Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) is getting ready for the return of overnight visitors to the harbour following confirmation from the UK Government that overnighting on boats will be allowed from this Saturday, 4th July.
CHC has been taking a cautious, stepped approach to opening up its marine services and facilities in line with the Government’s continued easing of lockdown restrictions. The latest changes mean that we can now accommodate pre-booked overnight stays at our visitor moorings in the harbour, on the River Medina and at Shepards Marina. Currently, there will continue to be no rafting of boats and CHC is working with other Solent harbours on this topic towards a protocol agreement for the Solent to put to the South Coast Harbour Masters' Association and British Ports Association. Short stays at CHC visitor mooring locations will also be changing from 4th July back to the normal “up to four hours” stay.
Safety remains CHC’s top priority in the harbour and whilst the Island's tourism sector also prepares for the return of summer visitors on 4th July, we are focused on keeping Cowes Harbour safe and protected by staying COVID-19 secure and seeking to make changes that best mitigate the risks to visitor safety that are unique to a port and marina environment.
We can confirm that we have complied with the Government’s guidance on managing the risk of COVID-19 at CHC sites and visitor mooring locations with extra mitigations in place to ensure that our visitor moorings are safe places to bring your family to stay overnight.
We urge all visitors to maintain the 2 metres social distancing between visitors of different boats, households or support bubbles, and where that is not viable, 1 metre is acceptable plus mitigations such as the wearing of facemasks in communal spaces.
We have made a number of adaptations to keep our staff and visitors safe, with protective screens in reception, and hand sanitisers available for visitors’ use at Shepards Marina. We continue to encourage all visitors to use hand sanitiser or handwashing facilities as they enter our premises and regularly during their stay as they move between different areas in the marina.
We are awaiting the full Government guidelines on overnight stays, as relevant to ports and harbours, marinas and mooring facilities, but CHC is working towards the following:
- Informing all pre-booked overnight visitors in advance about guidelines for Shepards Marina and harbour/river moorings.
- Ensuring enhanced, frequent cleaning of areas receiving higher usage with overnight stays.
- Recommending that visitors use the wash facilities onboard their own boats wherever possible.
- Putting in place measures to manage the usage of shared washroom and toilet facilities by overnight visitors.
- Keeping shower facilities closed for the first week and under review.
- Having clear information to alert visitors to the increased risk of using communal washrooms and toilets.
- Keeping customers’ contact details in case of need for track and trace.
As a result of the current COVID-19 restrictions on some holidays abroad, this is a good opportunity to take a Great British summer staycation in support of British tourism. CHC aims to offer the best berthing experience we can in the circumstances and to safely share the best of Cowes Harbour with all overnight visiting boats.
Shepards Marina will initially be offering the lower overnight berthing rate of £2.94pmpn from Monday to Sunday (to be kept under review). For all enquiries and bookings, please
contact the moorings team at Shepards Marina
for more information. For CHC’s main harbour visitor moorings and river pontoon visitor moorings, overnight stays will remain as per the standard charges.
For
Cowes Yacht Haven
,
East Cowes Marina
, and other mooring providers, boat users are advised to visit their respective websites and contact them directly for the most up-to-date policy information and details on visitor berthing.