Solent Tour 2026 » Saturday 15th: Island Harbour Provisional
Solent Tour 2026 - Saturday 15th August: Island Harbour
Our final stop on the Solent Tour is Island Harbour Marina on the River Medina.
Set in a beautiful and secluded valley, yet in a central location, Island Harbour is the perfect base from which to explore the Island and the Solent. Located in navigable water on the river Medina, the marina is approximately 2 miles upstream from Cowes, just above the Folly reach.
As a site of Special Scientific Interest and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the marina is home to many species of birds and wildlife. Meadows and woodland copses slope down to the marina's edge. A stroll along the nature trail allows you to fully appreciate the seclusion and tranquillity of the marina site. There are further beautiful country walks and Newport, the county town of the island, with its abundance of pubs, shops and restaurants, can be easily reached by a pleasant walk along the banks of the Medina. To read more just click here. Island Harbour is an ideal place to enjoy a gentle paddle around in a kayak or dinghy or even on a stand-up paddle board.
Island harbour has 200 berths and can facilitate boats up to 20 metres long with a draft of up to 2.2 metres. The harbour is accessed via a tidal lock with generous time available either side of high water depending on your draft. Please see the Island Harbour website for more details.
With HW Cowes being at 13:35 BST on 15th August access to the marina should be quite reasonable. Do check lock opening times particularly if you're starting from Portsmouth.
When approaching Island Harbour please call them up on channel 80 to obtain instructions on when to enter the lock and your berthing details.
On Saturday, after our traditional pontoon party, we plan to have a BBQ on their lawn at about 6:30 so bring along your own BBQ food and charcoal (BBQ burners are available).
A Rally Lead will be available to help with questions and bookings, and there are a number of other roles (see Duty Roster below) where we need volunteers to help make the rally more enjoyable. Please take a look and if you can help with a role just click on "Volunteer" or get in touch with events@haslaryachtclub.co.uk and we can explain more details.
We advise monitoring Ch11 (Portsmouth Harbour), Ch 12 (Southampton VTS) and Cowes Harbour Ch 69 as appropriate together with Channel 16.
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Last updated 6:46pm on 3 December 2025