Been banned from marina!!

[SimonA]

Just got back from an incident in the marina. Some yobs were fishing on the bank, I took my 5 year old son out in the dinghy and while he was steering we hit a fishing line in the middle of the marina lake (some 100ft from the bank). We then heard the yobs fishing shouting abuse and we realised we had caught their line on the prop. They had used some sort of floats to float the line along the surface to the centre of the lake.

We went towards them to unrap the lines and were greeted with a lot of abuse and even a threat of "I'm gona f'ing kill you, come over her and I'll smack you one". By which time my 5 year old was crying and very upset.

Why do people fiishing think they can run lines across a busy marina and the hurl abuse at anyone in boats who runs into the lines.

To make matters worse the security staff at the marina would not listen to our complaints (we pay a considerable sum for mooring, the yobs fisihing paid nothing and where on private property). We pushed harder and spoke to the site owner who has banned us from the marina for having the cheek to complain to him!! The owner was very rude and agressive to us and ordered security (3 vans, a pick up truck and 5 staff) to remove us.

We now have a boat in the marina which we can't access, our passes have been removed.

We have paid for a whole years mooring, what is our legal position?

 

[petem]

Legal action should always be a last resort. Do you wish to stay, was this a one off incident? If so maybe a reconcilitory (sp?) word with the owner on Monday morning might be in order.

 

[SimonA]

It was a one off incident, other than that we have been happy there. The marina joins onto a large caravan and camping site which is all part of the land owned by him.

I can't understand why the owner of the site would take such action against people who pay him money, rather than just sorting out the issue with people fishing on his property without permission. He just seemed peeved that we took the complaint to him. Maybe he was having a bad day, I don't know. I did not even know he was the owner of the site until today.

Obviously our concern is we are not allowed to return and board our boat which is moored in the marina.

 

[ccscott49]

I'm sure by tomorrow things will have changed. Were the yobs from the caravan site? You never know. Anyway I would have a word tomorrow and get things sorted. I dont understand his thinking either. Keep us posted!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Lakesailor]

Does the site owner fish or is he more boaty. Do the security guards look like anglers or boaters? Did the gobby angler bear a family resemblance to any of the marina staff? You just don't know where you are coming from in these instances.

 

[landaftaf]

have you got a copy of your terms and conditions for using the marina ? have you your contract to hand ? is fishing even allowed in or around the marina ?

IMO - bottom line is its your boat and he cant stop you accessing it - but insisting to do so whilst the owner is 'ott' may precipitate its physical removal.

contacting your enviromental agency to discuss fishing in the area and fishing licences, permits etc may give you some leverage to poke a pineapple up his arse if you decide to take your boat elsewhere ....... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[SimonA]

We don't think the yobs are from the caravan site as they where positioned just outside the gates to the site. My wife thinks they are Gypsies due to the way they looked and the van they drove.

We don't have a contract for the mooring but we do have a fishing pass for the lake which states it's private fishing.

When we complained to the owner he was on the main gate taking twenty pound notes off people coming in for a show on the caravan site. His issue seemed to be that he had a business to run and money to collect and we were being a nuisance by bothering him with a complaint. Our car registration number was taken by security and added to their banned list.

I think Billing Aquadrome limited have handled the whole situation in an appauling way. As far as we can see they would prefer to let in yobs and ban families who spend many thousands of pounds with them. The owner seems to have a very short fuse and a rather strange way of running his business.

I guess we will have to sneak in and move the boat somewhere else.

 

[Micky]

Why can't boaters just keep clear of anglers??
I do both and quite often boats do come in too close to the area where we are fishing. Remember some anglers can cast a lead weight over 200 yards, so extra distance is needed to stop lines getting caught around props or keels.

Normally when we see a boat coming in too close we retrieve our lines until they pass, but sometimes it's no always possible and a loss of a rod/reel could cost well over £200.00.
We must remember the rivers and sea's are for everyone to enjoy.

 

[Lakesailor]

[ QUOTE ]

We must remember the rivers and sea's are for everyone to enjoy.

[/ QUOTE ]
So the fact that you have cast a line 200 yards excludes everyone else from that area for as long as you sit there not catching a fish.

 

[Joe_Cole]

Why can't anglers keep clear of boats?

FWIW the problem is that you usually can't see where the line is. I try to keep out of the way, but the anglers need to be sensible as well. I'm not going to make a 200yard detour on the basis that a champion caster might possibly be on the shore.

I remember seeing two anglers casting their lines straight across the bows of a boat at Dartmouth last year: quite rightly the skipper got a knife out and cut the lines when they became entangled in his rigging.

 

[Stoaty]

I had two boats pick my lines up today. Both came within 30 ft of me. It's as if I am invisible at anchor. I even have a large yellow buff on the anchor warp. It's crazy the whole sea and they come within 30ft.

 

[Joe_Cole]

[ QUOTE ]
I It's as if I am invisible at anchor. I even have a large yellow buff on the anchor warp. It's crazy the whole sea and they come within 30ft.

[/ QUOTE ]

But was your anchor ball visible?

