Category: Harbour Management

Items relating to the management of Harbours and Harbour Approaches, including also the principle rivers in the Solent area where appropriate.

Reconfiguration of Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour

~ SPS Admin

The Beaulieu River marina at Buckler’s Hard will, over the next two winters, undergo major reconfiguration with a £2m investment. The project will be carried out in two out of season phases, with the first beginning this October and offering improved facilities and a greater number of more convenient walk-ashore berths by March. The second … Continue reading Reconfiguration of Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour

‘Big Lizzie’ sets sail for the first time from Portsmouth Harbour

~ SPS Admin

On Monday lunchtime, October 30th, the future HMS Queen Elizabeth made her first exit from Portsmouth Harbour watched by a large crowd of local residents and families of crew. Previous attempts to squeeze through the harbour entrance between the 'Still and West' and the Haslar shore had been postponed due to high winds - winds … Continue reading ‘Big Lizzie’ sets sail for the first time from Portsmouth Harbour

Queen Elizabeth – the carrier – comes home

~ SPS Admin

Five years ago, two sections of the Royal Navy's first new generation aircraft carrier left the shipbuilding yard in Portsmouth  en route for Rosyth, where final assembly of the ship was to take place.  It was to be the first time that a major ship for the Royal Navy would be built in sections, in multiple yards around the British Isles.

On Wednesday 16th August 2017, 'Big Lizzie' as she's already affectionately known, came home to her home base in Portsmouth for the first time, greeted by a large crowd of well wishers who'd turned out early to line the waterfront between Southsea Castle and Old Portsmouth. I wasn't the only member of the SPS Council up at 5:30 in the morning to be sure of a close up view.  In fact, I'd been awake at 3:30 that morning and had checked on Marine Traffic so see whether she really was in the area.  No doubt about it, clearly spinning her wheels in Freshwater Bay, waiting for the tide and the waiting crowds.