Weymouth

[volvopaul]

Anyone gone to Weymouth and paid silly money to moor in the town?

I have looked at the web cam of the harbour and beach, the beach looks deserted, the harbour not to full capacity either.

A friend has gone to dartmouth, but phoned to ask for a mooring enroute from Poole incase they needed shelter, no problem was the reply but approx £150 per night!!! No wonder there are spaces.

Then the hotels and guest houses I'm told are empty and normal rates now apply, it seems those trying to cash in have failed miserable, a case of good old British greed.

A shame as it really put us off even thinking about travelling to one of my favourite holiday places, agh well maybe next year.

 

[Scubadoo]

I wanted to have a go at visiting Brixham/Dartmouth last week while we had the calm weather all week, but also wanted/needed to stop at Weymouth. But with the general message don't visit anywhere near the Olympics I ended cruising the Solent etc. It is shame for the local shops, bars, marinas etc as they have lost the extra income not from just me but many others I would think. The same is happening in London and now they are starting to open places up for trade.

I wouldn't have paid those inflated prices, but that wasn't my reason for not going at the time.

Real shame for me as I had a good weather window, just hope another one comes along this year.

 

[dpb]

Just been on the local news that various Weymouth Festival Events that were timed to coincide with the olympics have been cancelled due to lack of numbers.
Colleagues who live there report that the area has been very quite!
Did wonder in the run up why so many people were expected to come to what is lets face it a minority interest sport that for the most part you cant even see coz its so far out!

 

[DAKA]

Weymouth are issuing vouchers for cheaper berthing.

But £5 off £150 , they must be off their rockers

Rumours of erecting sheeting round the harbour to prevent viewing of sailing isnt exactly making one feel welcome.

I placed a bid for a berth for next week but they didnt even have the courtesy to say that I had/hadnt been successful .

Attitudes such as this will have lasting repercussions once you upset a regular they will not return either through sheer bloodymindedness or because they had to find an alternative.

Seastate is tolerable today for 40ft + flybridge but there could have been a lot of berths sold and paid for where smallish sports boats under 45ft havent been able to take advantage of a prepaid berth (made worse if someone only booked and paid for one night).

Just because the harbour is emptyish doesnt mean someone hasnt managed to scam £££££££s out of boaters.

 

[Ripster]

Flippin right - £150 quid when normally its about 35 to 40 - outright averice. The greedy peops responsible deserve to fail. Shame is it ruins the whole event and atmostsphere for something that most of will never see again - typical.

Weymouth are issuing vouchers for cheaper berthing.

But £5 off £150 , they must be off their rockers

Rumours of erecting sheeting round the harbour to prevent viewing of sailing isnt exactly making one feel welcome.

I placed a bid for a berth for next week but they didnt even have the courtesy to say that I had/hadnt been successful .

Attitudes such as this will have lasting repercussions once you upset a regular they will not return either through sheer bloodymindedness or because they had to find an alternative.

Seastate is tolerable today for 40ft + flybridge but there could have been a lot of berths sold and paid for where smallish sports boats under 45ft havent been able to take advantage of a prepaid berth (made worse if someone only booked and paid for one night).

Just because the harbour is emptyish doesnt mean someone hasnt managed to scam £££££££s out of boaters.

 

[SolentPhill]

Anyone gone to Weymouth and paid silly money to moor in the town?

I have looked at the web cam of the harbour and beach, the beach looks deserted, the harbour not to full capacity either.

A friend has gone to dartmouth, but phoned to ask for a mooring enroute from Poole incase they needed shelter, no problem was the reply but approx £150 per night!!! No wonder there are spaces.

Then the hotels and guest houses I'm told are empty and normal rates now apply, it seems those trying to cash in have failed miserable, a case of good old British greed.

A shame as it really put us off even thinking about travelling to one of my favourite holiday places, agh well maybe next year.

