Drone boat hire on The South Coast

Drone boat hire on the south coast

Drone boats from Dorset to Kent

From the Jurassic Coast and the Solent to the Sussex chalk and the white cliffs of Kent, the south coast is best flown from the sea. Launching from a boat keeps the drone over open water, away from busy beaches and seafronts, and lets it follow a yacht, a ferry or the line of the cliffs.

Boats for the south coast

Open sea calls for a seaworthy boat with a clear deck for launch and recovery, and a skipper who holds a steady heading into the wind and swell while the pilot works. We bring a boat by road, or crew a suitable one found locally.

What the south coast asks of a shoot

Permission. Each harbour has its own authority and rules, from the naval port at Portsmouth to the ferry port at Dover, so launches and filming inside harbour limits are planned with whoever runs the water.

Sea state. Swell, wind against tide and the races off the headlands decide the day, so we pick the window by the forecast and keep a fallback date.

Drones. Long stretches are clear, including Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Folkestone's harbour and Cowes. Shoreham's harbour mouth is inside the flight restriction zone of the airport there, Dover's harbour inside the Port of Dover's own zone, Portland Harbour inside the Portland zone, and Dungeness inside its own restricted area (R063); each needs permission before the day. Portsmouth's naval base zone starts about 500 m from the harbour entrance, and Southampton's docks lie about 1 km from the airport's runway zone. The danger areas at Lulworth and the Hythe ranges reach the shore, so we check their activity times before any flight nearby.

Filming somewhere else? See all our film boat hire locations, or tell us where and we will find the right boat.

Questions