Marina outlaws rowing of dinghy's...

[Bluebeard]

Originally Posted by janice142

Speculation: The marina was not happy providing free water to the guy. His dink or he caused a paying customer to bellyache to management. He (the rower) gets banned. Problem solved.

If you read his blog, he says that he purchases water.

[atlroofman]

[QUOTE=BenBowSirocco;2832364]Morning everyone,

So I was reading through a blog (Far Reach Voyages) and it mentioned that there was a marina that forbid him to row his dinghy into the marina for water. So I reached out and asked the marina to clarify their position. I got a piddly little 2 line response.

__________________________________________________ ___

Yes, that is correct. Crown Bay Marina requires that all vessels entering into the Crown Bay Marina basin be under full power.


We thank you very much for taking the time to verify.

Kind regards,

Christine Starshak

Crown Bay Marina
8168 Crown Bay Marina
Suite 528
St. Thomas, VI 00802
P: 340-774-2255

[B]End Quote[/B

Maybe they do not want vessels in there marina that do not have to answer to the harbor patrol. (no motor, harbor
patrol has no jurisdiction)

[Woodland Hills]

As I read this there is no problem with rowing as long as you are already in the basin. You need to be under power to enter, but once in, you can sail or row or whatever.

I carry a 15’ Whitehall skiff on my transom to use as a rowing exercise device. I wonder what they would make of that?

[astokel]

There are many seemingly ridiculous laws on the books. In Toronto, it is illegal to wash your car while it is on the street. Why would that be illegal? It seems bizarre. It turns out the street drains go directly into the lake, and the (then) phosphates in the detergent would damage the water that is our drinking water supply.

If lawmakers would only write clearer laws. "In the interest of the safety of all marina users..."

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

I seem to recall that marina is tight coming in; I have raised them on the VHF before entering each time I have filled up there. The people were always as nice as they could be even though I never bought more than $100 in diesel. Not sure people should expect free water wherever they go.

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by BenBowSirocco

I think your spot on ThinWater. Its a powerboat mega-yacht style marina and they dont want some little "dinghy" rowing in. It has a pet-boutique and salon. So I imagine its a class thing. They look down on a man who rows. haha

Only with the US use of the word "class". In the UK it would be a fairly safe bet that it was the other way around. Especially if the perpetrator were to be standing in an elegant but beat-up wooden dinghy sculling

[Scorpius]

One point that nobody has yet raised is that a human powered craft has the right of way over a power driven craft. In a tight marina, a power vessel being forced to go around a rowboat could get into trouble and do damage. Perhaps this has happened in this marina. By requiring all vessels coming into the marina to be under power, they are putting then all on the same footing, right of way wise.

[roland stockham]

I would also suspect that this is about people rowing in to use services that are designed and priced for the convenience of berth holders. Marinas are not harbours there to serve the marine community they are commercial organizations providing dockage for profit. The unfortunate bit is that, like mooring fields taking over anchorages, they take up all the available space and intentionally leave nowhere to anchor and no traditional harbour facilities accessible. After all if they can close of access to water for those at anchor people will be forced to pay their exorbitant fees for dockage. Good business sense for them.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by SteveSails

....Crown bay can be very busy with a narrow entrance and a wicked cross wind if the trades are up. In fact before entering in anything larger than a dinghy you need to get clearance from the dockmaster.
A dinghy should have the ability to quickly get out of the way, something a rowed fully loaded inflatable may not be able to do. .

I think before everyone gets their nickers in a twist, Steve's observation is worth repeating.

I found bringing a 900 ton Superyacht into the marina in those conditions is not easy and because of crosswind, you need to commit yourself early on with controllable momentum and then apply a fair amount of opposing propeller and Thruster power to stop and transfer sideways.
A guy fudging around with oars is a liability to himself and the crew of the Superyacht that are just trying to do their jobs.

Safety First!

[Going Gaugain]

I kinda like the idea. When you are bringing in any type of vessel with size to it. There is very little room to manuver . You have to make turns in fairways with feet to spare and limited visibility with windage and tides. The last thing you want to see is someone playing around in a Marina not paying attention ! Very dangerous.
Marinas are not playgrounds!

[john61ct]

Eat the rich

[BenBowSirocco]

Scorpius,

I think you have made one of the best points yet.

By putting everyone on the same playing field, they can always put everyone into an order of actions/reactions.

While I do not believe anyone in a proper row boat is "playing" around when on their way to a dock, there seems to have been a general consensus that this marina has a narrow entrance for the large yachts it targets for its clientele. That it also suffers from strong cross breeze when entering (with large boats comes proportional windage) so it has been deemed/decided that a boat that is not on plane is a risk to maneuverability of entering and leaving boats.

Now I would like to think that anyone in a dinghy would stay out of the way of an incoming large yacht and show courtesy/give way to those with deeper draft and less ability to maneuver, but as mentioned before- this would require that fairly un-common sense.

And then I think about it and I am sure there was that ONE guy/gal who didn't see/hear the huge yacht coming in because he didn't turn around while rowing, who ruined it for everyone. haha

[scobane]

Judgemental of me, but who in their right mind would row into Crown Bay Marina, where would they be coming from, and for what purpose? I’ve been in there a number of times and the initial entrance can be a bit dicey if it’s blowing. BTW - they have some very good employees - two Dock hands to meet you at your slip.

[sailon46]

In the Carib row boats at night with lights are possible locals looking for a dingy from your stern to row away with. I know lost one dingy years ago in Anguilla.
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[BenBowSirocco]

Originally Posted by scobane

Judgemental of me, but who in their right mind would row into Crown Bay Marina, where would they be coming from, and for what purpose? I’ve been in there a number of times and the initial entrance can be a bit dicey if it’s blowing.

This seems to have become the general consensus. Although the purpose that was the impetus of this thread was to purchase water.