Lymington

[boatmike]

Maybe its me. I might just be getting too b***y old but I remember when Lymington used to be a friendly little town with a quay and buoys for visitors at a reasonable cost. Up until recently the fees were very reasonable compared with marinas in the area and there was always space for visitors arriving on the off-chance. Now I find you have to book in advance for a mooring. None available at the town quay when I called them yesterday which I suppose is not a surprise on a bank holiday but they did offer me one on a pontoon down river for £30 per night for a 30 ft boat......... Is this becoming the norm? I know they have posh new finger pontoons on town quay but £30 a night for a 30 ft boat? £1 a foot?????
Folly Inn charged me £15 yesterday so still reasonable but it seems to me that many other locations in the Solent are charging yuppy rates. Perhaps say a 40ft boat with 6 people sharing can find this affordable at say £7 a night each but for a husband and wife on a little 30 ft boat its not. Is it time I just packed it in and kept a boat in Greece instead???

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

Same with the river a few miles to the East of them which is now £4/m, but to make matters worse they have closed half of the visitors' pontoons (where the old 'island' pontoon used to be) due to COVID so there is less capacity than there was before the redevelopment.

 

[TernVI]

When I first paid a mooring fee, I think it was about a fiver, when beer was 50p a pint.
That was for smaller than 30ft.

 

[Kukri]

Lymington is a charming town. I have twice been involved in fitting out boats there, once in 1974 and once in 2019. I am very fond of the place but I could not afford to keep a boat there. I did get the impression in 2019 that a lot of the people visiting the town wanted to look as if they were involved with boats, rather than actually being involved with boats.

 

[xcw]

I love Lymington and it is (was) a regular haunt. We normally berth on the piles which have been severely restricted this year due to residents taking most of the visitor moorings. Last year we paid £23 for a 41ft yacht, this year it has gone up to £28.60, a 25% increase. Not quite sure how they can justify this for absolutely no change or improvement in services (other than they can so they will). Lymington itself has been adversely impacted by Covid; the Ship is a nightmare of restrictions (walked in and walked straight out), the Kings Head (my favorite) has significantly reduced capacity, the Thai has closed completely and the Indian was awful.

Such a shame.

 

[neilf39]

Prices up everywhere. Bembridge is £30+ per night for a 9m boat. Booking and money up front is becoming the norm now too. I guess reduced capacity and recovering losses is affecting things.

 

[burgundyben]

We often nip over to lymington in our 4mtr Searider. Berthon charge us £8.50 for a short stay and the harbour master £5.20.

As parking goes for a few hours its not so bad.

What I would really like to see in Lymington is some of the unused residents bouys in Pylewell Lake turned into visitors. That would be lovely.

Chip shop at the bottom of the high street is nice.

 

[xcw]

Prices up everywhere. Bembridge is £30+ per night for a 9m boat. Booking and money up front is becoming the norm now too. I guess reduced capacity and recovering losses is affecting things.

Inevitable I guess but also short sighted. The last few times I have been out I have chosen to anchor and dine on board choosing not to pay the inflated mooring prices, thus denying the local economy of the c£200 I would normally spend in restaurants and bars and local shops. In France I believe it is very different where they often keep mooring costs low to encourage visitors to come and spend in the local economy.

 

[LiftyK]

Lymington town quay berthing 2019 £18
Lymington Dan Bran berthing 2020 £30 (as town quay was full)

 

[LadyInBed]

I much prefer Lymington to Yarmouth, but those prices are out of my range beibg solo on a 10m boat. Hopefully Newport hasn't jacked up its prices.

 

[boatmike]

Interesting that I am not alone in my thoughts. Sailing is definitely changing. There used to be a lot of 26 -30 ft boats run on a budget by people who enjoyed pottering and coastal cruising. When I was at Folly this week end there was a predominance of 36 to 45 ft wide bodied cruisers that had 4-8 people on board and were basically there for a party. I guess the increased facilities and charges are basically there to attract these big spenders with money and places like Lymington don't care if couples on little boats on a budget are priced out of the market. For me the increased popularity of sailing has changed not only the cost but the availability of little friendly places to berth or anchor at. A few years ago I sold my Prout Cat basically due to berthing costs and bought a MoBo to play on the French canals. Then having done this for a bit returned to the Solent and bought a nice little Fisher Northeaster to potter on. Now even this is getting expensive so I suppose it might be time to escape from the South Coast entirely and maybe buy a boat to keep in Greece that we can fly out to a couple of times a year and treat as a holiday home (assuming Covid allows) Would probably be cheaper, I could get a bigger cat again and perhaps renew my interest in sailing?????

 

[TernVI]

Interesting that I am not alone in my thoughts. Sailing is definitely changing. There used to be a lot of 26 -30 ft boats run on a budget by people who enjoyed pottering and coastal cruising. When I was at Folly this week end there was a predominance of 36 to 45 ft wide bodied cruisers that had 4-8 people on board and were basically there for a party. I guess the increased facilities and charges are basically there to attract these big spenders with money and places like Lymington don't care if couples on little boats on a budget are priced out of the market. For me the increased popularity of sailing has changed not only the cost but the availability of little friendly places to berth or anchor at. A few years ago I sold my Prout Cat basically due to berthing costs and bought a MoBo to play on the French canals. Then having done this for a bit returned to the Solent and bought a nice little Fisher Northeaster to potter on. Now even this is getting expensive so I suppose it might be time to escape from the South Coast entirely and maybe buy a boat to keep in Greece that we can fly out to a couple of times a year and treat as a holiday home (assuming Covid allows) Would probably be cheaper, I could get a bigger cat again and perhaps renew my interest in sailing?????