I was told that Portland has shut down for berths but Weymouth have some and its normal fee. I plan to head west next week I will do Gunwharf to Lymington to Poole, then look around that area for the next stopover, not interested in Olympics but will need berth so I rang Weymouth who told me that info, but you have to ring an 0845 number

 

[PCUK]

You'd think the D*ck-heads would have learned from the millennium fiasco!

 

[markcw]

We all planned to go there on the 27 July for the opening day, after 6 phone calls to the harbour master, they were still unsure of the slipway setup and parking set up in weymouth( even after 7 years), the only they could tell us that all car parks in the center of weymouth are closed, and portland is a no go area unless you have security passes.

So after applying for a slipway use, security checks on us and vessel, we would have to slip the boat in, then park trailer, then drive to the park and ride outside weymouth, catch a bus back in to harbour, then!! catch the park and ride bus back out to pick vehicle up, drive back down to slipway, hitch up boat and out. Could i really be bothered to do all this, all i wanted was to go and have half a day fun on the boat, I hope there business is **** as they have shafted every one else who wants to go down and enjoy the Olympics some people cant afford the ticket prices in London or Portland area. i tried getting ticket and as normal, could not get them for love or money,

RIP Weymouth.

 

[beejay190]

Anyone gone to Weymouth and paid silly money to moor in the town?

I have looked at the web cam of the harbour and beach, the beach looks deserted, the harbour not to full capacity either.

A friend has gone to dartmouth, but phoned to ask for a mooring enroute from Poole incase they needed shelter, no problem was the reply but approx £150 per night!!! No wonder there are spaces.

Then the hotels and guest houses I'm told are empty and normal rates now apply, it seems those trying to cash in have failed miserable, a case of good old British greed.

A shame as it really put us off even thinking about travelling to one of my favourite holiday places, agh well maybe next year.

Weymouth has also lost a lot of trade to Poole since cracks were discovered in Weymouth harbour wall; this has resulted in Condor Vitesse which was based in Weymouth operating from Poole for a number of months now.
A number of boats have opted to berth at Cobbs for a couple of months rather than be locked in Portland marina till mid Srptember.

 

[pappaecho]

ReRun of the Millenium eve fiasco, as prices were ramped and everyone stayed at home.

See the Weymouth festival has gone bust due to lack of attendance

 

[U4]

RIP Weymouth.

Crumbs, that's a bit harsh

Agree they have made a bit of a balls up of the whole thing but some perspective on the matter wouldn't be a bad thing....!

 

[markcw]

Harsh no no no,
we used to go there a lot with the boat before we tried Torquay, then all of sudden the town slip became awful to use not kept up, slip not cleaned, hose tap hit and miss if it worked, so we moved and used the slip at osprey key Portland, it was brilliant for a while until the Olympic bid was successful, then over night the prices started to go up for trailer and slip way usage, food and drink prices hit the roof for a ham salad roll 4.95 (rip-off)

We got so fed up with price changes and not being able to use the slipway when events was on, so we decided to call it a day and change our boating area to Torquay.

You would not believe the conversation i have had with Weymouth harbour authority, lots of phone calls that have said i must book 24 hr in advance to use the slip way after the 16 July, but on there internet site Olympic pack it tell you a different story, staff who really don't know what the hell is happening, every conversation as left me confused when trying to arrange using the slipway there, also asked about the parking areas for the slip way and car parks for my landy and you get a dumb answer (don't know) even the staff were confused and were unsure were they are going to park.
My last telephone call to them on the 21 July they advised me not to bother using my boat and stay well clear of the area as its in gaos i was stunned, a major event like the Olympics and I'm being told to stay well clear, is this a ploy by the locals to have the Olympics all to there self's

Ive been watching the live sailing and cycling on the bbc brillant iphone app when working this week and on a few occasions they have shown weymouth sea front beach empty at mid day, can this be real, in the summer holiday period it empty, shop owners must be going mad and frustrated.

Sorry my attitude has not change and i hope thing do go T!ts up, and i will be there telling every single moaner, it your own fault. grreeedd gets you no where.

