Fowey

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robertj

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A friend visited Fowey harbour this week end and remarked how quiet it is. Enquiringly if I was there I mentioned it’s is for me over £20 per night for a swing mooring, that why I’m not there. I used to frequent the harbour at least once a weekend if weather permitted but I haven’t or will not be returning. A real shame the catch 22 has started there, Salcombe fell foul of over pricing which cost them dearly.
I press on to Plymouth or Salcombe now to enjoy a few days.
Bloody shame!
 
I think it’s been pretty quiet for a few years now. You would think that they would have learnt from the lessons of the Salcombe debacle. That was about 10 years ago, and now Salcombe is buzzing again with new very helpful staff and attractive pricing. None of this is rocket science!
 
I'm not sure £20 a might is really expensive any more.
ISTR paying over a fiver for a 22ft boat 35 years ago, when beer was a lot less than a quid.
It's actually £2 petre metre LOA, so many people will be paying a bit more than £20.

How many of us spend more than a quarter of our boating budget on 'away' mooring fees?
For sure it adds up if you are a full time cruiser actually on the move all season, but most of us spend more on insurance than we do on actually visiting places.

Salcomber is cheap until the end of this month at £1.40 a metre, goes up to £1.85 in the summer.
But I find in reality Salcombe costs more as being bigger there is a greater tendency to end up paying for a water taxi.

Somebody will be along to whine at being charged to anchor in the Dart in a moment.
 
lw395 said:
I'm not sure £20 a might is really expensive any more.
ISTR paying over a fiver for a 22ft boat 35 years ago, when beer was a lot less than a quid.
It's actually £2 petre metre LOA, so many people will be paying a bit more than £20.

How many of us spend more than a quarter of our boating budget on 'away' mooring fees?
For sure it adds up if you are a full time cruiser actually on the move all season, but most of us spend more on insurance than we do on actually visiting places.

Salcomber is cheap until the end of this month at £1.40 a metre, goes up to £1.85 in the summer.
But I find in reality Salcombe costs more as being bigger there is a greater tendency to end up paying for a water taxi.

Somebody will be along to whine at being charged to anchor in the Dart in a moment.
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Whether or not it's expensive in the grand scheme of things is irrelevant. It's whether or not it's good compared to other local places.

I suspect that in the same way it's getting hard to sell boats, that clubs are struggling, that waiting lists for moorings are reducing these are all symptoms of fewer people wanting to sail in the uk. As an knock on from that, that means fewer customers as visitors.

Add in bigger boats that can travel further in the same time and in greater comfort that puts more destinations in range for a given trip.
 
Salcombe has to compete with Dartmouth and Newton Ferrers whereas Fowey is more or less on its own. £20 sounds a lot to me but in the context of the area it is probably about what one would expect. I haven't been there for about five years but it's about the nicest place around, on a good day.
 
jac said:
Whether or not it's expensive in the grand scheme of things is irrelevant. It's whether or not it's good compared to other local places.

I suspect that in the same way it's getting hard to sell boats, that clubs are struggling, that waiting lists for moorings are reducing these are all symptoms of fewer people wanting to sail in the uk. As an knock on from that, that means fewer customers as visitors.

Add in bigger boats that can travel further in the same time and in greater comfort that puts more destinations in range for a given trip.
Click to expand...

No, I am not sure that's true.
It's a fools' game to race to the bottom of a shrinking market.
What matters is whether people cruise the South West and come away feeling they enjoyed it and not been ripped off.
A typical two week jaunt for two of us, we will pay £15 to £25 a night.
That's £280.
To put that in perspective, it's about 3 nights B&B if we're touring by car.
Of course for a sailing school or racing boat it's divided by more people and falls out the bottom of the budget worries.

