Alderney Marina

Channel Ribs · 02 July 2012, 12:32

A marina in Alderney's Braye Harbour took a step closer last month.

Two groups made presentations to the local government, consisting of ten elected officials, two local business specialists and two civil servants.

The announcement was then made that the group chosen to go ahead with their proposal was made up of the founder of Walcon Marinas, an architect and a local retired telecoms director.

Earlier in the process The States of Alderney had dismissed plans for an all new development on East shore of the harbour. Also declining one at the foot of the existing shops and restaurants in the heart of the port.

The accepted plan is to build a SE wall part-way along the famously long breakwater, reducing waves inside the marina to 1ft in the event of bad weather. To protect boats and marina users from the surf and rock combination that is common when waves hit the outside of the breakwater, the marine will be 15m away.

No news about a fuel berth has been released yet, though the development team plan to build space for more marine businesses. It is hoped they can part-fund the project by leasing four luxury apartments, in what is currently a historic fort at the base of the breakwater, for £1-2 million each.

Erin · 02 July 2012, 14:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Channel Ribs

It is hoped they can part-fund the project by leasing four luxury apartments, in what is currently a historic fort at the base of the breakwater, for £1-2 million each.

Dream on

You could buy a whole fort (Quesnard) for that much.

Channel Ribs · 02 July 2012, 14:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erin

Dream on

Ah what do you know about property! Oh yeah, you do.

I believe, well I am told, not sure if I believe it, that they are hoping to reproduce the Wentworth Club model. Though as I understand it, that requires very high rolling events to take place in order to justify the cost to the corporate types that go for these deals.

Erin · 02 July 2012, 15:37

Do these people have any inkling of what's going on in the present economy. Have they really properly appraised the Alderney market for a marina? Much as it sounds like a nice idea, I can't see how it will ever be financially rewarding. Shame. There are better ways to wash your filthy lucre

Channel Ribs · 02 July 2012, 17:06

Quote:

Peter Allen, Alderney States Member and Chairman of the Marina Advisory Group said “We have been talking about a marina in Alderney for many years. This latest push to deliver a marina for Alderney has taken a long time and we had two excellent bids, but we have our preferred bidder.

He continued “I firmly believe that we will quickly realise the benefits of a marina and we are keen to engage with the preferred developer to deliver the project as efficiently as we can. There is a huge amount of work still to do but we are committed to the project and we will ensure there is a period of public engagement to showcase the plans and take the island’s views into account.”

From: :: alderney.gov.gg :: news ::

Channel Ribs · 04 July 2012, 12:32

Reproduced with kind permission of the Alderney Journal.

If anyone would like a quote published in a follow up article, please either post here or PM me and I will try and include as many views as I can.

Paul Cannell · 04 July 2012, 13:07

So basically 'they' will put finger pontoon off the breakwater and charge the state a couple of million for the pleasure

Josh_P · 04 July 2012, 14:25

The beauty of Alderney is its one of the last places without a marina... And I think thats part of the appeal for many people, thinking that a marina will attract more is naieve I think, apart from the facilities like power for yachts...

peteR75 · 04 July 2012, 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh_P

The beauty of Alderney is its one of the last places without a marina... And I think thats part of the appeal for many people, thinking that a marina will attract more is naieve I think, apart from the facilities like power for yachts...

Guernsey for us is over 120 miles away, by the time we are passing Alderney we are ready for a break, a night or two would be nice before carrying on .

We have only ever once stopped and found the visitor buoys/taxi ashore wholly unsatisfactory, we left early having only seen a small fraction of the Island.

We enjoyed the afternoon there, and will return as soon as a marina is in place with water, electric, walk ashore

As to £65 each

, tight Raggies must be influencing the average, once the harbour is women friendlily watch the takings increase , they know what they are doing.

GJ0KYZ · 04 July 2012, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh_P

The beauty of Alderney is its one of the last places without a marina... And I think thats part of the appeal for many people, thinking that a marina will attract more is naieve I think, apart from the facilities like power for yachts...

I totally disagree. The main reason I don't visit Alderney that often, nor Sark for that matter, is that neither has a marina. Being tied to a buoy inside the breakwater heaving your guts up all night only to have to motor half a mile in your tender to do number twos ashore is not one of Alderney's greatest attractions, believe me. The quicker they build the thing the better.

Erin · 04 July 2012, 19:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

I totally disagree. The main reason I don't visit Alderney that often, nor Sark for that matter, is that neither has a marina. Being tied to a buoy inside the breakwater heaving your guts up all night only to have to motor half a mile in your tender to do number twos ashore is not one of Alderney's greatest attractions, believe me. The quicker they build the thing the better.