RIP Weymouth

Torquay
I bow before you thanks for having great facilities, great slip way for the bigger boat, they don't mind you using alternative pontoon's when every where else if full, staff are really friendly and always willing to help, excellent wash down area, and you have harvester 10 seconds away

 

[ARA]

, and you have harvester 10 seconds away

I was completely supportive until

 

[markcw]

Sorry to let you down ARA, but the kids love it there, please forgive me.

 

[Greg2]

Same thing happening in London according to the news. Greedy hotel owners trying to charge the earth with the result being that people are staying away and rooms are empty. No sympathy for them at all........always had a strong aversion to profiteering and not sorry to see them reaping the consequences.

 

[cem]

same thing happens to every place that hosts the olympics, they inflate ticket prices and room rates and cause general chaos then nobody want to play at their ridiculous prices..... normal visitor numbers are down for the year that most city host the games

this happened as Sydney, Athens, Vancouver and will indeed happen for the London games too

the other thing that is really annoying me about these games is the sheer number of empty seats which are all supposedly reserved for "the Olympic family" , NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, but do us all a favour and if you have a free seat USE IT i was unable to get a ticket for anything i really wanted to watch, have found some on line recently but i ma not willing to pay £450-£2000 to see a speck running around a track and pay £8.50 for uncooked fish & chips

/rant over

 

[volvopaul]

So all in all a typical British managed event that's clearly fallen on its knees, well done Weymouth and Portland council, I take my hat off to dean and reddyhoff for not increasing there prices, shame the greedy harbour authority didn't do the same. Any numbers are better than none, in this double dip recession I'd have thought the writing was clearly on the wall months before as bookings in hotels must have been down.
The web cams clearly show this , empty beach etc, well done to all in Weymouth.

 

[superheat6k]

Went down two weeks ago, on the last weekend before the Olympics and before the high prices started. Most boats alongside, with only a couple rafted one out. Free space on the Cove pontoons on a Saturday night !!!

The Harbourmaster admitted they seem to have shot themselves in the foot.

However, the place was busy with the normal holidaymakers.

However, please note the rates go back to normal immediately after the main Olympics, and are not inflated for the Paralympics.

For my 36' I paid £26.40 / night plus £2.50 for electric for the duration of my stay, which compared with the Solent I thought was very good. The harbourmaster even came along to collect my rubbish.

Weather permitting going back later this month.

Due to the security regime it is essential to fill in an on line form before you go. The Navy are itching to blow something up, and on my way out the RN Patrol ship that had just departed before us even challenged a small RIB that happened to follow him out of the harbour and proceed in the same general direction (East towards the Solent).

 

[Bramers]

I agree that they (presumably the Weymouth councillors?) have shot themselves in the feet big time with their approach to the games. But for me the frustrating thing is that they should have seen this coming. For at least a month now the official vibe seems to have been "Don't come to Weymouth" Why didn't someone in power sit down & say to themselves "Hang on a minute..."?

Anyway on a positive note I passed by Weymouth & Portland yesterday morning in a motor cruiser & the nice people on the games committe sent out a large grey helicopter to follow us & make sure we got through the Bill safely. How thoughful

 

[TrailerSailer]

My experiences

Warning this is from the POV of a yottie!!

Security is tight and this has nothing to do with either Weymouth or Portland; this is what is required.

The uniformed security is first class and very professional. We had some engine problems today and had to sail through some motor only zones and were escorted by the police. They asked us if we wanted to be towed in, but I delcined and sailed onto our mooring with them escorting us. Only after I'd secured the yacht did I find out that the 4 policemen we actuall all yachtmasters. Lucky I got it right.

The essence of this is that they understand us and want to work with us. The harbourmasters also want the same.

I agree there have been some problems and confusion. I'm assured that these have been sorted out now after making complains last weekend.

I don't live in Weymouth so have no axe to grind, but visit and enjoy it. It is not the council that are killing it. I saw signs disuading people from Weymout on the roads in Swindon and elsewhere. There are very few boats out on the water so there are no problems with viewing. And the locals have found out how to get the views of the Nothe Fort for free!!