WELCOME ANCHORAGES 2015 Colour coding: Green: N Ireland Black: Clyde TOBERMORY COMPLETE FACILITIES GUIDE for mooring and Red: West Coast Yellow: NW Coast berthing at locations on Scotland's WEST Lt Blue: N&E Scotland Local Fairway Visitor Moorings Moorings COAST, NORTH EAST COAST, NORTHERN ISLES RNLI (24) Pier and Ireland's NORTHERN COAST Anchoring Local Area Moorings Din seilvenn Dein Segelfreund Pier Slip Compagnon de Croisière Scotland SETSAILAD ANCHORAGE 2012 FINAL.pdf 23/11/11 15:38:02 Economic Growth Service Cunninghame House, Irvine KA12 8AE T: 01294 324382 WILLKOMMEN BIENVENUE VELKOMMEN 2 015 HOOSE your colour and go cruising! Welcome Anchorages 2015 has supplementary information: www.malinwaters.com C been disected into popular sailing sectors, each with Welcome Anchorages is not intended to be a pilot book or sailing its own designated colour coding and in which, all directions, and you will find more information about these essential the moorings and marinas listed have facilities publications on page 29. Safe navigation depends on accurate and ashore to ensure that you will have your major up to date information and these provide it in good measure. requirements, culinary and otherwise, catered Welcome Anchorages is available free at boat shows, for, thus making your cruise go more smoothly chandlers, marinas and marine trade outlets, also to while increasing the enjoyment factor. download from our state-of-the-art website: Our most popular cruising area is the Clyde, www.welcomeanchorages.info Northern Ireland and the Scottish west coast Whether you are a Scottish or Irish based cruising sailor, archipelago, now collectively labelled ‘Malin Waters’. or a visitor from further afield, we hope you enjoy Indeed it was with the support of the Sail West planning your cruise and have memorable voyaging in marketing arm MalinWaters, The Crown Estate and these waters. the British Marine Federation that we were able to We are always improving the information Welcome comprehensively cover all the major anchorages on Anchorages provides, and keeping it as up to date as the north coast of Ireland. possible, so please send suggestions and updates via our website emailing You can read more about The Crown facility. Estate below and the British Marine We wish you fair winds and good sailing in 2015 and hope you will find this Federation on page 4. eighth annual edition as useful as its predecessors. The MalinWaters website is a source of wide ranging ISSN 2056-7197 Alistair Vallance Editor and Publisher Welcome Anchorages, Wheatsheaf House, Montgomery Street, The Village, East Kilbride G74 4JS Tel: 01355 279077 Email: [email protected] Cover Picture: The epitome of ‘Welcome Anchorages’. Tobermory offers pontoon berths, moorings and facilities ashore. ManagingManaging Moorings Moorings for All for All The Crown Estate is pleased toThe provide Crown Estate continued is pleased to continue support ofhave the a licensing Welcome system in place to help ensure Anchorages publication as it itsexpands support of the to Welcome include Anchorages Northern Ireland.safe access With to the marine the environmentbest while publication. protecting the interests of other marine users. www.thecrownestate.co.uk sailing and cruising waters in Europe, demand for mooring andEffective anchorage management can space only be achievedis Demand for mooring and anchorage space in using a partnership approach and we work high. With over 5,500 licensedthe mooringsUK is high and with in over Scotland 5,000 licensed alone, Theclosely Crown with the Scottish Estate Government, has the RYA moorings in Scotland alone, The Crown Estate Scotland, the Clyde Moorings Committee and lead role in managing the provisiontakes a lead ofrole mooringin managing the space provision for of thethe boating West Highland community. Anchorages and Moorings mooring space for the boating community. Association. Welcome Anchorages is supported through To manage the provision of mooring space Although our statutory basis determines that The Crown Estate’s programme of MarineWelcome Anchorages is supported through We are an independent commercial business The Crown Estate Marinewe have Stewardship a licensing systemand inour place role is toand make staff sure that the landwe andoperate as a commercial organisation, we Stewardship, which provides funding Programme,for which providesdedicated funding to for helping coastalproperty communities we invest in and manage is sustainablyhave an equally firm commitment to working community initiatives and scientific research worked, developed and enjoyed to deliver the practical projects, research, and other projectsinitiatives that help promotemake the the long-term most of this limitedbest value resource. over the Effectivelong term. We workhand-in-hand in a way with Scotland’s organisations, to improve the management and understandingsustainable management management of its marine canassets. only bethat achieved is considered using and acollaborative, helpingagencies and individuals, for the benefit of local Since its