You've nicely substantiated Josh_P's point there. It keeps the likes of you away

Josh_P · 04 July 2012, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJ0KYZ

I totally disagree. The main reason I don't visit Alderney that often, nor Sark for that matter, is that neither has a marina. Being tied to a buoy inside the breakwater heaving your guts up all night only to have to motor half a mile in your tender to do number twos ashore is not one of Alderney's greatest attractions, believe me. The quicker they build the thing the better.

I thought this was a RIB forum...

I sleep in hotels my good fellow, and being tied to a buoy in the harbour? Oh what a shame.

GJ0KYZ · 04 July 2012, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh_P

I thought this was a RIB forum...

I sleep in hotels my good fellow, and being tied to a buoy in the harbour? Oh what a shame.

Not everyone who sails to Alderney does so in a rib. This was my experience when I used to own a yacht.

peteR75 · 05 July 2012, 09:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh_P

I thought this was a RIB forum...

I sleep in hotels my good fellow, and being tied to a buoy in the harbour? Oh what a shame.

Shall we just have a count of hands of all those who use the mooring buoys outside Yarmouth ?

And Bembridge ?

and Cowes ?

And now all those who use the walk ashore .............

Who fancies leaving the pub in the dark and trying to remember which buoy they left their RIB swinging on, its in between the two white sailing boats that just caught the last tide

Brian · 05 July 2012, 09:22

My thoughts as a one-time resident on the island.........
-the waves, especially in winter, coming over the breakwater are something else. You would have to do something magical to stop or mitigate that.
-the area envisaged by the marina is currently the bouyed area used by stop-over sea traffic and vessels currently owned by residents. Where will this now go? And will this interfere with the berthing of the larger vessels on which the island critically depends.
-the area envisaged for marina land development (towards the bottom of the diagram) is currently the waste disposal area and the boat park. What will happen to these two areas?
-£65 per crew member?? Sounds rather too high to me.
-I agree Alderney desparately needs a marina. It is ideally suited as a stop-off point to all sailors going up and down the channel. Whether this is the best place for it...........?
-as a positive suggestion I would have thought that the eastern end of Braye Bay would have been a far better place for a marina but I gather this plan has foundered in the past on concerns about the developers making far too much money out of on-shore developments.

Erin · 05 July 2012, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

concerns about the developers making far too much money out of on-shore developments.

And spoiling what is an undeveloped rustic part of the island.

Brian · 05 July 2012, 17:04

I hear what you say Erin, but isn't "the undeveloped rustic part of the island" just a little bit of a misnomer?
I am sure any developer would ensure a tasteful development-even to the extent of enhancing that dreadful barracks and ruined artilliary platform at that end of the beach and pushing that huge pile of WW11 cioncrete into the sea and generally cleaning up that whole mess.
Just about anything in development terms in Alderney would be appreciated.
And, whatever hapenned to the massive development at Fort Turgis? That rather grandiose scheme foundered as well didnt it?
What about the points I made?
Any marina at the western of the harbour is going to get washed away the first winter-at least the eastern end is sheltered from the storms that hit the island many times a year. If you have any doubts about the strength of those storms, why do they spend so much money on repairing tha breakwater every summer.
Witness the attached photo:

Channel Ribs · 05 July 2012, 17:34

Speaking personally and not on behalf of anyone, not even Alderney Marine Ltd...

I used to be very much against the development at the eastern side, I saw it as likely to comprise a marina "village" with shops and pubs and flats. This seemed like it would detract from the excellent activity that goes on in Braye.

However, two things are starting to make me wonder:-

* The eastern side is so much closer to the campsite, to opening up the realistic possibility of more people visiting.

* It seems likely that the western development plan includes new shops and pubs anyway, so Braye is going to suffer either way.

(My first choice, and the option we presented to The States several years ago was for a marina adjacent to the Lifebout House - on the east side of the new commercial quay.)

GJ0KYZ · 05 July 2012, 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by peteR75

Shall we just have a count of hands of all those who use the mooring buoys outside Yarmouth ?

And Bembridge ?

and Cowes ?

And now all those who use the walk ashore .............

Who fancies leaving the pub in the dark and trying to remember which buoy they left their RIB swinging on, its in between the two white sailing boats that just caught the last tide

Read my previous post - not everyone using the proposed marina will own a rib; many will be yotties or in cabin cruisers and these people will want to sleep on their boats. Until now, they would have had to endure unpleasent, exposed nights tied to mooring bouys. So any marina will be preferable, surely?

Erin · 05 July 2012, 19:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian

Just about anything in development terms in Alderney would be appreciated.
And, whatever hapenned to the massive development at Fort Turgis? That rather grandiose scheme foundered as well didnt it?
What about the points I made?

Alderney is good at coming up with great ideas. Sadly many of them are out of proportion with the size of the island and visitor numbers. The Tourgis scheme was never going to work, and sadly I feel a marina is also a bit ambitious. It wouldn't be so bad if construction costs weren't so high.