Ilfracombe Harbour
At a Glance
Contacts
Harbour Master tel 01271 862108 VHF # 16/12
Ilfracombe is a natural harbour located at the southern entrance
to the Bristol Channel; although, today, it looks very much
man-made one can see that the beach at the top of the harbour was
the beginnings of what has developed since pre-history into the
harbour that we see today.
There have been various stages of development from a sheltered
beach over which fish and various supplies could be landed, through
a walled harbour which traded with other Channel ports (coal &
limestone one way and agricultural products the other) and
eventually further abroad to Ireland and France. It was also a
useful jumping off point for various bellicose adventures in
Ireland, Scotland and, of course, during our spats with the French
and Spanish.
As with many villages of this nature the habitation around the
harbour kept itself aloof from the "landed" people at the back of
the town and that continued through the Victorian era when the
tourist industry developed alongside the fishing industry so that
to this day all the hotels and most of the B&B trade is "up the
hill" from harbour. Today there are only two "families" fishing
out of Ilfracombe and they occupy the accommodation above the
tourist shops along the quay; the rest of Ilfracombe is given over
to the holiday trade which has declined in the last half century
due to the "package holiday" industry. There have been various
proposals on the drawing board to put marina facilities in here but
all have sunk through lack of funding or opposition from those who
see the "quaintness" of the harbour as a tourist asset (and
who's to say they are wrong?)
What we have is an inner harbour which dries completely at low tide
and the yachts moored within that get about two hours either side
of HW access to the sea and outside that is the outer harbour which
also dries at low water though, on the visitors moorings a 1.5
metre draft boat can get,at least, half tide access to the sea.The
LWS water line is at the end of the steamer pier and the anchorage
there is sheltered in all but NE to East weather but in those
conditions it is very uncomfortable. A knowledgeable skipper would
chose Watermouth Bay a mile and a half to the East of here to hole
up in Easterly conditions.
Ilfracombe's main attraction for the yachtsman is that, in
most cases, one can get to it from the eastern end of the Bristol
Channel in a single tide (mind you from Avomouth you'd need
a boat capable of 7kts through the water) but, of course, when you
get there you'd have to wait for a few hours for there to
be enough water to enter! Going the other way you can leave
Ilfracombe at half ebb and, staying very close in to the shore in
the various bays (where there are back eddies) get to the Foreland
as the flood sets in and then shoot on up the Channel to arrive at
your destination at HW.
It's other attraction is its Yacht Club the interior of which was done by the local yachtsmen bak in the eighties and has been improved over the years by volunteers - they have a website at:-
Ilfracombe
Yacht Club
The harbour itself is a delight, a real sun trap on a
summer's afternoon; it can get a bit busy at the weekend in
the summer but there is plenty of room for everyone and the harbour
is well served with outlets for you to spend your money!!
Ilfracombe Harbour
Approach
Coming from the west strong tidal races will be
...... found off Bull Point (Fl(3)10s54m20M). An offing of 5
miles will clear this. That's the "official" warning!
In actual fact you will have timed your run to be going past
Hartland Point northbound at half flood and across Morte bay with
about two hours to run before HW at Ilfracombe. Aim to pass just
under a cable west of the Morte Stone SHM (the overfalls inside it
can be viscious and scary, though they will eventually spit you out
in the right direction, they are best avoided!) before turning
towards Bull Point. The tide will carry you out round the rocks to
the west of Bull Point so that when the North Devon coast opens you
can turn east and romp the last few miles to Ilfracombe on the last
of the tide. It is totally unnecessary to plod
all the way out round the Horseshoe buoy, just scratch your
boat's name on Bull Point with a boat hook as you go past -
it's very deep close in and there are no overfalls there.
That's an exaggeration but fifty yards off is far enough.
Ilfracombe lies along the coast about half a mile eastwards of
Capstone Point, and about 200m east of Lantern Hill (Fl(2)G.5s
39m6M). Don't cut the corner too tight coming into
Ilfracombe, hold off until the south end of the pier (second green
light) becomes open and, at night use the leading lights (Oc10s) on
a bearing of 188°T.
Those leading lights are to keep you clear of the rocks and pier to the east of Lantern Hill; as soon as you pass the second set of greens, turn starboard for the end of the inside pier. The other point to make is that,although its characteristics say it is visible for 6miles, the light on top of Lantern Hill is not at all obvious and "lantern" is probably still the best description!
There is now a very obvious sculpture on the pier which will help to identify it from further out but be aware that it is not on the very end of the pier (see photo gallery)
Approach from the east involves sailing
outside of the Copperas Rock green conical buoy (Fl.G.2.5s), and
maintaining a good offing from Rillage Point to avoid overfalls.
