Moorings in Stour and Orwell

The Stour and the Orwell are two estuaries that meet at Shotley Point and reach the sea through Harwich Harbour, between Harwich on the Essex side and Felixstowe on the Suffolk side. Felixstowe is the largest container port in the country, so the harbour mouth is busy with shipping, but both rivers offer a wide choice of moorings on the Stour and Orwell, from locked marinas to swinging moorings and berths that dry.

Harwich Haven Authority is the statutory harbour authority for the Haven, an area of about 150 square miles that takes in the rivers, the estuary and the seaward approaches, and it runs pilotage and a vessel traffic service for the shipping. On the upper Stour it works with the Stour Sailing Club on the moorings at Manningtree and Mistley. Associated British Ports owns the Port of Ipswich and its Wet Dock at the head of the Orwell.

The Orwell has the most marinas. Suffolk Yacht Harbour is at Levington, Woolverstone Marina has pontoon berths and swinging moorings served by a water taxi, and Fox's Marina at Ipswich can be entered at all states of the tide. Pin Mill, known from Arthur Ransome's books, has two boatyards and moorings in the river. At the head of the estuary, the old Wet Dock in Ipswich, entered through a lock close to the town centre, holds the marina berths that Associated British Ports runs as Ipswich Beacon Marina, which since 2023 has included the former Neptune Marina.

The Stour is quieter. Shotley Marina, near the mouth where the two rivers meet, is entered through a lock that is manned 24 hours a day, giving access at all states of the tide, although boats drawing more than about 1.8 metres should check at low water springs. Upriver, the Stour Sailing Club manages the moorings around Manningtree and Mistley; all of them dry at some point, so most boats kept there have bilge keels, lifting keels or no keel. The river is tidal up to the barrage at Cattawade.