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Harbours
Cahore (Polduff), County Wexford, Ireland
Harbour position?
52° 34.183' N, 006° 11.983' WWhere is that position?
At the pier head.What is the initial fix?
The following waypoint will set up a final approach:Cahore initial fix
52° 34.198' N, 006° 11.618' W
This waypoint is 500 metres east of the pierhead.
What LWS draught is available?
3 metres (9.84 feet).What are the tides and weather here?
Dover -0330, high water range 1.2-0.8m.Offshore tidal streams, max rate 2 kn.
Dover +0430 north-northeast
Dover -0200 south-southwest
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 Leinster 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. Carlingford 04, Dublin 83, Wicklow Head 02, Rosslare 23 and Mine Head 83. 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?
Cahore, or more correctly Polduff, is a small open harbour with a projecting pier half a mile from Cahore Point on the northeastern county Wexford coastline. It is predominantly an anchorage but medium draft vessels can come alongside at the very end of the pier.It is a good harbour for conditions from the southwest round to northwest. However you would not want to be there in any other wind conditions as it offers no protection from onshore conditions. Access is straightforward as Cahore is free of obstacles and provides for an unobstructed sea entry.
Please note there are no lights in Cahore apart from a street light at the end of the pier that should not be relied on.
How to get in?
Come straight in from the initial fix, as apart from the inshore ‘Nell’s patch’ north of the harbour there are no obstructions.The locally known ‘Nell’s Patch’ is an unmarked underwater outcrop approximately two hundred metres north of the pier head. This uncharted outcrop resides in a direct line between the tip of the pier and the visible Rooney Rock. This is not an area to hug the beach if cruising between Courtown and Cahore. If departing Northward head out in line with the pier for five hundred metres before striking off your course.
The harbour you will find to predominantly an anchorage with three metres available in the bay – just inside the channel markers and no wash zone as photographed. At the very end of the pier you will find at least 1.4 M if you want to come alongside. There is no harbour master in Cahore Harbour.
What facilities are available?
There is a slip alongside the pier for hauling out a dinghy, and a pub immediately above the harbour where you may occasionally get sandwiches depending on when you land. Apart from this there is nothing else within walking distance. Ballygarrett is the nearest small village, approximately 5KM away, and this has a mini supermarket and petrol station.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
Why visit here?
Cahore Harbour is approximately eight nautical miles south of the Arklow bank and just slightly north of the Blackwater Bank thus offering clear and unobstructed Irish Sea access. This makes it a great jump off point for departure for the UK or a wait point for South going channels.Better still Cahore is five minutes from the North entrance to the Rusk Channel and at high water Dover this starts to run South at up to 3 Knots. So good timing in Cahore can place you one tide from Kilmore Quay optimising the south flowing tide.
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Any security concerns?
Cahore is a very quiet out of the way place. However you can get tourists in peak season. What makes sense in the busy time is to pull off the pier and anchor off when turning in. As the pier is low you are less than a metre from the edge. If any youngsters come down after closing time you may be the unintended eavesdropper as they chat into the later hours at the end of the pier. For this reason it is best just to move out off the pier.What navigational resources are available for this area?
Admiralty 1787 ‘Carnsore Point to Wicklow Head’ covers this area in a scale of 1:100,000. Imray chart C61 plus Discovery Ordinance Survey map 69 also cover this area. The excellent ‘’Sailing Directions - Irish Cruising Club - East & North Coasts of Ireland’ provides pilotage.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:
George Mahon, Courtown Harbour sailing Club.
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