Lamenting Yarmouth Harbour

I haven't been back to Yarmouth since http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?321068-Yarmouth-(IOW)&p=3614686&highlight=#post3614686 (Post #13)

A friend called there mid week (last week) and in a pretty empty harbour was directed by the harbour staff into a finger pontoon berth. When he went to pay, he was charged a surcharge for being on a finger (£0.30 per metre LOA)! When he protested, the answer was it's "in the book". When he said that he hadn't particularly wanted a finger pontoon he was apparently told "we like to fill those first". No wonder!

I haven't checked myself but I don't think it's in the Almanac (and not everyone carries the same 'book' anyway) so presumably 'the book' will be a Yarmouth one that you get when you pay.....

I'm afraid I still won't be going back......
 
View attachment 33136For alant

What a lovely way to potter, race or pop over to the island for the day too.

My wee aluminium lug sail rigged dinghy wot I adore, ain't got quite the same sail area or w/l length as the Scow though..

I used to sail a Firefly out into the Solent, and we always managed to sail petrol 'assisted' bigger boats back in of an evening....with enough momentum on, you could shoot a fair way up and onto a trot mooring, then bugger about with the poxy magnetos, spark plugs and dirty fuel..happy days, strangely.

( i have photoshopped out the sail number )..
 
I'm not exaggerating or making things up, I hope you don't find out for yourselves; it's beatable but only just.

Maybe in an Anderson 22.

Meanwhile back in an AWB. Spent time there at both Bank Holidays in May on the buoys. Staff said were the busiest days in 3 years.

And how many boats did I see struggling in or out? 0

Granted I wouldn't want to beat against the tide in a small engineless boat again (been there, got Tshirt, cut t shirt up into novelty dusters) but I think you may be exaggerating a touch.
 
I am a Yarmouth resident and have sailed out of there for many years. There is a lot of tosh on here about the tides there.

The flow can be quite strong, but whether it is a problem or not depends on what boat you are in.

Our Rustler 36 had a 34hp engine. When entering the harbour and attempting to follow a track parallel to the pier we occasionally had to do a sort of half ferry glide to maintain track. No real problem.

In our Rustler 44 with 85hp we hardly noticed the flow.

In my sailing dinghy with a small Mariner outboard it is a bit more interesting, but still doable in all states of tide.

If you were in an underpowered sailing boat, with lots of windage and wind with tide, AND you were not paying attention it would be quite easy to hit the pier, or get swept onto the rocks to the west.

Is also quite easy to get swept under the pier if you launch a dinghy without the main sheet attached in a strong ebb and easterly wind. If this happens to you the holidaymakers on the pier find it quite funny as your mast goes horizontal and you appear on the other side of the pier. Don't ask me how I know.
 
Is also quite easy to get swept under the pier if you launch a dinghy without the main sheet attached in a strong ebb and easterly wind. If this happens to you the holidaymakers on the pier find it quite funny as your mast goes horizontal and you appear on the other side of the pier. Don't ask me how I know.

Please tell us that it is on video somewhere.

If not - how would your feel about recreating this so it could videoed.
 
I am a Yarmouth resident and have sailed out of there for many years. There is a lot of tosh on here about the tides there.

The flow can be quite strong, but whether it is a problem or not depends on what boat you are in.

Our Rustler 36 had a 34hp engine. When entering the harbour and attempting to follow a track parallel to the pier we occasionally had to do a sort of half ferry glide to maintain track. No real problem.

In our Rustler 44 with 85hp we hardly noticed the flow.

In my sailing dinghy with a small Mariner outboard it is a bit more interesting, but still doable in all states of tide.

If you were in an underpowered sailing boat, with lots of windage and wind with tide, AND you were not paying attention it would be quite easy to hit the pier, or get swept onto the rocks to the west.

Is also quite easy to get swept under the pier if you launch a dinghy without the main sheet attached in a strong ebb and easterly wind. If this happens to you the holidaymakers on the pier find it quite funny as your mast goes horizontal and you appear on the other side of the pier. Don't ask me how I know.

The tide off Yarmouth is significant if you are in a keelboat with no engine.
There are also few cross currents inside the harbour, due to the ebb from the river.
Can catch you out if you have to stop for another boat.
I also ran aground in the middle of the harbour at LWS once, boat was 2.5m deep though.
Basically, you have to keep your wits about you, as it's a small place with a lot of muppets in it at times.
 
Not been back to Yarmouth since refused entry for a short stay May of last year. Had kids and dogs aboard, so for us the buoys were a non starter. Lymington pubs had our cash that weekend.

Since I have been tempted to pay over £40 for my 36', but glad I haven't as I would have lost as circumstances prevented us going. I agree with the earlier post that the Folly offers as good a spot to stop for less than £15.

I appreciate no shows can be a pain, but there is no shortage of non booked arrivals any Saturday, unless the weather prevents. They could introduce a short notice booking and cancellation same day, say up to 2pm

I voiced my concerns direct to Chris Lisher the HM, and received a very well rehearsed party line response. Not interested in listening to the concerns of boaters who have been using their harbour for over 25 years, just as they were not interested in any objections to their master plan for the new layout.

I daresay we will return out of season, when they will be desperate for our money, but for now it is not on our "where shall we go list".

Eventually when the profits fall perhaps they might start smelling the coffee. For now the more boycotting the place the better I say.

I will be sending Mr Lisher a link to this thread.
 
We always used to drop into Yarmouth at least once a month. Have been once so far this year, probably our only visit. Why pay the same as Lymington and get rafted on, hit, and generally abused. The HM talks about it being tough if one cancels due to the weather but Yarmouth was always dodgy in a N/NE blow, now it seems much worse. It seems simply dangerous unless one is tucked up in the corner.

Mind you they do now have the Pink pontoon for our alternative ' sailor boys '
 
Hopefully - but it is the Solent. Nowhere in the country more full of people willing and able to pay top dollar for an identikit marina berth.

Pete

Maybe, but I suspect not the case now.

A chum now has his boat in a previously rather expensive marina; they offered him a half price deal and I suspect such places - and some moorings & boatyards - will have to go a bit further to have any significant amount of customers, beyond the very few who just pay by direct debit and don't notice !
 
If the curry house is Saffrons from Cowes then check your bills very carefully. I've known of 3 occasions of extras being added to bills by "mistake".

Also, I race and share the helm on a folk boat based in Yarmouth. The owner obviously doesn't think the tide is much of a challenge as he's fitted an outboard with no reverse gear :)
 
A chum now has his boat in a previously rather expensive marina; they offered him a half price deal and I suspect such places - and some moorings & boatyards - will have to go a bit further to have any significant amount of customers, beyond the very few who just pay by direct debit and don't notice !

That's very interesting; I haven't heard of it happening anywhere else but it's good to know. I believe Kemp's are struggling a bit to fill their berths, but they don't seem to see reducing the price as a solution to this.

In this case I was talking about visitors' berths, though, not permanent ones. There are still lots of reasonably well-off people whose usual sailing consists of driving a 36' AWB from one expensive Solent marina berth to another, and they'll pay what it costs. I think there's quite a way to go before Yarmouth is forced to drop prices to attract custom on summer weekends.

Pete
 
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