WEst Mersea is still good value at £10

[sailorman]

My mum will not go to West Mersea anymore. Not since the time we were aboard my late Gaffer and had just been through a nasty wet squall. We were tied to an outside mooring bouy and unheard by her the launch arrived on our stbd side. My dear old mum was effing and blinding like the old east-ender she is. About the weather, lack of headroom etc etc.

She turned round to find herself face to face with the launch man. Embarrassed does not do justice to her reaction

Made I laugh.

Hope to visit again soon, will make sure mum is on best behaviour! No problem with the fees at all.

Fly a RNSA Burgee + a Blue Ensign & its free

 

[NUTMEG]

As in ' blue'?

 

[Mariner69]

Fly a RNSA Burgee + a Blue Ensign & its free

Can we quote you on that?

Ooops, just did!!

 

[Koeketiene]

Peter, the last thing we need round here at the moment is a 'gloater'! You might yet be nailed to your mast next time you come in; all in the spirit of fairness, equality, proportionality and necessity of course.

We will need pictures!

 

[FullCircle]

Who knows? You can interrogate him if you want and perhaps issue a warrant for his arrest, maybe we should sack a launchman for failing to do his duty or maybe we should just recognise that these things happen sometimes. By the way Marconi and Paglesham clubs do not provide navigation marks do they, like the Mersea consortium (though why visitors to Mersea need them has always been beyond me)?

All marks on the Roach are TH

 

[Athene V30]

Fly a RNSA Burgee + a Blue Ensign & its free

:encouragement:

Not gloating, really!

 

[TimfromMersea]

With all respect to m'learned friends, it's not Mersea Haven Ltd that benefits from the mooring charges, but the Mersea Moorings Association. Mersea Haven Ltd owns the creek beds on which the majority of the moorings are laid but doesn't see a penny from the visitor charges.

MMA puts the charges into a pot for 'maintenance and improvement of the harbour' and so far the funds have paid for, amongst other things, the buoyage, the Nass maintenance fund, and the MMA dinghy on the hammerhead.

The discount if you spend money at the Yacht Club bar and catering is from the launch charge not the mooring fee. WMYC pays for the launch 100% but only gets a proportion of the MMA visitor charges.

 

[sailorman]

Shirley the Crown Commissioners "Own" the Creek below the HW mark

 

[TimfromMersea]

No, Mersea Haven Ltd does, having in 1971 bought out a local farmer who had a charter from Charles II that gave him ownership of all creeks and fleets in West Mersea.

MH Ltd is a consortium of the local yards and the Yacht Club.

How do I know? I'm currently Chairman of the Mersea Haven Limited Company. Sadly an unpaid YC volunteer nominee, not a Rachmanite landlord.....

 

[NUTMEG]

And stop calling him Shirley

 

[Hadenough]

No, Mersea Haven Ltd does, having in 1971 bought out a local farmer who had a charter from Charles II that gave him ownership of all creeks and fleets in West Mersea

Dunno what he got in 1971 but I bet he's spinning in his grave now!

 

[Otter]

Just a bit of random information, Tollesbury marina was only £22 a night, which personally makes the West Mersea £10 seem a bit steep. As a Trans Europe marina berth holder we got 50% off that which made it even nicer. No need for a blue ensign though there's a special red and a light blue one we could fly.

 

[Poecheng]

No, Mersea Haven Ltd does, having in 1971 bought out a local farmer who had a charter from Charles II that gave him ownership of all creeks and fleets in West Mersea.

MH Ltd is a consortium of the local yards and the Yacht Club.

How do I know? I'm currently Chairman of the Mersea Haven Limited Company. Sadly an unpaid YC volunteer nominee, not a Rachmanite landlord.....

What about the Oyster Company? Isn't that one of the oldest limited companies and doesn't it own some of the creeks. When I had a mooring in the Quarters in the 90s (why did I let that 17m mooring go, Lord?) I paid the Oyster Company

 

[Poecheng]

Noo. It doesn't matter if a yachts rips out its bottom on that ship's windlass in the Quarters or goes on the Quarters Spit or finds the remains of the old Nass Beacon.

Roger, would you mind giving further details.
I sailed out of Mersea for a long time and had a mooring in the Quarters at the time when Malcolm ran the WM1 launch ! We spent a long time with Malc (former fisherman) and he never mentioned these even though we used to sneak around everywhere in our old gaffer (with Thorneycroft Handybilly in our first season)
Thanks

I mean the windlass and the old Nass Beacon - not the spit !

 

[TimfromMersea]

What about the Oyster Company? Isn't that one of the oldest limited companies and doesn't it own some of the creeks. When I had a mooring in the Quarters in the 90s (why did I let that 17m mooring go, Lord?) I paid the Oyster Company

In the quarters the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Co Ltd - yes, a very old company - does control some of the land, but I believe that they don't own it, they are tenants of the Crown.

Mersea Haven Ltd owns freehold all the creeks inside the Quarters, other than Salcott, parts of Mersea Fleet between the Cobmarsh and Packing Marsh, and parts of the Strood Channel (One of the other oyster men trumped our Charles II deed from the 1600's with one from the 1500's.....!)

Mersea Haven Ltd was formed in 1971 to buy out the farmer with the deed from Charles II and he was paid what would be roughly the equivalent of £250,000 in today's money. The investment came from the two boatyards that we're working in Mersea at the time, and the Yacht Club. Dabchicks were asked if they wanted to join in but at the time were almost 100% a dinghy sailing club so it was believed that security of mooring land was not a major concern for them.

 

[Poecheng]

Tim,
Many thanks for that - most interesting.
Best wishes

 

[tillergirl]

Roger, would you mind giving further details.
I sailed out of Mersea for a long time and had a mooring in the Quarters at the time when Malcolm ran the WM1 launch ! We spent a long time with Malc (former fisherman) and he never mentioned these even though we used to sneak around everywhere in our old gaffer (with Thorneycroft Handybilly in our first season)
Thanks

I mean the windlass and the old Nass Beacon - not the spit !

The windlass is supposed to be in the Quarters, 'taller than the diver' but I think it is outside the buoyed channel. I did find a big 'lump' just outside the first SHB (as you leave). It could be a Fisherman's tale but the description was quite elaborate for a made up story. The other, a well known local fisherman struck 'something' outside the line of red buoys (this is ages ago) and this is surmised to be the remains of the old Nass beacon. It is shown on some charts as ED. The same fisherman tried to find it again but couldn't so maybe what was there was knocked flat (it would have been a big steel boat).