I've always enjoyed visiting Yarmouth and am pleased to see them investing again in better berthing facilities. I presume they expect to be able to cram more of us in with the new layout, so I hope the showers etc will also see a proportionate expansion....
Nearly all the berths at present are aligned with the direction of the tidal flows. I can see a few problems with long marina isles arranged across the tide, particularly with heavy traffic and the less experienced crews who tend to turn up there in charter boats.
Edit: Any news about the outer breakwater they were talking about a couple of years ago?
It will wreck the character of the harbour - next it will change its name to Yarmouth Marina and the prices will go up, then the resident berths will be reduced as it just becomes another commercial hell hole
Just my opinion of course.
They already charge marina prices for the existing walk ashore pontoons.
£26 for a 30 footer plus £3 extra if you connect to electricity
plus £1.50 per person per shower. That's £32 for a couple each night.
Can't remember what the mid-stream pontoon cost but think about £18.
Those are across the, sometimes very strong, current and we got
clobbered twice when we were last there.
We love the place and the Island but it's Newtown Creek for us in future
and a pleasant walk along the coast to visit Yarmouth.
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They already charge marina prices for the existing walk ashore pontoons.
£26 for a 30 footer plus £3 extra if you connect to electricity
plus £1.50 per person per shower. That's £32 for a couple each night.
Can't remember what the mid-stream pontoon cost but think about £18.
Those are across the, sometimes very strong, current and we got
clobbered twice when we were last there.
We love the place and the Island but it's Newtown Creek for us in future
and a pleasant walk along the coast to visit Yarmouth.
We used the mid stream pontoon a couple of times this summer midweek and found it excellent, even though we had to use the rubber duck to get ashore. and it was cheap midweek, £9 from memory. Also used the outer swinging moorings for a lunchtime stop when the lads were on board and again it was fine, even though we had to use the taxi service. Having all the moorings 'walk ashore' would definitely put us off visiting again. But then, we are East Coasters and can't afford the usual Solent mooring fees!!
I prefer the moorings outside, where you can watch the ships and boats going by and enjoy the fresh air, and peace and quiet. There's a very efficient taxi service if you need to go ashore. You can have a good sleep, undisturbed by noisy neighbours and leave when you like, so it's ideal for an early departure for France.
Thats a real shame. Looks like a big marina. No more rowing to the slips, practisind dinghy skills, tying to the piles, and coming in under sail. All things that I was brought up on and love Yarmouth for. Looks tricky to turn around too (LOA 73'), and coming in under sail will be impossible as the alongside berths don't line up into the prevailing wind. BOO!
Newtown is going to get real busy!!!
Oh come on Nick. We all know that your close quarters handling of Ocean Pearl is better than most AWBs even if they have got Magimixers to help them avoid anything complicated. The truth is that you don't want to have to pay out for white jeans and stripey jumpers for your crew and there will be no excuse not to once they can walk ashore
What a shame, the existing facility has already changed the nature of this lovely harbour, to the extent that where I used to be a very regular visitor, I now rarely visit.
If they are extending their marina, I guess that they will have to do without my mooring fees altogether. Not a big issue for Yarmouth, but if there are enough like minded people then Chris Lisher may still be looking at cash shortfalls.
If they are extending their marina, I guess that they will have to do without my mooring fees altogether. Not a big issue for Yarmouth, but if there are enough like minded people then Chris Lisher may still be looking at cash shortfalls.
I doubt it. It will probably just make it more popular.
I doubt it. It will probably just make it more popular.
I think it will. The walk ashore is nearly always fully booked and there has been quite an extensive survey carried out not just in Yarmouth but other harbours in the area - I was approached by a chap with a clipboard in Lymington. He told me afterwards that the majority of people wanted more walk ashore access. The buoys will remain for those that don't.
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"We estimate there will be an increase in revenue of around £250,000 a year," said Mr Keen
Not from me mate! I shall go elsewhere. With the individual finger pontoons proposed there will be less berths in the harbour and the opportunity to raft up in busy periods is greatly reduced. Shame. I have been visiting regularly since 1986 but the price of walk ashore berths for a catamaran are already too high. It will be interesting to see how much they charge for the outer buoys now. It was not long ago that out in the roads was a free anchorage..... Times are a changing...
The final ruination of a really nice harbour. I have been visiting Yarmouth for longer than I care to remember. The addition of the walk ashore spoilt the character, some of the cross tide mooring will be fun! I like Yarmouth because it is NOT a marina. Lymington on the buoys or outside for me.
I suppose in reality most will still go there. I just hate paying marina prices when I don't want marina facilities. at least we will still be able to admire the view from the Royal Solent and moan into our beer without the worry of falling out of the dinghy on the way home!
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Never tried, but with a bit of south in the breeze, is it feasible to anchor east of the pier, or have small craft moorings used up that bit of sea bed?
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I suspect the harbour will be as full as it always is, but with a different group of people.
