Report 1 - Keyhaven

Overview

Keyhaven sits in the Keyhaven marshes protected by hurst spit, which is a shingle spit running out to Hurst Castle. You can acces the castle by walking the spit or taking the ferry from the quay. Keyhaven Marshes is a SSSI and provides a walk along the sea wall all the way to Lymington. There are 2 yacht clubs there, for the recent rally we used Keyhaven Yacht club which is right next to the quay, they very accomodating to visiting yachtsmen, and very newly updated facilities which you can use. The river warden is also based on the quay and is very helpful, although not always manned. Also parking and pub in the village

Approach/Departure

The entrance is marked by port and starboard marks, and is effectively a bar entrance so pretty shallow, normally only 0.4m over Chart Datum, There are transit marks for the approach which are periodically repositioned so the course shown on charts may not be correct. An eddy current  can appear when the tide is running to the east, so departing can be helped by heading out into the main stream current through the hurst Narrows, Tested by Martine Watson and proved to be effective gaining about an extra mile over other boats.
Anchoring close to the shingle bank near the lighthouse is a good place to wait for the tide to enter

Channel Inside

Once inside the bar there is a single port mark to round then the rest are all starboard marks all the way up to the quay. The marks seem to be well out to the side of the channel so do not hug the marks - give them a little room. The mooring buoys are on ground tackle running up the centre of the channel, so best to hug closely to the mooring buoys. The river warden advises that it is ok to pick up a mooring buoy if it is free and there is no tender on it, but use your own lines rather than the bridle and keep the lines as short as possible as there is not much swinging room.

Quay area

At the recent rally we had 3 x Parker 325's, 2 x Parker 31's all rafted to the quay, but drying out, and a Parker 27 and Parker 275 beached on the north side, See the plan showing go and no-go areas. It is best to contact the river warden before arriving, in case there are any regattas or events going on.
The east of the quay has the highest rise of tide 1.8m but you will saty afloat much longer, whereas south and north beaching areas will allow floating off up to 2 hours either side of HW