People have been saying this sort of thing since at least 1986 to my knowledge.

 

[sgr143]

I don't so much mind the cost (though of course I don't like feeling ripped-off more than anyone else does) as the insistence on booking in advance, often well in advance. It rather puts a damper on the whole business. I like to feel there' s still a bit of spontaneity in my life; and I quite often alter plans on the fly according to the weather as it turns out on the day, rather than as-predicted, the up-for-it-ness of my often inexperienced crew, and so on. Going from prebooked mooring to prebooked mooring, come what may, does feel a bit like running a bus service.

 

[northwind]

People have been saying this sort of thing since at least 1986 to my knowledge.

+1
Re going to Greece, I would do the maths... Not sure you will be any better off.

£30 for a night ain't that bad, I take it you haven't been to a campsite in recent years? can be over £70 per night for a pitch. Likewise a B&B could be around £100 per night. And neither of these has a sea view.

 

[northwind]

I don't so much mind the cost (though of course I don't like feeling ripped-off more than anyone else does) as the insistence on booking in advance, often well in advance. It rather puts a damper on the whole business. I like to feel there' s still a bit of spontaneity in my life; and I quite often alter plans on the fly according to the weather as it turns out on the day, rather than as-predicted, the up-for-it-ness of my often inexperienced crew, and so on. Going from prebooked mooring to prebooked mooring, come what may, does feel a bit like running a bus service.

The payment in advance is due to the pandemic, they have to do something to limit numbers.

 

[Resolution]

I don't so much mind the cost (though of course I don't like feeling ripped-off more than anyone else does) as the insistence on booking in advance, often well in advance. It rather puts a damper on the whole business. I like to feel there' s still a bit of spontaneity in my life; and I quite often alter plans on the fly according to the weather as it turns out on the day, rather than as-predicted, the up-for-it-ness of my often inexperienced crew, and so on. Going from prebooked mooring to prebooked mooring, come what may, does feel a bit like running a bus service.

Like most any other business, berthing pricing is ultimately ruled by supply and demand. Difficult to claim "rip-off" if the available berths are full.
Whilst I agree that it is a pity to lose some spontaneity, at least pre-booking means you can be sure of a berth when you get there - nothing worse than sailing all the way to your planned destination only to find there's no room at the inn! There were many reports last month of people booking restaurant places and then just not turning up, leaving the restaurants with empty tables and a loss of revenue. So pre-payment sounds fair to me.

 

[Elessar]

The payment in advance is due to the pandemic, they have to do something to limit numbers.

No they don’t. They have decided to. Transmission from boat to boat? I don’t think so.

 

[Wansworth]

Maybe its me. I might just be getting too b***y old but I remember when Lymington used to be a friendly little town with a quay and buoys for visitors at a reasonable cost. Up until recently the fees were very reasonable compared with marinas in the area and there was always space for visitors arriving on the off-chance. Now I find you have to book in advance for a mooring. None available at the town quay when I called them yesterday which I suppose is not a surprise on a bank holiday but they did offer me one on a pontoon down river for £30 per night for a 30 ft boat......... Is this becoming the norm? I know they have posh new finger pontoons on town quay but £30 a night for a 30 ft boat? £1 a foot?????
Folly Inn charged me £15 yesterday so still reasonable but it seems to me that many other locations in the Solent are charging yuppy rates. Perhaps say a 40ft boat with 6 people sharing can find this affordable at say £7 a night each but for a husband and wife on a little 30 ft boat its not. Is it time I just packed it in and kept a boat in Greece instead???

One of the reasons I sold my boat continually putting hand in pocket for another fifty quid,in real terms it’s probably as cheap as it was in the 1970 but doesn’t feel like it?

 

[sgr143]

Like most any other business, berthing pricing is ultimately ruled by supply and demand. Difficult to claim "rip-off" if the available berths are full.

Actually I don't think most marina fees are rip-offs at all (I phrased that post badly). Considering the expense of maintaining facilities and staff, and the limited season when significant income is possible, I've no objection to what is charged for short-stays and overnights at (most of) the places we use in and around the Solent; though at Lymington I blanch a bit at the prices the marinas charge and go for the Dan Bran or Town Quay. The only place we've felt slightly hard done by is at the Newtown River - no problem with the price per se, but it would be nice if the NT were to provide some loos ashore that one could take the dinghy to.

 

[Star-Lord]

Interesting that I am not alone in my thoughts. Sailing is definitely changing. There used to be a lot of 26 -30 ft boats run on a budget by people who enjoyed pottering and coastal cruising. When I was at Folly this week end there was a predominance of 36 to 45 ft wide bodied cruisers that had 4-8 people on board and were basically there for a party. I guess the increased facilities and charges are basically there to attract these big spenders with money and places like Lymington don't care if couples on little boats on a budget are priced out of the market. For me the increased popularity of sailing has changed not only the cost but the availability of little friendly places to berth or anchor at. A few years ago I sold my Prout Cat basically due to berthing costs and bought a MoBo to play on the French canals. Then having done this for a bit returned to the Solent and bought a nice little Fisher Northeaster to potter on. Now even this is getting expensive so I suppose it might be time to escape from the South Coast entirely and maybe buy a boat to keep in Greece that we can fly out to a couple of times a year and treat as a holiday home (assuming Covid allows) Would probably be cheaper, I could get a bigger cat again and perhaps renew my interest in sailing?????

Keep the boat in Galicia.