Marina Information

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Malahide Marina

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Courtesy Flag

Irish Tricolour

Waypoint

Malahide SWM 53°27.12 N 006° 06.87W

Charts

AC 44 Nose of Howth to Ballyquintin Point; AC 633 Malahide Inlet; SC5621.4 C Malahide Inlet

Rules & Regulations

5kts in fairway and 4kts in the marina

Hazards

There are sandbanks to Port and Starboard and a bar at the entrance so take advice from the marina on depths in the channel. Tide runs strongly through the marina. Tide in the fairway can reach 3.5kts so, with onshore winds and an ebb tide, there can be a fierce chop at the entrance.

Tidal Data Times & Range

HW is Dublin +0005; MHWS 4.2m MHWN 3.2m MLWN 2.1m MLWS 0.5m; Outside the inlet the tides run north/south at up to 1knot, north from half an hour before LW Dublin and South from half an hour before HW. In the fairway they run in/out as one would expect with the local HW/LW but, because of the lagoon inland of the marina, there’s quite a lot of water involved and the streams can reach up to 3.5 knots.

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General Description

Contacts:  
 Marina  VHF #37 & #80 tel +353 (0)1 8454129 
 Yacht Club   tel +353 (0)1 8453372  

Malahide and its neighbouring competitor, Howth are the two main centres for leisure sailing near to Dublin. Malahide boasts a 350 berth marina and Marina Village whilst Howth has its Yacht Club Marina also with 350 berths. 

This marina is situated in the outer curve of the drainage channel from the inland lagoon, it’s well sheltered and all the support services to go with a five star marina have built up around it including a restaurant overlooking the marina. A modern development of flats, one bed suites and houses has been built adjacent to the marina and forms its backdrop (and for half a million Euros you could have one of them)

The marina is a member of the European Transmanche association so, if your home marina is also a member you will be entitled to a reduction in your visitor’s fee.


You should be in no doubt that this is a top class marina, very efficiently run with every conceivable service but if you are humble yachtsman pottering around the coast in a ten meter boat you’d better expect your credit card to take a hammering ; this is a marina for the well heeled with yachts that need two steering wheels at the back and bow thrusters at the front!

Mind you, if you are accustomed to paying this sort of money for your sailing, this marina cannot be faulted. There are people on hand with every skill to meet every demand.

Approach

The approach could not be simpler; start from the SWM and proceed inwards along the well marked channel.

Obviously it is a good idea to contact the marina to establish where you will be berthed once you get there. The channel is dredged periodically to a depth of 2.3 meters but the shallowest part is said to be 2m less than the depth as you pass the SWM; entrance is possible for most drafts four hours either side of HW. 

There are three sets of perches marking the outer channel and then three sets of buoys. Some publications give a lead in line based on the Grand Hotel on chart 0633; unfortunately the hotel is no longer visible as it is surrounded by trees!!  If you stick to the channel you will be OK but be careful as you pass close to the club moorings outside and to the south of the channel as there may still be some mud banks left over from dredging.

Once in the marina be very aware that the tide can run strongly through these pontoons; you wouldn’t be the first to arrive with a resounding crash at 3kts with less than steerage way on, or backed ignominiously into a corner by wind and tide.


A wise skipper would arrive at the SWM an hour before HW to transit the channel with max depth on a still rising tide and potter into the marina when there is least current through it!!  That’s the ideal but of course you will have to balance that with your passage plans, tides encountered en route etc, but that’s always the case when cruising; don’t forget that the anchorages around Lambay Island and Ireland’s Eye are less than an hour away to pause for a while.

Finally, as with many of the harbours on this coast, onshore winds and an ebb tide out of the channel, go somewhere else.  Of course, the same goes for departure - leave the marina on the ebb and with onshore winds over the bar and it’ll be like launching a dinghy off Bondi Beach, exciting!

Berthing, Mooring & Anchoring

Pretty well your only option here is to berth in the marina;

........ there is nowhere to anchor but you may, if you are lucky, be able to find that the Yacht Club has a spare mooring but only if you establish relations with them well in advance and note that they are trying to raise money for redevelopment!
The yacht club website is at http://www.myc.ie/

Current prices for a berth a the marina can be found on their website

http://www.malahidemarina.net/

In 2019 they remain at 4.10 Euros per meter/night (minimum charge as for a 6m boat) with a 3 Euros per yacht per night charge for shore power (5.5 Euros for a power boat) That charge has not gone up for a couple of years and it remains the same for 2022!!

Facilities

Everything you could need will be found here and what is not available in the marina can be found in the town. The showers are included with the mooring fee but the laundrette is coin op. They have diesel and petrol available on the fuelling pontoon and gas/gaz refills are available at a hardware store close by.

Eating, Drinking & Entertainment

As this is a popular spot for visitors and an upmarket Dublin commuter town the supply of restaurants and pubs is legend. 

Restaurants
Restaurants & Places to Eat in Malahide 2022 - Tripadvisor
 

Links

Your Ratings & Comments

8 comments
UPDATE OCTOBER 2022
Written by Don Thomson 3 | 13th Oct 2022
No changes - not even in the visiting boat tariff.
UPDATE SUMMER 2021
Written by Don Thomson 3 | 8th Sep 2021
I reviewed these notes in September 2021. Having changed my mistake about the tidal streams in June there were no other changes to make.
Tidal streams outside the Malahide estuary
Written by Don Thomson 3 | 10th Jun 2021
Apologies Salty!! I have corrected the text although I can't for the life of me work out where I got that info. I'm a little worried that there might be an inshore counter current in the bay but can find no evidence of it.
Tidal Direction
Written by Salty Hamster | 6th Jun 2021
I understand tides to run south from half an hour before high water and north from half an hour before low water - not as is written above.

Dublin port tidal atlas (close to Malahide) https://www.dublinport.ie/information-centre/tidal-atlas/

I've been wrong before though!
Update Summer 2019
Written by Don Thomson 3 | 25th Jul 2019
These notes were reviewed in July 2019. Prices have changed otherwise everything is much the same.
UPDATE APRIL 2017
Written by Don Thomson | 25th Apr 2017
These notes were reviewed by Don in April 2017. Absolutely no changes and still holding their prices to the 2013 list (mind you they are some of the highest in Eire)
Update 2015
Written by dononshytalk | 23rd Apr 2015
These notes were reviewed by Don in April 2015. There have been no changes here for several years and they are holding their overnight berthing charges at the 2013 rates
Update December 2013
Written by dononshytalk | 10th Dec 2013
These notes were updated by Don Thomson on the 10th December 2013. Prices haven't changed and we have expanded our notes on the available facilities
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