Findochty
At a Glance
Contacts: HM through Buckie on 01542 831700
The first thing to note about Findochty is that it is pronounced
"Finnechty" with a soft "ch" as in "loch" (Scottish); goodness
knows why, something to do with the Gaelic we believe! Anyway,
Finnechty is about four miles east of Buckie and just round the
corner from Portknockie to its east. The presence of Buckie is a boon to yachties who miss the tide
when returning from far afield as one can dive in there and await
the tide to get into Finnechty.
On the other hand the development of Buckie as a 24 hour fishing
port as early as the 1880s was the downfall of Finnechty harbour
as, when other harbours were reaping the benefits of the herring
industry, the local Finnechty herring boats migrated to Buckie and
have stayed there to this day.
Nowadays all that remains of the fishing fleet are a few creel
boats and long-liners catching mackerel when they are running. The
Moray council have installed a couple of tidal pontoons on the
inshore wall of the inner harbour which are fully occupied by local
boat owners, so visitors have to take an alongside berth on the
West wall.
Update 2022 The pontoons were removed in 2020/21 and new ones were installed over the winter of 21/22
There is no Harbour office or Harbour Master at Finnechty but
one of the Buckie Harbour watch-keepers has special responsibility
for the harbour.
There is a very active Watersports Club which runs yacht races and
has social and racing intercourse with the Moray coast sailing
clubs (mainly Lossiemouth and Banff which lie about three hours
sailing East and West of here – or two and a half hours
if you are clever!). When the Council closed the Harbour "Office",
the Watersports club took over the building which is next to their
own wee "cuddy", and at one stage the Council tried to enlist them
to collect visiting dues; they declined and today Moray Council
relies on visiting yachties to phone the Buckie office (though
there is a telephone number for the "harbour master" displayed on a
board at the root of the West pier) It's up to you if you ring him;
you'll get an answering machine and he'll drop by at some time to
collect your money. If you do have to drop in to Buckie to await
the tide they will combine the harbour dues for Buckie and
Finnechty anyway.
The harbour itself consists of an outer pier which provides shelter
from the east through to the South in settled weather, an outer
harbour (inside the harbour entrance proper) which is strewn with
rocks on its Southern side and an inner harbour which is very well
sheltered from all weathers; so much so that, once inside and with
onshore winds, you'd be well advised to climb up on to the wall to
check the seas outside before making a decision on whether to go or
stay! The beach in the inner harbour shelves towards the West so
that the deeper water is near the entrance to the inner harbour and
a keel boat could well stay afloat at neap Tides. You need longish
warps as the range is about 3 meters.
The village is mainly residential and most of the inhabitants do
their shopping in Buckie; it's a very pleasant spot, especially in
balmy southerly winds when it is a heat sink, the houses are well
maintained so the aspect from the harbour is especially
picturesque.
Findochty
Approach
There is only one approach and that is from the NNW......
.......on a heading of 166°T; from both the East and the West
the harbour entrance is difficult to pick out although the village
itself is easy enough to identify. There is a prominent church
about a quarter of a mile to the East and a war memorial atop the
cliff the same distance to the West, so make for a spot between the
two until things become more obvious.
The rocks to the west of the approach, close in, are huge and
become more obvious as you run in from the north. If you have a
chart plotter then our way point is quite close in so make for that
and you should be able to see your way in from there. One very
important point is that the leading lights are not, repeat not, day
marks visible to the naked eye from anywhere in the approach; there
is a very obvious (from a distance) red speed limit notice and an
even more obvious red life-belt holder further to its left, both of
which are mounted on the middle pier and neither of which have
anything to do with safe navigation!!
The author managed to locate the leading lights during his stay
there; they are 4 inch by 8 inch garage lights taped to the
lampposts with green and yellow electrical tape and only of use at
night and then, apparently, only if you know where to look. There
are photos in our gallery for this port which amply illustrate this
point!!
The entrance to the harbour is very exposed to seas from the
northerly quadrant. The aspect of the harbour in these conditions
is daunting with the waves breaking over the rocks to starboard and
port and reflecting off the inner walls to form a maelstrom in the
entrance. The pier to the left of the entrance (inside the outer
pier) is mounted on piers (see our photo) and, if you can see
those, there is not much water beyond them, so retreat to
Buckie.
Our photo, "Looking for the leading lights" turned out to be pretty
much on line, once you are past the white pierhead light on the
West pier you need to turn fairly sharply to starboard for the
inner harbour and be ready to avoid outbound boats cutting the
corner; the problem is that you wont see them (either with or
without masts, that wall is very high) until the last minute.
£ GMT
Waypoint
Charts
Rules & Regs
Hazards
Tides
Berthing
You are very unlikely to find a pontoon berth....
as they are all allocated so you should tie up alongside the
west wall; there are plenty of ladders, the first two of which are
very obviously favoured by creel boats. The berths against the
middle pier are also occupied by creel boats. Don't look for
anywhere in the outer harbour, the bottom is rocky. If there is not
enough water to enter the inner harbour you can lay next to the
very outer pier but only in settled conditions as reflection from
the main harbour walls tends to make it extremely choppy.
Harbour dues for visitors are set by the Moray council and for 2021
are £20.46 per night per boat. It's up to you to notify them that
you are there. You can always pay on line HERE but you'll have to go to the hotel
for Wifi to do that.
Facilities
The toilets are in a building at the root of the West pier as is
a water tap (in a box outside the Watersports Club Building). There
are no showers or shore power provided by the harbour though, if
you have a polite word with the caravan site (Tel 01542 835303)
behind the pub they may allow you to use their showers and
laundrette, depending on how busy they are and how many in the boat
need to be scrubbed!!
Finnechty is on the shore bus route between Aberdeen &
Inverness so there are buses in either direction every hour (but,
in 2012, no timetable on the bus stops!) – They cross in
Findochty at between ten to the the hour and the hour. Other than
that there is a small mini market up on the road overlooking the
harbour with a Post Office and Pharmacy next door.
The main library, which did have a www connection, and is mentioned
in some other publications, closed recently. The Post Office which
used to be on Station Road is now on Seaview road near the bustop
and there is no longer a library at all. No fuel, I'm afraid, your
nearest recourse for that is Buckie
What to Do
There is a very hospitable pub/hotel/restaurant at the end of the West pier which has Wifi and a couple of tables close to a 240v socket which could be very useful as internet and mobile connections are difficult in the harbour. No fuel or Gas/Gaz, I'm afraid, your nearest recourse for that is Buckie.
History
Local Business
Uncategorised
Stitch N Awl
12, Main street
Portsoy
Banff
Aberdeenshire
AB45 2RT
Tide Information for findochty
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