MDL Marinas

Blue Sunray

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I was always impressed with Chatham's social media always looking so good until I 'liked' two of their marinas on facebook and realised all the posts are identical. It's obviously all controlled from a central marketing office. MDL are the bane of our life at the moment. We're right down west but I've had to speak to head office a couple of times, including the chap who Concerto emailed and he was about as short over the phone as he was in that email you got.

Yep, this morning they all had the same typo in them as well (since corrected).
 
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russ

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My experience with MDL has all been positive. Having had cause to email Tim Mayer regarding my personal situation he contacted me the very next day saying I would have a call from the marina manager later on that day.
Sure enough Barry called and offered me some options to help me out.
Regardless of the C19 situation, service and communication from the Shamrock team has always been very good.
 

MagicalArmchair

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Speaking of both MDL Chatham (sigh, where Triola was, and where I am trying to get Mirage to) and MDL Cobbs Quay (where Mirage currently is), I have been impressed by both teams and the communication throughout. I was not expecting, if I am brutally honest, any dosh back in way of credit, however, that is welcome news.

On a more sombre note, I contacted Poole Harbour Authority suggesting anchoring out would be a super method of social distancing (in the spirit of the rules too - merely two days of exercise broken by a brief pause at anchor) - however their response was quite definite.

Please see attached Local Notice to Mariners. We still await clarity on marinas being allowed to open which we hope will be forthcoming tomorrow. Please keep checking our website for updates Latest News | Commercial and Leisure Activity in Poole Harbour

As per Government guidance you are not permitted to stay overnight away from home.
 

On the horizon

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My experience with MDL has all been positive. Having had cause to email Tim Mayer regarding my personal situation he contacted me the very next day saying I would have a call from the marina manager later on that day.
Sure enough Barry called and offered me some options to help me out.
Regardless of the C19 situation, service and communication from the Shamrock team has always been very good.
I have to say the communications from MDL has been very good throughout, I received several emails as well one from the ceo saying they would do something for customers once they had a clearer idea of how long the lockdown would last, true to his word he has now Offered a choice of actual % cash back for Aprils lack of use or a credit on the account.
Very generous and not something I believe they needed to do, our boats were still in the marina on the berth being checked.
After all, they were not responsible for the lockdown or the travel/ leave the house restrictions that were in place.

I believe it was Barrie I also spoke to when I could not take up my berth as planned due to being locked in at her current location. Again, very happy with his response, unlike the attitude from the marina I was stuck in who just wanted to charge me their standard monthly rate without consideration of continuing the berth holder rate that had expired during lockdown at the end of March when I could not leave.

Personally I cannot wait to collect my boat this weekend and take her to her new home at Shamrock Quay.
 

On the horizon

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I am on F pontoon near the office , I think it is F14, I will need to check that before I arrive, wouldn’t want to upset the status quo by tying up on someone else’s berth as a new arrival...
 
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BTW as I understand it, the not staying o/n requirement Is more a question of navigating the holiday home rules. Quite possible though it’s also a way to keep facilities use down amongst other potential social distancing issues.

Where has this specific piece of ... what is it, law, rules, or guidance ... come from?

I can get, and completely agree with, the need to have stopped the same kind of self-centered plonkers who flooded the Highlands in the campervans rushing to their boats to "self-isolate" (thereby taking the virus to remote communities), but the logic for it rapidly stops there.

Many of those of us who want to work long hours to catch up on missed time - and crash out on the boat afterwards - and now being stopped doing so.

The idiocy of this is that we would, therefore, be forced to go and stay in a local hotel or B&B thereby increasing the risk of infection and transmission of the virus exponentially.

But that's OK.

Even having to travel back and forward from home, which again is "acceptable", increases the risk of infection and transmission over a wide geographic area.

It's one of the dumbest, unthought out scenarios I have encountered for a long time. Who and where has it come from?

I've read much of the related law and public statements and no one appears to have consider the maritime world at all. I could not see any specific mention of it. I'm not even sure of what the RYA is upto or has achieved.

Who are marinas taking their cues from?

Thanks.
 

Concerto

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Many of those of us who want to work long hours to catch up on missed time - and crash out on the boat afterwards - and now being stopped doing so.

The idiocy of this is that we would, therefore, be forced to go and stay in a local hotel or B&B thereby increasing the risk of infection and transmission of the virus exponentially.
All hotels and B&B's are closed to visitors. The only ones I know that are open are the hotels taking rough sleepers off the streets.
 
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That's what I thought.

I will have to make myself homeless.

The bottomline is, I would not dream of going to stay in a hotel or B&B or AirBnB at this time. How long would people consider it would be safe to do so? Forget it for this year or until they have vaccines/treatments, I'd say.

Going directly from my home, which is a very low risk, to my boat, which is an extraordinary low risk, appears to me to avoid even more risks than staying at home in the city, and going shopping.
 

Concerto

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I agree. So far I have only been to my boat once to get a few tools and remove all the floorboards so I can varnish them at home. Luckily this is only a 20 minute drive away.

Not living in a city or town, my biggest risk has been going shopping. I am not in total isolation as I walk my dog twice a day. Living alongside a country park has become a high risk from visitors, so I have changed where I go to some woodland close by with paths and tracks that only locals know. On the rare time I meet someone, we all maintain a good distance when we pass, usually with a brief chat.
 

Concerto

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Does you yard offer unlimited access or turn a blind eye?
Chatham Marina is an unusual marina for MDL as it has only staff for lifting, jet washing and moving boats. There are no boatyard facilities as such, so you can work on your own boat or employ any of the regular independents to do work. Access is usually from 8am to 7pm, but when I have worked late they have left the gate unlocked and I have locked it for them. There is also one side gate that is never locked so people can overnight onboard whilst in the yard. Most people find this an ideal solution and not compelled to use on site companies.
 

SaltyC

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That's what I thought.

I will have to make myself homeless.

The bottomline is, I would not dream of going to stay in a hotel or B&B or AirBnB at this time. How long would people consider it would be safe to do so? Forget it for this year or until they have vaccines/treatments, I'd say.

Going directly from my home, which is a very low risk, to my boat, which is an extraordinary low risk, appears to me to avoid even more risks than staying at home in the city, and going shopping.

If we take logic to the nth degree, You don't have to be homeless, you are just a Rough Sleeper in that area as you are not allowed to sleep in your little individual plastic isolation pod! Apologies if you have a proper wooden one.

I like Concerto live on the edge of a market so have access to the woodlands and Bridleways through countryside that only Locals know, Avoid the riverside like the plague today as the numbers who are having a 'day out' make social distancing impossible, no doubt the car park will be strewn with empty beer bottles tomorrow!

My annoyance has been the local holiday caravan park that I walk through to the woods, which has gone from 20% occupancy the Thursday after lockdown, I was at my 'pod' when lockdown occurred so didn't get home until Wednesday, to approximately 80% now so caravan parks are not policing as enthusiastically as Marinas.
 
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