Moorings on the River Ouse (Sussex)

The Sussex Ouse rises near Lower Beeding in West Sussex and flows east and then south, skirting Haywards Heath and passing through Lewes before reaching the sea at Newhaven, where it separates Denton Island from the mainland. Below the weirs at Barcombe Mills the river is tidal.

Barges worked the river up to Lewes until the 1950s, and the upper river was once made navigable with 19 locks up to Upper Ryelands Bridge near Balcombe. That upper navigation has not been restored, although the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust would like to see it reopened. Newhaven is still a working port with cross-Channel ferries to Dieppe, so leisure boats share the harbour with commercial traffic.

Moorings on the Ouse centre on Newhaven Marina, a quarter of a mile in from the harbour entrance on the west bank. It gives good shelter, can be reached in all weathers and at all states of tide, and has pontoon berths for boats of about 6 to 15.5 m with water and electricity, a fuel pontoon nearby and a chandlery. The Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club is based at the marina.