Public Apology

[puddock]

It appears that my feeble & childish attempts at humour are coming over badly. I wish to apologise to all I have offended & I wish to point out that there is nothing personal in my postings. My "banter" is meant to be evenly distributed, & lighthearted, but it seems that it isn't either in fact.

Two things;
1/ I will promise to try to be better behaved in future.
2/ Please accept that my daft comments simply show that I am daft & nothing else.

You silly old goat ........ you should of just copied and pasted my old ones, I had dozens to choose from

[Julian]

snippy>>there are at least a couple of mid-river trot moorings available. My total cost for a (just under) 10m boat including dues, fees & vat is under 800squid. That includes access to a locked dighy store (not always free of petty theft & "borrowning") and one free parking space in the slate quay carpark. If crafty, you may sneak in an odd extra car from time to time & guests will always be allowed in to load/unload.

The river is extremely well sheltered in 99.5% of weather & dries for 2-3 hours twice a day. Bieng a mix of salt & fresh, fouling is nominal & I only anti-foul every other year. There is water on the quay & Elec can be had at the Harbour Workshop during working hours (which seem to be 10-4 with a 3hr lunch )

We drove down to the river a couple of weeks ago on the way home, I was surprised how close you were to the wall, is that your normal mooring or have you moved for winter?

It was surprisingly dark down by the water, I have been quite used to light pollution. I expect when the castle is lit up the river is aglow at night.

Can you walk to the boat at LW or is it mud? Will the bridge open on request or is there a timetable? Do you need to book ahead in winter? Have you had a price hike this year, we seem to be getting punished for some reason where we are.

The bar does bother me, I have only ever done it on passage and always struggle a bit to correlate what I am seeing and what is on the chart. For some reason the buoys look wrong and the last time I was there I sucked it up and did what the plotter told me not what I thought the buoys were saying. Hard to explain, it just didn't look right, I was expecting to hit the sand, the plotter (and radar) was correct.

I have heard of one anchorage near the entrance, many people wait there on passage to the swellies, I have not done this as I am not sure where it is?

Why shouldn't I come, what is wrong with the moorings on the river? Other than a nasty entrance if I am coming from the west (ever seen Porthmadog bar in a blow) what should I know? Can I leave my hard dinghy there, can I skull against the current or will we still need to cart the outboard back and forth? Where do you get water/fuel?

J

[Arghiro]

OK, Julian, I'll try & answer all those.

No I haven't moved this winter, in the dinghy, I can make the boats moored against the quay wall with a good push off in calm weather (ie most of the time)

The bridge opens on demand just blow morse B (dash dot dot dot) & is manned from 7am to 11pm & left open over night.

There are flood lights on the HM office & car park, to my mind it is a little too well lit, but I can manouvre around the harbour, adjust lines, whatever with no extra lights.

The river flows down by the wall & walking across isn't practical at neaps. The river bed is mostly slate chippings, the mud is on the far side, away from the quay & is pretty foul. I never walk as I leave a dinghy in the store & it is so easy to row across.

Outside the bar is Pilots' Cove & Mermaid's cove SE of Llandwyn Island (just N of the entrance bouys). Inside the bar is Fort Belan (S) and Abermenai (N) both extremely sheltered.

Hard dinghy can be left on the Sarn Helen shore, but you will be charged a little extra, or if you can carry it, you can put it in the locked dinghy store behind the Harbour Off (for free). The current & conditions are no problem for skulling (one or 2 oars) except when the tide is out & the river in flood.

[Arghiro]

Page 2 (I ran out of space!)

Water is available on the quay & a hose can be borrowed from the parking booth. There isn't really any power available, but you can connect your own lead to the harbour workshop when it is open - but they do not work long hours!

Why not go there? No reason, provided you can dry out. Getting on the trots is easy, but getting off can be tricky if the wind happens to be blowing you on, I have had lines round my rudder & keels occasionally. It shouldn't happen, but it can. I am also very reluctant to put the engine in gear until I am sure I am well away from all the ropes.

Price hikes? It seems to go up by RPI or whatever each year, but no nasty surprises so far. Most of the Harbour Trust's funding comes from the Car Park, not the boats.
I love the place, far safer, easier to use & cheaper than my previous swinging mooring in the Conway, plus free parking & dinghy store.

[lady_stormrider]

The captain's just been sent the demand for 2011 on our swinging mooring on Windermere for Chiron - I'm not sure if I'm allowed to release the figure - but it's nearly a grand for a 26 footer (up about 5% on last year). At the same time the car parking fees around Ferry Nab have been 'revised'. While this doesn't affect us directly it does deter the casual visitor and our 'free' hidey car parking spaces will be used more. We have found water taps (if you know where to look) without resorting to marinas. One of our taps is along the side of the old toilet block and I don't think the new owners realise the public are still using it!

I think the Terra Mundi savings pot with its dubloons will come into play next year when it is full. We'll move Chiron off Windermere up to Scotland and swop her with Carousel. It'll save us over £200 in fees annually.

[Julian]

Page 2 (I ran out of space!)

Why not go there? No reason, provided you can dry out. Getting on the trots is easy, but getting off can be tricky if the wind happens to be blowing you on, I have had lines round my rudder & keels occasionally. It shouldn't happen, but it can. I am also very reluctant to put the engine in gear until I am sure I am well away from all the ropes.

One of the joys of two props 13ft apart and leaving trots... I can choose which side to leave from and drive off with the free hull, little bursts from the strop side but short enough not to be a problem. It hasn't always been successful mind, I do have a nightmare memory of wrapping the pick up rope around the stbd prop and blocking the river for an hour at Porthmadog one afternoon.

I was avoiding two jet skis and was not paying attention to my blind spot which had drifted over the mooring. That was a fun day...

You didn't mention fuel, can I buy red in caernarfon, I understand that nowadays it isn't that much different; But as we use the boat as a getaway through winter I can currently buy red at full allowance as it is 100% heating.

How about calor gas too, is there anyone local selling at an okay price, we currently spend circa £14 a bottle at the local (to the boat) camping shop. I understand I can find all this stuff out later, but I am trying to get a full picture. I am leaving Porthmadog because of a few issues, the ridiculous sailing club extension to the pontoons which has made me lose another good mooring, the current in the river is getting dangerous in these wetter winters (sluice gates), the fact they are re-categorising my mooring as a wet mooring even though I dry on springs (2' 4"), the fact I hit the boat in front when the wind and current work together and we are bored of the area.

But there are a few places we can go, so I would like to at least make the right choice before signing a contract for the year.

[Arghiro]

Red diesel is available from a garage a couple of hundred yards from the quay if you have a container, altho I would expect you can get in Victoria Dock pumped straight into the boat (I've just never looked). I tend to buy locally (agricultural suppliers) & carry it to the boat in big containers.

Camping Gas is available from hardware store at the top of the High st & Calor from a garage about 1 mile away, so not exactly convenient, but how often f=do you need them? I have a spare bottle at home & when I run out & bring the empty home & swop it. Then I can buy as & when convenient or cheap.

Check out the Caernarfon Harbour Trust for general info.