Sun Pier re-opened at last!

We’ve just heard from Adam Taylor of Medway Council that Sun Pier is open again following some “enhanced engagement” with the electricity supplier. Note that overnight mooring is not currently allowed but we should take every opportunity to visit the Pier and the nearby Rats Bay river moorings if we are to keep them. Use them or lose them!

Please note there is no restriction on overnight mooring for the FREE visitors’ mooring buoys in Rats Bay, close to Sun Pier. If coming ashore to experience the delights of Chatham High Street, leave your dinghy on the inside of the pontoon or in the dinghy rack. There is no charge but it will cost you a pound to buy a token from the machine to get back through the gate. Sun Pier House is well worth a visit for the cafe and art gallery with a spectacular view of the river.

7 thoughts on “Sun Pier re-opened at last!”

  1. Could you please explain more about the Rats Bay river moorings. Are they the ones next to Sun Pier, who manages them and are they for public use? Thanks

      1. Although overnight mooring is not officially allowed on Sun Pier, there is no such restriction on the nearby Rats Bay moorings (9 small and 4 big ones). They were laid by Peel Ports for public use but they are intending to remove them any time now to avoid the cost of maintenance. The MSBA is protesting against this. There is roughly 2 metres depth at LWS though the nearby mud bank comes very close. The MSBA strongly encourages visitors to use them, though they are due for inspection so it must be at your own risk. There is a dinghy rack on Sun Pier specifically for visiting users of these moorings. You need a pound coin to get a token from the machine when going ashore so you can get back though the gate.

  2. In past years I used the Rats Bay moorings quite a lot. They were useful for dropping a crew (wife) ashore to do some storing at Sainsbury’s (there are other food outlets). In those days it was NOT advisable to leave dinghy.

    The ‘yard’ further round where Chatham YC (?) is/was had a convenient pontoon until a decade ago, thereabouts.

    Will take up challenge and use moorings again for they are in a quiet and ‘pretty’ spot under the old dockyard church on its wooded bluff. It is quiet in an easterly blow too!

  3. Well i never knew these were for visitors. perhaps if it were not such a closely guarded secret they would get used more. I once enquired about stopping on a mooring ball by the strand leisure park but was told the aren’t any. my little girl want to play on the swings and it seemed like a perfect place for visiting craft but as usual….. no where to stop. the same is also true of Medway Valley Leisure park. that could really do with a pontoon so that LEISURE craft can access the LEISURE activities…..

    just saying….

  4. In the USA it’s common to see pontoons for visiting yachts, but the UK seem to go out of Thier way to deny any visitors moorings, and that’s up the Rochester end of the Medway, and the Thames is a no go, only Gravesend yacht club,

    1. Well the Medway must be a pleasant surprise then, with free public moorings at Rats Bay and access to Chatham High Street via Sun Pier, which has a dinghy rack. Most of the yacht clubs also accept visitors though some will charge a modest fee per night.

      On the Thames, in addition to Gravesend YC, there’s also Gravesend Pier which welcomes visitors. I’ve also found that Erith and Greenwich Yacht Clubs will give free overnight moorings to yachts on passage.

      It might pay you to get a copy of East Coast Pilot in which you’ll find a lot of useful information.

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