This article is coverage of the Gosport side after the Ballast Beacon has been passed.

It covers the two marinas, Gosport Marina and Royal Clarence Marina.  And also a bit further in,  the welcoming Hardway Sailing Club, who have a drying pontoon available for visitors.

The Portsmouth side is given over to the Navy and to Cross-Channel ferry and other commercial berths. There is nothing for the visiting boater on the East side in this section.

Significant input has been made to our coverage by member Garry Flashman, much appreciated

Entry to Portsmouth Harbour is covered here:

http://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/solent/portsmouth-entrance/expanded.asp


The northern, mainly drying part of Portsmouth Harbour (inc. Port Solent and Fareham) is covered here:

https://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/solent/port-solent-and-fareham/expanded.asp

 

Entry to Portsmouth has been covered elsewhere.

The small craft sailor will already be on the western side having entered via the boat channel.  After passing Haslar Marina and the Ballast Beacon (leave close to port), a wary eye needs to be kept out for the Gosport Ferries going back and forth every 10 mins.


"Close by is the Gosport ferry to take you across the harbour to Portsmouth.  There are two vessels which run at around ten minute intervals, depending on the time of day, and while they normally take appropriate note of yachts and leisure craft they don’t take kindly to bad seamanship. "


A quick look at the chart provided show the layout of the mooring places discussed.

The two marinas, (with Gosport being capable of handling very large yachts) and Hardway Sailing Club are now described.  All can accommodate visiting boats.

Gosport Marina.

This is the next Marina up on the Western side, and was more well known as "Camper and Nicholson's Marina" up to 2004. It lies a couple of cables north of Haslar Marina, and just north of the Ballast Beacon and maintains 150 visitors berths with varying depths. Call them up on VHF channel 80, callsign "Gosport Marina" or telephone 023 9252 4811. Staff are on hand 24 hours. A link to their website is provided below:

https://www.premiermarinas.com/UK-Marina-locations/Gosport-Marina

Large yachts can be accommodated here, but the outer berths can be subject to wash making them potentially uncomfortable.

All the usual facilities are available with water and electricity (included in the berthing fee) on the pontoons and showers and launderette ashore. The fuel berth at the southern entrance to this Marina is open from 9 AM to 5:45 PM in the summer, but closes at 2:45 PM in the winter months. Good attention to fendering will be necessary as this area is subject to surge and wash.  Berthing fees (2022) are  £3.40 per metre per day in the season with a minimum charge of £27.20;  short stays £1.48 per metre with a minimum charge of £11.84 but free if taking on fuel. Berthing charges run mid-day to mid-day. Wifi is available and the first four hours is included in the mooring fee.

Caution.  If you see a large blue boat attached to the outer end of the Gosport Fuel Jetty (that long curving arm encompassing the The Gosport Marina and the RNSA Pontoons) it will have mooring lines stretching to the No1 Dolphin (Dir.WRG.2m1M & 2F.R(vert))right across the entrance. If entering the Gosport Marina you need to pass to the west of that dolphin and the next one just to the north of it. The berth that the blue ship (the Cambrian) is moored to is known locally as the Oil Fuel Jetty (OFJ) 

This aerial view shows clearly:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7978828,-1.1171363,187m/data=!3m1!1e3
 

Excellent facilities for the boat are available on site and nearby, with the old Camper and Nicholson's yard now being called "Endeavour Quay" and able to handle vessels up to 180 tonnes. Check the directory to see the scope of businesses based here. There is a new "eatery" here called the Boat House Cafe which caters for breakfast, lunch and evening meal.

Royal Clarence Marina.

On the West side again, just north of Gosport Marina lies the Royal Clarence Marina. This is set in a former Royal Navy victualling yard that dealt with feeding and watering the Portsmouth Fleet in the 18th and 19th century. This Marina which was owned by Castle Marinas is now part of the Aquavista stable.

The Marina benefits from very deep water and good shelter, and can handle very large yachts of up to 65 m. The entrance is marked by a series of green posts which need to be left on your starboard side as they mark drying banks.

