Fowey harbour dues - rip-off?

[Lynette]

We arrived in Fowey about 9.30pm, the weekend before last. I couldn't raise the harbour master that late, and all the vistors buoys and floating pontoons seemed to be taken. We were waved away when we asked one yacht if we could raft up. So we went upstream and anchored.

It was a troubled night, close to the commercial docks with much wash in a strong tidal stream, so we could not leave the yacht and obviously we were unable to use any facilities.

First thing in the morning, there was the harbour master demanding £14 - same price as if we had taken a visitor's mooring. Not his fault that there weren't any and he wasn't there to assist. This seemed like pure extortion so I refused to pay him, giving my contact details and leaving Fowey immediately. We will never return.

Of course, I've now had the "pay up or else" letter. Should I submit, or is it worth arguing the toss?

 

[ccscott49]

A rip off! Don't pay, stuff them!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Cornishman]

What people don't understand is that the harbour is resurfaced twice a day at great expense!

Ignore him at your peril, I guess, but you will have the satisfaction that it may cost him more than £14 to recover your debt to him! It has already cost him about a tenner to send a man to collect, employ someone to write you the letter and then there is the postage. Of course, if it goes to court and you lose, which you will, you will have to pay the costs as well as the £14.

You could also e-mail a letter to WMNletters@westernmorningnews.co.uk with a copy to the harbourmaster.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Neraida]

No way should you pay, that's appalling! My parents have had a mooring in pretty Fowey for about 20 years now and whenever we visit and they are already on the boat we have to take the water taxi to the mooring which costs a fiver a head return.Last time, after not having the correct money to pay we were given change in taxi tokens!!!!!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Chris_Robb]

Salcombe only charges £8 - ie half mooring charge - used to call it anchoring charge but now called Harbour dues. Sailing today ran an article on this - apparently Harbour dues are only chargeable on the use of harbour facilities, and that only anchoring is a right.

CHarging the same rate is disgraceful. Stick it out as long as you can - make them bloody well earn their money. Next time we go there we will anchor and refuseto pay!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ccscott49]

Thinking about it, Dartmouth does not charge for a mooring, same as Salcombe, unless you use one, they only charge harbour dues, which are considerably less.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[tjc]

Don't pay, doubt that they will bother suing for a that amount. they will have to give you a "seven day or else we will sue" letter any way and if they do pay then. It si my nearest weekend sail and I think that their cahrges are becoming excessive. I avoid it sadly.

In Salcombe I paid £12.30 after having arrived at 2300 and leaving at 0730 which I thought was excessive. not a visitor buoy either and in a very poor state too, so bad that I put anchor watch on just in case!!

Newton Ferrers was £10 for a night on the pontoon which is about right I think.

Dartmouth is still very reasonable though and the harbour staff are extremely friendly also



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Tumblehome]

I don\'t think so

Pay up. We need places like Fowey to be successful.

The harbour dues there are the same whether you take a mooring or not - they will try to find a mooring if at all possible and much prefer to provide that facility (noted in pilot books, almanacs, etc). It does get terribly busy in the season, though - there are about 20,000 visitors by yacht or motorboat each year.

IMHO the harbour commissioners at Fowey do a superb job in striking a balance between commercial and leisure interests and are fully deserving of our support. There are 600 ship movements a year there, but they have preserved a proper, tidy, well-maintained, well-run, yacht-friendly harbour.

They have jurisdiction over 1,500 acres of river and have got a full-time staff of 55 in port operations - 60 in summer - which includes berthing staff, maintenance, pilots, tugging, admin, river management, etc. They are one of the few harbour authorities with a full-time environmental management officer and the first British port to get a 'Blue Flag' for water quality, besides which they are also responsible for dredging 70,000 tonnes a year from the river (mainly sand washed down from the moors) which would otherwise silt up anchorages like the one you went to!

I cruised there in late June for a Yachting World feature (to be published in the October issue) and spent a couple of days in Fowey, where I had an interview with the harbourmaster, Captain Mike Sutherland - though in fact I do tend to head there on my own boat on my annual cruise. I love Fowey; it's special but not, I think, by accident.

