Yacht Clubs on the South Coast

[Stemar]

Access to Gosport can be famously congested, but now I'm retired, we find we can choose our times and miss the bad times. My club, Hardway, has everything you ask for, though moorings are dead men's shoes, so you'd have to find someone else to provide a mooring for the first few years, but there's always Quay Lane. Not cheap, but well maintained, and their water taxi may make up for the price. Quai Lane has moorings, but a few them broke, setting boats adrift in the last storm or two, so I think there has to be a question mark there, and my dealings with Portsmouth Moorings several years ago were less than satisfactory. There are plenty of others offering moorings. but I've no knowledge of them.

 

[LadyInBed]

I am not sure where a reliable hour's drive from Poole gets me

How heavy is your right foot?
Yeovil and Blandford would be just over an hour.

 

[oldharry]

Most of the larger Chichester Harbour YC's meet the bill - moorings and winter storage available, along with several boatyards if the clubs cant accomodate you. I dont know the current position CHC moorings currently, but last time I looked there were still vacancies in most parts apart from the Itchenor Reach. See https://www.conservancy.co.uk/page/moorings-1

Good range of properties locally including some lovely village locations if you can afford the prices!

 

[Tranona]

Even part time my work is likely to be London centric so I think realistically I would want to be within about 2 hours of a London terminus and also able to go out to a concert in London in the evening and still sleep in my own bed. Boat is 32' and unlikely to grow any more but fin keeled so needs a deep water mooring - and if on a mooring I would want local dinghy storage.

I have lived in Poole since the late 1970s and gone through (almost) the full life experience - education, work, leisure, bringing up family, retirement and, biased of course would not live anywhere else. For a significant part of the work bit I had commitments in London as well as at my Bournemouth work base. Under 2 hours by train, or coach to Hammersmith when the London commitments were in the west and quite often ended the working day with a concert or theatre before late night train or bus home. Good local "culture" as well theatre and music. In the arc I mentioned earlier there are two good rail or road routes from London, either Weymouth via Southampton or Exeter via Salisbury that will give a wide choice within the notional 2 hours from London and 1 hour from coast (Poole or Weymouth/Portland). Much cheaper in all respects than Solent and to my mind better sailing.

 

[jac]

Even part time my work is likely to be London centric so I think realistically I would want to be within about 2 hours of a London terminus and also able to go out to a concert in London in the evening and still sleep in my own bed. Boat is 32' and unlikely to grow any more but fin keeled so needs a deep water mooring - and if on a mooring I would want local dinghy storage.

There was someone posted on here about Marchwood a couple of years back and that stuck in my mind as being a possibility and probably what started me thinking along those lines - and when I moved into Ocean Village it was with the intention of joining RYSC but they shut their clubhouse in OV, I am not sure if they are a realistic option - the Gins clubhouse seems a long way to go

If getting to London is a factor then you're really talking about near Southampton or Portsmouth which are about 1:20 - 1:30 to London. Add on time to get to the station and you've got a journey to the London termini of about 2 hours. Second the Hamble as a location but do have to declare an interest here! and nothing cheap on the Hamble!! You could also consider one the spots on the Itchen as a mooring but not sure there are any clubs there now.

Chichester is possible but few direct trains and the train journey alone is about 2 hours so depends how important that is for you.

 

[Tomaret]

Porchester Sailing Club has deep water moorings and hardstandings for the winter and is half an hour from Petersfield, via the A3, which in turn is an hour’s train ride from Waterloo. It is next door to Porchester Castle, on Antiques Roadshow as I type.

 

[Stemar]

If getting to London is a factor then you're really talking about near Southampton or Portsmouth

Neither Portsmouth nor Southampton would be high on most people's choice as a place to live but, actually, we've found i's got everything - good shops, transport links, a good hospital, etc. When I retired we decided to move closer to the boat in Gosport and looked from Chichester and beyond to Southampton, and have never regretted buying the place we did.

 

[wombat88]

Wicor Marine and the Salt cafe make a god combination but not a club.

 

[PhillM]

Neither Portsmouth nor Southampton would be high on most people's choice as a place to live but, actually, we've found i's got everything - good shops, transport links, a good hospital, etc. When I retired we decided to move closer to the boat in Gosport and looked from Chichester and beyond to Southampton, and have never regretted buying the place we did.

Agreed. I lived in Gosport for a while in the late '80s (lodger in a friendly house), then Fareham and then Southampton. I now live in Fair Oak, which is between Hedge End and Eastleigh.

My partner has a lovely, albeit quite a small place in St Cross, Winchester. It's a lovely place to live. As and when I can get my grown-up children to move back out (boomerangs during covid) then I might consider selling up and moving to Winchester, That said I could end up trading a 5-bed place with a decent garden for a small terrace or even a flat!

