How far do you live from your boat?

[dunedin]

I've no real idea about distance but it's half an hour by car. My classification is based on function rather than distance.
A. Bottom of the garden, or pop on and off as you wish.
B. Screwdriver distance. Close enough to go home for a screwdriver rather than buy a replacement at the chandlers'.
C. Day sail distance. Close enough to be worth going in the morning and come back later after a sail.
D. Overnight distance. Too far for a day trip and back.
E. Pack for a week.

I am currently C but have been D in the past.

I like these real world criteria! We are also in category C, which generally works well. Might regret not being A / B this year.

 

[webcraft]

.
5 minutes walk to the dinghy, then five minutes row out to the boat.

- W

 

[Simon__]

Google maps is telling me 237 miles. Prior to lockdown it was 0 as I was using it as a crash pad a few nights a week and was in the process of relocating. When lockdown finishes.. hopefully 20 miles or so at the most.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Given the overwhelming response to this poll, I have sent the following email to the RYA:

I am very pleased to receive the latest information about the action that the RYA is taking in response to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, can I draw your attention to a straw poll I conducted on the Yachting and Boating World Scuttlebutt Forum (https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/how-far-do-you-live-from-your-boat.539870/)?

With over 200 respondents, it appears that over 50% of the boat owners polled live more than 20 miles from where their boat is kept, and that over 36% live more than 50 miles from their boat. These figures remained fairly stable as the numbers of respondents increased.

It is not merely the closure of marinas that is an issue but that the police are unlikely to accept "visiting my boat" for whatever reason as an acceptable reason for travel over those distances.

The statistics are inevitable given that large stretches of the UK coastline are not suitable for small craft (e.g. the Holderness coast and the coast of Lincolnshire), and that many centres of population are far from the coast. Yachting tends to be concentrated in relatively few areas.

I would suggest that the RYA should address this issue in parallel with the issue of marina closures. For many of us it will make no difference whether or not the marina is open if we cannot travel to our boats.

 

[Nina Lucia]

100 miles. SE London to Gosport, coupler off hours drive by car.

 

[Motor_Sailor]

Given the overwhelming response to this poll, I have sent the following email to the RYA

Useful information for them, especially as in an email from the RYA's CEO, she said the case for boatowners was different to that of mobile home owners as they tended to live some way from their holiday homes "whereas we (the RYA) are talking about local access for essential maintenance only".

So it will be interesting to see exactly what local access means. But looking good for people in Hamble -le-Rice with their boats at HYS.

 

[Mark-1]

1.2 miles in winter, 1.9 miles in Summer. ..and I love it. Can also carry my Kayak 400m from my front door to launch, which I also love.

 

[Halo]

60 miles and it takes 1 hour exactly.

 

[dombuckley]

The big boat is in a shed 100 miles away, while the little boat is on the driveway.

Mem-sahib thinks the big boat should be closer and the little boat further away. No pleasing some people.

 

[Vicarage]

9 miles, 17 minutes drive.
We're a 10 minute walk from the quayside in the village we live in, but the moorings in the creek are all the property of the Lord of the Manor (yes seriously) and I take umbrage to paying well over the odds for a half tide mooring that you have to vacate between October and April just most of the village is made up of second homes

 

[wully1]

FFS...

Just stay away from your boat for another couple of weeks until things calm down a bit.
Especially if your boat is parked in a remote or rural area.
Please.

 

[Greemble]

I believe Northampton is the place in the UK where you can get furthest from the sea.

A claim also made by Coventry
-And maybe Rugby.

Possibly depends on how far up the Bristol Channel is counted as 'sea'.

I'm a mere 10-15 minute walk to the pontoons, but have a bascule toad bridge to ask, nicely, to please open so we can be let out.

*Edit: No, I haven't been asking...

 

[LittleSister]

Given the overwhelming response to this poll, I have sent the following email to the RYA:

I feel used.

 

[Denek]

40 miles for me.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

have a bascule toad bridge to ask, nicely, to please open so we can be let out.

We have a toad/frog crossing near me too but under a road . Volunteers ,have in the
season, patrolled it to help them survive vehicles.

One mile as the crow flies for me or 3.5 miles round the houses.

 

[doug748]

Given the overwhelming response to this poll, I have sent the following email to the RYA:

Well, that should knock it back for another month

: -)

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I hope no-one is genuinely upset by my sending a link to this poll to the RYA - this is, after all, a public forum. And to one or two peoples' comments, I'd like to say that I am not trying to make a case in any direction. My intent was simply to increase the amount of information available, as the issue of the distance to our boats seemed to be getting lost when the issue of access to our boats is discussed.

I was surprised and pleased by the number of responses, and feel that we have a useful data point here, backed by a significant sample. I hope that it can be used to inform debate.

 

[FlyingGoose]

Np from me it is purely only a number used and no names or data was used unless you have a secret your not telling us and work for the government and and trying to catch us out for travelling

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

A claim also made by Coventry
-And maybe Rugby.

Possibly depends on how far up the Bristol Channel is counted as 'sea'.

I'm a mere 10-15 minute walk to the pontoons, but have a bascule toad bridge to ask, nicely, to please open so we can be let out.

*Edit: No, I haven't been asking...

In fact, as opposed to reality, the sea “ends” at the disused lock in Gloucester but practically it “ends” at Sharpness or Lydney. There are a handful of boats in Pills above Sharpness but a very unmarked treacherous stretch of water. On a high spring tide the sea over tops the weir at Gloucester and may flow over the River until half way to Tewkesbury. Therefore I think probably somewhere between Coventry and Rugby is about right. Incidentally. a broad beam boat(barge) can reach 1 basin in Birmingham but air draft may be a hindering factor.

 

[Greemble]

We have a toad/frog crossing near me too but under a road . Volunteers ,have in the
season, patrolled it to help them survive vehicles.

One mile as the crow flies for me or 3.5 miles round the houses.

Oops, typo...
Road bridge, of course.

Although there is a toad crossing - possibly the same one - a few miles to the south of me at Southwold.
However, as that particular bridge is not really possible to get near with my boat and can't open anyway, I'll not worry too much about it.