Harold Hayles no longer provide visitors moorings since the pandemic. Note comments on harbour prices, see post below. 2024 visitors pricing is in the link in the Berthing sections above.

£62 a night on a raft of 3
A week later 40 quid for the priviledge of a bouy in a packed in grid too small for the 40 footer I was on.

Where do they get off charging for length on a bouy?

Way too much for shorthanded non-occasional use.

Arrived in a fair blow - passing many yachts returning from The Needles (45knts) after an attempt at The Round The Island Race. The Harbour berthing crew could not have been more helpful/professional for a visitor unfamiliar with the set-up. Nice to see The Old Gaffers rally in and 'dressed over'. Shoreside facilities were first rate and all staff extremely helpful. The town has an abundance of good hostelries and the late session at Salty's still fun, under new ownership, with table dancing permitted. Off The Rails (a quirky railway themed restaurant) was worth the walk for good food in a nice spot with some outside seating. Breakfast at The Gossips Cafe was disappointing.

I reviewed these notes in early April of 2022. To clear up the showers; they are included in the mooring price if you are on a harbour mooring. If you have arrived by ferry or your boat is parked somewhere else you will be charged.

A couple of weekends ago the showers were still free, and very swish and clean, despite the marina being absolutely chock-a-block. But the arrangement, at least in the one I used, ensured that the floor of the day area got wet, and there was nowhere to put the soap! Heads v good.

The showers and toilets have all been updated to a very high standard in late 2020 for male facilities and early 2021 for female facilities. I do believe showers remain free of charges.
There are essentials available to buy in the harbour reception, and a good quality coffee machine with bar stool seating area.

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!

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

There is a new facility on their website which explains everything from the entry waypoint to where you cab tie up etc and a link has been provided. Prices have gone up across the board. The eating and entertainment has been expanded with grateful thanks to Garry Flashman.

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.

These notes were reviewed by Don in March 2016. Prices have been updated as have some of the hyperlinks. A visit to their website for the first time visitor is recommended and it would be wise to book ahead if intending to visit on a busy summer weekend

These notes were revised April 2014. We have added a couple of pictures of the new pontoons to our gallery. The prices have been updated for 2014 (NB electricity has gone up as well as the moorings). I've added a few more details on the Harold Hayles boatyard

Like the writer of the main article, I too like Yarmouth, and visit almost every time I'm in the Solent. When you've exhausted all the fleshpots of the town, try a stroll (about 2 miles) along the eastern bank of the Yar to the Red Lion in Freshwater, where you will be rewarded by good beer and good food in a quiet rural retreat. The mud flats around the river a full of natural interest. Harbour prices? I like the "Ryanair" approach, you pay for what you want and leave the rest. If you don't like it then don't go; all the more room for me!

I've read some of the comments with interest.
We do price check on a regular basis and we believe our pricing is in line with many of the other destinations in the Solent. We do still have a wide choice of berths, outer buoys, piles, pontoons, Town Quay, walk ashore pontoons and individual finger walk ashore pontoons, so if price is the main consideration you should choose a cheaper berth. However at least 80% of our visitors ask for a walk ashore berth, hence the recent development of the harbour to provide more walk ashore pontoons.
Please also consider our midweek discounts, so £4 off for vessels up to and including 9 metres and £8 discount for vessels over 9 metres.
We do charge extra for electric hook up, £3-50, but that is a one off charge whether you use electricity for two hours or a week.
We do also charge extra for showers. Our showers are used by the public, not necessarily harbour users, and people who berth their boats with boatyards in the harbour. Our shower facilities are said to be some of the best on the south coast and over the last three years we've spent about £150k refurbishing all of them. We also spend £20k per year keeping them clean. So we've taken the view that there's a cost to providing some of the best facilities on the south coast, and some 18,000 visitors use the showers each year.
Unusually for harbours and marinas we have people on the water to meet and greet and if necessary to help boats on and off berths, and we pride ourselves on our service.
So to round up my answer to some comments on the site, yes Yarmouth can be expensive if you choose to take all the services and the top end berth, but we still strive to be the destination of choice for boaters not just in the Solent but also in the whole south coast of the UK. The comparison with Ryanair seems alittle harsh !

Seriously over-priced rip off mooring. Think Ryanair pricing. You pay extra for everything. Extra for a walk-ashore pontoon, extra for a finger berth, extra for electricity, extra for internet access and the final straw is £1.30 per shower! You can easily end up £40+ out of pocket for one overnight stay. This small town needs yachties to keep it alive and buzzing, but with charges like this, I think people will be staying away more in the future.