Salcombe help wanted

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Dutch01527

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We sailed into Salcombe a couple of weeks ago on our 26 foot trailer sailer. My wife liked it and wanted to go back 22nd to 25th July. I went into the harbour master office, gave them the dates and asked about moorings and was told no problem, pre book a pontoon mooring in the "Bag" area by the guy behind the counter.

We are with another couple so have booked a holiday cottage for the weekend and planned to day sail. I just phoned to book the mooring and am now told that moorings can not be pre booked at these times and I should call them when I arrive and they will try and find something. I asked what happens if they can not and they basically said tough luck( not in those words but same thing). Apparently because we arrive by land we can not use the visitors swing moorings. They also do not alow anchoring if the boat is to be left overnight.

They also said I should only talk to the Ladies in the harbour office because the men do not understand the bookings system (exactly these words).

Not happy and would go elsewhere if we had not already booked the cottage.

Anyone have any ideas about alternatives to the harbour master's moorings?
 
Why not take the boat up to the Salt Stone and anchor off there. Water Taxi to the boat is quite cheap. Tell the HM office you had incorrect advice from one of the guys and what you are doing. I've always found the staff really helpful and it is a lovely part of Devon, if a tad busy with the breakup of the schools that weekend.
 
26" is big enough to sail round to Dartmouth, from where you can "arrive by sea" and claim a swinging mooring. Simple.
 
I'd just stick it on an available buoy at the end of each day. Call the HM on vhf, they'll have no idea as to how you've arrived, which is totally irrelevant.

I suspect what you've been told is total nonsense, apart from the not anchoring if not staying on board, which is just common sense.
 
longjohnsilver said:
I'd just stick it on an available buoy at the end of each day. Call the HM on vhf, they'll have no idea as to how you've arrived, which is totally irrelevant.

I suspect what you've been told is total nonsense, apart from the not anchoring if not staying on board, which is just common sense.
Click to expand...
We have left the boat at anchor in Salcombe to go out for the day without being arrested.
 
I'm having a spot of bother with this one. You are not really a "visitor" are you? What you are looking for is a temporary berth. In my view the pontoon berths and bouys at Salcombe are there for cruising visitors. I always phone ahead and enquire how busy they expect to be but do not have a problem with having to take pot luck, after all it's not a marina. As it happens the staff on the harbour boats have always been brilliant in squeezing us in. Dartmouth is an interesting one where Marina bertholders paying harbour fees have free use of visitors bouys. Fair enough but my experience is that they make full use of this and then scuttle back to the Marina at 18.00 after probably having denied the overnight use of that bouy to a visitor. How much income does that loose the HA each summer?
The loss of anchorages in a lot of areas is bad enough without making it even more difficult for cruising yachts. I know there will be loads of disagreement on this one but just saying :encouragement:
 
Hadenough said:
I'm having a spot of bother with this one. You are not really a "visitor" are you? What you are looking for is a temporary berth. In my view the pontoon berths and bouys at Salcombe are there for cruising visitors. I always phone ahead and enquire how busy they expect to be but do not have a problem with having to take pot luck, after all it's not a marina. As it happens the staff on the harbour boats have always been brilliant in squeezing us in. Dartmouth is an interesting one where Marina bertholders paying harbour fees have free use of visitors bouys. Fair enough but my experience is that they make full use of this and then scuttle back to the Marina at 18.00 after probably having denied the overnight use of that bouy to a visitor. How much income does that loose the HA each summer?
The loss of anchorages in a lot of areas is bad enough without making it even more difficult for cruising yachts. I know there will be loads of disagreement on this one but just saying :encouragement:
Click to expand...

Payment of DHNA Harbour dues give you the right to anchor for free. If you use a buoy overnight you still have to pay, but not Harbour dues. I suspect a blind eye is turned if you're just there for lunch, but not overnight. The same happens in Salcombe, or at least it did a few years back.
 
