Do you do cruising in company?

C

Cathy*

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 Nov 2013
Messages
522
Location
Portsmouth
Visit site
We're relatively new to boating (3 years) and have so far just gone up and down the coast from Plymouth as far as Fowey in the west and Torquay to the east. One of the things that attracted me to our marina was the Cruising in Company mentioned in the blurb about being an RYA Active Marina, and the training days etc that are mentioned. However at our particular marina there has been nothing active since 2012 which is disappointing.

I joined the Ancasta cruising club but their trips start in the Solent. I'm thinking we'll just carry on doing our own thing this year around our area and maybe move further East next year. We picked up info about several marinas at the boat show last year and they are all much more expensive than ours so I want to make sure we find one that ticks the boxes re social and cruising opportunities.
 
I wouldn't really see that sort of thing as a function of the marina where you keep the boat.

Sailing clubs often do cruises and rallies. As do owners' associations; my parents are members of one which runs maybe half a dozen events per year, and they usually attend at least a couple of them. And these forums have been known to organise meetups too; there's a long-standing annual one in Cherbourg every September, plus I've been on a few this side of the Channel, mostly in the Solent but there was one in your part of the world the other year.

But I don't think most people expect cruising events to be organised by their marina, so even if the company genuinely wanted to go that way, I think they'd struggle to find takers. Bit like your supermarket trying to organise a weekend on a farm to see where food comes from or something - there's a certain relevance and it might even be fun, but it's just not what the customers are expecting or looking for from them.

Pete
 
I've done quite a few now with Mendez Marine who are brilliant but based in the Solent so no use to you as yet I'm afraid. They were a great confidence booster for me as my husband never wanted to do cruise in co's so this enabled me to go away on the boat without him. I learnt so much and have made some great friends as a direct result. If you do decide to move further East, I can thoroughly recommend Mendez for their cruise in co's. They're just a very friendly and knowledgeable lot who will go out of their way to help you.
L
:)
 
prv said:
I wouldn't really see that sort of thing as a function of the marina where you keep the boat.

Sailing clubs often do cruises and rallies. As do owners' associations; my parents are members of one which runs maybe half a dozen events per year, and they usually attend at least a couple of them. And these forums have been known to organise meetups too; there's a long-standing annual one in Cherbourg every September, plus I've been on a few this side of the Channel, mostly in the Solent but there was one in your part of the world the other year.

But I don't think most people expect cruising events to be organised by their marina, so even if the company genuinely wanted to go that way, I think they'd struggle to find takers. Bit like your supermarket trying to organise a weekend on a farm to see where food comes from or something - there's a certain relevance and it might even be fun, but it's just not what the customers are expecting or looking for from them.

Pete
Click to expand...

From the RYA website


HELPING YOU ENJOY YOUR BOATING MORE

Boat ownership is all about freedom and having fun. The RYA's Active Marina Programme is designed to help you get more out of life with your boat.
The programme encourages and supports increased berth holder activity by partnering with marinas, RYA recognised training centres, berth holder groups and yacht clubs to establish or enhance a programme of training, cruising and social opportunities.


My marina advertises on its website that it is part of this programme so that's what I was hoping to find
 
We sometimes cruise in company with a group of moboers at Portishead. We are not a club or an affiliation, just a bunch of 6 or 7 boat owners, and anything from 2 up to the full complement cruise together. We have found this extremely helpful, being newcomers to the Bristol Channel, cruising with knowledgeable owners. Have you asked around in your marina?
 
rafiki_ said:
We sometimes cruise in company with a group of moboers at Portishead. We are not a club or an affiliation, just a bunch of 6 or 7 boat owners, and anything from 2 up to the full complement cruise together. We have found this extremely helpful, being newcomers to the Bristol Channel, cruising with knowledgeable owners. Have you asked around in your marina?
Click to expand...

Yes on our facebook group. I got one response. I'll try again through the berth holders.
 
Why don't you start your own cruising club? A couple of friends and I have organised a number of annual rallies - initially for Fletcher owners, but they've gradually evolved and now continuing this as an annual sportsboat rally. The event is at the end of May in Torbay, so you could join? I'm still attending but not involved in the organisation this year - partly due to work and partly because I'm working on some new ideas for next year. Cruising in company is a great way to explore new areas and meet like minded owners with an added bit of peace of mind knowing someone else is there if you have any issues.
 
lisilou said:
I've done quite a few now with Mendez Marine who are brilliant but based in the Solent so no use to you as yet I'm afraid. They were a great confidence booster for me as my husband never wanted to do cruise in co's so this enabled me to go away on the boat without him. I learnt so much and have made some great friends as a direct result. If you do decide to move further East, I can thoroughly recommend Mendez for their cruise in co's. They're just a very friendly and knowledgeable lot who will go out of their way to help you.
L
:)
Click to expand...

That's interesting. I was just looking at their website at the Day Skipper for motor cruising
 
Very much agree re John Mendez, we had a great couple of days with him as the lead boat last year.

IIWY I'd try to find some like minded people around the Marina, perhaps be a little more specific in a thread dedicated to finding some folk to buddy up with on Jaunts.

