Dunstaffnage marina nightmare

[mainsail1]

Earlier this week the swell running into Dunstaffnage marina made pontoon based yachts roll gunwhale to gunwhale. Masts crashed together. Our boat nearly mounted the pontoon and we had to move out. Wrong type of wind apparently (Northerly 20 knots).
I thought Marinas were places of safety and tranquillity. Not in Scotland!

 

[lpdsn]

I've seen waves break over the breakwater from inside Carlingford Marina when it's been hit by a 'kettle'.

 

[dunedin]

Earlier this week the swell running into Dunstaffnage marina made pontoon based yachts roll gunwhale to gunwhale. Masts crashed together. Our boat nearly mounted the pontoon and we had to move out. Wrong type of wind apparently (Northerly 20 knots).
I thought Marinas were places of safety and tranquillity. Not in Scotland!

Very sorry to hear of your problems at Dunstaffnage. Sounds horrible.

But this is not a “Scotland” thing. There are many marinas in Scotland with full all round (near “hurricane hole”) shelter - Croabh for example. Equally, there are some with gaps in their shelter - all over the UK and elsewhere (Guernsay in a NE is a boat wrecker, as we discovered for example).
I guess it is a matter of checking the shelter and seeking local knowledge, wherever we go. A lot of boats do stay successfully in Dunstaffnage all year round, but it is not as well sheltered as some others.

 

[Humblebee]

Interesting. I was thinking of moving to Dunstaffnage but following the change of ownership at Kerrera I'll be staying there.
Incidentally, having once suffered mast damage from rolling against the mast on another boat I now always try to keep my mast out of line with anyone else's.

 

[doug748]

Earlier this week the swell running into Dunstaffnage marina made pontoon based yachts roll gunwhale to gunwhale. Masts crashed together. Our boat nearly mounted the pontoon and we had to move out. Wrong type of wind apparently (Northerly 20 knots).
I thought Marinas were places of safety and tranquillity. Not in Scotland!

It's not cheap either at £355 per metre per annum.

I am becoming a student of marina costs as I may have to grasp the nettle soon.

 

[Daydream believer]

Try Ostend for a swell night. I regularly have a few weeks there & last week was a really good one with the northerlies. I have been known to take my sleeping bag & kip on the quay before now

 

[Ripster]

Brixham can be very lively in a decent nor-easter and that has wave screen and breakwater trying protect it.

 

[johnalison]

Brixham can be very lively in a decent nor-easter and that has wave screen and breakwater trying protect it.

I'll see your Brixham and raise you one Braye.

 

[saltylegs]

I'll see your Brixham and raise you one Braye.

Yip i bust a fairlead in the surge there 2 years ago

 

[saltylegs]

I've seen waves break over the breakwater from inside Carlingford Marina when it's been hit by a 'kettle'.

Yip this year as well

 

[mainsail1]

In many years of sailing I have not had this problem in a Southern UK marina. If I had not been around this week my boat would probably have been damaged.

My boat has been in Scotland for just over a year now and this is the second bad event. Both of the marinas, the other was Tobermory, must know of the problem but have not taken any, or adequate steps to mitigate it. I suspect the new marina in Oban will be another example as it seems obvious that it should have some kind of 'hard' breakwater protection.
Rhu marina found out the hard way some years ago that floating wave screens are not the answer and now have a rock breakwater.
I would argue that if you are going to charge Marina prices you have to invest in a high level of wave protection.

 

[Aja]

In many years of sailing I have not had this problem in a Southern UK marina. If I had not been around this week my boat would probably have been damaged.

My boat has been in Scotland for just over a year now and this is the second bad event. Both of the marinas, the other was Tobermory, must know of the problem but have not taken any, or adequate steps to mitigate it. I suspect the new marina in Oban will be another example as it seems obvious that it should have some kind of 'hard' breakwater protection.
Rhu marina found out the hard way some years ago that floating wave screens are not the answer and now have a rock breakwater.
I would argue that if you are going to charge Marina prices you have to invest in a high level of wave protection.

One definition I've seen of a marina is:
"a small port that is used for pleasure rather than trade, often with hotels, restaurants, and bars"

It seems that protection isn't necessarily a prerequisite. For example, if I knew there was going to be a blow in Tobermory, the pontoons would be the last place I would go, yet they tie up like lemmings over a cliff :encouragement:
Donald

 

[ylop]

In many years of sailing I have not had this problem in a Southern UK marina. If I had not been around this week my boat would probably have been damaged.