These overfalls are not that active on the ebb, especially the back
end of it so if they are not visibly white don't worry
about them. Final approach as above.
A word to the wise; the tidal stream past the harbour can reach
three or four knots which is not a big problem unless you forget to
allow for it and get downstream so-to-speak. It is noticeable that
many skippers coming across from the Welsh coast, when they have
identified Ilfracombe, turn towards it forgetting that they have
still four or five miles to run (about an hour?) and that the
original course to steer needs to be maintained (even though it
appears that the destination is way off on the port or starboard
bow.) The result is that they immediately drift down the tide and
end up plodding in from the Bull Point area against the tide.
Remember that 3 knots is three nautical miles an hour and that
means when you sight Ilfracombe you need to aim for a point three
miles up the coast to get there.!!!
Upon entering keep close to the pier, to avoid running up the rocky
drying outcrops radiating out from Larkstone Beach.
HM listens on VHF Ch 16 and works on 12 and 14
£ GMT
Waypoint
Charts
Rules & Regs
Hazards
Tides
Berthing
Anchor by carefully nosing into the Outer Harbour, watching out
..... for the rocky ledges and leaving plenty of room for
vessels leaving the inner harbour and using the pier walls.
Always use an anchor light at night. At
neaps you will have more leeway and shallow draft craft may even
remain afloat. There are eight Yellow mooring buoys (Marked "V")
generally used by bilge keelers. These are just to the East of the
middle pier and dry out. Have a care; the buoys support both a
stern line and a bow line. When you pick up the buoy, attach the
head rope to your bow and unclip the stern rope and tie to your
stern. Please, on departure, re-clip the sstern line to the bow
line.
They now have three Red mooring buoys to the East of the Yellow
Visitors buoys; they are for use by Commercial operators and should
not be picked up by visiting yachts unless directed to do so by the
HM
We have given a chartlet of the harbour showing the available spots
for visitors. Be careful of the alongside moorings (V12 to V14) it
is very shallow there and you should ensure that you will have
enough water to get away when you plan and not end up neaped. Those
three moorings have the advantage of having shore power available
but the disadvantage of not getting any sun until after lunch. The
alongside berths against the North Quay are very open to holiday
makers who can be careless about where they ditch their empty food
containers especially as the waste receptacles are normally full by
teatime at the weekend.
Harbour chart of Visitors Mooring Allocation (northdevon.gov.uk)
Fin and long keel craft may lean against the wall in the inner harbour (worth booking with HM in advance), and there are fore and aft moorings for bilge keelers available also. Deeper draft craft should leave entry into the inner harbour to about 2hrs before HW.
All craft anchored or moored within the outer or inner harbours are
liable for harbour dues of around £1.71 pm. (2022) with a reduction
for a whole week.
Harbour website:
https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/business/ilfracombe-harbour/
Phone: 01271 862108
Facilities
Showers and toilets available in the yacht club and are
accessible 24/7 (See the HM) Water is available from taps on the
quay-sides and shore power is available to some of the moorings on
the South side wall. The harbour has diesel fuel but petrol will
have to be obtained in cans from Hele village to the East of
Hillsborough (a fair old plod) There are no longer any chandleries
in Ilfracombe but,if you are short of a shackle or something of
that nature most of the sailors in the yacht club are cruisers and
would help you out in extremis.
There are plenty of shops for stocking up your galley.
What to Do
Most sailors visiting here make a bee line for the yacht club
which is open every evening from Weds to Suns and from 1100 on Weds
& Suns; it's close on Monday and Tuesday. They have a
good galley and never give a visiting sailor the cold shoulder.
Mind you, it can get so busy in the summer with visiting Welshmen
that you might have to wait a wee while for service but
it's normally achieved "dreckly"
Other than that there are so many extremely good pubs and
restaurants around the harbour it would be impossible to single any
one out.
For entertainment there is the Pavillion (given an irreverent name
noting the similarity between its architecture and that of
Madonna), there is a cinema (which once gained the unwanted
description as one of the worst flea pits in England) which runs
the same films as the West end of London and, should you want to
wander further afield the theatre in Barnstaple runs some good
programmes.
You will also find much to amuse on a wet day in the museum or the
aquarium
Yacht Clubs and Associations
History
Local Business
Sailmakers-Repair-and-Covers
The Sail Loft
Mollands Garage
Quay Lane
Instow
Bideford
Devon
EX39 4JR
Uncategorised
The Sail Loft
Mollands Garage
Quay Lane
Instow
Bideford
Devon
EX39 4JR
Tide Information for ilfracombe
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