A small Scottish incident with a noisy marina neighbor - what would you have done?

lw395 said:
My favourite is Cowes week, probably about 15 years ago.
Bunch of very drunk, very obnoxious lads on daddy's boat.
Not just loud but abusive etc. at about 3AM.
Oldish bloke walks along the pontoon, says to the Hooray Henry who seems to be in charge 'Any more noise from you, I will phone your mother!'
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I once lived in a flat in Edinburgh below one which had been bought by a businessman for his son to use while he was a student. When a call asking for less noise at 3am produced an obscene reponse and no effect, I phoned the student's father and explained the problem. The noise stopped completely within three minutes.
 
Only happened once to me and it was in Padstow harbour .I had previously helped his particular boat with her lines.
The noise started at pub closing time and was music and shouting. Waited till 12.30 and the popped head out and asked if they would keep noise down as we were off at 5.30 when the gates opened. Astonishingly they refused and said we wont be seeing you again so why should bother! I should have called the police when they stated peeing in the harbour and there were children on board, but I was past it by then.These louts were ...5 middle aged men from a yacht club in milford haven area .
 
l'escargot said:
That post comes over as coming from someone who would be best served anchoring in a secluded bay rather than being "Mister Intolerant" in a marina shared with all sorts of other boaters. It wasn't you who wrote that letter to Yachting Monthly was it... ;)
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Takes me back to a time many years ago when we were rafted up in Ramsgate - huge raft with lots of boats from Belgium, France and the Netherlands, all waiting for the right moment to leave with a view to being delivered by the tide to Calais or Dunquerque.

No really obnoxious behavior, but endless comings and goings across the decks and lots of noise. We wanted a bit of peace, and as it was a calm night we decided to anchor for the night in Sandown Bay. When we solicited the cooperation of our raft mates to extricate ourselves they couldn't understand why we might be leaving at that time. When we explained that we were going to anchor for the night there was general consternation. "But is it permitted........?"

Quite an eye opener. We had a lovely quiet night.
 
stevepick said:
Another answer I have seen ( along the lines of revenge is a dish best served cold) is buy a gas foghorn at the chandlery the morning after, tape down the activation button, open their hatch, throw in the "sound grenade" then hold the hatch shut. I saw this done to great effect and cheers from the pontoon in Tobermory one weekend. :-)
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magic :-)
 
To be honest, other people enjoying themselves no matter how loudly rarely bother me. Perhaps I am lucky in that I can sleep through most things but I also think that some day it might be me needing a bit of slack. I think we all enjoy things in different ways so sometimes we need a bit of give and take. Unfortunately drunk people having fun are unlikely to be thinking straight and may not be responsive to advice so I would tend to just ignore them. I don't really understand the passive aggressive next day thing either. The only time you may be able to influence things is as they happen, getting shirty the next day is not helping you or them. Just forget about it, life is too short. If sleep is difficult for you then get ear plugs.
 
Anchored in the eastern bay of Vulcano, we were joined by an increasingly large flotilla of 'bright young things', all the boat bearing stickers proclaiming the name of their flotilla. Turned out to be final year medical students from France..... A German couple upped anchor and departed. Oh that we'd done the same. A miserable night of loud "music" followed. We'd have left too but we're heading for the Straits of Messina so timings didn't work. But we learnt to read the signs.

Fast forward two years. Anchored in peaceful Port Leone on Kalamos. A boat of bright young things arrived, followed by another couple of boats, who rafted up to the first boat, not 50 metres from us. Large, no enormous, black object on the coach house roof of one boat. "That looks like a sound system" says SWMBO. More boats continue to arrive. So, having learnt the lesson in Vulcano, we weigh anchor and disappear into the darkness leaving them to their games. Forty minutes later we were anchored in peace and quiet off Kastos.

No point in either case of trying to get the little darlings to quieten down, simply too many of them. Far better to go somewhere else if it's at all possible. For the odd single boat load behaving badly, then a quiet word sometimes works: failing that venting ones spleen may not make the problem go away but it does make one feel better.....
 
The only answer I have ever got from a polite request has been "wossermattermate, doncher like music?". A visit from the harbourmaster in St Peter Port was once followed by a couple of days of abuse from the flying bridge of one monster when his petty addiction to a thumping beat was terminated.
 
Earplugs were suggested above. I'd recommend Boots' "Muffles", wax earplugs which actually work (I've never found a different type that do), tho I don't know that using earplugs is advisable afloat.
 