My boat has been in Scotland for just over a year now and this is the second bad event. Both of the marinas, the other was Tobermory, must know of the problem but have not taken any, or adequate steps to mitigate it. I suspect the new marina in Oban will be another example as it seems obvious that it should have some kind of 'hard' breakwater protection.
Rhu marina found out the hard way some years ago that floating wave screens are not the answer and now have a rock breakwater.
I would argue that if you are going to charge Marina prices you have to invest in a high level of wave protection.

Neither Tobermory nor the new Oban pontoons are really marinas though are they? They aren't intended to be somewhere you leave a boat unattended for weeks at a time. You are paying for convenience and facilities, not necessarily shelter and I guess it should be reasonably obvious which directions of weather present the biggest risk. That said the size of dumstaffnage you would expect better and I'd have thought the staff might have moved particularly at risk boats?

 

[Quandary]

If they move your boat and it gets damaged either in the process or subsequently can you then recover the repair costs from them?

I think the OP is expecting a lot, this is Scotland, the facilities in places like Tob. or Oban are to encourage summer visitors and hopefully take some of their money, and we are grateful for them particularly as it frees up more anchoring space. Concentrating mainly unused boats in marinas helps but our waters are deep our rocks are hard and the wind likes to blow sometimes. It could be argued that cruising up here was better before any of these constructions took place, Croabh used to be a great anchorage.
Perhaps a south coast marina is safer from storms and swell, you are free to make your choice.

 

[Minchsailor]

It could be argued that cruising up here was better before any of these constructions took place.

+1 for that. They want to play with the big boys and call them 'marinas' when they are in actuality 'visitors pontoons'. In bad weather I much prefer to be on a mooring buoy - always head to wind, so no rain blowing into the companionway and no worry about fenders popping out or the other things the OP mentioned.

I do think Oban is particularly badly designed - wrong facility in the wrong place. Not to mention Lochmaddy when the MV Hebrides had an 'happening', and wiped it out. Fortunately no boats using it at the time. Rebuilt exactly as was.....

 

[stevepick]

Dunstaffnage has form I am afraid. We kept our boat there from 2007 till 2012. In september 2012 an intense Northerly storm caused damage to 26 boats, mooring warps were not checked, pontoon fingers were distorted and failed to keep boats apart. The whole marina moved 3 metres south as anchors dragged . Our boat was badly damaged, the marina management could not have been less interested in their failings. The outer "breakwater" (not sure this term is really appropriate) pontoon was promised for years and finally appeared last year. Its effectiveness has been shown to be limited, and I wont berth a boat there until the current (mis)management team are replaced by folk who understand what is required to run a marina. I avoid dustaffnage like the plague, it should be a fantastic marina, but fails on many levels. The self assessed 5 gold anchors award is a pitiful joke.

 

[nicho]

Looks lovely on their website pictures, but VERY exposed.

 

[Kelpie]

The recently extended pontoons at Kyle of Lochalsh seem very exposed to me. Anybody got first hand experience, good or bad?

 

[Minchsailor]

The recently extended pontoons at Kyle of Lochalsh seem very exposed to me. Anybody got first hand experience, good or bad?

Yes, they are exposed, unsuitable for use in anything than a very moderate on-shore breeze. Under the previous management overnight use was, if not exactly forbidden, was discouraged, and yachts sent to Kyleakin. Present management seem much more relaxed about this, and Kyleakin now has almost no room as it has been taken over by local fishing boats.

The permanently moored boats are on the inside of the inshore pontoon, but even there they had problems a while back. The mooring people do insist that if a boat if left unattended the owner should have a local representative who can take charge and sort things out if there are problems.

The pontoons are not a commercial venture as such, but run by a 'community interest company' (essentially volunteers) so users cannot expect the level of service of a full marina (but the charges are corresponding less).

But Kyle now has 5 mooring buoys just to the west of it in the bight. These are better sheltered than the pontoon, and out of the tide. They replace the 3 which were in the channel on the Kyleakin side just east of the bridge. Administered by the same people as the pontoons.

 

[JumbleDuck]

In bad weather I much prefer to be on a mooring buoy - always head to wind, so no rain blowing into the companionway and no worry about fenders popping out or the other things the OP mentioned.

Absolutely. I'm about to move my boat into Port Bannatyne marina for the winter, and I do so with some trepidation. It's a nice, sheltered place, but she's normally on a mooring all summer and ashore all winter and I don't have the slightest worries about either. Warps! Fenders! Eek!