Gins Farm is situated on England's south coast two miles within the River Beaulieu. The river is entered from the western Solent whereupon it commences its meandering path through the New Forest. It is the home of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club clubhouse who provide a number of pontoon berth and moorings for the occasional use of the club members and visitors.

Set within The Solent, and up the Beaulieu River, Gins offers complete protection from all reasonable conditions. Although the Beaulieu River is entered over a sandbar it is well marked and straightforward.

The River Beaulieu is best avoided by newcomers in developed southwesterly conditions of F5 or above. In these conditions breakers are possible and the acute turn to port in the entrance may be challenging.

Keyfacts for Gins Farm

Position and approaches

Haven position

50° 47.142' N, 001° 24.716' W

This is the position of the Gin's Farm jetty.

What is the initial fix?

This is set on the 324° T transit adjacent to the Yellow Buoy Fl.Y 4s (Mar - Oct) that sets up the ideal approach to the Beaulieu Dolphin and thence to the entrance.

What are the key points of the approach?

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What's the story here?

Gins Farm is situated in the lower section of the Beaulieu River about 2 miles above its entrance on a remote section of the western shoreline. It is the home to one of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s two clubhouses. The club provides a number of mooring buoys and pontoon berths, both shore connected and mid-river. They make these available for occasional use of members and visitors alike.

The club may be contacted +44 1590 616213 or mail gins@rsyc.org.uk and more details can be found their site www.rsyc.org.uk/. Contact the club Bosun on Ch. 77 [Sea Echo] regarding berthing and he will be delighted to assist.

How to get in?

The Solent and Isle of Wight coastal description and the Bucklars Hard entry provides details on the approaches and the run up the river.




Gin's shore pontoon will be found on the western bank of the river. The recently extended jetty offers walk-ashore access over its 83 metres long walkway. Vessels of 1.8 metres may access the jetty from half tide. Club moorings are available in deeper water. Advice should be sought as to which are appropriate for a vessel's LOA and draft.




The Royal Southampton Yacht Club also leases the southern section of the mid-river pontoon, from the elbow southward, and visiting vessels may also be accommodated here. Tenders and dinghies can land at the club pontoon at all states of the tide.

Why visit here?

Like the name for the River Beaulieu, ‘Gins’ is thought to go back to the 13th century Cistercian Monks who derived its name from the Latin Word 'Ingenium'.

The word Ingenium has many meanings, mainly: innate character, talent, a natural capacity or invention. The derivative word in + gignere was used to describe practices that produced Ingenium. By the 13th-century 'Old French' had adopted the Latin word to describe objects of human skills and cleverness such as tools and machines. They contracted the word to engin and the foundation for the word 'engineer' was so derived. This was the vocabulary of the Beaulieu monks which in turn led to the area been given the name ‘Gins’.

At the time it is believed the monks had their fishery at Gins. It was a convenient location that provided quick access to the sea, at all stages of the tide, without having to navigate the river’s narrows and currents. Their fishing fleet landed sea trout, mackerel, eels and ling here. Likewise, as the Abbey developed, the fishing boats came to be accompanied by a matching fleet of trading ships. This would have been a sizable fleet as Beaulieu was the largest Cistercian Abbey in England and unusually powerful. Monks normally sustained themselves from the monastery’s outlying farms, called granges, that was typically no more than 20 miles from an Abbey. However, by 1270, the ‘Great Close of Beaulieu’, as it was then called, operated no less than five granges.


Some of Beaulieu's granges were as far afield as Great Coxwell in Oxfordshire and Cornwall, all of which required extensive logistics to ship heavy commodities back to the Abbey. Likewise, surviving account books show that the monk’s diets were supplemented by external exotic purchases such as sugar, almonds and spices that were imported from the Mediterranean. By this stage, it is believed that Gins had developed into a quay that was equipped with a lifting or winding device to load and unload large quantities of heavy goods. At this time the Cistercians would have called this mechanism the Old French title ‘engin’. Hence it became the ‘place of the en-gin’ that down through the following centuries was shortened to the word ‘Gins’.


Today this remote stretch of the river is home to the Royal Southampton Yacht Club’s (RSYC) clubhouse. The club is one of the few UK Yacht Clubs to have two clubhouses and the only ‘Royal’ club to have two on the Solent. The origins of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club go back to the 'West Quay Amateur Regatta Club' which is recorded as existing in 1858. It was renamed the 'Southampton Amateur Regatta Club' in 1862, and the 'Southampton Yacht Club' in 1875 when it was awarded the right to use the ‘Town Arms’ of Southampton. In 1964 the club purchased land here and constructed the Gins clubhouse with its extended walkway leading out to the riverside jetty. In 1987 it also constructed its headquarters at Ocean Village Marina, when the marina was being built in and around Southampton's old Princess Alexandra Dock.


The RSYC is one of the UK’s most significant sailing clubs. As a 'Royal' club, members have the privilege of being permitted, subject to the issue of a warrant letter by the Club, to fly the 'defaced' blue ensign bearing a crown in the centre of the Union flag. They also retain the privilege of jointly running the first three days of Cowes Week. Today Gins is the centre for the Club's cadet dinghy sailing. Despite this heritage, prestige and standing in sailing circles, the RSYC is in the writer’s experience, the most welcoming and friendly of clubs a sailor may encounter.

Akin to Gull Island, Gins offers another berthing opportunity on a more secluded section of this beautiful river. However, at Gins there are the facilities of the clubhouse and jetty and the very warm welcome of the RSYC members.

What facilities are available?

There are no facilities here except for the ability to land on the Beaulieu River Sailing Club Jetty. The clubhouse offers showers and changing rooms, a bar and dining room that serves hot food. Buckler's Hard, further upriver, can cater for almost any boating requirement and offers basic provisions.

Any security concerns?

Never an issue known to have occurred to a vessel moored at Gin's Farm.

With thanks to:

Mike Nicholls, retired Beaulieu River Harbour Master.