Cruising with other boats is great fun, for Ann and I, we enjoy the on the job stuff, passage planning, boat talk and so on but we aren't perhaps the most social of people so it's not something we do often.

We are planning are Plymouth, Salcombe, Anderney, Jersey first week in May, but we are not coming back. If you fancy joining us for any part of that.

Good luck and I'd try to get your own small group sorted before moving too far East....far nicer down here :)
 
Last edited:
We love cruising in company but it tends to be add hoc and not organised through clubs or association's.
We were at MDL Brixham for a few years and they were very good at organising Active Marina event's but we mostly cruised with the Brixham Bay Hoppers.
We're in the Solent now and have a wider range of options but if all else fails try leafleting the other bertholders to see if they are interested ☺
 
prv said:
Yes - but as you discovered, between the RYA's jaunty ambition and the actual reality, there is something of a gap :)
Click to expand...

Whilst what you say is true, the RYA's initiative was, I thought, highly laudable: get marinas to be social hubs, get sailing schools, bertholders and yacht clubs building a community which benefits everyone: boaters getting more enjoyment from their boats, making things safer through more training, boosting marine businesses etc. The problem as I've seen it has been that many people are simply rubbish and the scheme has been a wash-out due to apathy.

I'd suggest that OP's best course of action is to make it happen. Find out if there's a bertholder's association. If so volunteer to help organise something. If not, or if the bertholders' association officials are unhelpful, ask the marina management if you can stick a notice up in the facilities announcing a meeting one evening in the marina bar (being heedful that some people have a long journey after work on a friday). Once you have a few interested people many things are possible.
 
Sailing in company can be a nuisance, first you have to find a week when every one can go, then there are different speeds and different capabilities.

There used to be loads of get together organised on here. We did not travel together, but met up some where like Weymouth. That way you set off and arrive when you want. Loads of gettogethersin Wales a while ago.

Another problem is that most folk don't go anywhere, they just bum around. That's why you have to get folk from a big area to a central place. We though nothing about Plymouth to Weymouth whilst others came from the Solent.
 
Last edited:
Whilst we often cruise alone we have also cruised in company a lot, mainly with like minded friends we have met through boating. We have arranged things ourselves as opposed to relying on marinas or yacht clubs and it can be great fun.

We have also done some cruises in company with Norfolk Yacht Agency who have an extensive programme each year (not a lot of help to the OP as they are based on the east coast) and they are excellent. I think NYA were probably one of the first brokers to do this sort of thing and it was born of a desire to get people using their boats. It may have helped with sales too but in reality it is a massive commitment for them and is excellent value for money for customers.

The thing is that organising cruises requires a lot of effort and the reality is that some who are attracted to them want everything handed to them on a plate and can be a hindrance to others if they haven't kept up with routine maintenance or don't carry the right spares etc. I suspect that this is why the RYA programme hasn't developed as hoped for.
 
We do a bit of both. We don't mind cruising in company but at the same time we don't mind cruising alone.

We are not members of any clubs but we do have a group of like minded friends who we cruise with.
 
Greg2 said:
Whilst we often cruise alone we have also cruised in company a lot, mainly with like minded friends we have met through boating. We have arranged things ourselves as opposed to relying on marinas or yacht clubs and it can be great fun.

We have also done some cruises in company with Norfolk Yacht Agency who have an extensive programme each year (not a lot of help to the OP as they are based on the east coast) and they are excellent. I think NYA were probably one of the first brokers to do this sort of thing and it was born of a desire to get people using their boats. It may have helped with sales too but in reality it is a massive commitment for them and is excellent value for money for customers.

The thing is that organising cruises requires a lot of effort and the reality is that some who are attracted to them want everything handed to them on a plate and can be a hindrance to others if they haven't kept up with routine maintenance or don't carry the right spares etc. I suspect that this is why the RYA programme hasn't developed as hoped for.
Click to expand...

We bought our current boat from NYA and it was there I first came across the cruising in company idea. If we ever move to the Broads it would definitely be to them.

I think all clubs have an element of people who want everything done for them without giving anything back but that isn't a reason not to do it. I contacted the guy from Ancasta who organises trips to see if they could organise something from Plymouth but no go. I've emailed our BHA and in the meantime plan to start small with a mate and write a trip report to see if anyone else expresses interest.
 
Where in Plymouth are you based? If in Sutton then I can put you in touch with a few people who we meet out and about on the water, all started by being on the same pontoon in the Yealm.
 
lisilou said:
I've done quite a few now with Mendez Marine who are brilliant but based in the Solent so no use to you as yet I'm afraid. They were a great confidence booster for me as my husband never wanted to do cruise in co's so this enabled me to go away on the boat without him. I learnt so much and have made some great friends as a direct result. If you do decide to move further East, I can thoroughly recommend Mendez for their cruise in co's. They're just a very friendly and knowledgeable lot who will go out of their way to help you.
L
:)
Click to expand...

I broadly agree, however it is easy to get sucked in to a culture whereby the only cruising done is in company, which may be fine for some but to me personally was never the point of boating, Lisa is right they are good for building confidence, but once you have that confidence there are better days ahead when you can go it alone. Many marinas around the country have cruising clubs, one of the best is Norfolk Yacht Agency on the East coast
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top