Padstow Harbour, North Cornwall, lies about 50 miles to the north-east once a vessel rounds Land's End. The North Cornwall coast and indeed the Bristol Channel have worrying connotations for small craft navigators. The whole of North Cornwall can become a very dangerous lee shore for sailing vessels, and the further one penetrates into the Bristol Channel the more powerful the tides get.

Many fine sailing ships met their end on this coast, and the inhabitants used to be well-known for their wrecking activities. Nowadays with GPS position fixing equipment, timely weather forecasts, and reliable diesel engines things are somewhat different. Even so, many Mariners on passage North or South scurry past the whole Bristol Channel/North Cornwall area as quickly as they can.

Padstow, located within the Camel estuary, is guarded by the Doom Bar... the name alone is enough to make one wary. Doom is in fact derived from "dune" as in sand dune, and although it's claimed its fair share of sailing ships most of these were a result of the vessel losing its wind and steerage way after rounding Stepper Point (see the history section).  Padstow Bay is open to the West and the North.... gales from these directions especially if prolonged enough to generate a large swell will produce spectacular results on the Doom Bar. ... read more

Approach from the south-west involves giving Trevrose Head a suitably wide offing to avoid the off lying rocks (The Quies). Once around this a course can be set for Stepper Point, passing inside of the 28 m high (and thus very conspicuous) Gulland Rock. Gurley Rock and Chimney Rock are two shallow patches with 3 m and 2.3 m over them at CD respectively.

In calm weather with any rise of the tide they should not pose a problem, but at low water or in livelier conditions it may be best to avoid sailing over them by passing closer to Gulland Rock which is fairly steep to. ... read more

Apart from temporary anchorage at The Pool, the River Camel offers no real anchoring possibilities for the visiting yachtsman or motorboater unless you can take the ground.

If berthing in the harbour, follow directions from the harbour master and berth alongside in the inner harbour. There are maintained depths of between 3 m and 4 m within.

The intrepid Mariner with a shoal draft craft may like to chance his luck on a mission inland to Wadebridge. The channel isn't really marked and there aren't any truly convenient places to dry out either. There is a boatyard and a sailing club however. ... read more