Everyone with a mooring should have received an email from me about this coming Summer season. If you haven’t received a renewal email please do let me know asap. Many thanks for those that have already paid and sent in the forms – much appreciated. Paperwork and payment needs to be in no later than 29th Feb – yes it’s a Leap Year. And if you already know you DON’T want a mooring, please do let me know asap so that I can offer it to others before they have found something else.
We have a couple of trot/swing moorings available. The beach is full. And we have one inside space on the pontoon just below the clubhouse. This is only good for a smaller boat like a Dory or smallish sailing boat. Unlike the 17ft minimum that applies to the other pontoon moorings, here you only pay for the actual size of the boat. Let me know if you might be interested.
Just another reminder that the Summer Season ends on Tuesday 31st October. All boats not staying with us for the Winter should be gone by then – any problems email admin@pnyc.co.uk . And may I ask that anyone who already knows that they DO WANT or DO NOT WANT the same Summer Mooring next week let me know by email as this does help with managing the waiting lists.
These are ready for you all. The beach has been laid out, the pontoon is ready for all your boats, the trot and swing moorings have all been serviced. If anyone wants to use the slip and our jet-wash (£10 for a session) to clean their bottoms, just let me know
You can also anti-foul on the slip. Please note that the club tender is now in a new position on the OUTSIDE of the landing pontoon – there is a sign on the pontoon.
You’ll all be delighted, and perhaps a little surprised given the current weather, to know that Summer starts at PNYC this Saturday, 1st April. So all the Winter moorings need to be vacated by Friday 31st March. This does seem to have come as a surprise to a couple of mariners but it was ever thus. If you are not staying with us for the Summer, please can I ask that you move your boats off to their summer moorings by the weekend. If for any reason this is NOT possible, please can you let me know so we can discuss. Late leavers will be charged if they don’t let me know in advance!
There will be the inevitable hiatus for a week while boats are moved both off and on to the moorings. If you are trying to get your boat onto your Summer Mooring and there is another boat in the way, do let me know asap and we will sort it out. We will always have spots on the pontoon to house boats while we get everything sorted out so you will not miss a single day!
The Winter boats on the beach will be moved off by Thursday/Friday at the latest (two have already gone – see photo above) and I will get the beach laid out on Saturday.
It has been the worst early Spring for getting work done on your boat since I can remember. We don’t seem to have had those sunny, dry days that we have had in the past. If you want to use the slip to jet wash and anti-foul your boat you are welcome – just email me and we can fix a date. We have a jet-wash at the club which can be rented out at £10 a day.
If you had a Winter Mooring and would like me to reserve the same space for next year, then just let me know (if you haven’t already) and I will pencil it in for you and be in touch early September, at which point you can confirm that you do/don’t want it.
So, another summer season on the glorious Helford is coming to an end. If you’re moving your boat off for the Winter, please can you do so by Monday 31st October. If you don’t think you’ll be able to do that for any reason, please do let me know in advance and we can see what we can do. Otherwise boats will be charged for overstaying their welcome!
We have more boats wintering on the beach than ever before so I will have to make sure that the beach is pretty much cleared by 31st October at the latest. This might mean me moving boats onto the trots or the pontoon the week before when spaces become available – ie from 22nd/23rd October. I hope this is ok with those on the beach and I will of course let you know in advance if moving you is necessary. But we guarantee that you will be on a mooring until 31st October if you want to be!
If you want a Winter Mooring at PNYC please let me know asap as we are filling up.
While the Winter fees for 2022 remain unchanged, we are going to increase our mooring fees for Summer 2023 and onwards:
This equates to a 7% increase for the pontoons and trots. The increase for beach moorings is greater but we are planning to lose two more spaces on the beach to give you all more room as people leave. The increase for 10ft and under and for inflatables is £50 but it still represents good value for a seven month season. Kayaks remain unchanged.
With this in mind, if you know now that you want the same mooring again next summer (or if you don’t want it) it would be fabulous to know asap as we have waiting lists for all types of moorings. I won’t send forms out until next January and payment for the Summer will be due not later than 1st March 2023 – although earlier payment is much appreciated!