The Marina can be contacted on VHF channel 80 callsign " Royal Clarence Marina", or telephone 02392 523523. Link to website provided below:

http://www.royalclarencemarina.org/

All the normal facilities are available here with electricity and water on the pontoons, showers, toilets and launderette. WiFi Internet access is available, and more facilities are coming on stream all the time.  Shoreside facilities have improved since it was first opened and it now boasts an on-site upmarket restaurant. The historic naval storehouses have been converted to "des resses" and since it first became a marina with a lack of local attractions is now a place with an attractive character and a wealth of choices both within the marina and just outside (The Clarence Tavern comes well recommended).

Prices during the season (2022)  are based on boat length above 9 mtres,and are £3.28 per metre per night. Shore power is £4.00 per night.

Hardway Sailing Club

Still on the Western side of the harbour, about half a mile further on, is Hardway.

This club welcomes, nay encourages, visitors; their pontoon has water at the outer end at LWN but otherwise you can expect to dry out on soft mud which is very forgiving to fin keelers. They will ask you not to use the hammerhead at the outer end as it is used by members for loading and provisioning. Ashore there are good facilities including a club house open every eveing except Mondays and lunchtime Saturday & Sunday; they have a bar, galley along with showers and toilets which visitors are welcome to use. There is also a chandlery nearby and supplies of Calor/Camping Gas.

They have a visitors book and an honesty bag/box under the balcony for leaving the fees.  There will be a list of fees due but it looks like about £10 a night for visitors and a £10 deposit for a key to get access to the club for showers.  There are contact details on their web site and it is suggested that you contact them if intending to visit.

Hardway Sailing Club
Tel: 02394 581875

"Hardway offers a very warm welcome to visiting yachtsmen, and is well worth a visit.  They have a long pontoon and while it dries (accessible typically 2hr either side of high water) the bottom is soft mud.  This is available to visitors on a first come first served basis, and at busy times boats are sometimes rafted.

They have several scrubbing grids and jet wash sets, all available to visitors for a small fee.  They have good, clean showers which we understand are soon to be refurbished."

Just about every kind of facility imaginable for the boat can be found within the Portsmouth area. The general facilities available at each berthing place have been covered in the last section. This article deals with the more general town facilities available in each area where you can berth your boat.

Gosport.

If you a berthed in any of the three marinas on Western side close to the entrance Gosport would be the nearest town, and it's within walking distance.

All normal town facilities are available including newsagents, chemists, banks with cashpoints and post offices. Iceland is perhaps the nearest supermarket, and there is a Waitrose also. An open-air market in the high Street sets up on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Bottled gas is available at the chandlery in Haslar Marina, and also at Solent Marine Chandlery in Mumby Road, Gosport.

Note:

If you check out our history page, and link to the article that deals with Gosport you will find a warning written by an unnamed writer in 1777. The following is an extract... "Except for the vicinity of the sea, Gosport can claim little that is attractive, for the town is not pleasant and the surrounding country has no peculiar charms........ and with a full share of the vice of Portsmouth, polluted by the fortunes of sailors and the extravagances of harlots."

Has much changed in the last couple of centuries ?  It is the duty of any intrepid Mariner berthed in one of the three marinas nearby to carry out a thorough investigation and report back to this site. Fellow "Brothers of the Sea" may be keen to know if a night on the town in Gosport will result in a return to the boat with an extravagant harlot in tow !! (or a black eye and a fat lip).

Jesting aside, it has to be said that Gosport could never be described as glitzy. The town does however have more than 70,000 inhabitants, and the infrastructure to serve their needs, so it should be easy enough to find convivial surroundings for eating and drinking. Over the years each of the three Marinas on this side, aware of the hike involved in reaching the delights of Gosport, have opened good restaurants on site and details can be found on their respective websites. 

Surveyors:

Verbal or written reports delivered in plain English at the level you require, in a pragmatic way. We work with private owners, yacht brokers, charter companies, insurance companies, finance companies, and also coding organisations.  We specialise in surveying FRP and steel vessels, charter yachts and all small marine craft. With 25 years in the marine industry, www.marinesurveysuk.com are members of BMSE and YDSA Call Matt on   07798 554535   or email [email protected]