Never heard of people not having a mooring having arrived by road. Lots of very large ribs arrive by road and are on harbour moorings. You could try Winters Marine 01548 843580. They have pontoon berths and may have a space. They may allow you to launch from their slip each day. Yeowards may have moorings as well. It may be possible to launch from Kingsbridge. There is a large slip but I do not know if South Hams Council allow parking for boat trailers on the car park. Salcombe Harbour office can advise. You are restricted as Kingsbridge dries.
 
Hadenough said:
I'm having a spot of bother with this one. You are not really a "visitor" are you? What you are looking for is a temporary berth. In my view the pontoon berths and bouys at Salcombe are there for cruising visitors. I always phone ahead and enquire how busy they expect to be but do not have a problem with having to take pot luck, after all it's not a marina. As it happens the staff on the harbour boats have always been brilliant in squeezing us in. Dartmouth is an interesting one where Marina bertholders paying harbour fees have free use of visitors bouys. Fair enough but my experience is that they make full use of this and then scuttle back to the Marina at 18.00 after probably having denied the overnight use of that bouy to a visitor. How much income does that loose the HA each summer?
The loss of anchorages in a lot of areas is bad enough without making it even more difficult for cruising yachts. I know there will be loads of disagreement on this one but just saying :encouragement:
Click to expand...

I guess it depends of definition of "visitor". I am not sure why arriving by road makes us any less of a visitor than arriving by sea. Surely we all have an equal right to enjoy our hobby and our waterways, at least we have for hundreds of years. I understand the "safe haven" need for people at sea but that is really not the issue. In a storm any of us would enter the harbour and moor/anchor no matter what the rules were. I am limited by business commitments to long weekends mainly so choose to trailer sail. The logical extension of the Salcombe is only for cruisers argument is that all locations are only for cruisers. A tad selfish??

I guess my main issue is the contradictory advice. We booked a holiday cottage based on what the Harbour Masters staff told us and now we recieve different rules. The excellent Harbour Guide contains the rules about arriving by sea / road but not the lack of forward booking.

The private boat yards with moorings insist on a weeks booking. My fall back plan if we arrive and they refuse us a pontoon or mooring to launch at Dartmouth and sail down. My first instinct in Salcombe was that it was not my type of venue, I would prefer somewhere a bit less regulated but my wife has a different set of priorities ( hence the cottage and not sleeping onboard) but if that gets her sailing it is ok by me.
 
I think the fundamental issue at Salcombe is that there is a long waiting list for residents' moorings, and you have to be a South Hams council tax payer to be on the list. You are essentially wanting the short term use of one of these moorings, which are suitable for unoccupied boats. This does happen, and it is managed on a day to day basis by the waterborne staff. But you can't book in advance, there won't be that many available at any particular time, and it depends on resident boats being away. (If there were some available to book, local residents still on the waiting list would get in there first, and visitors would be no better off.)
 
I was referring to deep water berths above, I believe tidal moorings can be booked in advance through the Harbour Office. You'd also need somewhere to put your trailer.
 
Don't forget, many of the harbour staff are just students on holiday.

There's bound to be somewhere for your boat. I would launch it, go for a sail then come back later to the bag pontoon or pick up a visitors' buoy, park it there and pay your mooring fee like any other visitor. Who's to know whether you came from land or sea, or whether you're in a cottage or gone for a few pints in town? They won't actually care as long as you pay your fees.

Just watch out for the silly arrogant little prats in their Daddies' RIBs who don't give a fig about other boat users. Other than that, a lovely place to be. Enjoy your stay.
 
If you launch at Batson boat park, be prepared for a discussion with the slipmaster over payment of harbour dues. He's not supposed to let you launch into the harbour without a harbour dues sticker (you get it from the harbour office if he can't issue them).

Of course he may be glad of an excuse to keep your rig away from his busy slipway whilst he consults the harbour office...
 
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