F-Ribs And Sibs - Inflatable Boat Community

Hiya, lockdown permitting hoping to get down to see the son in a few weeks time. He is based down near West Wittering so we are thinking of taking the Frib, dropping in around Chichester somewhere and then motoring around to West Wittering beach to meet the family.

Any knowledgeable locals advise on launch sites - I see there are a fair few marina's and Itchenor slip.

Also do you have to pay harbour dues just to use the river or is that only if you use Chichester harbour?

cheers,

Paul.

Harbour duties are payable for everything. You can pay a daily fee ( Weekend and weekly fee the same) of £4.00 up to 5 metre, or annual fee £24.12 up to 4 metre or £33.55 up to 5metre.
Call the harbour office at Itchenor on 01243 512301. The mail service is quick.

I just copied this from a google search.

Public Launch Sites
Vessels can be launched at the Conservancy slipways at Itchenor at any state of tide (charges apply) or at the bottom of South Street in Emsworth at high water (no charge). For launching at a marina or boatyard, please contact the premises directly.

If you fancy making a journey of it you could try Langstone.
Another axtract from a Google search...

There are three public slipways in Langstone Harbour; the Ferry Point slipway, Hayling Island; Eastney slipway, Portsmouth; and the Broadmarsh slipway. It's quite expensive though.
http://www.langstoneharbour.org.uk/boat ... nching.php

Last Hyperlink regarding Chichester charges.
https://www.conservancy.co.uk/page/harb ... 20Services

Cheers @Deford I am thinking Itchenor looks easiest as it has parking nearby and is all states of the tide.....

Have you launched from any of the above yourself?

Cheers,
Paul.

Hi Paul
No I haven't as yet. I have a sailing boat moored in Thorney channel, and I've just recently taken my Honwave on a trailer to my storage bay on Thorney island, so will be using one of the conservancy launching sites. Emsworth is free, but you need to be there early to park for free on the Quay. There's very little water at low tide, but it should be possible to get a low draught sib/frib close enough to wheel along the foreshore (Balloon tyres required as it's stony) avoiding the mud an hour or two before low tide.
The parking at Itchemor looks reasonable, but it also looks to be an early start to get a space.
My sailing boat was moored on a pontoon at the Emsworth Yacht harbour over the winter and I launched the T38 from there when I moved the sailing boat to it's summer mooring. I'm not sure if they allow non mooring holders to launch from there, but a phone call would clarify that. They have a sill to keep the water in the marina, so not accessible at low tide.
I'll be in the Chichester area next week, so will go and have a word with the HM at Itchenor, and if i get any useful info I'll let you know.
On another note, If I was going to West Wittering, I'd definitely do it by boat to avoid the parking queues! I suppose it's alright to just pull up on the beach-unless it's a private beach.

Dave

Cheers, a lot of boats seem to pull up onto the sands at East Head so we thought we might have a go at that and maybe have a little trip out of the harbour entrance as well.

Cheers,

Paul.

I've often launched from Itchenor and if you're going to West Wittering anyway, you'll be passing it.
The car park with room for trailers is about 150m away and not too expensive.
Launching fee is much less than the marinas charge.
And accessible all states of tide

Itchenor hard
Photo is of Snowhill Creek around the corner from WW

That's great, thanks for the info @DrHair . And a fellow Frib'r as well

I've walked along snowhill creek although the navigation looked special, trying to stay between the with withies

Cheers
Paul.