I have been looking at the options for places to keep Lily M while making films about the Fal Estuary and the nearby Helford River
Although this area gets the mildest winters in the UK it will still be the winter time and it rains a lot down there
So I will need a pontoon somewhere with power. Showers are optional but the ability to dry out the inside of the boat and thaw Jill out will be really important.
I have made a short google earth tour of the options.
As you can see there are some lovely places to sail - trees, mists, birds, traditional boats along the shore. It looks perfect.
Moon on a stick time now but the ideal would be to start at Mylor for the autumn months where I can film the leaves changing colour along the tree lined creeks and estuaries.
Then move to the pontoons in Falmouth to film Christmas and new year in the town. I understand that Falmouth really takes the celebration of the new year with a degree of enthusiam that is remarkable to see. Finally I would like to go upstream to Penryrn for the spring where I can film the boat life of the river coming to life through February, March and April.
Mylor has a lovely marina in a great location - with fantastic showers
https://www.mylor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Services-and-Charges-2015.pdf
but it is £28 a night plus £5 a day for parking a car and some extra money for a dinghy. They do offer a 15 per cent discount if you book a whole month but that comes out at a stiff £868 per month.
However, if you book the whole winter then it is £204 per meter for October to March - so that is £1600 - plus parking plus dinghy. This puts the place right up there with Hamble prices.
There is a small marina along the front in Falmouth itself.
http://www.falmouthhaven.co.uk/
http://www.falmouthhaven.co.uk/visiting-yachts/visitors-marina/
It currently undergoing a serious make-over and is being polished and tidied up
the price is £2.60/m/day so The Centaur will be £20 a day
http://www.falmouthhaven.co.uk/visiting-yachts/visitors-fees/
so for that it will £620 a month.
Upstream at Penryn there is a Premiere Marina
It is one of a chain of establishments owned by the UK's largest yachting companies. The have several locations in the south of the UK
They are decidedly up market.
http://www.falmouthyachtbrokers.co.uk/
I have spoken to Jerry at Falmouth yacht brokers and he has offered me a price on a pontoon of £130 a month - but he says that I have to act fast otherwise the places will go.
http://www.malpasmarine.freeserve.co.uk/boatyard.htm
their price list is here - but the pontoons are only for boats under 25 feet
http://www.malpasmarine.freeserve.co.uk/price_list.htm
I am told there are pontoons with power up in Truro but they must have been installed since Google earth was up there
The entire Fal estuary holds approximately 4,500 moorings, 1,500 of which are located within the port of Truro and about 350 in Penryn. The moorings are available to leisure craft and are either of the deep water, half tide or beachMaylor berth (foreshore) or pontoon (Penryn only) type. In most cases the mooring license is let to the holder to place their tackle on the seabed. No separate harbour dues are levied on private moorings although it is implicit that a certain proportion of the mooring license will be utilised for the conservancy functions of the Harbour Authority. Applications for mooring licences should be made directly to the Port of Truro.
I will keep you guys posted on what happens. Occasionally I try to lever the power of KTL to negotiate a discount of some sort - but am usually met with a slightly blank look or a link to the standard visitor prices - and nothing wrong with that. These people have to earn money and clicks from an army of MOBs probably cuts no mustard
The only boss person I have spoken to so far is Jerry at
http://www.falmouthyachtbrokers.co.uk/Default.aspx
he has quoited a price of £130
Just out of interest...here are the KTL youtube stats
You tube is obviously the main presence any marina might be interested in because the links in the youtube films cut the mustard with the Google rankings.
11,000 subscribers and 1.6 million hits
Here are the viewing stats from the past year - higher in winter than in the summer
The fifteen films about the Solent have had 150,000 hits in the first six months.
The website gets far fewer hits - These images also tell an interesting story
In summary - 3,500 films viewed a day and 700 blokes look at the website each day.
If any of this impresses anyone when it comes to getting a discount.......
I will let you know
Dylan
Wondering how you do your google earth tours, I tried to make one but it was quite jerky and sometimes you zoom in and miss the target!
The offer at Falmouth Yacht Brokers for October to March……. 6 months (inclusive) for £780…… while not exactly cheap, does look a much better deal than any of the others. It’s less than the cost of one month at Mylor. I think that this might be the place to go. In this life there are two sorts of people, the quick and the disappointed. Perhaps you should be quick. P.
Mylor was just lovely this summer when I stayed there for about four weeks in total. However, they do know how to charge.
£130 a month sounds the best you may get in Falmouth.
Used to sail the Carrick Roads and environs in a Pegasus 800 with an old friend years ago – fantastic places to explore – the churchyard at St Just, The Pandora at Restronguet Creek, St Mawes and now the Heron pub at Malpas! Great place where you can sit on the terrace and admire your boat bobbing about below,
The Mylor yacht club has moved from its premises on the end of the harbour and is now by the boat yard. Sad, but Jill will love the new place.
My chum and I used to sail out of Mylor – he loved the place so much that he bought a place there…
Have fun!
Falmouth marina are offering winter pontoons for c.900 in the email they sent me today. There are no pontoons in Truro but you can dry out next to Tesco. Pasce’s Boatyard in St Just is cheaper and they have just put in a warm place to sit with a stove, showers and toilets. Its all swinging moorings though. Give them a ring though – very helpful.
Mylor is expensive and quite posh. Long way from shops too.
Challenger Marine is good location for access to shops and town. Probably the best deal in town. If you want a cheap night there are floating pontoons up the Truro river which in winter will be free. Very quiet. Loads of quiet anchorages up creeks. Ruan Lanihorne creek is lovely.
It does rain a lot in winter, Also very windy – second windiest county in UK. But it won’t snow – hasn’t since 2010 anyway. Next couple of weeks are going to be great weather and then it may go a bit wet and windy.
Spelling error Pascoe’s Boatyard.
Challenger Marine is very tidal. Suspect you will only have access 2 or so hours either side of high water.? Worth checking anyway.
falmouth haven is a lovely marina, stayed a week there last year, lovely staff and the showers are clean and very nice. it may be a little pricey for a whole winter though
Wow! Great fly by.
Spoiled for choice.
The you tube stats are all ‘boating types’ so that should make the hits worth 10 times more even if half of us our armchair sailors.! No cute kitten here.
Based on the weather prediction a close to all tide option would be good as would one home base for the season. Wouldn’t want to be stuck waiting for the tide as the wind and rain picks up.
Glad I saw the Fal and Deben , for that matter, before they filled up with moorings.
Warren
Crazy prices!
Could I ask who performed the music on the video? Lovely.
Hi,
Just being curious; how about all those boats that will go out of the water in winter? These berths must be available…
Or are those the berths the marina’s are offering?
Eade
He is indeed. Thanks for the info. I look forward to the next video!