West Mersea Yacht Club Launch service

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cookjwm

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Early warning for east coasters. The welcome at Mersea remains(I hope!) as warm as ever but visitors will now be charged £2 per person each way for use of the launch. You can save the cost of the return trip by spending in the club - I believe a £2 spend will get you back FOC, (just being finalised) more details from the Launch persons.And we have a new lady Launchperson in the form of Stacey who has taken over from Steve Wass who's concentrating more on oystering and his young family.
The charge has been subject of much anquished debate this winter but the conclusion was eventually reached, not without regret, that the club needed to address the increasing free use by visitors (and sadly, in some cases abuse, of free launch and free mooring), which is beginning to impact on members own access to a service they pay for through membership fees. The club also wants to welcome more visitors to the bar and restaurant ,hence the free return trip incentive. Still keeps Mersea as one of the cheapest places to visit around here!
You will get a smart little handbook of tides and services etc in Mersea as well!
By the way West Mersea Marine are no longer operating a launch service.
Forwarned is forarmed!
 
Seems fair - I thought that we very generous operating such a good service when you were just going to lunch at the Shed - I used to pay say £5 for 4 each way but never sure who the money went to. I shall be there!
 
Sad I think but I suppose a modern reality. The fact of the matter is that paying for two full time members of staff to run the two launches with only about 1000 members and lots of other overheads to run the moorings and the house is quite a burden. Frankly its never bothered me to find someone on my mooring when I come back.
 
I like West Mersea and go there several times in a season although if I go ashore I do usually get the dinghy out as I thought the launch usually stops running about 6pm. If it runs later I will happily use the launch for the cost of a pint! Rowing from Salcott is not really an option though!
 
Not an unreasonable charge, just the end of an era.
I usually use my own tender because I love weaving in and out of the moorings.
 
Just to join in and understand the reasons for making the changes.

Still a very nice place to visit. Have happy memories of the times when I kept a boat there.

Bit of a performance to blow up the dinghy but there are a number of fun places to explore. Ray Channel is lovely on a summer's evening when the tide is right. Never quite made it to Salcott village but intend giving it a go this year.
 
an advertising post was made by a new guy, associating comments about the benevolent atmosphere at WM with a commercial organisation selling timeshare yachts under a "Club" name.

The post has been removed. I would not wish the WM mud to be stirred any more, especially as I have very fond memories as a student looking after a motor sailor there one summer for a prominent lawyer. Ah, the price of misshaped oysters brings a memorial tear to my eye!
 
We have used the WMYC moorings a couple of times this year, they are always helpful in directing you to a vacant mooring when you call them up.

It does surprise me that they do not make any charge for this, I guess it might be more trouble than it is worth, but the launch went past several times and could easily have stopped and requested a fee. As we used our tender to go ashore and, this year did not visit the yacht club, we did not contribute anything to the running costs.
 
The WMYC don't make a charge for temporary mooring as whilst our helpful launchmen generally know which boats are away and for how long, and so where a mooring that may be free, there are no dedicated visitors moorings, a visitor simply 'camps' on a vacant mooring, and the Yacht Club doesn't operate all the moorings in West Mersea, only their own moorings, and many are operated by West Mersea Marine and Peter Clarke's Boatyard, the local companies. There are also several 'privately owned' moorings that are laid and maintained by individuals.

A further complication is that the moorings are not usually laid on land owned by the moorings operator. Most of the land forming the creeks around West Mersea is owned by Mersea Haven Ltd, a land holding company which is part owned by West Mersea Yacht Club, but there are parts of the creeks that are owned by others, notably local oyster families with historic title. Confusingly most Yacht Club moorings are not laid on land owned by Mersea Haven Ltd, which company is part owned by the Yacht Club! but are in Salcott Creek, which is owned by an individual, and thus the Yacht Club lays and operates those moorings and pays a licence fee to the land owner.

Thus the Yacht Club can't charge for what is not ours! but what we can and do charge for is the services of our launch to bring visitors ashore. We do, of course, refund any charge made to visitors if you make use of our excellent clubhouse dining facilities, which are open for lunches every day, and supper on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.........
 
TimfromMersea said:
Thus the Yacht Club can't charge for what is not ours! but what we can and do charge for is the services of our launch to bring visitors ashore. We do, of course, refund any charge made to visitors if you make use of our excellent clubhouse dining facilities, which are open for lunches every day, and supper on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.........
Click to expand...

An excellent set up and a very reasonable arrangement. :)
 
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