Anyone at the Yarmouth harbour protest?

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We spend quite a bit of time in Yarmouth, either as a destination or as often as not as a staging post. The marina protest surprised me as I assumed the point to a marina was to bring in more boats. The ferry will bring people in, but Yarmouth is way over-populated with restaraunts & bars for its size without passing trade from boaters.

Having looked at the plans though (they're in the harbour office) it looked like there would be less room and I couldn't see where many larger boats would go.

The piles are crude, but they work well to pack boats in and they add character. We quite like them, even when 5 deep at times this year. Only this last weekend we were on piles up towards the bridge (fortunately given the windy conditions, we were on our own).

Have I got it right then that the protest is that the marina would decrease the amount of boats that can be accomodated?
 
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l'escargot said:
I think unfortunately, a bit like Newtown, the unique ambience went when the place started filling up with 40'+ boats. The same is happening on Lymington Town Quay as well.
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Im here now, im the only 40ft plus mobo, there are more yachts here than anything else.

There will also be more 40ft plus boats as our main 3 uk builders P F SL SS etc all start there models around the 40ft mark anyway, so not much chnace of smaller builds in the future.
 
We were in Yarmouth on Sunday and were witness to..... " the protest..."

Not sure I have strong views either way... but I do always try and get on walk ashore berths....and I book where possible.

But a few weeks back I met a chap called Dave, he has the very nice Lochin powered by twin sabre perkins 300's that he keeps on the walk ashore residents berths and he kindly showed me over his boat and we spoke at some length about various things. One item that came up was the development of Yarmouth harbour and the 2 further pontoons that are going to be added and he was very much in support of them. Now as I said, I am easily swayed and had no real opinion myself; but this chap I had the honour of meeting was in fact the Coxon of Yarmouth lifeboat for 25 years and has given his best years to Yarmouth town and indeed anyone staying in Yarmouth will have seen his house so central it is to Yarmouth harbour... so his opinion I found very interesting and I respect pretty highly.

Ok, so here I may possibly make myself un-popular, but the protest was a ridiculous accumulation of rag tag boats... a few old ribs, a chap being towed along in an avon red-crest dingy, a few lovely old wooden sailing boats and a lovely Fairy swordsman etc... but it just gave a certain message to everyone that was there in a lot more modern machinery... I just feel that times move on, and there will always be people who fight it.
 
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l'escargot said:
No. There would be the same number of berths with a significant increase in walkashore berths and less piles. It isn't actually a marina being built, that is just how those opposed to it are representing it.
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Like Firefly625 we look for a walk-ashore and power when it is available, but not unhappy without.

I'm being slow again, but if the number of berths doesn't change and more are walk-ashore, why would anyone care other than the "change equals fear" brigade you find in many walks of life?
 
The other thing I would add, there was a consultation period where people could voice there opinions and concerns and desires for what they wanted out of Yarmouth harbour. The majority voted for more walk-ashore berths...
 
l'escargot said:
I think unfortunately, a bit like Newtown, the unique ambience went when the place started filling up with 40'+ boats. The same is happening on Lymington Town Quay as well.
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just an observation.... but the last few times I have been to Lymington Town quay the biggest boats have been 30'ish footers... and on Sunday night in Yarmouth on the walk ashore pontoon leg we were moored the largest boat was a Doral boca grande which was 36" which was the only other mobo on the pontoon apart from us. All others were raggies mostly between 18ft and 31ft apart from a Sigma 38 and a Bavaria 37.... there, I thought I would make myself un-popular tonight..:o:o:o
 
Firefly625 said:
just an observation.... but the last few times I have been to Lymington Town quay the biggest boats have been 30'ish footers... and on Sunday night in Yarmouth on the walk ashore pontoon leg we were moored the largest boat was a Doral boca grande which was 36" which was the only other mobo on the pontoon apart from us. All others were raggies mostly between 18ft and 31ft apart from a Sigma 38 and a Bavaria 37.... there, I thought I would make myself un-popular tonight..:o:o:o
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I didn't specify raggie or mobo if you look back at my post. I had a 43 foot Sunseeker wedge himself against my bow the other week in Lymington and the weekend before last I was 5th boat out on the raft and a 53 foot raggie tried to tie up across the outside of two rafts in the early hours. When I started going to these places 30 foot was a big boat and the majority were in the mid 20's. Things have changed and these aren't the quaint little places that people remember and I bet you Yarmouth is still full every weekend after the changes. I think they will improve the place.
 
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We were there Friday and Saturday nights and noted a few banners about but left before the demo took place. The modified plans look better than the originals, but imo will destroy a great deal of the character once all four phases have been done. We like the convenience of the walk ashores, but also the uniqueness of the place;seems that the convenience factor has won out though.
 
l'escargot said:
I didn't specify raggie or mobo if you look back at my post. I had a 43 foot Sunseeker wedge himself against my bow the other week in Lymington and the weekend before last I was 5th boat out on the raft and a 53 foot raggie tried to tie up across the outside of two rafts in the early hours. When I started going to these places 30 foot was a big boat and the majority were in the mid 20's. Things have changed and these aren't the quaint little places that people remember and I bet you Yarmouth is still full every weekend after the changes. I think they will improve the place.
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indeed you didn't specify which... I just feel a 30ft raggie seems to take up a lot less room than a 30ft mobo... or is that my background coming out... and I too recall the days when if you had a 40ft'er not may boats were bigger than you... and yes, those days are sadly gone. But hey ho, I still love Yarmouth, and will wait to see what the results are.. and what about the proposed new breakwater across Cowes and the new East Cowes marina.... anyone have any thoughts on that one!
 