The UG (Uncle Giles) has had a major make-over.
Please can you make sure that when tying up the club tender you make sure that the bow can’t go under the pontoon! Within less than a week of doing our repairs on the tender, she was tied up in such a way that the bow got trapped under the pontoon and it broke the wooden prow. We have also put up a sturdier kayak rack, replacing the wooden contraction that I made a couple of years ago but which has not stood the test of time. We have also added some new planters at the entrance and a few hanging baskets with herbs, cleverly choosing one of the hottest periods in our history. All the plants are now looking a little sad.
A collective thanks to everyone for a pretty smooth transition from Summer to Winter. And congrats to Andy Bennett for his beautiful beach mooring set-up…a hand made cradle…
…and the commitment to dive around the boat to check everything was good. He is available for hire I believe!
We have not changed the price of Summer and Winter pontoon, trot and swing moorings since 2017. We are therefore increasing the price of these moorings from this winter. In addition, the cost of beach moorings for 10ft or under and inflatable racks will increase from £200 to £250 (unless they are tenders for trot and swing moorings, in which case they remain free as part of the inclusive price for trot or swing mooring).
The price of beach moorings for boats of 11ft or more will remain the same since they were raised three years ago. And the price of kayaks will also remain the same for the same reason.
Membership will remain at £25 per adult per calendar year.
Sorry to raise this in August…. but if you already know that you would like a Winter mooring with us can you let me know. The pontoon is charged at £28.50 per foot (with no minimum size) and we have had boats up to 30ft wintering on the pontoon and taking advantage of being able to sail all year round and work on the boat in the early Spring. The trots are £18 per foot and the beach is £20 per foot for boats over 10ft long (we already have a number of large yachts booked in).
We have finally put the red marker buoy back in place so we have a very clearly marked entry and exit channel. The shackle pin worked loose and fell out. I was convinced I would be able to find the chain and stone since I knew where it was but after 30 minutes staggering around in the mud I had to give up and get a new chain and stone.
I sent an email round to chase some outstanding mooring payments AND/OR mooring paperwork and thank you to those who have responded. We need both. Apologies for any confusion caused when I said that members could renew by just letting me know the details were the same. This was just for membership, not for moorings as well. With the mooring applications you need to sign Page 2 which states you have insurance. We need this to make our insurance effective.
Still a few people who either haven’t paid or haven’t sent in the paperwork. I want to stop sending chasing emails and start painting the club!
Seawide Services have laid down half the new trot ground chain and will return before the end of the month to finish the job. This has been a long planned exercise. We are laying down a continuous single heavy-duty ground chain attached to three reclaimed granite blocks, one in the middle and one either end. This then allows us to move the riser chains around a bit to create trot spaces to suit the boats mooring along it.
With Seawide Services we are replacing all the trots and swing moorings this year. While the timing might be better, this investment has been on the cards for a couple of years as the lifespan of the existing stones was coming to an end.
We managed to remove all but four stones whose eyebolts parted. These stones can now have new eyebolts put on them and then be re-used. The suction of the mud was truly amazing and it took some careful pulling to get them out of the mud. The next step will be to drop a single length of very heavy chain from Trot 1 to Trot 15. The chain will be linked to three of the biggest granite stones, one at each end and a third at the “turning” point of the chain where it bends round. We can then fit the 15 riser chains and buoys at any point along the large chain, rather than having the riser chains fixed to the location of each stone. This will allow us the flexibility to choose the widths of the trots from time to time. We also removed a number unsightly old car tyres which had been used as markers for the stone. We’ll use some of the recovered granite stones to replace the swing moorings which have tyres filled with concrete.
Every mooring has been spoken for. Thanks to those members that have returned forms and an even bigger thanks to those that have paid ! Please can I ask that all forms and payment for the Summer are in by 1st March at the latest to secure your mooring for another season. We have a waiting list of people looking for moorings. If you haven’t had an email from me about moorings, check your junk mail and then check in with me – everyone should have received at least one email about summer moorings. admin@pnyc.co.uk
We will be in touch with boat owners early January about Summer 2021. We were completely full this Summer and have a waiting list for pontoon spaces and a small waiting list for beach moorings for the coming season. If you know you don’t want your mooring again, I would be grateful if you could let me know (admin@pnyc.co.uk) so that we can address the waiting lists. The mooring fees remain the same as 2019 and 2020 for all moorings with the exception of kayaks and inflatable dinghies.
