Is this on?

[Blueboatman]

Next time hang out the nappies, (I read that somewhere, claimed a 100% success rate).

Seriously, I was in Yarmouth recently for the first time in, we reckon, 11 years.

Walk ashore pontoons, crikey I'll have some of that thank you!

Having aged relative on board and blustery weather and learning manoeuvring the new mab, seemed a no brainer to be isolated, as it were. If only for the safety of the stantions of Messrs Jimi and co.
..As the harbour filled up t'was noticed that the rafter-uppers were consistently directed to the 'other' pontoon and afaik a part of your £30 is to ensure relative privacy, the other berths being cheaper, length for length?

 

[michael_w]

Do not seek to impress your in-laws. Here lies the road to perdition...

Be thankful the late arrivals didn't go in for clog dancing on your foredeck.

 

[snooks]

How do you know they left for this reason? I often leave marina or harbours at an odd hour to take best advantage of tidal stream or weather conditions.

Call me cynical, but the harbour staff arrive at 7, they left at 6:30, tides had been east bound for 2 hours previously. If they were en route somewhere they could have picked up a buoy outside, and given themselves (and us) some more shuteye...PS I know I am cynical

Just a final thought, can you honestly claim to have never disturbed anyone, at anytime, anywhere, with your boat or other activities ?????

No I can't say that I've never disturbed anyone at any time, I like to think I haven't, but I would think twice about rafting up at that time of morning, if the harbour I was entering was closed. I'm always very concious about how much noise either myself or my crew make. We've been complimented on how quietly we cross decks before, it takes little extra effort, but it makes a big difference.

I've had a lot worse than our neighbours from the other night, who weren't noisy, but weren't as quiet as they could have been....or as bad as they could have been, like someone falling down drunk on our foredeck when an argument reigned on the boat he was stumbling to get to. Ah the lovely Solent!

 

[snooks]

Do not seek to impress your in-laws. Here lies the road to perdition...

Do you really think I would try to impress my girlfriends mum and dad by taking them sailing? on a 32ft boat?

I booked the walk ashore cos the Sadler 32 has a bit of an ensuite toilet up front, and I wanted anyone be able to go to the toilet without interrupting anyone else. Sleeping with a freshly laid heads in your cabin, might be a step too far for some

 

[lw395]

From my experience, only being woken twice is good going for Yarmouth on a Saturday night.
I tend to use the buoys outside, but I've arrived late in other places, sometimes too tired to worry about niceties like harbour full signs when there's a yacht to go alongside. You just want to moor up as quickly and quietly as possible.
Does sound like they were taking liberties though, and I might casually mention the name of the boat to the friendly harbour staff.....
Reminds me why people think the Solent is too crowded.
The cost of the water taxi makes walk ashore good value when there's 4 of you. Likewise, when you add in the showers, Berthon is not so bad.
I was dinghy sailing from Lymington Sunday AM and thought the west solent was a nice place to be.

 

[snooks]

I was dinghy sailing from Lymington Sunday AM and thought the west solent was a nice place to be.

We had a very enjoyable sail back, stocked up with pork pies from the deli.
Got the cruising chute up once we were clear of the harbour, and carried it all the way to gill kicker, makes up for the 26kn of true wind on the nose the day before

 

[RIB_imposter]

If you only just sneaked in after a computer glitch - is it not possible that they did the same? But arrived too late for it to be the harbour master's headache? In which case you arrive at 1am in a harbour expecting the berth you have booked to await you and discover the harbour is full is it reasonable to turn around and go away - or tie up to a suitable boat? And which boat is most suitable - well there is one over there which is identical to ours so we know it is similar size/weight etc - and we know where the strong points are for tying on to etc.

 

[NealB]

How many boats have you cut adrift, then? And please can you tell us the name of your boat, so that we know who to avoid?

It's common courtesy, of course, to ask permission if the occupants of the moored yacht are on board and awake. But in my experience most late arrivals raft up gently and quietly so as to avoid waking their hosts unnecessarily.

Leaving a dinghy alongside is the more acceptable way of indicating an unimaginative and self-centred attitude to other yachties.

(Here's hoping I haven't just fallen victim to a Kurt von Thadden reincarnation.)

Very well said!

Rafting is a perfectly seamanlike, and time honoured, maritime practice.

Long may it continue.

 

[Cloona]

disheartening sort of thread - makes sailing sound as interesting as going to Tescos and having a row in the car park -

being new to the Solent I rafted up in Bembridge for the first time ever last month - was a bit gutted there were no drunks, domestic rows or orgies - all rather suburban really -

i am quite old but do enjoy a bit of life

 

[SimbaDog]

Are you right to have the hump? Yes!

Recently moored on pontoon in Yealm, arrived 15.00 hrs, 20.00hrs during dinner another boat arrives & rafts alongside (no mention of do you mind etc.)
They then drag their dinghy over us to pontoon & go of to pub, back at 11pm & wake us up. 07.00 they drag their donghy back over us & load a herd of elephants as well before leaving without paying
Guess it's just a sign of the times

 

[mikeotteau]

Perhaps you would care to give exact places, dates, times, and type of boat you cut loose. That way the owners may be able to claim for warps and any further damage and the police can decide if they will follow up your criminal activities.

We may not like it but rafting is part and parcel of berthing in crowded areas. Obtaining permission from the inside boat is a courtesy, not an essential. Anyone moving a moored boat is liable for any subsequent damage caused, and deliberately casting a boat adrift as you describe is likely to be a criminal act.

Rafting up outside other boarts is standard practice with warps LED TO SHORE - If someone ties their boat to mine WITHOUT PERMISSION I am free to untie/cut warps to save damage to my boat and tough on the inconsiderate persons who think they can tie on to my boat without getting permission.

I know of three friends who have suffered with damage to cleats and topsides through people rafting onto them without permission and not one offered to pay for the damage caused. If you dont like it dont raft onto my boat - you have been warned. You dont know the name of the boat ?? Now decide how much you want to risk tying on to a strange yacht.

 

[l'escargot]

Rafting up outside other boarts is standard practice with warps LED TO SHORE - If someone ties their boat to mine WITHOUT PERMISSION I am free to untie/cut warps to save damage to my boat and tough on the inconsiderate persons who think they can tie on to my boat without getting permission.

I know of three friends who have suffered with damage to cleats and topsides through people rafting onto them without permission and not one offered to pay for the damage caused. If you dont like it dont raft onto my boat - you have been warned. You dont know the name of the boat ?? Now decide how much you want to risk tying on to a strange yacht.

Rafting correctly also involves ropes to the inner boat as well as to the quay/pontoon.

You will find that some places like Lymington make it a condition of berthing that you allow boats to raft to you and allow their crews access across your boat. Asking permission in places like this is a courtesy not a requirement.

If you don't want to raft you should stick to marinas or buoys where yoU pay to get sole use.

 

[trapezeartist]

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the original incident, this thread seems to have brought out some unpleasantly unseamanlike postings.

 

[Tillernut]

Mikeotteau, What a thoroughly miserable sod you are. I bet you are playing Scrooge in the panto. at Xmas? It's a pity I don't know the name of your boat because next time you need help from someone it would help me greatly in coming to a decision.

 

[bedouin]

For those who don't know, in Yarmouth these days at busy times the Harbour Master tells you exactly where to moor - you don't get to choose which boat to raft onto.

Also in Yarmouth I would not normally bother with shorelines - they don't seem to raft more than 3 deep and it is very sheltered there.

 

[Boat44]

Yarmouth is lovely......in the winter when all the hoorays have gone home! We wont moor inside in the summer anymore. Far far too many inconsiderate drunk gits, day and night.

Are you right to have the hump? Yes. If you raft up, do so quietly, putting on proper mooring lines ( even if you don't have anything long enough for a shore line, ask the people you have rafted with) and fenders and walk around via the bow, not the coach roof or the cockpit! Oh and please please ask what time the inside boat wants to leave. I have found a wrench banged against the shrouds has a very satisfying effect of raising the dead on the boat rafted outside!

As to the time, you don't know their particular situation for coming in late and leaving early. I have done similar, but hope that I have been polite in doing so.

 

[Blue5]

Yarmouth is lovely......in the winter when all the hoorays have gone home! We wont moor inside in the summer anymore. Far far too many inconsiderate drunk gits, day and night.
.

Agreed, we experienced a bad night with a loud drunken argument at 2am, I now prefer to use the outer buoys.

But to Snooks moan, if he booked a walkashore berth I do not think he should expect a boat to be rafted up to him, the other problem with Yarmouth is for the expensive mooring charges you dont get 24hr service, cant get a shower before 7am, and even then you have to pay extra for it.

 

[cliff]

Rafting up outside other boarts is standard practice with warps LED TO SHORE - If someone ties their boat to mine WITHOUT PERMISSION I am free to untie/cut warps to save damage to my boat and tough on the inconsiderate persons who think they can tie on to my boat without getting permission.

I know of three friends who have suffered with damage to cleats and topsides through people rafting onto them without permission and not one offered to pay for the damage caused. If you dont like it dont raft onto my boat - you have been warned. You dont know the name of the boat ?? Now decide how much you want to risk tying on to a strange yacht.

I am afraid you have got it all wrong, if you cut another boat's warps you can, and if you cut mine you would, be charged with criminal damage. If you untied the warps and set the boat adrift the charge would be reckless endangerment. You have NO rights to arbitrarily do as you would like folk to think you would.

You are the type of git that wakes up in the morning and tries to set sail only to find someone (some kind sailor/diver) has tied a length of rope round one's prop and even worse finds his engine overheats cos the same kind sailor/diver had pumped a full cartridge of sikaflex into your engine's cooling water intake during the night.

What is the saying - Nemo Me Impuni Lacassit? or in the gaelic "Cha togar m' fhearg gun dìoladh"

Now YOU decide how much YOU want to risk cutting or untying the warps of a strange yacht!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Rafting up outside other boarts is standard practice with warps LED TO SHORE - If someone ties their boat to mine WITHOUT PERMISSION I am free to untie/cut warps to save damage to my boat and tough on the inconsiderate persons who think they can tie on to my boat without getting permission..

Gosh.... either a very good troll... or an utterly miserable git.

Cut my lines, and i'd sue your arse to next year and back..... after you'd been released by the police when i'd reported you for criminal damage and endangering life

 

[Neil_Y]

It's annoying sometimes but part and parcel of sailing in a busy part of the world and using harbours rather than the anchor.

It's funny how in France and Spain the rafting for me always resulted in new friends and more wine or beer. The French and Spanish would often leave a nice bottle of wine if they rafted to us when we were not there and we did the same. The British don't seem to have caught on to this pactice.

If my cleats had been damaged, I'd seriously see it as a warning that the cleats needed looking at not an opportunity to blame others or claim damages. Cleats should be designed and built to take huge loads, one or two boats rafted to them should not be a problem in calmish condtions as you get in a sheltered harbour. (this assumes the boat rafting to them is not 5x the size of my boat!)

As far as I am concerned a harbour wall, pontoon or even sometimes a mooring bouy is a communal shared facility unless you've built it or own it and label it accordingly. Rafting up to four or five deep in settled weather and without strong streams is OK but shore lines should be used by all boats.