haslar/ lightship

[chris123]

Originally Posted by Hightower

I did give the Marina and basicly had no joy. Kind of what I expected.

That's a shame, thanks for trying Andy.

I guess that is market forces for you. Maybe there is a business opportunity to setup as a 'coffee SIB' along the lines of Poole's 'ice cream boat'

Cheers

Chris

[Hightower]

Well I phoned them back in April. If enough people called to complain they might well think about restructuring the pricing plan to an hours stay.

[Avocet]

I've just sent the following to them by e-mail:

"Dear Sirs

I would like to visit The Lightship by boat (7.5m RIB) from Poole. Does the indicated short stay fee of £8.00 (summer rate) apply to those using The Lightship's facilities?

Best"

Will post any reply.

[Hightower]

Best of luck with that one

[Avocet]

Well: nothing so far; but it's not been a 'working' day (although goodness knows it feels like it!), so let's give them a chance.

[Avocet]

Well I am pleased to report a reply. Here's the resultant exchange of e-mails:

"Thank you for your valuable enquiry at Haslar Marina.

I am afraid the short stay charge of £8 does apply regardless of the Lightship usage.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any other questions. We hope to see you soon.

With kind regards,

Ben Lippiett

Haslar Marina Manager

REPLY:

Dear Mr Lippiett

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Unfortunately, effectively adding £4.00 each to the price of a cup of coffee - or even to the price of a meal - for two people means that you are unlikely to be seeing me or a considerable number of other potential sea faring customers for the Lightship whilst such a high charge remains in place.

I very much hope that you will give serious consideration to relaxing the application of the full charge in the future (possibly by way of a full or partial refund to those whose stay is less than two hours and who can provide a receipt to prove Lightship usage?) in order to promote both your marina and the Lightship.

If you do so, please let me know.

Best"

cc info@thelighship.co.uk

Whether or not I receive a further reply remains to be seen but further e-mails from those interested in using the facility can only help.

[Hightower]

I'm positive you'll receive a reply. But whether it is a positive one or not remains to be seen. Perhaps pointing them in the direction of this thread might change their pricing policy.

[Hightower]

Oh, and well done in seizing the initiative this time round.

[Avocet]

I'm pleased to report that I have, indeed, received a further reply:

"Many thanks for your valuable feedback.

I will pass this onto the marina Directors and also the management of the Lightship. The Lightship bar and restaurant is leased out to another company – maybe I can begin a discussion with them where they will help subsidise the fees?

I hope you are enjoying the season and we hope to see you again sooner than later!

With kind regards,

Ben Lippiett"

I'm not sure that I can take the matter much further on my own but I would urge anyone who feels that they might want to use the Lightship facility when visiting Portsmouth by boat to send e-mails along similar lines to both:

sales@haslarmarina.co.uk and to info@thelighship.co.uk

The more people that write, the more chance there is of influencing the outcome.

[C2 RIBS]

I have sent the following to both operations
Good day/evening.

I write to you regarding your mooring costs for boats coming to the Lightship for very short stays i.e coffee stops. As you can see I operate a RIB charter business and regularly am asked for the best stops for coffee/nibbles whilst out on charters. I have historically used The Lightship as a good stopover for half to 45 minute stops. The costs for mooring is now becoming too high for these short stops that we all enjoy.

Is there any consideration to a mooring fee for a one hour stop to be introduced to encourage more use of the lightship and also gain more revenue for Haslar marina. This is a very well discussed issue with a huge following on the RIB circuit and could generate a large increase in funds for both operations

Kind regards

[Hightower]

Well my mail has been sent....Has yours!

[Nasher]

Originally Posted by Hightower

Well my mail has been sent....Has yours!

Yup.

[Steve_B]

Mine too

Steve

[Hightower]

That's absolutely fabulous! Well done everyone and keep it up.

[Nos4r2]

Just sent mine.

[doggypaddle]

Snotogram sent lunchtime today

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by doggypaddle

Snotogram

I know that you're just kidding Doggy, but please keep your letters polite and constructive.

[bedajim]

Originally Posted by Avocet

I'm pleased to report that I have, indeed, received a further reply:

"Many thanks for your valuable feedback.

I will pass this onto the marina Directors and also the management of the Lightship. The Lightship bar and restaurant is leased out to another company – maybe I can begin a discussion with them where they will help subsidise the fees?

I hope you are enjoying the season and we hope to see you again sooner than later!

With kind regards,

Ben Lippiett"

I'm not sure that I can take the matter much further on my own but I would urge anyone who feels that they might want to use the Lightship facility when visiting Portsmouth by boat to send e-mails along similar lines to both:

sales@haslarmarina.co.uk and to info@thelighship.co.uk

The more people that write, the more chance there is of influencing the outcome.

Sorry but that reads to me as if they want the light ship to pay the difference, so does that equal £2 to tie up and £5 for a coffee or beer. Reading between the lines it would appear as if the marina are not moving.

[Hightower]

Originally Posted by bedajim

Sorry but that reads to me as if they want the light ship to pay the difference, so does that equal £2 to tie up and £5 for a coffee or beer. Reading between the lines it would appear as if the marina are not moving.

I think it should be in their interest to keep the Lightship plied with trade and as such should keep the short stay mooring costs to a realistic level. I doubt the Lightship bussiness would part fund mooring, after all you could pay £6 to the Marina and expect the Lightship to pay £2 towards the cost of the £8 fee and you could just pay for a cup of coffee at £1.50 and you're certainly not going to pay £5 for a cup of Coffee!

I don't think we are asking the Marina to reduce the 4hr stay price, more like asking them to introduce hourly or 2hour rates. The disadvantage to this is that with increase custom, limited berth space is taken which might be another reason why they are charging much more.

[AndyP]

How about we focus on where RIBs could best moor by the Lightship for a short stay?

I don't think yachts regularly berth forward of/under the Lightship's bows on the outboard side of the pontoon. There is too much of an overhang. That is effectively 'dead space' which we could make our own with a RIBs only section.

I'm thinking of a short stay RIB mooring arrangment something like at the Folly but on a pontoon. The first two RIBs in would moor with bow and stern lines but bows together. Any RIBs arriving subsequently would moor with bow line only inbetween the first two.

If an inboard RIB left first then the next nearest could be attached to the pontoon.

Not very well described but I think it is feasible and we would be able to make the case that we were not taking up excessive pontoon space which they could let out to bigger yachts.

I'm around Haslar Creek every day (my RIB commute to work goes past the Lightship) and would be happy to discuss with the Marina Manager if the collective RIBNET voice thought this was worth pursuing.

Andy