Chichester marina security

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lupa

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After walking around last weekend, I noticed that R pontoon has an active key fob access,. This in my opinion is fantastic. Unfortunately we have been informed by the marina office that no other pontoons will be getting it. I feel this is rather unfair. Thoughts from any chichester berth holders welcome.
 
Primary security at Chi Marina appears to me, as a regular visitor, non existent.

R pontoon must be recently secured with a fob type gate lock. Most pontoon gates could be almost stepped over.

I note the posh loo's and showers are pretty secure-someone got their priorities wrong.............................
 
Depends what you mean by security; the loos and showers are surrounded by big bushes etc, not good if a mugger or worse is around.

When with a lady guest - who is not faint hearted, she once chased and caught a guy who'd just stabbed and killed someone near Brighton Marina - we more or less escorted her to and fro !

In reality it's a lovely marina and area, but it pays to be aware.

I'd hope there's good CCTV now, but years ago I remember a boat there being broken into, the owner had a checklist of all the gear - they ticked off each item as they stole them...
 
Northside has a barrier. Southside's barrier goes down at some point in the evening. CCTV appears to cover quite a lot.

If they are going to have locks on all pontoons then security fencing all round will be needed too otherwise it will be pointless. The place will end up looking like Mr Trump's dream.
 
Northney marina has effective gate locks and spiky guards at the shore end of each pontoon controlled by keypad entry, they seem quite effective; I've not actually tried pinching stuff from boats but I'd imagine they make life difficult for people intending that, which is all normal security can hope for unless they have Robocop patrolling.
 
I think that it is a shame that we have marinas that have turned themselves into secure enclaves. Although I can appreciate the need, I think that in the long term it is counter-productive, creating a 'them and us' attitude to the sport of sailing. Security at my marina is light and there is a restaurant open to the public on site, though the road access is controlled at night. One previous boatyard actually had a public footpath going through it and my view was that the additional eyes probably improved out security. Unfortunately, there are obviously areas where this doesn't work, but I do appreciate the Continental habit of making yacht clubs at least in part public places.
 
I was a berth holder 'till last year and will be again. Been closely familiar with the place for 15 years and never heard of much stuff going missing. So many boats leave outboards etc on show I can't imagine crime is a problem at all.

I suspect the main security is in the number of people around and the limited access to the whole site. You can't get a car in the Northside so you have quite a carry to get to your vehicle. Even the South side you've quite brave to load up a car with nicked goods knowing you have a long drive up a single point of access to the road.

There are cameras and 24 hour presence by the lock keeper, they're often walking around at all times of the night in Winter.

My gut feel is the countless boats on moorings are a much softer target.

So, IMV Chi Marina is plenty secure enough. Whether it's close enough to the sea is another question! :D
 
johnalison said:
I think that it is a shame that we have marinas that have turned themselves into secure enclaves. Although I can appreciate the need, I think that in the long term it is counter-productive, creating a 'them and us' attitude to the sport of sailing. Security at my marina is light and there is a restaurant open to the public on site, though the road access is controlled at night. One previous boatyard actually had a public footpath going through it and my view was that the additional eyes probably improved out security. Unfortunately, there are obviously areas where this doesn't work, but I do appreciate the Continental habit of making yacht clubs at least in part public places.
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Most marinas have cafes and / or restaurants open to the public, I don't see why denying public access to pontoons should create any ' them and us ' feeling.

However I have always felt strongly that liveaboards are an excellent extra layer of security, and if discreet and not turning the place into a static park should be quietly allowed in; some places realise this and let such people berth, even though their official attitude is against, partly as a sop to councils - the last thing a potential liveaboard should do is call up and ask, the answer has to be ' no ' but if they walk up and ask around it may be different.

This doesn't apply to Chichester Marina which as far as I've always known is straight anti.
 
