New sailing/mooring. Thoughts or suggestions.

[PYoung]

Hi all. After spending the summer sailing out of Dartmouth I am now looking to bring ‘Mist’ to waters closer to home (north London)

My first thoughts are gravitating towards Chichester and the surrounding areas. I hear lots of great things about this destination and it’s only 1.5hrs from my home, traffic depending!

I am contemplating marinas and whether to dry sail or pontoon berth. Now my trailer setup is on the right path now I may choose to launch each time, but depends on price difference between pontoon and trailer sailer packages.

It would be great to hear any thoughts on winning destinations within a couple of hours of north London.

Many thanks in advance.

Peter

[Graham W]

You could try looking eastwards from London, which might reduce time spent queuing on the M25.  Either the creeks and swatchways of the coast of Essex (no Dartford Crossing needed) or the similar geography of north Kent.  Being somewhat less picturesque (unless you particularly like marshland dotted with Napoleonic fortifications and old wharfs) it is less crowded than some parts of the south coast and the estuary wildlife is spectacular.

I have a trailer sailer package at Medway Yacht Club with launch and retrieval only difficult (mud) at low water.  There are also more expensive MYC moorings out on the river, where you are afloat at all states of the tide but this makes you dependent on the trot boats or your own dinghy.  There are also marinas with pontoons behind lock gates at Gillingham and Chatham.

[Nicky R]

I would also recommend the East Coast, having grown up sailing on the Blackwater. The slipways on the Essex and Suffolk rivers are rather more tide dependant that on the south coast, but the rivers are very uncrowded.
The journey may also be quicker for you.

For Essex you could try Burnham on Crouch or Bradwell. Slightly further away there are Wolverstone and Levington on the river Orwell. I’m sure they all have trailer sailer packages, but the prices will vary depending on the marina. (Wolverstone is owned by MDL, so will probably be more expensive than the others.)

[PYoung]

Thanks all. Great suggestions.

[chris f]

hi
i know suffolk yacht harbour have an annual contract for use of secure compound. i understand this includes all your launches(self) and recoveries. They are at Levington on Orwell
chris fowler

[Henry H]

I suppose i should probably encourage you to join Greenwich Yacht Club, if you want to be *really* close to home. Apart from everything else, we've an amazing clubhouse, a bar with panoramic views over the river, workshops and a boatyard, etc.

I keep my Bayraider on its trailer in the yard. I'd be happy to show you the correct method of bouncing one down the side of HMS Belfast...

[PYoung]

Greenwich looks great! Is there a long wait list for moorings/trailer storage?