Motorcycle mecca, home to three-legged cats and tail-less kippers, and sceptred isle set in a silver sea. The Isle of Man is a very special place, says an emotional Tom Isitt.

For me, the Isle of Man is a glorious, wild, beautiful and enchanting place, but a place tinged with sadness. I have had such wonderful times there, but lost too many friends there as well. It can be a cruel and unforgiving place, both as a boater and as a biker.

Even though the island has more than its share of rain, for me it’s all about blue skies, cut grass, hot tarmac, rough gorse and Castrol R. And the noise - the yowl of a GSX-R through Cronk-y-Voddy, the roar of a big twin powering out of The Gooseneck, the ring-ding-ding of a race-tuned stroker going down through the gears at Creg-ny-Baa. Oh yes, memories are all about the smells and the sounds.

I will never forget the day I first saw Joey Dunlop. It was my first trip to the island, a gorgeous June day, and I was sitting with a mate on a drystone wall just before Ballacraine, dangling my feet out over the narrow verge. Manx Radio informed us that Joey was safely through Quarter Bridge and on his way towards us. A few minutes later we could hear a bike in the distance, and we leaned forward, craning to see the approaching rider. A wall of noise, a blast of wind, and the flash of a red bike and a yellow crash helmet. Joey was past us, sitting up, hard on the brakes for the 90-right o f Ballacraine.

If I had leaned out a little further and extended my arm I could have touched him as he flashed past at 160mph. Every single hair on my body stood on end (well, nearly every one). I laughed out loud at the sheer lunacy of riding a racebike at 160mph along a bumpy country road. Walls, telegraph poles, bus shelters, trees - these are the things you hit when it goes wrong. Beautiful insanity.

A ‘sealocked’ setting
In any case, the Isle of Man, for the geographically-challenged, is an island in the Irish Sea, pretty much equidistant from Cumbria, Scotland, north Wales and Northern Ireland. It’s about 50 miles from one end to the other, and about 15 miles across in most places. And it is one of the most beautiful places in the UK. Except that it’s not, technically, in the UK. It’s a self-governing Crown dependency, with its own parliament, and thus not part of the UK at all. But it is spectacularly beautiful, looking in places like the verdant rolling countryside of Suffolk, in others like the craggy cliffs of west Wales, and in others like the Highlands of Scotland.

From bikes to boats
Although justifiably famous for the TT races, held every year at the end of May and beginning of June, there is much more to the Isle of Man than doughnuts, Yoshi pipes and leathers (those are biking things, in case you were confused). From a boaty point of view, the place has a stunning coastline, alternating between high, sheer cliffs and secluded sandy bays, with the occasional picturesque harbour thrown in. It’s like a cross between a Scilly Island and a Channel Island, with a touch of Western Isles thrown in for good measure.

The down side, from a boating point of view, is that there aren’t a huge number of visitor berths available, and the weather can be very changeable. Being stuck out in the middle of the Irish Sea means that the IoM cops some pretty serious weather from time to time. But when the weather is settled and pleasant, it is a fabulous place to be on a boat. Navigation here, unlike somewhere such as the Scilly Isles, is relatively straightforward, with few unpleasant surprises other than the huge tidal range the island enjoys. Indeed, with a tidal range of up to eight metres on a spring tide, and a hefty four metres or more on neap tides, this isn’t a place to leave your boat tied up to the harbour wall while you have a three-hour lunch.

Getting there
There are two ways of sports boating in the Isle of Man. You can hop over there on your boat or you can take the ferry from Liverpool or Heysham with your boat on a trailer. Helming your way over is more exciting but you will need to wait for the right weather to make your crossing, and once there you won’t have any other transport if the weather turns bad and you fancy a day off the water, unless you take the car-rental option. Taking the ferry is more expensive, but you will at least have the option of inland sightseeing if you fancy it, and the island is so beautiful you’d be mad not to have a look around.

For those taking the hop-across option, the shortest and easiest route is to launch at Whitehaven in Cumbria and head 35 miles southwest to Ramsey on the north-eastern side of the island. On a relatively calm day you will make it in around 90 minutes and be in Douglas in a little over two hours. From north Wales the trip is more like 70 miles, and from Belfast it’s about 90 miles round to Douglas on the IoM, although if you set off from Stangford Lough it’s only around 60 miles.

