Sailing inyourfootsteps.com

Helvic, County Waterford, Ireland

---

Harbour position?

52° 3.300' N, 007° 32.714' W

Where is that position?

At Helvic Harbour’s west facing entrance.

What are the initial fixes?

The following waypoints will set up a final approach:

(i) Helvic initial fix
52° 3.340' N, 007° 31.640' W
This waypoint is 1400 metres east of the pier entrance. It is on the transition point where the Ballinacourty Point Lighthouse Fl (2) WRG 10s will be on a bearing of 325° and at night changing from red to white as you progress towards the harbour.

(ii) Helvic initial fix
52° 3.340' N, 007° 31.640' W
This waypoint is 1400 metres east of the pier entrance. It is on the transition point where the Ballinacourty Point Lighthouse Fl (2) WRG 10s will be on a bearing of 325° and at night changing from red to white as you progress towards the harbour.

Please note: Initial fixes only set up their listed targets. Do not plan to sail directly between initial fixes as a routing sequence.

What LWS draught is available?

3 metres (9.84 feet).

What are the tides and weather here?

Dover -0540
MHWS 4.5m MHWN 3.5m MLWN 1.2m MLWS 0.5m

Off Mine Head:
West going stream begins –0315 Dover (+0235 Cobh)
East going stream begins +0420 Dover or (-0215 Cobh)
Spring rate does not exceeding 1.2 kn.

The latest monthly Dover Tides and Cobh Tides courtesy of the National Environmental Research Council. Printable monthly tides for Dublin, Dunmore, Cobh, Galway, Belfast are available from the ISA.

The national weather forecast, Met Éireann and BBC shipping forecasts, plus a very simplified Munster tourist outlook. From an Atlantic perspective a 24 hour North Atlantic synoptic chart that you may ‘right click’ and save to your hard disk. Met Éireann’s Eastern Atlantic chart and the BBC’s surface area forecast plus visible satellite images for Ireland and Northeast Atlantic from Met Éireann. Wind observations, XC UK & Ireland, Windguru wind & wave reports, and Windfinder where you can determine a forecast time. Coastal radio stations (VHF Channel) Weather forecast at 0103 and thence every 3 hours updated every sixth. Cork 26, Bantry 23, Valentia 24. Radio broadcasts on RTE 1 (89.1FM) 0603, 1253, 1655 and 2355.

A free tidal range prediction application for windows, a simple tide monitor plus the rule of twelfths are available in inyourfootsteps.com shared ‘experience’.

What considerations are there?

Helvick is a small artificial fishing harbour protected by a breakwater on the bottom of Dungarvan’s eastward-facing bay. It lies approximately 600 Metres to the west of Helvick Head, the southeast most point of the bay.

This is a good anchorage from anything south round to west and eight visitor moorings are available. You could spend a night here in reasonable conditions from these quarters. The fishing pier is also available where yachts may berth alongside the inner side of the breakwater if unoccupied by fishing vessels. You can expect good shelter alongside except in north-westerly conditions where it can get choppy and in these circumstances you are best to head across the bay to Dungarvan.

Please note the pier is busy due to a limited amount of deep water quayside available and the amount of fishing vessels that require this section. Even if you do secure a berth alongside you have to plan to move off to accommodate the commercial operations if required. Furthermore at low water there is no room to turn around as a large section of the southern portion of the harbour dries. As a result you are better outside the harbour on anchorage or picking up one of the moorings.

How to get in?

From the initial fix come in around Helvic Head and the headland standing off approximately two hundred metres to keep clear of obstructions. Do not come in too far north of the headland as a half mile north of this (circa 1000 metres) and there are obstructions in the bay. Come straight up to the anchorage approximately 200 metres northwest of the harbour entrance and anchor in 3 metres with sand and shale.

There are 8 visitor moorings available 500 metres west of Helvick Pier.
Schull moorings – position: 52° 03.300’N 007° 33.100’W
The moorings are rated to 15 tons and are large, coloured bright yellow and labelled VISITOR.

If you wish to go into the harbour the pier entrance faces west. Depth in the entrance is about 1•5 metres but the harbour is liable to silt and the deepest water is on the south breakwater side of the entrance. There is also a small 0.5 Metres patch off the north pier so keep 30 Metres off before rounding to come in the entrance.

The pier is busy due to a limited amount of deep water quayside available. Some dredging has been carried out to give 2M along the length of the pier but it is always subject to silting and you cannot rely upon it at any given time.

What facilities are available?

Apart from the pier there is very little in Helvic. Supplies can be got from one mile away.

What emergency contacts are there?

Dublin Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) VHF Ch 83 covers the area from Carlingford Lough to Youghal. Carlingford (04), Wicklow Head (02), Rosslare (23) and Mine Head (83) provide relay stations. Coastguard Radio is always called on a working channel. Emergencies are worked on 16, 67 and working channel.

Alternatively, or if ashore, phone 999 or 121 (free) and ask for ‘Marine Rescue’. Gardai (police), Fire and Rescue are also available on this number. Dublin (MRSC) may be contacted directly on +353 1 662 0922/3

Other useful contacts in this area:
Dungarvan Yacht Club +353 58 45663

Why visit here?

This is an excellent place to come into and duck out of some weather or wait out a tide. There are no obstructions coming from the east or from the sea so you can drop back out and be on your way very quickly and easily.

Any security concerns?

It would be unlikely that you would experience any issues on anchor or moorings.

What navigational resources are available for this area?

Admiralty Charts 2049 ‘Old Head of Kinsale to Tuskar Rock’ Scale of 150,000 covers this sailing area. Admiralty Charts 2017 ‘Dungarvan Harbour’ Scale of 15,000 that includes Helvic is also available.

Imray chart C57 and Discovery Ordinance Survey Map 82 also cover this area. The Pilot ’Sailing Directions - Irish Cruising Club - South and West Coasts of Ireland’’ describes sailing this area in great detail.

How can I get this offshore?

If you are receiving a mobile signal you can access all of our information via a standard mobile phone internet browser. We provide a streamlined version of the site at www.liyfs.com, which is a shortcut to our 'Lite' site called Lite.InYourFootSteps.com, that is simplified and optimised for speed. Here are the phonetics to pass the address on via VHF: WWW.LIYFS.COM, I SPELL... LIMA... INDIA... YANKEE... FOXTROT... SIERRA... DOT.COM. Similarly, if you have limited or expensive internet capabilities, you may switch to the 'Lite' site www.liyfs.com for faster more efficient access.

Alternatively you may print a hard copy to have aboard. Either print this page with text, illustrations and photos, but without the internet menu, layout, backdrops and Google maps, or economise upon printer consumables and print this page with text only.

With thanks to:

Burke Corbett, Gusserane, New Ross, Co. Wexford.

---

Please zoom out to see the 'initial fixes' for this location.
Print this harbour

Add a review or comment:

Please log in to leave a review of this harbour.

Please note inyourfootsteps.com makes no guarantee of the validity of this information, we have not visited this harbour and do not have first-hand experience to qualify the data. Although the contributors are vetted by peer review as practised authorities, they are in no way, whatsoever, responsible for the accuracy of their contributions. It is essential that you thoroughly check the accuracy and suitability for your vessel of any waypoints offered in any context plus the precision of your GPS. Any data provided on this page is entirely used at your own risk and you must read our legal page if you view data on this site.