establishment in 1999, the fund has us create success for our business and for the of marine resource management. Sincecontributed its over £10mpartnership to a wide range approach of andbenefit we workof local closely economies and communities.businesses and communities. projects around the UK coast. For more information please visit www. establishment in 1999 the fund has contributed with the Scottish Government,thecrownestate.co.uk/coastal/moorings-and- RYA Scotland, over £5 million to a wide range of projectsTo manage the provisionthe ofClyde mooring Moorings space, we Committeemarinas/working-with-us/ and the West around the UK coast. Highland Anchorages and Moorings Association. WELCOME ANCHORAGES 2015 PAGE 3 The British Marine Federation (BMF) is the trade association for the leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry, and all kinds of marine businesses around Scotland are members. BMF demands high standards of its members, which is an assurance that when dealing with a member company you will get good and fair service. You can identify governments in Scotland, Westminster, BMF members in Welcome Anchorages by and the EU. The BMF also offers an the BMF symbol shown beside their entry. extensive range of member services including expert advice on exporting, The BMF represents the interests of environmental issues, marketing, marine businesses, and brings the technical regulations and legal matters voice of the leisure marine industry as well as training and industry and its customers to the attention of statistics. 110892To OTW learn ad 135x185 10/11/2010 more 15:28 Pagevisit 1 www.britishmarine.co.uk THE PLACE TO START TO GET YOU ON THE WATER • IDEAS TO GET YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BOATING • HELPFUL HINTS ON BUYING A BOAT • BUDGET GUIDES – WHAT YOU CAN GET FROM £500 TO £500,000 • FIND A COMPANY NEAR YOU A campaign from Everything about boating at www.onthewater.co.uk PAGE 4 WELCOME ANCHORAGES 2015 IRELAND - NORTH Ballycastle. HE EASTERN shore of Northern Ireland has Carrickfergus, and three large and very different loughs, and there are now 40 T great variety of scenery. Cruising northward berths in Belfast from Carlingford Lough, the impressive bulk of port for leisure the Cooley and Mourne Mountains dominate craft in the the view to the west. The highest peak of the Abercorn Basin. Mourne Mountains is Slieve Donard at 850m North (2,789ft). from Belfast Carlingford Lough provides a potential Lough lie the stopping place, though with a difficult entrance beautiful Glens if tide and wind are not cooperating. It also of Antrim forms the boundary between the Republic of where the Text from Cruising Ireland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. valleys which courtesy of Irish Cruising Club. cut into Carlingford is the only fjord-like feature on Cushendun Harbour. Look out for this guide, which was first published in 2012. this coast; of the other two loughs, Strangford the basalt Lough is a submerged drumlin filled basin, and escarpments Belfast Lough is more like a ria, a drowned river terminate in valley. relatively sheltered bays. Ireland’s east coast is sheltered from the As you sail north, the headlands become prevailing westerlies, although the direct course more dominant and the tides stronger until you from the Irish Sea to South Rock is more than 20 turn the corner at Fair Head, an unmistakable miles from the coast in places, so any shelter is 180m (600ft) promontory overlooking the Mull more theoretical than actual. of Kintyre and Rathlin Island. North of Strangford entrance, which leads to Heading west from Fair Head to Bloody a small cruising paradise, the east Down coast Foreland, this part of the North Channel, as you between there and Belfast Lough is a regular round Fair Head, is known as the Sea of Moyle, route for many Ulster sailors relocating their whereas west of Malin Head you are definitely yachts. It does not offer much in the way of sailing on the Atlantic Ocean. The transition from yachting orientated harbours, as Portavogie is the relatively sheltered North Channel waters dominated by its fishing fleet. Donaghadee, to the open ocean as you progress westward, virtually in Belfast Lough, has a good visitor’s together with vigorous tidal streams as far west berth beside the lighthouse. as Inishtrahull, requires careful passage planning, along with a degree of opportunism to make a Belfast Lough is a fine stretch of open comfortable passage to Bloody Foreland. water, and a very busy sea route. There are This section of the Irish coast may be only 80 excellent marinas on either shore at Bangor and Portglenone Marina Co. Antrim. miles long, but it offers some spectacular coastal scenery, the opportunity for very fast or very slow passages depending on conditions, and a mixture of convenient stopping points and sheltered inland havens. Donegal’s west coast with Donegal Bay is a superb and unspoiled cruising area. The area south of Bloody Foreland is known as ‘The Rosses’, and its islands and channels are a fascinating playground.