This week a local groundworks company installed a new drain across the entrance to the club in the hope that we can stop the continual flow of water and soil into the car park. I cannot recommend them more highly so if you have any need for groundworks contact Edd Jeffery – info@greenstonecornwall.co.uk.
They also sorted out the leaking mess of pipes on the corrugated shed so we now have one tap for the hose pipe and a separate tap for everything else. We look like the back of an old American fire truck. Now I just need to paint the shed and the doors……
With the help of my very old – as in long term – friend, Tim’ll Fix It, we have re-decked three more pontoons and I am in the process of adding non-slip strips down the middle. It all looks pretty good until you get to the bend in the pontoon and then you find the much older decking. So if you want to hop and skip along the pontoon to your boat, can you limit yourself to doing that on the new section!
Finally, the oversized red channel marker is now in place alongside its green friend. Thanks to Anna McLaren for her lovely photo.
For the first time since we took over, we have a waiting list for the pontoons, the beach and the trots for next summer. If you know you want the same mooring next year, or you know that you don’t, then I would really appreciate an email. The same moorings are yours again if you want them. The price, with the exception of kayaks and paddle boards, is the same as 2019 and 2020.
With 3 weeks left of the Summer Season, just a gentle reminder to all boat owners that moorings need to be cleared by 31st October. However, if you want to extend your stay, we can offer the cheapest Winter moorings on The Helford!
We have some pontoon spaces for the Winter and have done away with the minimum size of 17ft for the Winter. It’s £28.50 per foot or part thereof on the pontoon for five months – 1st November to 31st March 2021. The trot and swing moorings are £18 per foot and the beach is £15 per foot. We have two new 30ft + boats wintering on the beach this year in addition to the yachts of Geoff Dandy and Pete Osman so I’ll need to ask those on the beach not staying for the Winter to take their boats off by Saturday 31st October.
If you fancy a winter mooring and making the best of those lovely Winter and early Spring days on the comparatively empty Helford, drop us an email – admin@pnyc.co.uk Equally, we are happy to discuss “early starts” if people want to put their boats on the pontoon or on a mooring in February/March (this would be a monthly fee based on our Winter Rates).
We have decided to change the membership fee for next year, increasing it to £25 for the year. This reflects the fact that, at £15, it costs almost £2 a year in postage just to send out application forms and then membership cards to each member. I hope that this is acceptable. Mooring prices will not change for 2021 with the exception of charges for kayaks, paddleboards and inflatables which will be tweaked.
We have also made the decision to change the structure of memberships slightly for 2021. There will now be three kinds of membership:
At the moment, people can join the club for £15 for the year and then launch as much as they want. This has led to an increase in traffic and parking. So we are making the following changes:
Our aim is a) to reduce the traffic to the club of people just wanting to launch small craft b) charging them properly if they do want to do this. The public slip in the village, of course, remains a free alternative.
The last two “thin” fingers have been widened to three planks. I was hoping to get this finished early on in the season, so am delighted that it has finally been done as we draw towards the end of the season. Almost “drectly”.
For the observant amongst you, you might have noticed that there are three types of planking on the pontoon. Very Old. Very New And Sturdy. And Quite New But Thin. The QNBT planking was suggested as a better alternative by our wood suppliers. But because it is thinner, it has turned out not to be so robust. I have made a number of plinths out of this QNBT planking on which I have put cleats and rings. But now it is starting to split. So I will be replacing all of this with VNAS planking plinths. You live and learn.
We have increased our kayak storage from one to six this summer with the addition of racks on the pontoon but we don’t plan to have any more because we want kids to still be able to crab between the wall and the pontoons.