Very interesting link to history of Gosport:

http://www.localhistories.org/gosport.html

From Wikipedia

Until the last quarter of the 20th century, Gosport was a major naval town associated with the defence and supply infrastructure of Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth. As such over the years extensive fortifications were created.[5] The first fortifications were in 1678 during the reign on Charles II. They consisted of two forts, Fort James and Fort Charles, and a series of bastions and double ditches to encircle the town and known as the Gosport Lines. During the Georgian period in 1751 and 1752 they were rebuilt, enlarged and extended. In response to the French invasion threat of 1779 there were further additions. By 1860 the Gosport Lines had 58 guns. No.1 Bastion, for example, had mounted 14 guns in brick lined emplacements firing over the parapet. The 1859 Royal Commission on the Defences of the United Kingdom proposed the completion of a line of forts to protect the outer approach to Gosport town, making the earlier defences redundant. However, they were retained to constrain any expansion of the town towards the new line of forts. From the 1890s road widening meant some parts of the ramparts and gates were demolished. Further sections were demolished in the 1920s and 1960s. Today, the little that remain are protected ancient monuments.

Gosport, it is still home to HMS Sultan and a Naval Armament Supply Facility as well as a Helicopter Repair base; however Gosport's naval history goes a very long way back and it has several buildings of historic interest as well as a lot of people who lived here and became famous. Most of the former naval and military installations have closed since the Second World War leaving empty sites and buildings. As a way forward Museums have opened up and many of its fortifications and installations (such as Fort Brockhurst, Priddy's Hard (formerly an Armament Depot, now the Explosion! Museum of Naval Firepower) and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Haslar Road) have been opened to the public as tourism and heritage sites. One of the more recent additions is the Diving Museum at No 2 Battery at Stokes Bay which is bidding to become the National Diving Museum for the British Isles.

Several sites have also been redeveloped to provide housing, including the New Barracks (opened 1859, renamed St George Barracks in 1947 having served as HMS St George during the war, closed 1991),[6] the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard (opened 1828 on the site of an earlier victualling facility, closed 1992) and Royal Hospital Haslar (formerly the last military hospital of the UK: opened as a Royal Naval Hospital in 1753, later served other armed forces personnel and latterly the wider community of Gosport; closed as a military hospital in March 2007, the NHS withdrew in 2009 and the hospital closed). Forton Barracks (opened 1811, closed 1923, re-opened as HMS St Vincent in 1923, closed 1969)[7] was part-demolished and is now St Vincent College.

There has also been extensive redevelopment of the harbour area as a marina.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosport

Gosport general:

The usual fast food outlets will be found, together with a selection of restaurants including two Chinese, and two Indians. The area is not short of pubs either.

"Gosport Marina..notes:
VHF Channel 80
Tel: 02392 524 811
Capable of handling large yachts - it is the home of the Clipper Ventures round the world race fleet, for instance.  They also welcome visitors.  The fuel pontoon can be lumpy, as can the outer berths, but the latter are normally occupied by larger boats.

The Boathouse
Tel: 02392 601 166
Ashore there is The Boathouse, with a lovely position looking out over the marina to the warships beyond.  For a drink and a meal, particularly lunch, it is great. 

Within very easy walking distance are two good chandlers, Arthurs and Youboat.


Gosport Town:

Originally the dormitory for the Royal Navy, with officers living in posh Alverstoke and other ranks in Gosport itself, the town consists mainly of a busy high street.   It boasts two supermarkets, well stocked Morrisons and Aldi if you are in a hurry. 

There are plenty of pubs, as you would expect, including a JD Wetherspoons.  There’s even a night club with an interesting reputation.



Royal Clarence Marina
Tel: 02392 523 523
VHF Channel 80
Further still into the harbour, past a large tanker permanently moored to the jetty, is Royal Clarence.  Offering the usual facilities of power, water etc it is very sheltered and capable of handling large vessels.  There are a couple of restaurants close by, the Clarence Tavern is just up the road, and the town centre is some five minutes walk away.



Hardway Sailing Club
Tel: 02394 581875

The clubhouse enjoys a lovely outlook over the harbour, with Portchester Castle and the Naval Dockyard as features.  They have an excellent kitchen and bar, the latter offering a selection of ales as well as wines and spirits, all at very competitive prices.  Their Sunday lunch is not to be missed.

The Jolly Roger
Tel 02392 582 584
Located just across the road from the sailing club this pub also has a lovely outlook.  It has a large restaurant, a bar decorated in maritime glitch, and big screen TV"