East Sussex, England

Hove Lagoon slipway

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Launch — One of two OSM-mapped slipways set into the lagoon's edge, about 80 m apart; the lagoon itself is a concrete-bottomed boating lake that is only waist deep throughout.

Parking — No operator car park. Free parking on Wharf Road, opposite the lagoon, is limited to 4 hours; metered parking runs along the south side of the A259 Kingsway, with free parking in the residential streets to its north. Wharf Road is within about 150 m of the lagoon.

Access — Own-craft paddling is permitted on the operator's terms, not as a free walk-on launch: paddlers register at the Lagoon Watersports office on the lagoon's south side and pay the operator's fee, either as an occasional visitor (including joining an instructor-led SUP clinic with your own board) or by joining the operator's own paid 'own kit' club membership for regular use.

Season — Lagoon Watersports's main season runs roughly April to November; the centre is closed December to March and the operator asks paddlers to call ahead to check. Every other winter the lagoon is drained for cleaning, a process that takes at least six weeks.

Regulations — Hove Lagoon is council-owned water; access for own-craft paddling is arranged and charged through the Lagoon Watersports concession rather than under a published council tariff. The council's seafront Bathing and Boating Byelaws set a 5-knot speed limit and restrict motorised and sail craft within 200 m of the shore at Hove Lagoon's stretch of beach, but govern the adjacent sea rather than the lagoon itself.

Hove Lagoon is a small, enclosed saltwater boating lake on the Hove seafront, owned by Brighton & Hove City Council and operated for watersports by the Lagoon Watersports concession, sharing the water with sailing, windsurfing, wing foiling and cable wakeboarding.

A council-run boating lagoon, not a tidal launch

Hove Lagoon is a man-made, enclosed saltwater lake on the Hove seafront, about 200 m long and 100 m wide, with a solid concrete bottom that keeps it only waist deep throughout. It began as a privately owned tidal pond, bought by Hove Corporation in 1896; conversion into the lagoon started in 1929, using funds from a Great Depression job-creation scheme, and it opened in 1930. Rather than an open tidal exchange, the lagoon is topped up through a seawater intake pipe and is periodically drained for cleaning.

The larger lagoon this slipway sits on is shared with windsurfing, wing foiling and stand-up paddleboard tuition, is tagged in OpenStreetMap for sailing, and hosts three cable-tow wakeboard runs. The Hove Lagoon Model Yacht Club also races radio-controlled International One Metre yachts here, weather permitting, on Sunday mornings.

Nearby

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Big Beach Cafe

Cafe on the lagoon's south side, at the Hove Lagoon site itself; also holds a bar licence.

Conditions to check

Shallow or rocky

The lagoon has a solid, concrete bottom and is only waist deep throughout.

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Boat traffic

The lagoon is also used for windsurfing, wing foiling and stand-up paddleboard tuition.

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Overhead cable

Three System 2.0 cable-tow wakeboard runs operate on the lagoon.

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Boat traffic

Hove Lagoon Model Yacht Club races radio-controlled International One Metre yachts on the lagoon, weather permitting, every Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00.

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Other launches nearby

1 launch within 82m

82m south-west

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Location data

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