Lymington to Alum Bay

 

Lymington to Alum Bay Cruise Guide

Lymington to Alum Bay Cruise Guide

This guide is to provide basic information: it does not replace normal required OOD planning tasks.
Planning
• The cruise requires a low tide at lunchtime to get out and back through the tidal gate at Hurst Point. By launching from Lymington, there will be favorable tidal flows on both the outbound and return legs.
• The cruise is about 15 miles return. The sailing time will of course depend on wind but a launch time about 3hrs before low water is suggested.

LymingtonAlum



Arrival / rigging / launch
• Entering Lymington, follow signposts for “Riverside Marinas”
• There is a pay and display car park adjacent to Lymington Town Sailing Club (LTSC) (Bath road, SO41 3SE)
The price is £8 per day for a car and a further £8 for a trailer for the day. (2015)
• Rig/derig in car park, but take care of mast raising as the carpark is usually full.
• We used to have permission to put trailers on the grassy area of LTSC in previous years, but this custom and practice is no longer tolerated. Ensure they are chained/locked together in the carpark. (Updated 2018)
• Launching is via the nearby slipway. The racing fleet sometimes commandeer the slipway for periods of up to 30 minutes during which time you have to wait. There is a daily launching fee, payable in the adjacent Harbour Office (sometimes there is someone from the office with a ticket machine collecting fees in the car park).The launch fee for a sailing dinghy is £6 (2015)
The cruise
• Stick to the right of the channel on departure from Lymington and be aware of the Isle of Wight Ferry (there are two and one of them is likely to be arriving or departing at any given time) as well as other craft.
• At departure (and return) time (i.e. around 3hrs before/after high water), best to stick to the channel as there are areas of shallow water adjacent to the channel (check the chart).
• It is suggested to rendezvous near the “Jack-in-the-Box” racing platform (at ‘B’, photo below).

Lymingtondolphin


• The objective is visible from the mouth of the river – The Needles are a very clear landmark.
• There are no particular navigation concerns as long as you stay away from the shore. If you pay attention to where the ebb is flowing you can arrive at Alum Bay 20 minutes before someone who gets caught in the back-eddy close to the IOW shore.
There are overfalls on the way there off Yarmouth which are rough with steep waves that are taxing but manageable.

  • Ensure that you have a tripping line if you are planning to kedge onto the lee shore, because there are thick steel cables loose on the seabed and a tripping line is the only thing to allow you to recover your anchor if it becomes snagged.

Lunch can be taken under the chalk cliffs in the right angle of the beach. The water is generally clear and good for swimming in.

AlumBeachs


• On returning, the waters between Hurst Point and the IOW can be highly agitated as the flood tide is forced through the narrow entrance. As you approach Lymington, take care not to go too wide and risk having to sail back against the tide (especially if you then have to beat). Keep to the north of the channel close to Hurst Point and keep to the north shore to avoid being swept beyond Lymington.
• Hurst is a good place to stop at on the way back, if only because it’s a lovely place to be, and if the wind is westerly it’s a windward shore.

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Cobnor Training Weekend

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July 2026

Friday arrivals were the usual Cody dribs and drabs arrivals, but even Simon arrived during the daylight, and a pleasant evening was had by all gathered around Anna’s wire mesh fire pit in the warm clear evening chatting and watching the satellites proceed across the night sky. A leisurely morning was spent in the lovely warm Saturday morning sunshine with Steve conducting ‘informal’ training on the field for people setting up new boats, optimising existing rigs or rigging spinnakers never rigged before. We took to the water around 11am and mustered on Cobnor Point to discuss the days training which included sailing efficiently in tidal flows, anchoring off with a tripping line, reefing afloat, a ‘acted out’ demonstration of man over board drills and practicing using the spinnaker (once it was rigged correctly). The day’s training was punctuated by a lunch on the foreshore at Cobnor point with Anna and Mark securing the royal ‘king and queen’ throne of the viewing bench there to dispense their regal declarations to the rebellious throng set out below them. All in all, a great day’s training.

The following day commenced with a session on Day Sail Leading, with Chris volunteering to lead a test day sail and presenting all the planning and briefing to the crews on the field before we went off the sail the plan.


From Chris:

On Sunday morning we had a six-boat fleet of Comets for a short cruise. This was part of the training for new day-sail OODs and was led by me (Chris) under Steve’s watchful tutelage.|

We were afloat just before 11, getting ahead of a fleet (flock, swarm… insert your preferred collective noun here) of Toppers, which were holding a youth race meeting from Cobnor SC. Our first leg was just a short hop from Cobnor to a stop at Itchenor hard. But just because it was short didn’t make it uneventful, with one boat finding themselves up a cul-de-sac the wrong side of the harbour jetties, before we were all able to meet up on the hard. Launching again into strengthening winds, the Cody fleet made its way upwind and uptide through a Sunday morning throng of racing dinghies, motor cruisers and anchored yachts to the ‘Wear’ mark. The fleet made good use of the skills of sailing out of the tide that they had practised the previous day. Turning back towards Cobnor, the fleet landed on Cobnor Point, practising landing on a lee-shore. De-briefing over lunch on the rocky beach, we were also able to watch the Toppers racing, with Debbie’s nephew taking a leading role.

We then spent time reefing afloat, more spinnaker practice before the participants left the point to pack up, An enjoyable and very useful day!

Simon and Chris.