We have purchased a green marker (in place) and a red marker (to be placed) to make the channel to the Yacht Club more obvious. We have also added Max 6 Knots To Ferryboat just to re-emphasise the speed limits on the river. I think I ordered one size too big! When I measured it out it seemed to be the right width but I was not counting for the overall circumference and ended up with much bigger buoys than expected!
The trot and swing moorings have been serviced by Seawide Services. We have removed trots 1 & 2 to give more room to the boats on the pontoon by the Clubhouse and have replaced them with two new swing moorings. Not before time, we have also added boards and fenders to the landing pontoon and the pontoons alongside the slip (see photo below). These will stop smaller boats getting stuck under the pontoon. I will be doing the same on the visitor pontoon section at the far end of the clubhouse. We are also widening the four thin fingers from two boards to three boards. Done one, three more to go. The club tender is next for a makeover (although I also have urgent plans for a Covid Haircut as soon as I can get an appointment).
All the moorings are ready for use and have been since 1st April. However, on the pontoon there are a couple of boats that are on the wrong berths because owners have not been able to move them from Winter moorings out onto their moorings on The Helford. When you want to get your boat onto its place on the pontoon can you let me know in advance and I will make sure that your berth is free. If you arrive and a boat is in your berth, can you moor up in an empty space, let me know and I will immediately move boats so that you are on your rightful berth.
The beach moorings are all laid out and ready for use, as are the trot and swing moorings. I have had a sudden flurry of interest from new boat owners looking for a mooring so if you have not returned a mooring application form and paid, please let me know what you would like to do for the rest of the season.
I removed a number of beach running lines over the winter so I will hang these at the appropriate points one the beach wall. Please can I ask that all beach moorings use sinking running lines, ensure that the line runs from bow to stern (and not off to one side) and that owners put buckets over their propellers when left.
The UG (Uncle Giles) is getting some well deserved TLC. Phil Clark is very kindly making a new hatch cover for the forward deck and she is going to get a wash, a good internal paint and some danish oil on the woodwork. To do this work I will put her on the slip for a few days. Please use the navy blue Anarth that we will put on Pontoon No.1 as a tender.
Does anyone claim this inflatable? It’s been on the wall of the shed for almost year with no name. I have put a notice on it but no-one has called. If I hear nothing by return, I have a buyer who will make a contribution to HRCST.
The beach is ready for anyone who is able to get their boats launched. I have laid out orange line to mark out all the beach moorings. The pontoons are also all ready. If you can launch your boat, can you let me know in advance so that I can check that your pontoon mooring is free – there are a couple of boats that haven’t been put on their normal moorings in the river owning to self-isolation or owners not being able to travel down to the Club and so I might have to move one of these.
Ant and I would like to thank all those who have paid their mooring fees while the crisis has been escalating and while not being sure about how these moorings can be used. We are also really grateful to all those who have renewed their membership or joined for 2020. What a year. But we will be open for business in 2021! Hopefully, together, we can ride out this terrible storm and be back to normal, at least movement wise, by the end of the summer.
Mooring applications have been sent out today to everyone who had a mooring last year so expect those in the post shortly. We will then send out invitations to join as members for 2020. We have had a few online payments where it has been impossible for us to know who has made the payment because there was no reference. And we have also had a couple of people who have kindly joined as members and paid online but we then have no way of contacting them because we have no contact details. Can I ask that anyone paying online does two things:
1) Put your surname on the bank reference
2) Let us know by email that you have made a payment – admin@pnyc.co.uk – and then we can get back in touch
Mooring application forms will also be sent out to everyone who had a mooring last Summer. The fees remain the same as last year and will not change in 2021 either. Many mooring owners have let me know by email that they want their moorings again. If you haven’t already let me know, could you drop me an email at admin@pnyc.co.uk just to confirm your interest in retaining your mooring. We have a number of new people looking for moorings, especially on the pontoon for Summer 2020.
We have two yachts on the beach and room for more next year. We have also welcomed HMS Hocus Pocus onto the pontoon for the winter. If you still haven’t found a place just email admin@pnyc.co.uk.
Thanks to everyone for getting off their moorings – even Simon Boote has moved his dory!
