Salcombe mooring buoy charges!

[longjohnsilver]

Have just spent a few very pleasant days in Salcombe, it really is a beautiful place. I usually anchor but as I was spending quite a bit of time ashore and there were plenty of free mooring buoys decided to choose this option.

For a 9m boat it cost £13-50 a night! So £1-50 per metre. No wonder they have so many harbour launches! Even the chap collecting the harbour dues apologised, and I hadn't said a word at that stage. He was very pleasant so I didn't complain, just paid up and thought what the hell, a great 2 days. But this does seem a bit steep particularly bearing in mind that the only facility is a dinghy landing pontoon.

Is this a standard charge for tying up to a visitors buoy around the South coast?

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[Cornishman]

Did that include harbour dues?

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[longjohnsilver]

I presume so, wasn't asked for anything extra, but still seems a bit pricey. After all harbour dues are just another way of relieving us of a bit/lot more cash!

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[longjohnsadler]

I'm a bit disappointed really.
I mean you're a pirate, right? So couldn't you board him, pinch his takings and leave with an evil guffaw?
Try and show some initiative.

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[longjohnsilver]

Well I did produce my sabre but he just laughed!! /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[Cornishman]

Not quite! I spent a couple of seasons working out of Salcombe in the 70s and I was the RYA rep on the harbour sub committee. I was left in no doubt about where harbour dues went - e.g. maintenance of the navigation buoys and lights, investments in quays, landing pontoons, dredging channels, refuse disposal etc and Yes, the cost of harbour launches which do more than just collect dues.
How much would you expect to pay to park your car for 24 hours? Is it more than 9m long?

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[longjohnsilver]

Well there's only one landing pontoon, no quays only a few buoys, don't know about dredging of channels but would be surprised if that was necessary in Salcombe, so still feel a bit ripped off. Just seems that they would prefer to have a harbour full of smart expensive boats rather than boats like mine which is more like a work boat.

They can charge what they like, it is up to me as to whether I choose to go there and pay. I was just a bit surprised at the scale of the charge. Next time I'll anchor which is what I should have done this time.

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[longjohnsadler]

Hmm. Shortjohnsabre then..

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[Joe_Cole]

I stand to be corrected but I think that Salcombe is the most expensive in the area. You are right that the facilities are limited though it's pleasant enough for a couple of nights. I must admit that I prefer Dartmouth, and not just because it's cheaper!

They were doing some dredging last year.

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[BrendanS]

When we met up last year, with yourself, Haydn and pathfinders et al, spent many a pleasant 10 minutes chatting to the guys running the harbour launches, who usually are inside doing work, but run the launches as taxis out of hours. They explained in great detail about the work going on then with the new lifeboat facility, the dredging that was going on , the new visitor pontoons, for which they had been inside for months welding together the piles that were going in etc etc.

Can't knock them for the amount of work they put into the place, just not very obvious where the money goes if, and some of the older peeps in the harbour office personnel need some customer training, but it's well worth the cost for such a wonderful location.

Was going to be there this weekend, but weather is not looking promising for a trip from Lymington and back

<hr width=100% size=1>Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabris, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

 

[Peppermint]

Re:A fair charge

Take a dinghy there for the day and you pay a full years harbour dues.

I'd say Salcombe has as good a record on investing in the harbour as the planners and environmentalists will allow. The absent new shower block being a case in point.

They run a tight operation in a beautiful place that shows no reduction in visitors even though everything is at premium prices. Faced with this unique market place I'd charge top dollar too.

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[AndrewB]

Re:A fair charge

Just how much does it cost to provide a bog? That always seems to be the justification for outrageously high harbour dues. There was a time when you just paid a penny ....

'Fraid I pass Salcombe by these days. There are other places.

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[jhr]

Salcombe ties with the Beaulieu River (where I keep my boat) as my favourite location on the South Coast. Both, to a certain extent, maintain their charm by being more expensive than the average destination and rationing the number of moorings available. It's a price I'm prepared to pay, but that doesn't stop my wallet from groaning.



<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Cornishman]

You will, of course, still have to pay harbour dues even if you anchor.

Check on the number of leading lights, beacons and other navigation aids etc next time you look at the harbour chart. A whole new channel was dredged there a couple of years ago, mainly to allow the lifeboat to have access to the fisherman's quay. Let's hope you don't need the services of RNLB Baltic Exchange II, but if you do it will arrive that much more quickly. It all costs money, and while you might not use every facility it is a bit like having a TV licence which covers you for about 60 odd channels now, most of which I either cannot or will not receive.

I once heard your complaint in the bar of Burner's pub, now called The Victoria I believe, and the visitor was none too politely reminded that the harbour is re-surfaced twice a day!

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[pragmatist]

What a lot of nice guys you are. The costs even for anchoring are horrific - and still we love the place. But I think you'll find that in Salcombe, Dartmouth and plenty of other places only 50% goes towards those buoys, helpful harbour staff etc.

The other half goes to Charlie and his Duchy. He certainly wasn't the one that took our line to the buoy in a cloudburst to save us inflating the dinghy. Thanks Royals.

<hr width=100% size=1>a pragmatist is an optimist with a boat in the UK

 

[whisper]

Re:A fair charge

There are bogs next to the harbour office but the "Planners" (ha ha !!!) refused permission for them and the harbour office to be revamped, which would have included showers.
Actually Salcombe is rather odd to live in as in the Summer it is badly overcrowded yet in the Winter it is a ghost town. I believe that now almost 1 house in 3 is a holiday home. Kingsbridge on the other hand is an active little country town all year round.
Whilst there was a major dredging contract done last year, mainly to enable the life boat to have a shore connection, dredging is done periodically anyway to ensure the depths as far as the slipway in Batson Creek.
Super surroundings though at all times of the year.

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[Peppermint]

Re: This thread is a bit strange.

Since when have yotties been so tight.

You can blow more money than a night in Salcombe on a night in Shamrock Quay or West Cowes or Cobbs Quay.

The views not a patch on Salcombe though.

The idea that I'd sail by to save a couple of quid, and do myself out of the pleasures of town and harbour, is quite laughable.

The best thing about the place is that it's not such an expensive place to keep your boat if you live in the South Hams. So here we have a local authority providing a quality service, you don't here that too often, for the locals and raising a bit of revenue from the tourists. Wish my local authority would try it.

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[Kurrawong_Kid]

Re: This thread is a bit strange.

Is the price of milk at Ellis's still liquid gold?Even worse than the Harbour dues I used to find!

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[Joe_Cole]

A scandalous accusation Sir....

Yotties are not tight. Careful maybe, but never tight.
However, this thread was started by Longjohnsilver, a stinkie if ever there was one. Of course he can tell you a thing or two about being tight.

Time to run for cover/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

Joe

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[Peppermint]

Re: Everything

at Ellis's is an economic mystery. How they've survived Somerfields opening in Kingsbridge and the Co-op taking over the garage shop at Marlborough I'll never know. I thought they might be a sub branch of Fortnums.

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