The Hithe Finder: Slipways, Hards & Beaches
A register of launching grounds
If you have sailed around the British coast for any length of time, you have encountered this problem: you need to launch a boat, or land one, and the information about where you can do so exists in fragments across outdated websites, forum threads from 2009, and the local knowledge of people who live near the water but have never written it down.
The Hithe Finder exists to solve that problem. It is a searchable, community-maintained register of boat launching sites across the UK and beyond — slipways, hards, beaches, anything you can reasonably put a boat in the water from or take one out.
How it works.
Each site is listed with the information that matters: location, access conditions, what state of tide you need, whether there are fees, what restrictions apply, what the surface is like, whether a trailer will survive it. Clickable maps show exactly where the site is. Links to relevant authorities or local sailing clubs where they exist. Notes on recent changes — a slipway closed for repairs, a hard resurfaced, access restricted by a new landowner.
The listings are text-based rather than map-only because the detail matters more than the visual. A pin on a map tells you there is a slipway. A listing tells you the slipway is concrete, usable two hours either side of high water, has a £5 launch fee payable to the harbourmaster, and the approach road floods in spring tides. That difference is the difference between launching successfully and wasting an afternoon.
Why it's community-led.
The information changes. Slipways close. Hards get resurfaced or fall into disrepair. Access agreements change when land changes hands. Fees appear or disappear. A register maintained by one person becomes out of date the moment it is published. A register maintained by the people using the sites stays current because the people finding the problems are the same people updating the information.
Anyone can add a site. Anyone can flag a closure or update access details. The system is open because the value is in accuracy, and accuracy requires the people on the ground to be the people contributing the data.
What it costs.
Nothing. The register is free to use and free to contribute to. The people launching boats should not have to pay to find out where they can launch them. The site is supported by the same principle as the VAKA field notes — knowledge that is useful to people doing real things on real water should be available to them without a paywall.
Where it covers.
The UK primarily, with coverage extending to northern Europe where contributions have been made. If you know a site that is not listed, add it. If you find a listing that is out of date, update it. The register is as comprehensive as the people using it make it.
The name.
A hithe is an old English word for a landing place — a place where boats come ashore, where water meets land in a way that allows passage. The word appears in place names across the coast: Hythe, Rotherhithe, Queenhithe. Most people do not know the word anymore, which is a loss, because we do not have a better one for what these places are.
The Hithe Finder brings the word back into use by making it useful.
The Hithe Finder: Slipways, Hards & Beaches
Use it. Contribute to it. Keep it current.