2009 season`s end ....

[little boy blue]

well 1120 nm and 72 days aboard in 7 trips since 25th june can`t be bad, i think.
ground covered - peel to tobermory ( and a few places in between ).
following the opening cruise to the isle of man, the early part of the summer was marred by a fuel feed problem which took a bit of tracking down and meant i was unwilling to venture furth of the clyde untill it was. at this point can i sing the praises of john at port bannatyne marina.
unfortunately by not arriving on the west coast till nearly mid august it seems we missed the best of the weather.
between the fuel problem and the anchor dragging incident at pd ( described elsewhere - which rather put the wind up the crew and resulted in mooring buoys and pontoons ) the budget has taken a bit of an unplanned hammering
i was rather struck by the differing approach to berthing fees taken by " for profit " marinas and the supposedly " not for profit " mooring associations, the former seem to ignore you while the latter are banging on the hull soon after you arrive.
electricity is included in the pontoon charges at tobermory. i inadvertantly upset the berthing master by asking for a discount instead since i didn`t want a hook up. i was informed about 4 times in as many minutes that no-one had ever asked for such a discount.
the new pontoons at tarbert ( loch fyne ) are swish but they have also factored a " free electricity card worth £2 " into the berthing charge. a request for a £2 discount instead of the card was met with hoots of laughter from capt. bates ( the harbourmaster ) and a suggestion from his sidekick that i could have an extra shower since they were now free...........
.... and so to portavadie - marvellous and berthing appreciably cheaper than tarbert. the restuarant is not cheap but the food is first class, as are the facilities and the staff. guess to which of the two we will not be in a hurry to return.
in fact i returned to portavadie the following week - still excellent.
£16 for an overnighter on a mooring buoy at kilmelford - atrocious - i did notice that there were a lot of unoccupied moorings - not surprising really.
my grasp of the garlic language is somewhat limited ( as befits one from the east ) but i think i have now divined the meaning of the phrase " callie mille fealte " (sp ?) ............
" bring £a hundred thousand and you will be welcome ".
apart from all that a good time was had - and we`ll be back next year, dv.
.

[Drumbeat]

As a relative newcomer to the Clyde cruising scene I arrived at Tarbet this summer having read that it was a "must go to". What a disappointment it was. No proper beer, less than friendly locals, poor food, dreadful facilities. My boat has better shower (andf it's not great BTW) and a far better choice of food and alcohol!!. Portavadie is a much better marina if that is what you want, and there are several dozen more attractive places, with more helpful people, better venues, food and beer, all over the Clyde area. Won't be going back there.

Simon

[Booby Trapper]

As a relative newcomer to the Clyde cruising scene I arrived at Tarbet this summer having read that it was a "must go to". What a disappointment it was. No proper beer, less than friendly locals, poor food, dreadful facilities. My boat has better shower (andf it's not great BTW) and a far better choice of food and alcohol!!. Portavadie is a much better marina if that is what you want, and there are several dozen more attractive places, with more helpful people, better venues, food and beer, all over the Clyde area. Won't be going back there.

Simon

Tarbert definitely has seen better days. If you get beyond the Victoria Hotel you are into wild west country. We met one of the friendly locals from Tarbert in the Islay Frigate Hotel on the last Scuttlebutt Cruise, after a small altercation with one of or bunch the last we saw of him he was getting carted off in a police van.

[Silkie]

Sorry to hear that your season has been marred by this electrical problem lbb. Do you big boats really have no use for free electricity?

[little boy blue]

.....Do you big boats .....?

aw, come on, its no that big

seriously, having spent a few shekels on a wind genny, a 90amp alternator and a second hand adverc, i would prefer not to have to subsidise the electrical consumption of my fellow sailors.

[sahona]

I'm sorry to hear your tales of woe re Tarbert.
We like it - although we do have friends there and tend not to frequent the Vic.
Good butcher, steak pie is excellent (Tuesday is pie day I think)
Never had any probs with the locals.
As for the "bundled" electricity, I recall being annoyed by Rothesay doing that years ago, and threatened to bring all my wee welding jobs there, to get optimum value for money.
However, now we have 'the electric' I can save gas by using the immerser, electric kettle etc.
One man's meat...etc.

[Silkie]

I plug in whenever I can since I have no effective means of generating aboard.