"change equals fear" brigade you find in many walks of life?"

There were similar objections to the MDL marina being built in the old docks at Chatham,loss of character local heritage etc etc bring sited ,however it is now the focal point of all the other developments in the area and just about any advert will feature a picture of the marina in the background wether it be for a cafe/shop unit/museum and especially for any accomodation being sold in the area.
Basically a derelict wasteland has been turned into a thriving concern generating cash into my local economy,believe that the marina has just added more berths due to demand.
People actually employed in the local economy are nomally in favour of such developments.
 
l'escargot said:
I think unfortunately, a bit like Newtown, the unique ambience went when the place started filling up with 40'+ boats. The same is happening on Lymington Town Quay as well.
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My little IoW snail, there is a regulation that says that no boats over 40' are allowed on Lymington town quay. Ask Robin of this parish, he's blown a fuse about this on more than one occasion.

That's not to say that a few don't creep in but I've seen the HM wave quite a few away.
 
ChrisE said:
My little IoW snail, there is a regulation that says that no boats over 40' are allowed on Lymington town quay. Ask Robin of this parish, he's blown a fuse about this on more than one occasion.

That's not to say that a few don't creep in but I've seen the HM wave quite a few away.
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I think if you check the sign on the pontoon it now says 42' apart from the one 31' berth at the commercial end. I have seen them waved away too but unfortunately the HM finishes at 6pm most days.

It is not unusual to see a small boat end up with increasing sizes going out on the raft - the school boats seem to be the worst for this. I think they should reserve a couple of rafts for sub 30'. And what is this difficulty people seem to have with berthing between the red lines?
 
Nobody has mentioned the berthing fee increase which will come in on the extended walk-ashores ... with the lack of the 'cheaper' berths.

I will miss the oportunity to pile berth and will certainly carefully consider the walkashores due to the increase in cost.
 
ChrisE said:
My little IoW snail, there is a regulation that says that no boats over 40' are allowed on Lymington town quay. Ask Robin of this parish, he's blown a fuse about this on more than one occasion.

That's not to say that a few don't creep in but I've seen the HM wave quite a few away.
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Not guilty for once, it wasn't my fuse!

I agree that there is a size limit on Lymington Quay but it has never bothered us (we had a 41 footer) because we never liked being on the quay raft anyway, much preferring life on the buoys or the mid-channel pontoon. The rule on the mid-channel pontoon BTW at least over weekends is that it is reserved for boats over 40ft and the HM puts 'No Mooring' signs up whilst quietly informing those above 40ft that they can go there.

Now what did annoy (but not blow a fuse) was the titchy boats mooring between the buoys intended for bigger boats so that a big one coming in had limited space to turn between them and pick up what spare moorings there were, when they could (and should) have been on the moorings nearer the quay. The fore/aft buoys nearest the Quay are closer together and for boats up to I think 33ft, those back between the mid river pontoon and the local moorings are for boats over 33ft and up to 40ft These moorings are a real tight fit for 40ft plus as you end up with the stern buoy off the quarter not the stern, making it very difficult for the next arrival to use as part of the mooring behind, if that makes sense. The outermost two sets are farther apart and will take 40ft plus OK, IF not snaffled by the aforesaid tiddlers.. Anyway, I love Lymington regardless.

As for Yarmouth's new ideas, there are two things I don't fancy, one is the cost and the other the cross tide berthing into confined fingers. The cost will not put off school or charter boats sharing the bill but for us, a Friday & saturday night stopover at their walkashore rates would put us off, I'd rather be on Lymington buoys and spend the money we saved on a nice big lobster from Seafayre!

Not our problem however anyway as our next boating experience will be in Chesapeake!
 
Noone here has addressed the main message of the protest as cited in the article.. not ambience, tradition or culture, its:

"protesters believe the plans will 'potentially change the harbour from a popular sailing destination into a sterile marina' [...] 'Many marinas along the south coast are mostly populated by yachts and motorboats that are seldom used because their absentee owners - both private and corporate - have neither the time nor the money these days to use their boats as often as they thought they would when they first bought them."

So its not about having less berths available, its about having berthloads of dead boats and no space for transients!

'There will be fewer visitors with less cash passing over the counters of the town's businesses, shops, pubs and restaurants which will have an immediate knock-on effect on revenues from business rates and the general atmosphere and appearance of the town.'

I absolutely concur with this, I have seen many dead marinas reminiscent of the idiotic & ghostly holiday home villages on the costa del sol.. You can find lively harbours in Denmark, Sweden or around the Baltic where there are less permanent berths.
 
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