The Gulf Stream, flowing in from the north, gives the coastline a pleasant climate, in which subtropical plantlife can flourish. Portpatrick is a village hanging on to the extreme south-westerly tip of mainland Scotland, cut into a cleft in steep cliffs.ĭating back historically some 500 years, and built adjacent to the ruins of nearby Dunskey Castle, its position on the Rhins of Galloway affords visitors views of the Northern Irish coast to the west, with clifftop walks and beaches both north and south. The link we had to the Portpatrick Lifeboat station no longer works and we have been unable to find a replacement. This is marked by a small orange spherical buoy, that resembles a mooring buoy rather than a navigational mark.Īt this stage the entrance to the inner harbour is "open", and you can make your way in. The turn must not be commenced until you have passed Half Tide Rock on your port side. Once through the outer entrance, a sharp turn must be made to port to avoid running up the beach. In a strong onshore blow it would be wise to give it a miss altogether and to make your way round to Loch Ryan where shelter may be found. Although marked as lit occasionally, this should not be relied on.ĭepths within the outer harbour are shown as low as 0.2 m at chart datum, so it would be wise to delay your entrance at least a couple of hours either side of low water, especially if there is any kind of onshore sea. They consist of a post on the outer harbour wall painted orange (the forward mark), that lines up with the rear mark, an orange vertical stripe on the corner of the building in the main street. Again the photo gallery will show what a rock strewn entrance it is.įor the small craft Mariner what this means is that the leading marks that will see you safely into the harbour will need to be positively identified before making the approach. In the closer approaches to Portpatrick is it need to be borne in mind that the entrance is less than 40 m wide between the ruined breakwaters, which may well be hidden underwater at higher states of the tide. The photo gallery shows both these features. If approaching from the South, the big hotel set to the North of the harbour will be seen. If approaching from the North West there is a single plain radio mast close to the North of Portpatrick, and another radio mast set to the East, this one having dishes on it. In the closer approaches to Portpatrick, tidal streams of up to 3 kn may be experienced setting across the mouth of the harbour. With the tidal stream reaching up to 5 kn in places at Springs, planning is necessary. It is generally rocky, with tidal eddies and overfalls inshore along the coast.The South going tidal stream begins about +0430 Dover, and the North going three begins about -0310 Dover. The Rhins of Galloway is the 26 mile long peninsular, with Portpatrick located about midway. The channel through the outer harbour has been dredged to 2m and a little bit of dredging has been done by the visitors wall but if you draw 2+metres you may still ground at LWS. They have moved the Lifeboat out of the inner harbour,are doing what they can with the NE wall and have put fenders on the ladders. The Trust has no plans to spend money on pontoons because the present geometry of the harbour precludes this option without considerable sea defences of the same type as were wrecked way back when. What has happened is that the harbour now belongs to a local harbour trust having been in private ownership for a very long time. The rumours that plans for 100 pontoons had been approved in 2012 are exagerated. Plans for floating pontoons were mooted and finally rejected in 2007, which is a bit of a shame, as access from the boat to the high harbour wall is difficult. There used not to be much here in the way of facilities for the cruising yachtsman but in the last three or four years things have improved and the harbourmaster now has a very good reputation for helpfulness. No pontoons or any other modern trappings, just the harbour walls. There is enough water for most boats to remain afloat within, but the entrance channel has less than half a metre, entry and exit must be timed accordingly. The remains of these will be seen either side of the close approach.įor the modern day yachtsman or motorboater, the inner harbour can offer decent shelter, perhaps except in very strong SW winds. It's disadvantage is facing West, and thus exposed to heavy seas which in fact smashed up the breakwaters. Being only 14 miles away from the Irish coast, it popular with Northern Ireland boats.Īt one time Portpatrick was used for commercial traffic to Ireland, but was abandoned for this purpose in 1870. It is set midway along the west coast of Galloway an area beset by strong tidal streams. Portpatrick is small harbour with a narrow somewhat tricky entrance.
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