continue to N. Ireland.

Going South you have what seems an interminably long drag down the Cumbrian coast to Piel Island & Barrow. This is a long lee-shore with no bolt-holes apart from Ravenglass which can only be entered close to high water and really needs topical local knowledge. Beyond Barrow you have all the delights of Morecambe Bay and then the Lancashire ports: Glasson, Fleetwood etc.

As others have said, the North end of the Irish Sea is not idyllic sailing and the weather can be atrocious and stay that way for a long time. In September 2005 I was stuck in Whitehaven for 10 days during which the forecast winds never went outside the range 7-10.

The best thing about Whitehaven is that it is accessible for all but a couple of hours either side of low water which is exceptional for this part of the world, so you can easily get out to sea - it's just not the nicest bit of sea.

 

[Beadle]

We spent 3 years in Maryport a few years ago.

Nice cruising ground for day sailing - given the tidal constraints.

Bit limited for weekending with IoM a bit far and only really Whitehaven and Kirkudbright close enough.

Excellent for longer cruises with Ireland, IoM and West Scotland in reach, even Wales if you are that way inclined.

Main problem was the journey there, we had to come up the A1 A66 and it seemed to take hours.

 

[Jonny_H]

Agree with the above.

We kept our boat in Fleetwood for 15 months whilst re-fitting her. The North West isn't great for sailing due to weather (usually wet and windy), tides (most places have narrow entry windows - Fleetwood 2.5 hrs, Glasson 1 hr etc), and cruising grounds (not many places to day sail to (if any) and limited weekend sailing).

However, if (like us) you want somewhere to keep your boat in between long sailing trips then it is ideal. Its cheap (well, cheaper than the south coast), you can get to wales, IoM, Ireland, or the Clyde within 24 hours.

We lived in Newcastle (despite being from the NW originally) and it was 2.5 hrs each way to get to the boat - but we did it most weekends. This is fine for a short time but I would not have wanted to keep it up for much longer (the cost in fuel alone was scary!).

Hope this helps

Jonny