Mission Statement: Sail to East Cowes from Southampton through some of the busiest waters in the UK.
Trail Introduction
This trail starts at a public slipway next to Southampton Sailing Club and takes you down Southampton Water, past the oil refineries and Calshot, and across the Solent to East Cowes for an ice-cream.
About the Area:
This is one of the busiest sailing and shipping areas in the world, with bulk carrying ships, oil tankers and car transporters, ferries and fast catamarans, mixing with yachts, yacht racing, dinghy training and dinghy racing.
Interesting fact:
You’ll be sailing over, or just near to Bramble Bank – search online for details of the cricket match that is played once a year on this low-tide island.
Round Trip Distance:21 miles
in miles
Approximate Time that the Trail will take: 6-8 hours
In a Wayfarer or similar in F4 winds
OS Map or Chart:
Trail Details
This map is for information use only, not for navigation.
- Leave Southampton Sailing Club Public Slipway and head directly towards the multi-story car-parks opposite before turning down Southampton Water
- Keep out of the shipping lane by sailing close to the long row of Starboard Hand marks
- Sail past the entrance to the Hamble, and past Calshot and take the outside edge of the Starboard Hand marks to keep out of the shipping lane. Note that you will cross the “North Channel” at this point, which is used by smaller coastal ships.
- Sail south, and since the best tide to do this trail is a neap time with a lunchtime low, dinghies can sail directly over the Bramble Bank. Keep a sharp lookout for big ships and cross the shipping lane at 90 degrees.
- Land on the sandy beaches of East Cowes. You may find training groups from Cowes based sailing schools also using these beaches. There is a cafe and public toilets.
- The sail across the face of the Medina River can be congested with yacht races, general yachting, the cross-Solent ferries and other dinghies.
- Head along the north of the Isle of Wight to the relatively quieter waters towards Lepe, then head North outside of the shipping turning area.
- Sal North in the relatively traffic-free area outside the shipping lane.
- Only cross the shipping lane when you have cleared Calshot Spit and have good visibility up Southampton Water, so that you can see shipping coming out of Southampton. Only cross if the shipping lane is clear
- Retrace your track and land at the public slipway.
Trip Extensions:
It’s quite possible to visit the Cafe at Lepe and at the cafe at Calshot on the way back.
Launch Point Lat and Long:50.88950375491451, -1.3830656493049842
Lat and Long for integration with the RYA “Find My Nearest” service
Launch Point What3Words:///sleep.twigs.ropes
Launch Information:
This is a public slipway from which Southampton Sailing Club launch and recover. The end of the slip way is about 1.4m above Chart Datum. On a neap tide you can launch virtually to low water with a dinghy as the slip way still remains covered. The art is getting out to the deep water, if looking at the slipway from the shore, keep to the left hand side of it and aim for dock head. This has the greatest depth of water especially as there is an additional depth of about 30 cm right up against that side of the slipway. Remember that HW is a bit of a lottery but LW is the known constant hence the tidal curve being upside down.
Tidal Information:
This is a dinghy trail for a lunchtime low tide in the Solent, so that you are off Lepe when the tide changes. The tide change direction at this point in the Solent at the edges first, so at HW+5 the tide is ebbing at the “Prince Consort” buoy and flooding along the edge of the channel where the Cowes breakwater is. By HW+5.5 the flood is across the width of the channel. Plan to have lunch at East Cowes about HW+4.
Best Tides: Lunchtime low tide = 12,13,14
Towing Vehicle Parking:
There is free parking on the roads around the sailing club. The slipway can get busy when the sailing club is running training courses.
Towing vehicle Parking What3Words: https://w3w.co/paints.wrong.factor
Towing vehicle Parking Information:
Free on-street parking around the Sailing Club and on Victoria Road.
Toilets:
The toilets at Southampton Sailing Club are not available to the general public.
There are toilets at East Cowes at the Eastern Esplanade Public Toilets. at Lepe at the Cafe, and at Calshot in the Calshot Activity Centre.
Toilets What3Words:https://w3w.co/skylights.crib.conspire
Page Month Published: March 2025
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