I take the view that owning boats is expensive, paying £20 to be somewhere nice is trivial by comparison.
As a comparison, our local campsite charges about the same to pitch a tent for two people.
 
johnalison said:
Salcombe has to compete with Dartmouth and Newton Ferrers whereas Fowey is more or less on its own. £20 sounds a lot to me but in the context of the area it is probably about what one would expect. I haven't been there for about five years but it's about the nicest place around, on a good day.
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Both Fowey and Salcombe are good stopping point with no great alternatives nearby.
 
lw395 said:
Both Fowey and Salcombe are good stopping point with no great alternatives nearby.
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It depends on your point of view. You can, and I have, easily sail from Dartmouth-Newton Ferrers in a day missing out Salcombe, but Plymouth-Falmouth must be nearly twice as far.
 
johnalison said:
It depends on your point of view. You can, and I have, easily sail from Dartmouth-Newton Ferrers in a day missing out Salcombe, but Plymouth-Falmouth must be nearly twice as far.
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Cawsand to Falmouth can be done in a day, there is less tidal pressure on time, compared to rounding Start Point.
The Yealm is semi tidal if you have a deep boat.
Plymouth itself is a fair trek from the ocean either way.
I've missed out Salcombe more times than I've missed out Fowey, because a) I like Fowey and b) I had a few visits to Salcombe that felt like hard work in the Summer School holiday period, some of the other yachtsmen there seem like idiots. Lately I've grown to really like Salcombe, partly due to getting to know a few dinghy sailors there.

But we digress, as they say. Anyone going west for a fortnight's relaxed cruise from the Solent is fairly likely to visit both Fowey and Salcombe, unless they are intent on getting to Scilly, where a mooring for the night is a whole 30-bob cheaper at £18.50 a night.

But I'll put in a good word for Mevagissey.
Up to 2 hours FREE. Get in there for a pint and a pasty. £14 over night.
A much better place visited by water than by car IMHO.
 
lw395 said:
Both Fowey and Salcombe are good stopping point with no great alternatives nearby.
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There are several decent no-cost anchorages close to Fowey which together offer shelter from all wind directions; an alternative if one doesn’t want to cough up for a mooring buoy in the Harbour.
 
lw395 said:
But I'll put in a good word for Mevagissey.
Up to 2 hours FREE. Get in there for a pint and a pasty. £14 over night.
A much better place visited by water than by car IMHO.
Click to expand...
We used to walk to Meva from Pormellon, where I still part-own some land. I've never overnighted in Meva but it still has character, though I preferred it in the old days before they painted the houses. In fact, I liked Cornwall better when it was grey, in the '50s, unlike the more effete Devon. There are other places to spend the night, but it wouldn't necessarily choose them in all weathers. A SE gale in Meva is quite something too.
 
Yes there are other anchorages nearby but it’s a shame I’m not visiting anymore and many like me aswell as it seems
 
Robih said:
There are several decent no-cost anchorages close to Fowey which together offer shelter from all wind directions; an alternative if one doesn’t want to cough up for a mooring buoy in the Harbour.
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Yep, We can happily spend a week messing around in St Austell bay without paying anything to anchor. We normally finish said week with a night or two in Fowey to get clean and pick up fresh water.
 
T_C said:
Yep, We can happily spend a week messing around in St Austell bay without paying anything to anchor. We normally finish said week with a night or two in Fowey to get clean and pick up fresh water.
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And no doubt to have a nice pint at sensible prices at Fowey Gallants!
 
robertj said:
A friend visited Fowey harbour this week end and remarked how quiet it is. Enquiringly if I was there I mentioned it’s is for me over £20 per night for a swing mooring, that why I’m not there. I used to frequent the harbour at least once a weekend if weather permitted but I haven’t or will not be returning. A real shame the catch 22 has started there, Salcombe fell foul of over pricing which cost them dearly.
I press on to Plymouth or Salcombe now to enjoy a few days.
Bloody shame!
Click to expand...
From last weeks wee trip. The Yealm was £17 per night and the Fal £15.

I wonder how much it is park your caravan in the area?
 
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