JumbleDuck said:
My neighbouring marina has a resident (in the sense of "based there", not "living aboard") twonk who plays the bagpipes for the best part of an hour every single sodding evening when he's aboard. I'm seriously tempted to take my accordion down next time I'm there and join in.
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I've thought about taking up the bagpipes but I believe the fingering is tricky so the resulting din whilst learning could be excruciating... Perhaps some practice ones off Ebay might be worth a go.
 
ianj99 said:
I've thought about taking up the bagpipes but I believe the fingering is tricky so the resulting din whilst learning could be excruciating... Perhaps some practice ones off Ebay might be worth a go.
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One learns with a practice chanter, which is a very much quieter version of the full thing, blown by mouth. The fingering itself is fairly straightforward, but the ornamentations - needed because the sound never stops - is the tricky bit. I started learning the Northumbrian Small Pipes which are weirdto anyone except an Uillean piper because you only lift one finger at a time, rather than lifting them progressively as on a recorder, flute, oboe, bassoon, piccolo, highland bagpipe, crumhorn ...
 
JumbleDuck said:
My neighbouring marina has a resident (in the sense of "based there", not "living aboard") twonk who plays the bagpipes for the best part of an hour every single sodding evening when he's aboard. I'm seriously tempted to take my accordion down next time I'm there and join in.
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I think I might have met your piper. I felt a bit like royalty being piped to. I like the bagpipes as long as they are far enough away. I once was at a meal where the piper played in the drawing room and would have made your ears bleed. The perfect place for a piper is 'on yonder hill'. I was anchored off castle Tuam in Moidart once when another boat stopped and as we prepared supper he got out the pipes. It was very pleasant to hear the sound drifting over the water as we had our pre-prandial drinks. He anchored just the right distance away.
 
pmagowan said:
I felt a bit like royalty being piped to. I like the bagpipes as long as they are far enough away. I once was at a meal where the piper played in the drawing room and would have made your ears bleed. The perfect place for a piper is 'on yonder hill'.
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Ditto. Why people think they are appropriate for a dinner (or indeed any event) in the highlands and islands of Surrey and the surrounding counties escapes me.
 
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Elecglitch said:
Ditto. Why people think they are appropriate for a dinner (or indeed any event) in the highlands and islands of Surrey and the surrounding counties escapes me.
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The highland bagpipes were never intended to be played indoors, unlike the Northumbrian pipes (and the Scottish small pipes) which are much more civilised instruments.
 
KevB said:
I sometimes think it's no so much the music that's annoying in the early hours of the morning, but the people shouting at each other above it.

We've had a fare share of parties on board and on others but will always turn it right down at midnight. Funny thing, a couple of weeks ago in Gosport we we're on a friends boat having a drink with music when a guy from the marina office came down and asked us to turn it off as someone had complained...at 21:30!!!
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To be fair, why should those around you have to poke up with your noise at any time of the day. If you want music then have it but why foist it on every one else--- turn it down
 
KevB said:
I sometimes think it's no so much the music that's annoying in the early hours of the morning, but the people shouting at each other above it.

We've had a fare share of parties on board and on others but will always turn it right down at midnight. Funny thing, a couple of weeks ago in Gosport we we're on a friends boat having a drink with music when a guy from the marina office came down and asked us to turn it off as someone had complained...at 21:30!!!
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Why should everyone else in the marina have to listen to your music....plain selfish in my opinion.

I read that music is the great form of anti social behaviour
 
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JumbleDuck said:
The highland bagpipes were never intended to be played indoors, unlike the Northumbrian pipes (and the Scottish small pipes) which are much more civilised instruments.
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Mind you if you really must deafen your dinner guests in style in England a Regimental Corps of Drums at a range of about 1 metre works wonders.
 
Elecglitch said:
Mind you if you really must deafen your dinner guests in style in England a Regimental Corps of Drums at a range of about 1 metre works wonders.
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One of Humphrey Littleton's introductions to Singing One Song to the Tune of Another on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue included "Teams are reminded that singing loudly will drown out the piano playing of Colin Sell. <pause> Another good way is to use a pneumatic drill."
 
JD

As a piper (who's currently practising for competition season) I shall make sure that I serenade you if we bump into each other this summer. I'll feed you half a bottle of whisky first so you'll hardly feel a thing ;-)
 
Isn't it amazing how blissful the right piece of music is at the right time...and how momentously unwelcome someone else's favourite music usually is, at any other time...

...it's also amazing how often people who realise how unwelcome it is likely to be, witlessly or wilfully tread on their neighbours' auditory toes.

I rather like some music when I'm sailing, though it isn't easy to rig-up in the dinghy.

But in a peaceful anchorage or amongst moorings, or close-packed in a marina, never will be the right time. It is pure social imbecility.
 
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