Selfish yacht, poor show Yarmouth

Brigantia said:
Not much of an electrician if he failed to suggest the obvious ... just turn some stuff OFF! :D

Or to put it another way, I very much doubt if they REQUIRED 64A - they wanted it yes, but would the yacht have sunk if they had tio reduce the load by reducing the amount of kit running? No
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we were very fortunate to get 5a in Ouisterham & that kept tripping out on overload
 
Clearly this yacht was spending a huge amount of money at the harbour and therefore they felt they had right to demand whatever they wanted. Whats more concerning is the harbour didnt have the will to implement its own rules when evidently the actions of others were causing offence (and not unjustified by the sounds of it).
 
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This would be the yacht Sea Quell, registered in Bikini, which came in to Yarmouth on Sunday afternoon, about an hour or two after we did. (And, to a previous poster, no trouble getting a berth there last Sunday!).

We were moored on the opposite side of the pontoon to which Sea Quell was stern to. We were aware of the noise and cooling from the considerable generator outlet which would have been no more than 10 metres from our bow but we slept like logs all night. Far quieter than a night at Weymouth town quay with the fast ferry engines whirring all night!

On Monday morning, one of the berthing masters tried to fit a makeshift muffler to the exhaust just as we were leaving but without success it seems.

As for "turn something off", maybe the cable fittings wouldn't fit 16 or 32 amp plugs and as this was originally just an overnight stay, not worth more far reaching mods to the yachts electrical system.

At all times in conversation the skipper of Sea Quell was very polite, apologised to us for the noise (which hadn't troubled us anyway) and the harbour staff tried to do their best in keeping every one happy.

What I don't understand is why the superyacht wasn't accommodated on one of the buoys outside the harbour which would be more it's natural mooring in the Caribbean or Med.
 
chris225 said:
Firstly we are very sorry if any visitors to Yarmouth were disturbed by the noise of the generator running on this superyacht overnight. We did however point out the problem before berthing other vessels near this yacht and/or offer an alternative berth if we received a complaint.
The yacht in question came in for one night and actually stayed for five nights due to the weather.
We are able to supply power at 16 amps and 32 amps, but this yacht required 64 amps which we could not supply. We did put an electrician on board to try and solve the problem, but without success. We also helped the yacht's crew to muffle to sea water discharge. So we tried our best but actually failed to solve the issue.
Once again, apologies.
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Not being anywhere near Yarmouth (I'll need to look at a map to see where it is), the attitude above is incredible and if I'd been a vistor I'd be demanding a refund. They obviously value one super yacht more than us lesser mortals.

If I ever do a round Britain sail, I'll mark Yarmouth as a place to miss!!!
 
ctva said:
Not being anywhere near Yarmouth (I'll need to look at a map to see where it is), the attitude above is incredible and if I'd been a vistor I'd be demanding a refund. They obviously value one super yacht more than us lesser mortals.

If I ever do a round Britain sail, I'll mark Yarmouth as a place to miss!!!
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Well, ye'll have cut off your nose to spite yer face then.
 
Highland Bear said:
We were aware of the noise and cooling from the considerable generator outlet which would have been no more than 10 metres from our bow but we slept like logs all night. Far quieter than a night at Weymouth town quay with the fast ferry engines whirring all night!
.
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I don't like quiet anchorages spoilt by generators either but I have to agree with highland bear if he is suggesting there was something of an over reaction. I notice often that a quiet built in generator will invoke a bad reaction from neighbours who at the same time will completely accept a yacht running its main engine for hot water and battery charging. Gennies always seem to get a an irrational and disproprtionate response in much the same way as the dylanesque anti wash types who have apoplexy at the sight of a mere ripple.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like either EXCESSIVE wash or INCONSIDERATE use of a genny, but I do think a measured response in some cases would be better all round.
 
blueglass said:
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I don't like quiet anchorages spoilt by generators either but I have to agree with highland bear if he is suggesting there was something of an over reaction. I notice often that a quiet built in generator will invoke a bad reaction from neighbours who at the same time will completely accept a yacht running its main engine for hot water and battery charging. Gennies always seem to get a an irrational and disproprtionate response in much the same way as the dylanesque anti wash types who have apoplexy at the sight of a mere ripple.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like either EXCESSIVE wash or INCONSIDERATE use of a genny, but I do think a measured response in some cases would be better all round.
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I think you are largely right and I have no objection to anyone running a genny for an hour at an anchorage, even a quiet one. It's the people who run them for hours or even all night that wind me up. Especially if they are putting on loads of bright lights or underwater lights plus aircon and other things which if they switched off would make the generator far less necessary.

Underwater lights look great fun for that late night swim but leaving them on for many hours just to help us work out which boat is making all the noise?? Seen it again and again.

