Yarmouth Harbour - Solent: pilotage, charts, photos and marine business listings (2024)

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The showers (which are no longer the best on the South Coast but still very acceptable) are now Free of Charge. This is the same if you are moored at Harold Hayles boatyard - or even if you come on the bus from Cowes! There is often a queue in the gents in the morning.

Out of high season, the mooring fees on the finger berths are very reasonable (10m yacht £24).

The harbour gets very crowded in Summer, particularly at weekends. You may be asked to wait outside for a while, but the Harbour staff make an excellent job of managing the comings and goings. Please cooperate with their requests!

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Well done! Your reference to the memsahib smacks of both racism and sexism. It has been known for men to shower too you know.

Eds note:
There..changed it to SWMBO. fixed it for you and the PC brigade

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Info provided by member, G Flashman

Yarmouth is a small town, not much more than a couple of pubs and a church. Nonetheless it is a very popular yachting destination, and is a very convenient base to explore the West of the Island by land. Visit My Harbour has detailed notes, but bear in mind that in busy periods the harbour fills by early afternoon and is then closed. There are plenty of swinging moorings outside, however, and a very efficient water taxi service.
Another option which we have opted for is to go through the bridge and up the river. The River Yar Boatyard has a number of residents berths, alongside linear pontoons and where there is a gap they are happy to accommodate visitors. Contact the yard in advance to check availability and facilities. It is a lovely quiet berth, with views over the river to the fields and the Downs beyond. The bridge has scheduled openings and can be cleared at other times by arrangement with the Harbourmaster. You can walk to town (15 minutes or so), call the taxi or use your dinghy.

The visiting yachtsman will start with the Harbourmasters office to check in. This is very well appointed and offers weather forecasts, a news screen, internet access points and much more. It also has some of the best showers on the South Coast. The staff are efficient and friendly, and both fuel and gas are available.
There are two clubs, the Royal Solent Yacht Club and Yarmouth Sailing Club. The former enjoys a lovely position with commanding views of the Western Solent and Hurst Castle. It has a purpose built visitors bar, separate from the members area. The Sailing Club is run by the members and as a result is only open when there are on the water activities – mainly youngsters racing – going on. They are more than welcoming, however.

The Isle of Wight boasts an excellent bus service which is, of course, of particular interest to sailors. Yarmouth is well served with regular services to Newport (in the centre of the island and the main shopping area) and the popular tourist and walking areas to the West. We have occasionally found ourselves holed up in Yarmouth due to bad weather and the first thing we do is to pick up a bus timetable.

So where would you go, and what would you do? The pubs in the town are good, clean, friendly and offer decent pub grub. There are a couple of Island breweries and their ale is well worth checking out. But let’s put the walking boots on and get some miles under our belts. The Harbour Office can supply a great walkers map which will give you all the routes.

There is a path, actually an old railway line, from Yarmouth to Freshwater. It’s a delightful walk, level, firm under foot and through woodland with an occasional view of the water and reed beds. En route is the old station, now converted and which now makes a wonderfully quirky place for a spot of breakfast.
The destination, however, is the Red Lion. It’s a lovely, traditional pub sitting beside the church and as quite as you like. I lie. Your peace may be disturbed by horses trotting past, but not much else.

Their kitchen is phenomenal. Whether you are looking for a Ploughmans – local cheese, home made pickles (you can tell) etc – or a full blown meal you are unlikely to be disappointed. Guess what? It’s very popular. It may be wise to book.

Heading East there is a more basic track toward Hampstead and Shalfleet. It’s a delightful walk through woodland with occasional magnificent views over the Solent. It’s interesting to see the waters you have sailed from a different perspective. The route takes you past WW2 gun batteries and even the site of a Palaeolithic settlement which is now an underwater archaeological investigation site.

When you arrive at Shalfleet you cannot miss the pub, the New Inn. It offers great ales, not to be missed if you are of that calling. In the past it had a reputation for excellent food but this had slipped. We understand that under new management – including the original chef – they are working to restore this and when we visited we had no reason to be anything but satisfied. When a red squirrel ran under our table – twice – it made our day.

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1 of 1 people found this helpful

2 of 2 people found this helpful