Crap marina hall of fame?

Re: Don\'t agree with you on La Coruna

There are, in fact 3, if you include the Club Real inside the Darsena behind the Castillo de St Anton - the trouble is you have to be terribly smart to be allowed in there - I got in on "Bloodhound's" coat-tails, thanks to Jean-Pierre - but the rest are truly shambolic, especially the outer yacht club one.

Anchoring isn't too easy either with 3 wrecks and a minimum of 10m behind the Digue d'Abrigio.

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Re: Saddest marina?

I nominate Ramsgate.

The vision - superb position, Continent within easy reach, ideal break point between east and south coast, attractive for Continental sailors, capable of being a rave place etc etc.

The Reality? When visiting this June, the cleaners threw everyone out of the heads at 0730 for 3/4 hour - why? " 'cos we got a job to do!" Numerous Frenchmen standing there scratching their heads in bewilderment; I thought they took it very well! No mass burning of fenders in protest....

There's more. We arrived late the previous evening; no space on the new southerly pontoons, so went for the numerous slots on N side of the harbour. Fast reverse out - no water - it's all been allowed to silt up! What a waste. All the pontoons covered with guano! What a disgrace.

Ramsgate takes the biscuit for me!

PWG

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Re: Touchee

and what about gijon? i defy anyone to jump down from their boat onto the reception pontoons and not go for an involuntary swim. my stomach muscles are more rigid than those pontoons!

in a stiff north westerley, the marina staff were out bolting cleats that they had taken off for fear of theft back onto the pontoons - and even then you were lucky if you had 2 cleats to tie on to.

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Re: Don\'t agree with you on La Coruna

if you go further up the ria than la coruna theres a nice marina in seda. only draw back is you miss out on la coruna which despite dodgy marina's is a good town to visit.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachting-school.com>http://www.yachting-school.com</A></font color=purple>
 
Re: Cowes Yacht Haven West Cowes

On summer weekends it offers swell and wash, poor facilities that are easily over powered by a Sunsail Fleet arrival, the opportunity to be trapped in your berth as they pack in the Sunsail Fleet, the chance to be seventh boat out in a raft which gives you the opportunity to check out the nosehair of Red Funnel captains.

Not cheap either.

You do get unrivaled access to the mecca of yachting though.

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"Try even finding a paper shop/general store/newsagent on a Sunday morning at Brighton marina."

The filling station in Brighton Marina does all of that and if you want a general store, there is a huge Asda supermarket which opens on a Sunday morning as well. As for being miles from anywhere, didn't you notice that it's only a mile from the centre of Brighton, where any kind of entertainment, restaurant and retailing are available. It's not called London by the Sea for nothing. The South Downs are 2 miles away and London is less than an hour by train. Littlehampton, Shoreham, Eastbourne and Rye are a short sail and the Normandy coast is a day sail away. You sure you've actually been to Brighton Marina?

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The Asda store does open on Sunday, but only at 1100, I believe. The filling station may open at 10, maybe later.

I go to Brighton (town/city) every fortnight or so as we have an office there, so I'm familiar with what's there, and I like the place. The marina though is a bit of a poor relation - it's just a bit sad compared to what is a couple of miles up the road. It could be (and should be) a fab place to stay. All IMHO :-)


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Dover

Not the marina, which is generally a pretty good place to tie up a boat (fair old hike to the showers though), but because it's in Dover, the only town south of London and north of the English channel where you can still buy a house for less than £100,000. Considerably less. For good reason.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>
 
Boulogne

No doubt about it. Yes, they have new pontoons, fantastic electrics etc, BUT:

the lay-out is a disaster, finger pontoons too close to have two boats in between them and too far apart to have just one between them, thus waisting approx. half of the space.

result: rafting up to 15 deep on the outer pontoons, alongside very short finger pontoons which must take the enormous load, especially on the ebb where the river is being sluiced.

And the worst is: the harbour masters are cashiers and nothing else. They do not interfere when there's a 25-footer on the outside pontoon which is bound to have 10 or more heavier boats alongside at the turn of the tide.

Once arrived in Boulogne there is nowhere else to go, really.
Pity, the town is nice enough...

<hr width=100% size=1>Peter a/b SV Heerenleed, Steenbergen, Netherlands
 
Re: Touchee

I concur, Bayona is a great place. v. sheltered but the entrance could be tricky if you arrive at night(like we did, D'Oh!)

My nomination for worst marina has to be the inappropriately named Port Said Yacht Club; What looked like pontoons from a distance and in the photos in the pilot, turned out to be very small piers crudely assembled from angle iron and railway line, with every second plank missing, broken or dangerously rotten. No cleats, no fendering, no lighting, no thanks! Just a single ring to tie onto and lots of jaggy bits to burst fenders and poke holes in your topsides (guess how I know this?).

No laid moorings for stern-to shenanigans so we end up trying to lay our anchor in the Port Said slime; no grip, even with 20kg CQR and 20 fathoms of chain. We ended up tied off to what looked like the nearest pilot boat mooring.

The facilities included armed (AK47) and very bored guards who continually want to see your passports and fags for baksheesh, a restaurant closed for winter (in Egypt? it's 30 degrees for christ's sake!) and a man called Ali who appeared to run the place. His office was a small concrete shed, the interior of which was a nautical equivalent of Steptoe's yard, the door being secured with a piece of knotted string.
The showers appeared to have been installed and tiled by a drunken blind man with no knowledge of plumbing, drainage or electrical safety; miraculously the water was actually hot, although we showered in darkness for fear of death by electric shock.

Port Said itself was quite an experience; Try to imagine a Morrocan souk, only grubbier and fewer cash machines. Good food is readily available, as is expensive Coca-Cola, weird but tasty pickled things and strange egytian interpretations of what chips are.

My advice is don't stop there longer than you have to; Ismailia is a much nicer place to tie up, and even Suez/Port Tewfik is better (you moor fore and aft on laid moorings).

cheers,
david

<hr width=100% size=1>This candidate works well when cornered and watched like a rat in a trap.
 
Re: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! nm

<hr width=100% size=1>For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three
 
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