We have preferred the outside buoys at Yarmouth for over 10 years, mainly because it is quieter and has a much nicer view with plenty to see. We also like to BBQ from time to time and on board BBQs are not permitted inside. Then again arriving and departing is easier, occasionally under sail and departure times are our choice not the boat inside us.
We have used the walk ashores once only, on the midweek £10 off rate deal but we used to use the walk ashore at Hayles sometimes early/late season before in order to have electrics for TV and heater, until the rates went above my personal cut off no way Jose level.
We look at pricing on a 2 night basis as we like to arrive from Poole on a Friday evening then return on Sunday so for us that means £76 on the walk ashores or over £80 if we use the showers which we don't, compared to £41 on the pile pontoons or outer buoys or £33 on the visitor buoys over at Lymington. We are just two of us SWMBO and I, not a crew of fee sharing buddies so the cost matters!
It seems to me that Yarmouth will become 'just another marina'. We are off to pastures new next year so it won't affect us but otherwise Yarmouth would be off the list if the buoys were full.
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Looks good to me. I am not sure why adding the convenience of connecting the pontoons to the shore should ruin the place - the plan says they are going to use the same sort of equipment and have similar capacity. I guess if you really like using a tender there is nothing to stop you getting it out and pottering about in it.
We usually stop there for a day or two RnR on the dash down to/back from the western channel for our real summer cruise. Marinia or harbour, what the heck, its sailing I joined for.
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Last edited by shmoo; 07-11-09 at 06:20.
Reason: typo
Looks good to me. I am not sure why adding the convenience of connecting the pontoons to the shore should ruin the place - the plan says they are going to use the same sort of equipment and have similar capacity. I guess if you really like using a tender there is nothing to stop you getting it out and pottering about in it.
We usually stop there for a day or two RnR on the dash down to/back from the western channel for our real summer cruise. Marinia or harbour, what the heck, its sailing I joined for.
Same capacity but bringing them an additional £250,000 revenue.
Look at their website. The cost of their walk ashore berths for 2010 for our boat would be £36/night (£39.50 with electrics) and even then the showers are charged extra. The non-walk ashore berths will be £21.50/night but there will be very very few of these left under the new scheme, other than the outside harbour buoys.
Others have made the point that there is a big difference in being able to divide the bill between 6-8 sailing school or charter crews and it being paid by just the two of us on our own boat. In our case our weekend visits are usually 2 nights duration, arriving Friday evening and leaving Sunday morning. In future that would cost us £72 (£75.50 with electric) instead of £43.
Also note that the rate for our size band has increased from £20-50 in 2009 to £21.50/night in 2010 a rise of 4.8% anyway.
I agree that it is sailing we joined for, but being ripped off takes the edge off it.
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People are very quick to quote the £250,000 pa extra income but ignore the £1,500,000 outlay - it will take 6 years to recoup the capital outlay alone without taking into account running and replacement costs.
The walk ashores have been the most used pontoons and there is clear demand for more. Despite the doom mongers I bet there will be no reduction in demand for berths in Yarmouth and that if you do turn up late and find a space I doubt whether it will be on the walk ashore.
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The walk ashores have been the most used pontoons and there is clear demand for more. Despite the doom mongers I bet there will be no reduction in demand for berths in Yarmouth and that if you do turn up late and find a space I doubt whether it will be on the walk ashore.
I don't doubt that Yarmouth will still fill up regardless. However I do think the user profile will change and it will become mainly a haven for boats like charter and sailing schools where the costs are split between many people. Large crew numbers are always a pain to get ashore, involving either pumping up the dinghy then several dinghy trips or multi-person payments to the water taxi, this skews the preference overall hugely in favour of walk ashore for them. Sailing school and charters are also out and about more midweek and out of season so are understandably an important revenue source to the harbour and maybe more so than a sailing couple like us just turning up at weekends. Think how much extra income they will get just from the showers alone if every boat has a big crew, compared to mean old me and SWMBO who shower on board!
Would I want to be paying out a lot more money for a weekend crammed in with large numbers of school or charter boats? Nope, that is definitely not for me.
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The midweek discount deal makes it quite attractive, still. On our summer cruise we aim to get half our nights free overall, either on the hook or under way. We don't usually make as many at 50% but often it is near.
Last year as I recall, we had a free night under way between Brixham and Swanage, another off Swanage on the hook, a couple of discounted midweek nights in Yarmouth, then went to Shoreham, which is pretty cheap in most senses of the word. We would have jumped at a walk-ashore at Yarmouth but there wasn't one available. Even at the higher walk ashore rate it would have been an inexpensive five days.
For the record, there are two of us and a small dog (well, it's a Jack Russel so it thinks it is a big dog, but it is really only about 11kg)
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Last edited by shmoo; 07-11-09 at 13:52.
Reason: typo - wrote expensive, meant inexpensive!
More walk-ashore pontoons coming in Yarmouth
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