Berthon Bank Holiday Berthing----------or lack of it

DAKA

DAKA

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Typical nonsense regarding berthing over the weekend, and I dont suppose it was restricted to Berthon, apparently fully pre booked so not accepting visitors but apparent empty berths in abundance.

Who are the clots who book, decide its too scary out there and dont bother to cancel the berths.

Theoretically it shouldnt be an issue, there are say 1000 boats moving out of a berth and a 1000 needing a berth , so what goes wrong , is it the mud dwellers that decide they want a marina for the weekend or are there too many casting off without telling their own berthing master ?
 
DAKA said:
Typical nonsense regarding berthing over the weekend, and I dont suppose it was restricted to Berthon, apparently fully pre booked so not accepting visitors but apparent empty berths in abundance.

Who are the clots who book, decide its too scary out there and dont bother to cancel the berths.

Theoretically it shouldnt be an issue, there are say 1000 boats moving out of a berth and a 1000 needing a berth , so what goes wrong , is it the mud dwellers that decide they want a marina for the weekend or are there too many casting off without telling their own berthing master ?
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Daka - I promise I only went to Yarmouth on Sunday Afternoon and was on the berth at Berthons the rest of the time. Most of the people stayed put on E and I don't remember seeing any gaps.
 
When we tried to get in at Berthon's on Sunday lunchtime they couldn't give us a berth but asked us to call back in 30 mins as they were out busy counting to see how many empty slots they had so presume must have had a bunch of no shows.

No use to us as were pretty much right outside at the time no probs getting in the Yacht Haven instead.
 
I wonder if there is a trend towards not taking short stay boats in favour of overnight visitors paying probably 4 times the revenue. It must be frustrating having to turn away high revenue visitors because your marina is full of £10 boats who always end up maximising the time they can be there. Certainly that was the case at Cowes Yacht Haven this weekend.

Henry :)
 
I think its some kind of hustle. Have you noticed the navigation buoys to get into the marinas are called "marks"














......just kidding Daka :p
 
Berthon hosting regatta on weekend

You probably couldn't get into Berthon because they were accommodating the Sigma 38 yacht race fleet for their National Championships over the bank holiday weekend.

Sorry you were disappointed but I don't think it was out of spite or incompetence. Must have been plenty of space at Hamble, I suppose.:o
 
DAKA said:
Typical nonsense regarding berthing over the weekend, and I dont suppose it was restricted to Berthon, apparently fully pre booked so not accepting visitors but apparent empty berths in abundance.
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I dont know where you got the idea there were empty berths in abundance. There was nothing more than a 20ft space available on Saturday night.
 
Richie said:
When we tried to get in at Berthon's on Sunday lunchtime they couldn't give us a berth but asked us to call back in 30 mins as they were out busy counting to see how many empty slots they had so presume must have had a bunch of no shows.

No use to us as were pretty much right outside at the time no probs getting in the Yacht Haven instead.
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No no-shows all weekend as all had the decency to call up and say they werent coming.

Its just sound practice to physically check that berths are available where boats are supposed to have left but haven't.
 
Yacht Yogi said:
You probably couldn't get into Berthon because they were accommodating the Sigma 38 yacht race fleet for their National Championships over the bank holiday weekend.

Sorry you were disappointed but I don't think it was out of spite or incompetence. Must have been plenty of space at Hamble, I suppose.:o
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Saturday night was fully booked several days in advance. It always amazes me how many people rock up in Lymington at 6pm on a busy Saturday and are then surprised they can find nowhere to moor. Maybe the marinas and HM are supposed to be sufficiently psychic to know who is planning to visit and quickly build a new marina somewhere?
 
admillington said:
Daka - I promise I only went to Yarmouth on Sunday Afternoon and was on the berth at Berthons the rest of the time. Most of the people stayed put on E and I don't remember seeing any gaps.
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That could well explain what happened, a mate berthed in berthon knowing we had been rejected kept sending me photos of empty berths, he must have leapt into action each time he saw a boat start up in order to snap a shot before the next visitor occupied it.:D
 
moodyNick said:
It always amazes me how many people rock up in Lymington at 6pm on a busy Saturday and are then surprised they can find nowhere to moor. Maybe the marinas and HM are supposed to be sufficiently psychic to know who is planning to visit and quickly build a new marina somewhere?
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I phoned Thursday, Friday , Saturday and as requested Sunday as we were casting off.