Berthing options
Berthing options are quite limited, but if you have your boat on a trailer, there are slipways aplenty. Douglas, the capital of the island and its biggest town, has a decent number of visitor berths, but they are assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. You can’t book but if your boat is relatively small they’ll probably squeeze you in somewhere. Peel, on the west coast, is another place you may be able to find a mooring for a couple of days but, again, the options are not huge.

A tale of two coastlines
The Isle of Man coast has two very distinct characters - the west coast is wild and beautiful and a pretty terrifying lee-shore when the wind is blowing. In good weather this coast is delightful, but conditions can change, and if they do you need to be diving into Peel harbour or getting round to the east coast pretty sharpish. The east coast is similarly dramatic, but there is a softer, more gentle feel to it. There are little bays with small sandy and pebble beaches, the sort of places you could drop the hook for an hour or two and maybe get ashore for an ice cream or a barbie.

Visitor highlights
There is enough inland to keep any visitor amused for at least a week. The centre of the island is dominated by a damn great mountain called Snaefell, and there is some great walking on the slopes, and along the glens that surround it (Glen Dhoon, Glen Maye, Glen Helen, Glen Mooar, and such like) if you like a bit of outdoorsiness. If you can’t be bothered with that, there’s a cute little electric railway that goes from Laxey (where there’s a huge and very famous waterwheel) up to Snaefell. And if you like cute little railway journeys, there’s a very cute steam railway that runs from Douglas to Port Erin.

Other cool things include a Maritime Museum in Castletown and a couple of great castles at (surprise surprise) Castletown and also at Peel. The Cregneash Folk Village, near Port St Mary, gives a glimpse into life as a crofter in the 19th century, and of course there’s Tynwald, home to the oldest continuous parliament ever (they have been sitting since 979AD), an institution that can boast of giving the vote to women as far back as 1881, and yet retained corporal punishment until the 1970s.

The real thrill of the Isle of Man, however, is doing a 37.73 mile lap of the legendary TT course. Those of us with Castrol R in our veins go all misty-eyed and goose-pimply at the very thought of it. And the great thing is that, outside the towns and villages, there’s no speed limit, so if the racers can get up to 197mph along the Sulby Straight, your Mondeo tow-car should be good for 130mph. The course is actually very beautiful, and well worth a drive. And if you get it very wrong at Kate’s Cottage, don’t worry. If you clear the dry-stone wall, there’s a very comfy field to land in.

Worth the effort?
Although the Isle of Man isn’t the easiest place to go boating, having a trailer boat at least gives you the option to go there by ferry and make the most of what the island has to offer. The coastline is gorgeous, and if the weather is kind then there are fewer places in the UK more lovely. It is a stunning island steeped in history and culture, so before your daydreams turn to azure moorings in the Med this summer, have a think about what you might find on your own doorstep . . .


boating information

Charts
Admiralty: Irish Sea 1826, 1411; 2094 (small scale), 2696 (ports), 5613 (folio)
Imray: C26, Y70

Harbour masters
Douglas        01624 686628
Peel        01624 842338
Port St Mary    01624 833205
Ramsey        01624 812245
Whitehaven    01946 692435

Slipways
There are slips at Whitehaven, Peel, Port St Mary, Douglas, and Ramsey. Call the local harbourmaster for details

Weather
Ronaldsway Met Office:    0900 624 3322
Marinecall:        09068 969651
Douglas Harbour Control:    01624 686628

Tides
The tidal range on the Isle of Man is huge (up to eight metres on a hefty spring and in excess of four even on neaps), so a good set of tide tables and up-to-date charts are essential. Beware of strong tidal streams off the north and south tips of the island, with four or five knots of tide running in these areas on full flood and ebb.

R/T
Call local harbours or Douglas Harbour Control on Channel 12

Customs
No clearance needed if coming from the UK

Almanac
Reeds Nautical Almanac 2010, a must-have for any boater and £35 very well spent

Tourist information
01624 686817
www.gov.im/tourism

Essential Viewing
V4 Victory (on-board footage of Joey Dunlop round the TT course);
No Limit (George Formby film about the TT);
Stormbreaker (kids action/adventure movie filmed largely on the IoM).