Firstly, I made a mistake by exiting Chichester Harbour just after low tide with a SE wind blowing about 5 or 6. Very severe seas at the bar with breaking waves both sides and across the exit, so once we had started it would have been dangerous to try to turn. Plenty of depth according to the chart, but severe waves meant this was not the case.

We were lucky to get out without wrecking. Very large waves with short frequency. At one point we had less than 6 inches under the keels in the wave troughs with waves about 10 feet trough to peak. Had we grounded it would have been a bad situation.

Sparkes marina is really nice. There is a narrow channel available at all tides. We exited at low tide between spring and neap and had around 8 feet all the way out until opposite the sailing club, where this dropped to about 6 feet. It is very narrow, so keep a very close eye on the sounder.

You are supposed to book via the MDL Marinas website, which I had a problem with but this was sorted within 20 minutes even though it was a Sunday.

Shops are quite a walk away and the nearest decent pub is 20-25 minutes walk through a housing estate.

Staff friendly and welcoming.

I reviewed these notes in March 2022. There are no significant changes. I've uploaded a Marina diagram for Sparkes Marina in the Nav images (top right). It's worth clicking or tapping on the Sparkes Marina chartlet in the berthing section for the close in buoyage of the approach to the Marina

Sparkes have raised their prices slightly and we have uploaded a new chart
We have had information on Harbour dues from the Conservancy Board which says that "as a visitor, if you are paying one of the Chichester Harbour marinas an overnight visitor fee this will include our visitor harbour dues fee for up to one month. You can visit numerous marinas within this first month."

These notes were reviewed by Don in March 2016. There has been a price increase at Sparkes Marina

Reviewed in March 2014. Small price increase at Sparkes

The only changes are the 2013 prices. Don T