As I said earlier, the problem is that you can't see a fishing line, they probably thought that the line went straight down. Granted, 30 feet is too close in open sea

I am often amazed to find people fishing in a narrow fairway; sometimes drifting, sometimes anchored.

 

[Micky]

Quote:from LakeSailor
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So the fact that you have cast a line 200 yards excludes everyone else from that area for as long as you sit there not catching a fish.
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Does not matter weather they are catching fish or not, they are trying to enjoy their sport/pastime, same as you.
I am not saying that anglers have a right to any part of the rivers or sea, neither do we in our boats. Everyone should give and take.
If we are out in our boat and see someone fishing off the beaches or in another boat, we steer away from them and from their chosen fishing area.
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Quote: from Joe-Cole

FWIW the problem is that you usually can't see where the line is. I try to keep out of the way, but the anglers need to be sensible as well. I'm not going to make a 200yard detour on the basis that a champion caster might possibly be on the shore.

I remember seeing two anglers casting their lines straight across the bows of a boat at Dartmouth last year: quite rightly the skipper got a knife out and cut the lines when they became entangled in his rigging
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I don't expect you can see the the line, but you can see the anglers and i agree, both anglers and boaters need to be sensible. Like i said, give and take.

As for the anglers casting across the bows of a boat, they deserve to get the lines cut, but was there a reason as to why the skipper had to be so close to the beach in the first place.

 

[Micky]

[quote
But was your anchor ball visible?

Who takes notice of the anchor balls????

From my experience of both boating and fishing, when at anchor i hang my ball for everyone to see, But it makes no difference to some people, they still come within a few feet.

But then there is the other menace, who shows his ball even when NOT at anchor. So maybe that's why some people just ignore it, and others don't know what it's for.

 

[Stoaty]

Nobody takes any notice of anchor balls, but I still display one. The buff is much more visible. Most commercials have their balls or baskets hoisted all the time. 6 years ago I got hit by a yacht while at anchor fishing a wreck six miles south of the Isle of Wight. Fortunately it was a glancing blow. Mind you he was livid with me because of the black line down his boat from my 'D' fendering.

Nobody in reality casts more than 80 yards from a boat. If the depth they are fishing in is say 30' then your average yacht could pass 50' away without trouble.

But why come that close in the first place.

Remember It's EVERYONE'S duty to avoid a collision.

 

[ccscott49]

the boat would ghave been in the harbour, they cast off the wall. I also wouldn't make a 200 yard detour, some of the rivers aren't that wide!!!

 

[SimonA]

I can see the point of view of those who fish. The problem is I'm on the inland waterways which tend to be narrow. People fish in locks, off entrances to locks and other places where they should not.

The incident I am talking about in the first post involves a fisherman sat on the banks floating a line well over half way across a marina with nothing but a tiny pink dart to mark the end of the line. The guy had binoculars to watch the float as it was so far out. I don't think he cast it out as it was so far, the float was a dart and I guess was shot out into the centre of the lake.

I have nothing against people who fish.

Those who are saying boaters should pay more respect to fisherman, how would you react if a fisherman hurled abuse at your five year old child and threatened to kill him?? Is that reasonable? Is it reasonable to expect people to see an invisable line floating 200ft or more across a lake?

This was never a fishing v boating post. It's a post about how I got banned from visiting my boat in a marina. It's about how the marina would prefer to ban a family who pay them money rather than tackle the problem of yobs fishing without permits in their lake.

 

[garethuk]

Out of principle i would move your boat immediatly and call the police if they give you problem getting access.

We get the anglers in our marinato but they know better to fish away from active boats.

Sounds like either secuirty is scared of the "travellers" (sorry have to be PC on here) or they are part of the family.

Find another Marina and get your property out ASAP and never return!

just my 2 cents there.

 

[Joe_Cole]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't expect you can see the the line, but you can see the anglers and i agree, both anglers and boaters need to be sensible. Like i said, give and take.

As for the anglers casting across the bows of a boat, they deserve to get the lines cut, but was there a reason as to why the skipper had to be so close to the beach in the first place.

[/ QUOTE ]


1. You may be able to see anglers, but you can also see people having a walk, eating ice cream, doing some crab fishing etc etc. Often you just can't tell what is happening. As I said, very often you can't see the line. The fisherman should be able to see the boat. I thought that most reels had a little handle on that could be used to bring the line in?

2. The skipper was close in to the embankment because he had just left the pontoon which was fixed to the embankment! FWIW I don't think that people are supposed to fish of the the embankment at Dartmouth anyhow!

 

[andy_wilson]

Legal Position.

Primarily comes down to the berthing contract.

In the absence of a written contract, if you have paid for goods or services, you have every right to receive them in a timely manner, and delivered with reasonable skill and care.

You need to face up the owner of the mooring facility and find out exactly what his position is and why. If he feels he has good reason to bar you (contract and some action taken by you contrary to the contract), he then needs to explain how he intends to deliver you access to your boat to move it, as he is not allowed to willingly and permanently deprive you of your property.

If you can, get him to put his position in writing, for instance if he wants to give you notice to leave, including his reasoning.