St Cast problems

[MartinANick]

Have just returned from a visit to St Cast.
Have been before with no problems however last Monday night the visitors pontoon was raided by vandals. Many flags and sticks - including mine -were stolen, a bath towel drying on the guard rails was also taken. The boat next to us had human excrement smeared over the bathing platform.
Although there are security gates to the pontoons these are not working.
Upon reporting all this to the less than helpful harbourmaster we just got a shrug.
So beware.
Also worth noting that there are not many visitor pontoons for craft over 10 metres. Last week there were at least 3 of them occupied by local boats.
We will definitely not be visiting again.

 

[Bandit]

Hopefully a one off

I hope your experience was a one off, I have been to St Cast several times and love it.

I cant think of a single marina I visit which has locking gates and the only one in Guernsey is St Sampsons Marina which is where i am.

I have heard of isolated problems in the past in Binic and in St Malo but these seem few and far between.

 

[guernseyman]

Some years ago we visited Trebeurden marina for the first and last time.

We became aware that a probable mother and teenage son were systematically working their way along each pontoon, in broad daylight, boarding empty boats and pushing the hatches as if to open them.

After having observed them for long enough to be sure it was not an illusion, I walked to the capitainerie and described what I had seen. The response was complete disinterest.

The unfortunate result is that I now lock my hatches more often.

 

[Powersalt]

Yes, my vote too for St Cast as I found it a great place and this news is most disturbing. We had exactly the same experience at Granville where our flag was taken at 2 in the morning as they broke it off the staff and woke us all up.

We were in St Cast earlier this year in March and although the marina was active during the day I did become aware that at about 6 pm every one was gone and we were the only boat on the visitors jetty. Even the harbour master locked up and went home and it did cross my mind that we could be very vulnerable to yob interest.

ON the point of locking gates , dont forget Jersey is pretty well security minded with card access.

So is St Cast loosing its shine?

 

[strakeryrius]

Maybe the flag thieves were actually flag etiquette snobs enraged that your ensigns were still left flying after sunset?

Dons tin hat and runs for cover......

 

[henryf]

On a similar vein and in no way wanting to make light of the incident I was trying to work out how you checked to see if was human excrement rather than from a dog or such like?

Back on side, it is always a worry when mooring up somewhere. Particularly as we like to moor up in the heart of a town if possible on the quay side. Lymington, Weymouth, Dartmouth, Hamble village etc. are all favourites which allow direct entry onto the boat with ease.

What they need is decent CCTV.

Henry

 

[longjohnsilver]

On a similar vein and in no way wanting to make light of the incident I was trying to work out how you checked to see if was human excrement rather than from a dog or such like?

Henry

That thought had crossed my mind too.

It seems that virtually no French marinas have any sort of security. We spent 4 months in France the year before last without any problems but I spoke to an old chap on his Fleming 55 who had had issues in Benodet where various youths boarded his boat causing problems and left behind broken glass. That was not funny and must have been quite a concern to him

In many places we did have quite a few locals who came to look at our boat but they were all without exception very pleasant. I guess it's just the luck of the draw.

 

[Powersalt]

On a similar vein and in no way wanting to make light of the incident I was trying to work out how you checked to see if was human excrement rather than from a dog or such like?

Back on side, it is always a worry when mooring up somewhere. Particularly as we like to moor up in the heart of a town if possible on the quay side. Lymington, Weymouth, Dartmouth, Hamble village etc. are all favourites which allow direct entry onto the boat with ease.

What they need is decent CCTV.

Henry

And where might we get cctv from then Henry