Just home from weekend visit to Emsworth Yacht Harbour - confession despite having been Solent based for decades we had never visited it before .

We recommend it especially for those of you with lifting keels (Altair is fixed keel). Very friendly and welcoming - good facilities - dog friendly and pleasant strolls either to Emsworth town or round and about - modestly priced (for our 35' £31ish for night inc power). Saw no seals in it but spotted Shemar in nearby drying berth and seals (the animals) on way out .

We will go again but need to ensure decent tide as sill restricts access - good info on their web site as to height of tide over sill.

We stopped there for a couple of days in August and thought it was a great place. Concerned about approaches and sill at first, but never again. Definitely will be returning. Probably fender up on both sides better before entering next time. Emsworth is lovely. Good place for a Rally. Good pubs with good food.

When leaving Emsworth Yacht harbour some years ago, now, - we'd only just bought our Seal 28 - I got it very wrong and spent a very embarrassing low tide standing on top of their sill on legs!

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We also like Emsworth. We were there a couple of years ago and sought advice from two local specialists.

One was a boat builder who looked at one of our taps, which was dripping and although he said he couldn't fix it because it had unusual fittings which he didn't have, he stopped it dripping, provided we left it turned off and didn't try to use it. Because it was the hot tap, this was manageable for the rest of the season. The experience has left us delighted every time we use the taps we had installed the following winter - water comes out whan the tap is opened and stops when it's closed!

The other specialist was a rigger who looked at our furling gear to see if he could find out why it was being hard work to furl the jib. He checked it and couldn't find anything wrong and gave us the advice that the jib halyard should be very slightly slackened before furling. On the few occasions since that the jib has been hard to furl, letting off the halyard slightly has immediately made it easier.

Neither of these two specialists would accept any payment for their time - they really made us feel welcome and valued as visitors.

Gilliane

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I'm guessing the rigger would be Barry Locke, a very helpful person and also an ex employee of Profurl so he now has all the remaining old stock of Profurl spares for those of us who still have our Profurl jib furlers! Cutler marine is also in Emsworth harbour and Luke Cutler (John, his father has now retired) is also a very helpful and knowledgeable person for your Yanmar engine spares and repairs. If you visit by road, make sure to drive right into the yard and park, as the carpark is now a pay and display with cameras to catch you. If you do use the carpark, let whoever it is you are going to see know and they will get your registration number removed from the recording if you don't have any suitable coinage to pay for the ticket and it is not cheap(the machine does not take cards) They had to install the pay and display because all the walkers started filling up the carpark when it was free. The chandlery is not much use but of course Ocean Marine (formerly Seateach) is only about half a mile away in Thornam Marina (about twenty minutes walk or five minutes by car) It might be an idea to run a rally there, I will take a look and see what they say.

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Addendum: Barry the Rigger worked for Rotostay not Profurl as I had originally put.

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Hi Gilliane

My furling went stiff and I assumed the bearings were worn so I had a word with Z-Spars who were very helpful and said they would replace the bearings for £60, which seemed very reasonable.

However before doing this I happened to be reading the literature from Quantem sails, which came with the boat, and they advised to slacken the halyard before unfurling and furling the sail, tensioning it afterwards. Since doing this I have had no trouble with the furler and have not had to change the bearings.

Having been sailing for many years it is surprising that I have never been given this advice before and it doesn't seem to be general knowledge!

Peter (Zephyr)