Hayling Island slips

[Phil]

Hi guys,

I’m planning on doing more slip vs beach sea launches this year and I’m hoping someone can recommend an F-RIB-friendly slip around the Hayling Island area . Here are the key things I’m after:

• Sheltered, so I know I’m going to have an easy landing without waves crashing around me should the weather turn when I’m out (this looks like it rules out Langstone)
• All-tide access to the slip and open sea so I don’t need to plan around low water. From what I can see, I don’t think there are any low bridges to contend with at high water like in Portsmouth, but keen to hear if I’m mistaken
• Not gated off at night, as I like fishing late in to the evening
• Adequate and secure parking nearby so I can spend 20mins unpacking/inflating the F-RIB next to the car, lock-up and have a short-ish distance to wheel the boat to the water. I say secure as boatlaunch.co.uk advises against leaving cars overnight in the car parks next to some of the public slips, which doesn’t fill me with confidence if out fishing late

I’ll be travelling down from the A3 and regularly meeting my old man who’s coming from the other side of Eastbourne, hence looking at Hayling Island vs Southampton. From the info on the sites listed at boatlaunch.co.uk, I think my best option might be Northney Marina, although I'm not sure if the ramp is more designed for bigger, trailered boats vs wheeling down a small inflatable on launching wheels.

Northney is expensive, but says £22 includes launching and parking + there are good facilities like showers! Very keen to hear first-hand experience of this and other slips in the area, though.

Cheers,

Phil

[Paul]

Phil
Somewhere else to consider could be this for all tide state launching

here's a 'lay of the land', didn't have a barrier and it's about £12 harbour fees and £5 to park up the last time I visited in 2017

[Namibiafrank]

Phil
Somewhere else to consider could be this for all tide state launching

Screen Shot 2018-04-10 at 21.43.11.png

here's a 'lay of the land', didn't have a barrier and it's about £12 harbour fees and £5 to park up the last time I visited in 2017

Chichester harbour launch site.png

+1 for this spot i have been using it for the last two months quite a bit.
Not sure how busy it would get when the weather improve, as it was surprisingly busy easter sunday.

[Phil]

Somewhere else to consider could be this for all tide state launching

Many thanks Paul and Frankelsbikes. This looks like a very good option. I’ll check it out when I’m on the coast.

If it’s of interest to anyone else, I rang Northney Marina to ask how suitable it was for self launching small inflatables. They seemed to think it was fine and suggesting unloading/inflating to the side of the slip, before parking in the marina car park provided as part of the harbour fee.

Northney closes at 6-6:30, but there’s an intercom to get access after this time if our fishing late. This year’s costs are £24 to self launch, or £240/annum. Expensive, but perhaps worth while if launching from the same place frequently throughout the year.

I’ll investigate Itchenor and Northney and see which one will work out best for me.

Thanks again.

Cheers,

Phil

[mattswan2512]

£24 a launch is robbery in my opinion.....wow.....

[Paul]

£24 a launch is robbery in my opinion.....wow.....

+1 agreed Matt particually for a 'self launch'

Some places just take the pi$$ for example:
When I was putting together the first Wild West Adventure in Scotland one place wanted £30 per boat each way per day
With 12 boats attending over the 3 days 'self launching' they'd wanted £1080 .......needless to say I told them what I thought
On the flip side, Tralee and Glencoe Boat club have benefited instead over the years which is a good thing and will continue on into the future

[Phil]

£24 a launch is robbery in my opinion.....wow.....

Agree, it's bloody expensive for the privilage of pushing my own boat into the water . And, bar the couple of £14 launches from Rye harbour, it's £24 more than I've been paying to date to launch from the beach!

Having said that, if it means I can go boating easily and more often, it might be worth it. 15 launches a year on the Northney annual rate would bring the cost down below Itchenor with parking. I'm hoping to try both locations to help weigh up my options.

[Phil]

I launched and recovered from Northney Marina on Saturday. Nice set-up there and a good slip with pontoon, which you’d expect for the price! A long 4 miles to the channel though at the 8 knot speed limit, although it wasn’t like anyone seemed to be regulating this.

I came back at low-ish tide round the West side of Hayling Island and had some shallow water and obstacles to deal with at dusk from the Langstone rd bridge onwards. I subsequently realised via Navionics there was a deeper channel all the way back to the harbour if going around the East of the island.

I didn’t have time to check out Itchenor on this visit too, but I did stop in the Ferryboat Inn for a pint and a burger. Cheap to launch there (boatlaunch.co.uk says £8.40), but parking was £20 for anything over 3 hours! There was another car park further away that may have been cheaper.

[Andy B]

but parking was £20 for anything over 3 hours!

Ouch!

[DrHair]

Just tried launching from Itchenor 2 weeks ago. Was only £5 launch if you've already paid harbour dues and £5 to park by the pub.
It's shingle all the way down so you might need some strong crew to carry your boat or a trailer but looks like you can launch at most states of the tide. However, it's a pretty fast tide if not near HW. so be aware!
Had a lovely motor up to Dell Quay, coffee and then sailed back down to Itchenor in about half the time. Tide had definitely turned.
Nice pub lunch at Itchenor.