And to those who have well installed quiet generators - they are only quiet to you, just try drifting downwind in the tender for a few yards and then say that.
 
ctva said:
Not being anywhere near Yarmouth (I'll need to look at a map to see where it is), the attitude above is incredible and if I'd been a vistor I'd be demanding a refund. They obviously value one super yacht more than us lesser mortals.

If I ever do a round Britain sail, I'll mark Yarmouth as a place to miss!!!
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In practice, what do you expect the HM staff to actually do ?

Larger vessels with systems cannot just turn things off as easily as a small yacht.
 
RupertW said:
I think you are largely right and I have no objection to anyone running a genny for an hour at an anchorage, even a quiet one. It's the people who run them for hours or even all night that wind me up. Especially if they are putting on loads of bright lights or underwater lights plus aircon and other things which if they switched off would make the generator far less necessary.

Underwater lights look great fun for that late night swim but leaving them on for many hours just to help us work out which boat is making all the noise?? Seen it again and again.

And to those who have well installed quiet generators - they are only quiet to you, just try drifting downwind in the tender for a few yards and then say that.
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Quite right, but the over reaction thing does prevail. My genny is virtually silent and I run it for an hour or so at a busy time of the day to run batteries up and yes I have been in the tender downwind and can hardly hear it. Audible - yes of course, (just) but much LESS so than a yacht's main engine. The engine will be accepted, the generator strangely not. Maybe its because Sir Rod doesn't like them.
 
moodyNick said:
In practice, what do you expect the HM staff to actually do ?
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Ask him to move out on to a mooring buoy if he insists on running an engine overnight. Or possibly move him to a berth where the exhaust and sea water outlet are as far as possible from other boats.

Is it reasonable to expect a 64A supply? Could you provide one at Berthon?
 
DJE said:
Ask him to move out on to a mooring buoy if he insists on running an engine overnight. Or possibly move him to a berth where the exhaust and sea water outlet are as far as possible from other boats.

Is it reasonable to expect a 64A supply? Could you provide one at Berthon?
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Move him onto the wall near the ferry, or tell him to anchor east of the pier.

I think the mooring buoys would be a little too close together.
 
moodyNick said:
In practice, what do you expect the HM staff to actually do ?

Larger vessels with systems cannot just turn things off as easily as a small yacht.
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Genuine question - just what do these larger vessels run that require 64amps all night?

Things I can think of:
1) Fridge
2) Freezer

er ...
 
Highland Bear said:
As for "turn something off", maybe the cable fittings wouldn't fit 16 or 32 amp plugs and as this was originally just an overnight stay, not worth more far reaching mods to the yachts electrical system.
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It's (usually) possible to fit a 16 or 32amp plug to 64amp socket in line - as long as the cable is rated for the max current draw it's fine.
I've got a 32 -> 16amp converter lead for when there is only a 32amp socket free.
Of course, if the yacht systems demanded more than the supply then the supply would just trip - possibly upsetting more than just those who can hear the generator.

But tbh - it would be pretty antisocial to run the generator 24/7 and I'm intrigued to hear just what electrical systems could not be turned off ...!!
 
fireball said:
It's (usually) possible to fit a 16 or 32amp plug to 64amp socket in line - as long as the cable is rated for the max current draw it's fine.
I've got a 32 -> 16amp converter lead for when there is only a 32amp socket free.
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Just be aware (I'm sure you are) that if you're stepping down from a 32A supply to a 16A feed onto your boat (caravan, RV, whatever) that YOU need to provide overload protection at the lower rating 'cos otherwise you could overload your system

fireball said:
But tbh - it would be pretty antisocial to run the generator 24/7 and I'm intrigued to hear just what electrical systems could not be turned off ...!!
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From the look of it, the aircon and entertainment systems, fridge(s) and freezer for starters. Guess it's just not set up to be run off shore power at all and is heavily reliant on the genset for just about everything

really, it's a ship not a yacht and in that context a genset running virtually continously is to be expected

Given that it appears to be a charter business might hazard a guess that the skipper was forced to choose between p*ss*ng off his paying guests or p*ss*ing off everybody else.
 
reading this post about aircon units taking significant power at various stages I'm less surprised at the 64amp requirement ...
but it's hardly "hot" here in the UK - I don't think I've ever wished for aircon onboard - certainly not overnight anyway ... just open the hatches!
 
fireball said:
reading this post about aircon units taking significant power at various stages I'm less surprised at the 64amp requirement ...
but it's hardly "hot" here in the UK - I don't think I've ever wished for aircon onboard - certainly not overnight anyway ... just open the hatches!
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Its probably for the remote control, you wouldn't open the hatches by hand......:)
 
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