Mudway and Swale BA.

[oldgit]

As some of you may know there was was a meeting in the University of Greenwich in Chatham on Saturday 9th March.
Very well attended but regretably with one or two noticable absences.
All major organisations attended including Peel Ports,RYA,the local law,head honchos from Medway Council, two major local marinas inc MDL ,BCU plus some sponsors including www.eastcoastpilot.co.uk and GJW.
Main facts were that over 4000 craft use the TIDAL Medway/Swale of which 2500 are registered with Peel Ports.
With the 1800 odd boats ? above Allington lock,thats probably 6000 in total .
Main concern was that everyone gets on,from bulk carriers to kayaks,however the dividing lines betwixt yachts/motorboaters/PWCs and fishermen are still lurking.
Other topics covered included PWCs and removing unregistered boats from the river(yes it affects the tidal bit as well.
Good news is that Sun Pier is to be replaced and that Peel Ports have cleared 35 tins of rubbish from
upper Medway at a cost of £50K (H,mmmm)
Something boaty is being organised to welcome back the Medway Queen when she returns from her restoration down in Bristol.
The amount of untreated sewage alledgedly being allowed into the Medway around Hoo was mentioned sotto voice by a couple of adjacent yacht clubs.
The chap from eastcoastpilot gave most interesting natter with his intimate knowledge of area and his non political tales about the power cables coming ashore from the London Array.
All in all a worthwhile day for the interested observer.
The Medway River Festival is going ahead at Rats Bay after the success of last years event.
Peel Ports have not received any notification of any airport.
Tom Cunliffe delivered a anti windmill/progress diatribe that regular users of the Lounge would have been proud off.
Finally the local powers that be are fully aware of the disgraceful neglect regards acccess to the river for visiting boats.

 

[TrueBlue]

That made very interesting reading - thanks for posting.
Puts the goings on at Thames RUGS into shame...

I was amazed that there are so many boats in your area.

 

[oldgit]

For those of you whinging about the costs of boating on the Thames,you are not alone.
One very annoyed yachtsman demanded forcefully to know exactly what he was getting for his £80.00 PA mooring fee and £55.00 PA port registration fee ....so there !

 

[sunquest]

Thanks Fred for the info. It appears to have been a well worth attending meeting, I would like to have gone but didn't know it was on! Was it advertised?

 

[lynall]

Oldgit, so does my boat need to be registered to be moored on the tidal section?


Lynall

 

[Capt Popeye]

Thank you for the info given above!

re - lack of launching facilities on the Medway

twas the Authority, was it not, that demolished the free Public Slipway at Upnor, in years gone by.

Never in my 30 years thought that the River Authourity was 'for the boaters' on the river.

 

[Cantata]

.........
The chap from eastcoastpilot gave most interesting natter with his intimate knowledge of area and his non political tales about the power cables coming ashore from the London Array.
All in all a worthwhile day for the interested observer...............

Thanks for the mention, I enjoyed the day too (although I thought the Council Leader went on a bit!). What a nice audience you were.
Wet myself at TC, very funny indeed.

 

[oldgit]

Boat Registration and Gillingham slipway.

Most powered leisure boats which are moored on Medway need to be registered.
http://www.medwayports.com/assets/pdf/leisure_craft_application_2012.pdf.

At the meeting it was mentioned that the slipway at Gillingham is being considered for a clean and tidy up to make it attractive to boaters wishing to launch smaller craft.
From memory the slip is not an inviting place with a layer of mud over most of it.It is also to have the Medway Queen moored nearbye.

 

[aquaholic]

For those of you whinging about the costs of boating on the Thames,you are not alone.
One very annoyed yachtsman demanded forcefully to know exactly what he was getting for his £80.00 PA mooring fee and £55.00 PA port registration fee ....so there !

I did wonder at the time if it may have been prudent for the guy to keep a low profile........there can't be many boaters only paying £80 a year for a mooring on the river, so entering into a confrontational debate with the harbour authority about the cost may or may not be viewed as a good idea

 

[Cantata]

I didn't think £80 was anything to compain about at all !
Down Faversham way the grumbles around the 'conservancy' charge always centre around "what do they use it for". The Deputy HM was quite blunt and said it goes into a big pot along with everything else. I think they would have a better case if they did ring-fence it and state each year exactly what they have spent it on. They could even liaise with the MSBA at the start of each FY and agree with them what it should be spent on.

 

[oldgit]

We have a couple of those lay your own moorings up in Rochester,they are like gold dust and are a blimming bargain.
The chap moaning can always give MDL 3K a year if he is unhappy about his present situation,however there is a waiting list.

A few years ago some scumbag let my boat adrift from its mooring in Rochester town centre (off afloat) and it drifted up and went ashore in the bight just below Rochester Bridge at HW
.Somebody spotted it ashore and told Peel Ports who sent up one of their boats.
They put some long warps ashore to prevent it drifting off and posssibly sustaining serious damage.
They tracked me down by looking up the boats name on their register,contacting the Commodore of Kingsferry Boat Club to get my home number and then then rang me to ask if I would like to go and collect my boat which was ruining the view .
We recovered it at 1pm the following morning.
Bloody brilliant work by all concerned......and they never charged me for the securing ropes,which gave sterling service for many years afterwards,despite my reservations about the colour..
55.00 quid...a bargain.

PPS.the Commodore of RCC bought a copy of ECP at the meeting.Club is off to Burnham soon via Havengore......I shall be following him ...at a safe distance.