Elaine Bunting, YW





<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[ghostwriter]

how many wrongs make a right ?

but it's not because you like 'em , or because they run a nice operation according to your standards that it's o.k. to levy charges which seem -from Lynette's perception- wildly excessive ? no ???

if you go to a baker , you do expect some bread , do you ? Lynette's story sounds like she went to the bakery , no more bread in the house , so she helped herself to some crumbs that fell off the floor and next she was asked to pay up for a fresh loaf.
there is also a thing like value for money , no ? and clearly that was NOT what she and her hombre got , so it seems you like them to pay for the value you got...that's rich. (or rather , that makes somebody rich)

hey Lynn , when are you going to dive ??? isn't that position getting painful ?? /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Lynette]

Why I\'ll never visit Fowey again.

Many thanks for your collective support. Part of me feels that we ought collectively fight to defend the right to free navigation in natural harbours, part that a small charge is not unreasonable, but that Fowey are simply being exploitative. I expect I'll have to pay their fee in due course, but in the mean time at least I’ll take the opportunity to make my feelings clear to Captain Sutherland in Fowey.

Their agenda is not hard to guess. The assistant harbour master who spoke to us made clear that Fowey wish to discourage visiting yachts anchoring in the harbour, and an exorbitant fee clearly contributes to that. Where does that leave you if no moorings are available? And, as Dr Strangelove would have said, what is the point of a deterrent if you don’t tell anyone about it? There is nothing in the current Macmillians or the west country pilot we carry, no conspicuous notices posted, and as I said before, no harbour master to advise us when we arrived.

Tumbleweed – If you use YW to whitewash Fowey’s policy towards visiting yachts I think you will be making a serious mistake. In my view the majority of cruising yachtsmen are far more in sympathy with the campaign currently being mounted by Sailing Today expressing concern at the unregulated way in which some harbour authorities and the Crown Estates Commission have been exploiting their rights in relation to the seabed. I look forward to reading your article, but believe me, for all the additional bureaucracy and costs, Fowey was no less attractive as a cruising venue 30 years ago than it is today.



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jimi]

Re: Why I\'ll never visit Fowey again.

Well said. IMHO £15 to anchor is quite simply a rip off. If they don't want you to anchor then that should be made clear in the harbour regulations. My guess is that the Duchy of Cornwall is involved somewhere!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ccscott49]

I dont believe you, Jimi has never let go of his wallet! It would need molegrips to get it out of his hands!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Tumblehome]

Re: how many wrongs make a right ?

It's not wrong; it's what it takes to run Fowey harbour and why, according to their charter. They make a small profit per year - it's a Trust Port; have a look at the figures.

I suspect the blanket dues are because they do not wish to encourage anchoring - for very obvious reasons if you've been there when one of the bigger ships turns and goes astern to the china clay terminal.

If you don't like the rules somewhere, don't return, but refusing to pay simply because you didn't read the pilot book/almanac and were therefore surprised seems obtuse. The situation is similar on the Dart and a few other trust ports round the UK. Like it or not, free anchoring anywhere is not the right of the freeborn Englishman and it's been that way since a long time before most of us took up sailing.

If Fowey gives a problem, I suggest continuing to Mevagissey. It has a dirty, rough old harbour wall to lie alongside and one 'deepwater' mooring in about 3m with weedy risers that look as if they haven't been looked at in a year or two. But it's cheap - we were charged £6 - or you can even anchor outside for free. Or sail on to the Fal, which has many wonderful anchorages, all for nowt.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[hlb]

Re: how many wrongs make a right ?

I can understand anyone being anoid at being charged £16 for anchoring. Also can understand that Fowey is not a good place to do it. Far to many big ships use the harbour and need the space to manuver. Suppose anchoring charges are akin to handbrake charges in the pay and display!! We dont like them but have to put up with them.
A point missed so far, whilst of course it's customary to ask if you can moor alongside other boats on a buoy. No one has the right to refuse. In any case there are loads of buoys and pontoons in Fowey, all capable of taking at least three boats a piece. So, no excuse for not being able to find one with friendly neibours.

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn

 

[jimi]

Re: how many wrongs make a right ?

With due respect .. bollocks! Paid £10 in Dartmouth last weekend to tie up overnight on a pontoon on the Town Quay ith walk ashore access.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[hlb]

Re: how many wrongs make a right ?

Was that for the dinghy, or have you got special relations with the HM??

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn

 

[jimi]

Re: how many wrongs make a right ?

Nope .. that was for a 10m boat and is the standard charge, check Reeds.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[ghostwriter]

cross the ditch....

being a furriner , you are making a case for me not to come over.....great.

was over at Tollesbury a month ago , 16£ / day but maybe this was because the great lady of the mudbanks arranged it for me.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley