Job's worth management on the Hamble

[leobhan]

Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Due to the weather in the last few days we had just missed the tide to get up to my pal's berth on the Itchen so we headed up the Hamble to take a berth somewhere overnight. The forecast on Monday was for South to South West 8 or 9 so we went upriver to near the Jolly Sailor pub and came alongside an old pontoon berth, one of many that was free. Hadn't been there more than half an hour and the river management launch was alongside telling us to move on, vague reasons about insurance and Crown Estates. "These are rules unfortunately" quote, and we were instructed to head down to the visitor's pontoon at the entrance to the river. I did point out that the weather was going to be bad but the two on their nice wee launch weren't having any of it.
So we did as told and spent most of the night putting out extra fenders replacing a bust headline and bouncing around in the up to 70 mph winds that passed overnight on Monday.
Thank you for your understanding ways dear Hamble River Management, it is clear to me where your priorities lie. Safety of vessels and personnel lie well down the list after blind observance of the rules, actual or made up. I was a harbour master here in Scotland for 7 years and would never ever have considered sending someone out into danger for the sake of the "rules". Incidentally we would have happily paid if that had been possible so it wasn't a matter of money on our part.

 

[l'escargot]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Why didn't you use Swanwick Marina if you were up that end?

 

[boatmike]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Agree entirely. They have a right to charge you but should not send you out. Insurance excuse is crap. You could however have used a Marina berth in Swanwick as someone else just said. Expensive but safe......

 

[burgundyben]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

You should write to David Evans, Marine Director for Hamble river.

david.evans@hants.gov.uk

 

[[3889]]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Shoddy attitude. Thankfully not all harbour authorities are so unhelpful.I was storm bound in Girvan and was only charged half rates during the bad weather. Does anyone know the legal position on requiring a vessel to leave a haven in poor weather?
Andy

 

[ricsearle]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Had you called Hamble HM and asked for a sheltered berth as far upstream as possible, I'm sure they would have been as friendly and helpful as I usually find them to be. By choosing your own berth without regard for the owner of it you probably put their back up.

Remarks about requiring a vessel to leave a safe haven hardly apply here - pontoon B at the mouth of the river is perfectly safe, although with the forcast I would have moored head to wind on the wind-off side to ensure a comfortable night.

There are 5 marinas on the Hamble, which cost slightly more than mid-stream HM berths, but worth every penny for a quiet night, a walk to the pub and a hot shower in the morning.

Ric

 

[robmcg]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Poor attitude from the river management people. Given the forecast you would hope that people would be a bit more understanding. Remember though - it was the Hamble, Scotland is a much, much friendlier place to sail IMO. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[maxi]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Write to David Evans, good idea, but would he understand?? Grave doubts /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[yoda]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

And that is exactly why I left the Hamble a few years back despite being on one of the cheapest berths on the river. They have too much power and seem able to raise as much money as they want so visitors are just a pain in the !""£$. Wouldn't go there out of choice.

Yoda

 

[[3889]]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

[ QUOTE ]

Remarks about requiring a vessel to leave a safe haven hardly apply here

[/ QUOTE ]

Err, it wasn't a remark, it was a question with a squigly ? at the end.

 

[capt_courageous]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Did you try to use another guys mooring for free without his permission?

 

[boatsRus]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

This is my first post, but I have been a regular reader of these fora for some time. So why have I decided to break my silence after such a long time? Simple really - my name has been quoted in two of the posts above so I feel compelled to respond, and I thought I would save leobhan the trouble of writing to me.

So, why does leobhan feel aggreived? It was a poor forecast so he came into the Hamble for a night's shelter - a perfectly good decision. Unfortunately, he chose not to call the Harbour Office on VHF channel 68 for some friendly advice and ignored all the designated visitor berths, deciding instead to berth on a private pontoon further up the River.

As made clear in the various almanacs, all the mid-stream moorings on the Hamble are allocated to annual berth-holders - many opt to install a pontoon on their mooring, at their own expense. Thus, the pontoons are privately owned and insured. Many mooring holders leave their boats in commission throughout the winter. I am sure that if the owner of the pontoon had chosen to return to his regular berth to shelter from the storm and found it already occupied by leobhan, he would not have been best pleased. He might have been even less happy if leobahn had spent the whole night there and damaged the pontoon in some way whilst being buffeted by the gale.

Leobhan was definitely not told to leave the shelter of the harbour - he was merely invited to use one of the designated visitor moorings (for which, incidently, there is a modest charge, even on a stormy night) instead of a private one. He was in for a rough night wherever he was berthed in the River that night. The wind was due south, blowing directly into the River, and there were some sizeable waves. The next morning, the reports of damaged boats were fairly evenly spread over the entire length of the River although, curiously, there was no reported damage to any of the boats on the visitors pontoon.

We would never dream of telling a yachtsman to put to sea in adverse weather. We have room for about 45 visiting yachts (not counting the marinas) and have, to the best of my knowledge, never turned a visiting yacht away from the Hamble. We will do everything we can to find a space, even when we are effectively full. But private moorings are off limits - to everyone except the registered mooring holder.

And finally, for Ben, whilst I welcome and appreciate the advice to write to me, please don't quote my email address (not even my work one) on the forum - dealing with spam already occupies far too much of my time.

 

[LadyInBed]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

From the way you word that, I'm not sure if you are for or against.

It used to be common and accepted practice to use someones vacant mooring overnight, obviously being prepared to move off if he returned.
It still is the practice in some areas.

 

[AJW]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Without wishing to upset you as I think your post is well reasoned and makes a very sensible and valid point. I would just mention that your email address is easily available through a websearch and is published on a local govt website( http://www.hants.gov.uk/hambleharbour/ntru2905.html) presumably for the express purpose of enabling river users to get in touch? So I don't think having it posted on this thread is particularly out of order?

 

[boatsRus]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Agreed, but it is a well known fact spammers scan through fora such as this looking for email addresses (which is precisely why there have been so many posts in the past warning members not to include their email address when they post)

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

I have no knowledge of 'The Hamble' so I can't challenge riverboatman's post, but it seems to be the accepted practice in North Wales to use a vacant mooring, but to be prepeared to vacate it if the owner comes along and not to leave your boat unattended. In fact, on my last visit to Conwy, the Harbour Master told me to use a mooring past the bridge as he knew the owner wouldn't be back until the next day, but said if he did turn up to be prepared to move. I didn't know which mooring buoy he meant, so I just hung on to the first one I fancied and he just gave me a wave every time he passed me. Incidentally, there was no charge.

I must admit, I thought this was a common practice nationwide to use unnocupied buoys, so riverboatman has given me new information, which means I will probably not use a mooring again. I did actually think that boating was a friendly sport, but I am starting to see where the territories start and end.

I will certainly steer clear of The Hamble, wherever that is.

 

[tome]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Anyways, welcome to the forum and you make some very good points. Shows there's always 2 sides to a story

I've never had any probs Hamble as a bertholder or visitor over the past 30 years

 

[l'escargot]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

I think the practice of using private moorings is generally accepted in areas where there are no (or limited) visitor moorings. It is hard to justify where there are numerous visitors moorings and marinas (probably the highest concentration in the country) and I would put it in the category of freeloading. I wouldn't consider it acceptable to have to wait for someone to vacate my mooring late on a stormy night when there where numerous alternatives for them to use without inconveniencing me.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

[ QUOTE ]

I think the practice of using private moorings is generally accepted in areas where there are no (or limited) visitor moorings.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. I boat in an area where there are no visitor moorings - one holding mooring outside the port - so I just assumed the rest of the world was the same. Just seems so much more gentle up here and except for Mike barking at people to keep to the 5 knot limit, there is an absence of shouty people telling me what the rules are.

 

[tangomoon]

Re: Job\'s worth management on the Hamble

Refuse to move - reason - too dangerous and no other alternative