The exceptionally fine April weather has given a superb start to the new season – visiting yacht numbers are up and we had an excellent Merlin Rocket week with sun, good winds and quite a large number of entries.
Last month I went on about moorings. This month is about a looming crisis over some of the older pontoons. The problem is that the pontoons at South Pool and the Crabshell Inn are deteriorating rather faster than expected. The Business Plan has them scheduled for replacement in 2018 but they probably can’t be left as long as that. This means that new pontoons will have to be acquired this year as a matter of urgency – which is costly at about £1000 per metre.
The most likely scenario at the moment is that the new pontoons will be purchased as soon as the necessary clearance can be obtained from SHDC. There will then presumably be a wait for delivery but the hope is that everything can be installed soon after the late May Bank holiday. The configuration will be exactly the same as it is now – the alternative hammer-head layout may have advantages but doubles the cost whilst increasing the capacity by only about a third.
However, that is not the end of the story. The pontoons at South Pool, the Crabshell and Frogmore are normally second-hand: new pontoons are always ear-marked in the Business Plan for high-usage places like Salcombe, Kingsbridge and The Bag, as part of the programme of planned development, maintenance and replacement. This means that, although the pontoons that will be in South Pool and the Crabshell for this season are likely to be brand new, they will probably be exchanged over the winter for pre-loved pontoons to allow the new ones to be restored to their proper place in the scheduled cycle.
Finally, it looks possible that the Rivermaid will be back in the Harbour before too long – and also that there will indeed be a link with the Egremont. Gradually things on that front may at last be improving.
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