So, if you have the funds, my advice would be to find a lovely place within walking distance of Winchester Cathedral. It's a great place to live.

 

[robbieg]

Further West but Exeter as a base (circa 2 hours by fast train to Waterloo). in boating terms that opens up Torquay and Brixham (MDL marinas) and nice club in Brixham with moorings which all should be doable in in hour from Exeter. You also have the Exe estuary if you fancy it but a bit limited in facilities. Not sure about a concert and back in your own bed for the night though!

 

[ashtead]

Agreed. I lived in Gosport for a while in the late '80s (lodger in a friendly house), then Fareham and then Southampton. I now live in Fair Oak, which is between Hedge End and Eastleigh.

My partner has a lovely, albeit quite a small place in St Cross, Winchester. It's a lovely place to live. As and when I can get my grown-up children to move back out (boomerangs during covid) then I might consider selling up and moving to Winchester, That said I could end up trading a 5-bed place with a decent garden for a small terrace or even a flat!

So, if you have the funds, my advice would be to find a lovely place within walking distance of Winchester Cathedral. It's a great place to live.

Yes a little Edwardian house in Christchurch road has much to recommend it if you can find one.

 

[bedouin]

So, if you have the funds, my advice would be to find a lovely place within walking distance of Winchester Cathedral. It's a great place to live.

Yes - that would be almost ideal but it will certainly stretch the budget!

 

[DoubleEnder]

Anyone got any recommendations for yacht clubs on the South Coast (or maybe even the East Coast)?

Thinking of somewhere with at least basic shore side facilities - maybe that has winter hard standing - and has deep water moorings available (either their own or another operator).

If you meant it when you said East Coast then look at Royal Harwich on the Orwell. Great sailing ground, moorings and marinas available. Ipswich to London I can’t remember but I think about 90 minutes

 

[PhillM]

Yes - that would be almost ideal but it will certainly stretch the budget!

Trust me it is worth it.

 

[bedouin]

Trust me it is worth it.

There ends up being a pretty easy sum. Every x thousand pounds above a certain price means one extra year working.

Puts the decision into perspective.

 

[LadyInBed]

Ah! Your on the retirement path.
You can't beat it, good luck.

 

[bedouin]

Ah! Your on the retirement path.
You can't beat it, good luck.

Absolutely - realistically I have to wait until I finish paying school fees but the planning has started

 

[laika]

good shops, transport links, a good hospital, etc.

Are you talking about Southampton? Because I will deeply disagree about portsmouth/fareham/gosport. QA is dire and a reason to avoid the area if your health is on the wane. Bus transport is non-existent in many areas after 6pm (I give you: the service from port Solent). Department stores? All gone. Pound shops, mobile phone shops and charity shops a plenty. Perhaps I'm biased having actually gone to school in that cultural wasteland. Sailing and unrivalled marine services are the redeeming feature.

Edit: hmm...sounds like the OP may have private health insurance, not use busses and possibly has deliveries from fortnum's so maybe the above comment not so relevant.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Absolutely - realistically I have to wait until I finish paying school fees but the planning has started

Then theres uni, first homes, weddings, you’ve got it all to look forward to!

sounds like we’re ahead of you down that road. We were both London centric job wise, and lived in commuter Surrey, Cobham area, which is ace for trains to London, ok for roads to almost anywhere including the south coast, hence our HISC membership. We put up with the traffic to get nearer the sailing. My wife took early retirement with rheumatoid arthritis, which was the game changer. Our youngest was still at uni, but We decided to make the move, and I would travel, and reduce work time. We’d thought Lymington, new forest, and that moving from Surrey would be a doddle. Not so, we wanted a good size place for kids, their partners and our friends could come to stay, a final project maybe. A day trip to Yarmouth was our downfall. The commute means a 0530 start, but that‘s only half an hour before the Cobham reveille call. Well worth it for a lovely house overlooking the channel, I can see surfers as I sit in bed now. The Island is not for everyone, thank God for that, but it’s done us very nicely.

 

[Daydream believer]

As only one other has, so far, mentioned the east coast, I think I should point out the advantages of cost as the OP has now mentioned that he is still dealing with school fees etc.
I can further suggest that the cruising area is not so bad either with the continent just as close.( closer in fact if one crosses at the Dover Strait)
The OP does not say where he lives & one wonders if he mentioned the south coast because most sail there & he assumed that was the place to sail.
Was he thinking of relocating? One does not have to live near a school when the offspring are at uni.
Chelmsford & eastwards of the A12 is not such a bad place to live if moving. If travelling by car from parts of London to go sailing it is no harder than the trek to the south coast
I do not know what facilities the OP wants from community around him,(I love where I live) or the sailing club, but there are options for laying up ie. the club hard, or Bradwell marina etc
so have a browse at River Blackwater