To be fair on each occasion I was told you were fully booked but I was welcome to check the following day in the hope a berth holder would leave.



No complaints about berthon at all, my dig is at the berth holders who dont tell their own berthing master they are away fro the weekend.

MDL Northney used to operate a free prize draw each month for a bottle of champagne.
each night you are away you get a ticket, it encourages the VHF call along with the extra phone call if staying away longer than planed.

Just an idea but for the cost of a £20 a month a marina could easily earn an extra £1000 a month on selling visitor nights
 
DAKA said:
I phoned Thursday, Friday , Saturday and as requested Sunday as we were casting off.

To be fair on each occasion I was told you were fully booked but I was welcome to check the following day in the hope a berth holder would leave.



No complaints about berthon at all, my dig is at the berth holders who dont tell their own berthing master they are away fro the weekend.

MDL Northney used to operate a free prize draw each month for a bottle of champagne.
each night you are away you get a ticket, it encourages the VHF call along with the extra phone call if staying away longer than planed.

Just an idea but for the cost of a £20 a month a marina could easily earn an extra £1000 a month on selling visitor nights
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But that's the thing, where is the incentive for the berth holder, the person who pays several thousand pounds a year for the rit to use the berth? Your berth gets rented out for fifty quid a night and you go into a draw to win a solitary twenty quid bottle of pop once a month. Sod that. Especially if my plans change and I want to come back early.

A fifty fifty split of any visitor nights sold would seem a fairer solution as well as the leccy money.

Alternatively why not simply cut out the middle man and arrange it on somewhere like here? You pay me directly for the use of my berth when I'm not there.

Henry :)
 
moodyNick said:
It always amazes me how many people rock up in Lymington at 6pm on a busy Saturday and are then surprised they can find nowhere to moor.
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Some marinas let vacant berths after 6pm if the owner hasn't contacted them, and the owner often doesn't contact them, so turning up at 6pm may appear to be the best way of getting a berth?

I think marinas that don't operate that policy should have a text service, so they can politely text the owners at 6pm to ask if they are planning to return, and owner can respond quickly without having to break off from whatever they're doing.

The other option of course is to give the owner some of the money for the sub-let to motivate them to call the marina, rather than relying on altruism.
 
There a several variables.

Spaces which look vacant have already been allocated, but some cheeky blighters go into them anyway.
Boats who booked some days previous phone up and cancel, so a berth becomes available.
Others dont phone up, so the marina has to phone them to find out if they are still coming or not.
Visitors who have booked for one night ask to stay for two or three.
Berth holders go out and forget to tell the Dockies.
Berth holders go out, but dont tell the dockies until the last minute so those berths cannot be planned for use until then.
Visitors say "we are just staying for lunch" and are still there at 4pm.
Boats who want to visit are a different shape and size to the vacant berths.

Apart from all that, it's a pretty straightforward process !
 
In addition, I think it's fair to say last weekend was a tad unusal - a bank holiday with dreadful weather so lots of changed and abandoned plans. We stayed at Island Harbour Sat and Sun, and they basically didn't have a clue who was/wasn't going to turn up, though in the end a lot didn't turn up.

What was a real surprise was to go past the Folly on Monday at 12:30 and see just three, yes three, boats on the two midriver visitor pontoons, and the small pontoon at the end of the walkway had space too.....
 
Bit easier as you have to pass the lock office at Hythe, but they always ask if you are back same day.
Of course with MDL you stay free at their other berths, so the rip-off bit is only when you arent doing so.
Ahh thats the 3 weeks summer holiday then !
 
gjgm said:
Bit easier as you have to pass the lock office at Hythe, but they always ask if you are back same day.
Of course with MDL you stay free at their other berths, so the rip-off bit is only when you arent doing so.
Ahh thats the 3 weeks summer holiday then !
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Hehe.

On leaving Chi Marina in March (27' raggie, in there for the winter) the lock-keeper shouts down "Are you coming back today?"
Me: "No, but I might see you in November"
Mate: (quick as a flash) "But we *are* stopping somewhere else before then." <looks at me> "Aren't we?" ;->
 
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