I'm a plump 50 something and have never failed in my dozens of attempts to bypass marina security unchallenged. Most recently I climbed out of Swanick when the boat owner was ashore with the only fob. Slightly embarassing when it was pointed out to me that what I had taken to be a fob sensor to exit was a simple motion detector to unlock the gate.
I'm sure any reasonably nimble ne'er do well could gain entry to any marina.
It would be interesting to hear Chichester explain to a victim of theft or their insurers why they recognised the need for security on one pontoon but not on others.
 
Seajet said:
This doesn't apply to Chichester Marina which as far as I've always known is straight anti.
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Agree but I can think of two Liveaboards in Chi over the last couple of years. One was a family, lovely. Another did a runner and left the boat for the Marina to dispose of. Also had suspicions about a third.

Of course Chi Marina has a fair few house boats on the Canal, so they're probably unique in actively promoting *some* liveaboards.
 
Quiddle said:
It would be interesting to hear Chichester explain to a victim of theft or their insurers why they recognised the need for security on one pontoon but not on others.
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When I asked I was told that it was implemented on R pontoon as a test, and that when berth holders were asked their views they disapproved of the system being rolled out. During our 4 years there we had no problems and the numbers of walkers and other visitors has increased dramatically over the last few years (previously there in the early 90's). Personally I would have been happy to have the Northney style doors at the bottom of the ramps.
 
Our south coast marina has a fob system to access the whole marina, not individual pontoons, but once someone has opened the sliding gate anybody could walk through after them, and we often do hustle a bit if we see it open to save using our own fob then wait for the closing gate to re-open.

They do have excellent CCTV though but at 10k a year I’d really like my own security guard :rolleyes:
 
Seajet said:
Most marinas have cafes and / or restaurants open to the public, I don't see why denying public access to pontoons should create any ' them and us ' feeling.

However I have always felt strongly that liveaboards are an excellent extra layer of security, and if discreet and not turning the place into a static park should be quietly allowed in; some places realise this and let such people berth, even though their official attitude is against, partly as a sop to councils - the last thing a potential liveaboard should do is call up and ask, the answer has to be ' no ' but if they walk up and ask around it may be different.

This doesn't apply to Chichester Marina which as far as I've always known is straight anti.
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Although I can't and don't wish to lay down the rule for all places, I do think that a member of the non-sailing public is likely to get a different impression from a locked gate surrounded by spikes as compared with, say, a notice saying 'Boat owners only'. I have been to a number of marinas and yacht harbours from France to Germany and elsewhere, and some of them are exclusive and other quite open. I'm not convinced that a gate does much for security; I have often seen visitors hitch a ride on someone else entering at places such a Brighton for example, where the wide gate doesn't close snugly behind you.
 
Mark-1 said:
Agree but I can think of two Liveaboards in Chi over the last couple of years. One was a family, lovely. Another did a runner and left the boat for the Marina to dispose of. Also had suspicions about a third.

Of course Chi Marina has a fair few house boats on the Canal, so they're probably unique in actively promoting *some* liveaboards.
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There are at least two liveaboards on my pontoon. Very friend;y, helpful, happy to have them there.
 
johnalison said:
... I have often seen visitors hitch a ride on someone else entering at places such a Brighton for example, where the wide gate doesn't close snugly behind you.
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Last time I was at Brighton I seem to recall a turnstile type system where each person had to either press a button (for exit) or present their fob (for entry).
 
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Barbican said:
When I asked I was told that it was implemented on R pontoon as a test, and that when berth holders were asked their views they disapproved of the system being rolled out.
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I think that they sent out a mail to that effect a couple of years back. The feedback was that bertholders generally didn't want the place to turn into a high security prison.
 
Scala said:
Last time I was at Brighton I seem to recall a turnstile type system where each person had to either press a button (for exit) or present their fob (for entry).
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It's a few years since I was there but I think the key or fob or whatever also opened the gate, as when one wanted to exit with a bike or trolley, but my general point was that security gates can often be outwitted.
 
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