BLUEMOMENT

It would appear that Port Edgar Marina has been awarded 4 Golden Anchors by TYHA (The Yacht Harbours Assoc.) an offshoot (I think) of the BMF. The highest accolade is 5 so one would expect an establishment with 4 to have a similar relationship to perfection as a 4 star hotel has to a 5 star joint.

However, for those of you used to "walking down the nails" so you don't break one of the rotten planks and fall through the pontoons, tying up to and paying (by boat length) for a pontoon several metres shorter than your boat, picking bits of masthead ornamentation off your decks due to the "interesting" wave barrier, stumbling blindly along the pontoons in the dark 'cos very few of the lights work, not going to your boat on windy days 'cos the pontoon movement is akin to a roller coaster, selecting your pontoon cleats carefully, going without water for 2 months, holding your breath while having a pee in the toilets, had your boat damaged by (allegedly) the sailing school clients using the harbour for training, been lulled by the noises that the broken pile attachments make as they grind away more pontoon, waited for a month until a crane capable of lifting a 32' boat is available, and generally amused yourselves with the overall tatty nature of the place - you better visit again to see what wonderful changes have been made to win such an award.

Or could it be that the award is by self assessment?

The website infers inspection by the associaton, so it must have been spruced up since we lauched a previous boat there in late'98. It looked "jaggy" - lots of metalwork from some previous existance - probably MOD, and an odd way of dealing with customers (to extract money).

Why not write to the TYHA with a few pics of the worst stuff & ask what the marina might need to do to merit a fifth anchor?

As usual Marisca applies a harsh and sceptical eye. When a crew put his foot through a rotten board on 'my' pontoon finger at Port Edgar last spring, a quick call on the RT and the marina staff were down with new boards, saws and all mannner of power tools about 10 minutes later so perhaps its about attitude? It's a damned peculier schem tho'. According to the THYA website

The Gold Anchor Award Scheme has been established to improve the standards of facilities available to all boat owners. Marina Operators who are Members of the Association may enter the Scheme for assessment. The level of the Awards range from Three to Five Gold Anchors. Any Award is a sign of a quality marina, whilst the number of anchors indicates the level of the facilities available. The Scheme is purely voluntary and is designed to bring the industry to the forefront of boating and to encourage better standards.

On entry, arrangements are made for the Inspection to take place on the site, to assess the standard of the facilities available. The Assessors inspecting will then determine the award level, 1 to 5 Gold Anchors (5 being the highest award).
Thus awards of 1 or 2 anchors are, in effect fails and 4 is merely slightly better than adequate. Whether that's fair or not in this particular case is debatable but given that it's almost 50% cheaper than marinas in the Clyde I think it's really quite good value notwithstanding its quirks.

I posted a query about the standards required for 4 Golden Anchors to the TYHA website and yesterday received a phonecall from a charming lady called Sue who enquired as to which marina I was asking about. I had followed FC's advise and taken a wheen of piccies on Sunday and, as Sue seemed suitably interested, I sent them off. So now I await further developments.

Border Maid is absolutely right - the plank replacement is remarkably quick to the extent that when Frank (el presidente of the Berth Holders' Assoc) heads down the pontoons, he is followed almost immediately by a worker with a plank, saw etc. to repair the inevitable plank breakage. But why, oh why, can they not be just a tad proactive and simply take a walk down the pontoons armed with a spray can and mark all the soft ones for repair before someone falls through?

Anyway, for anyone who is not familiar with the capital city of Scotland's cooncil owned high class marina http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n319 ... t%20Edgar/ might amuse.

A grovelling apology to Arghiro who was, of course, the one who suggested sending photographs to the TYHA. Mea culpa.