Hamburg Cove new mooring charges

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Andy65

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Went into Hamburg Cove Sunday. They wanted $25 "hook up charge". Said I was only staying for an hour or so for lunch, not overnight. They said it is still $25 to hookup regardless of how long. Used to be they would come by in the morning and charge for overnight.

So I moved to a non rental mooring. They said it belonged to a yacht club and ran me off that one too. They said they plan to get lists of who is allowed on private moorings. The practice has always been tie up to a private mooring and get off if the owner comes. Do they have a right to run someone off a non rental?

This is a shame. Let the town know.
 
"Do they have a right to run someone off a non rental?"

People who own and place moorings often need to pay a fee to a municipality in addition to the fees for dropping, pulling and maintaining that mooring. The yearly costs for a mooring can typically exceed he cost of the mooring itself. I have never understood the presumption that a private open mooring which is in fact someone's property is available for free use by anyone else.
I would guess that the yard that collects for the rental moorings had also placed the private moorings and they are the same group who is attempting to maintain the field.
FWIW - We are in a paper cruising club which owns and maintains various club moorings in Center Island, Lloyd Harbor, Northport, Pt Jeff , Zieglers cove , etc - in each case there is 'someone' who will check to see if the owner is on the mooring. That someone is typically the LEO's in that area but there are exceptions.

Hope this helps
 
In the Thimble Islands, private moorings are routinely used for free and relinquished when an owner arrives. In the 20 years I have been visiting it has always been this way. There are no transient moorings for a fee that I'm aware of. On occasion I have heard of an individual owner requesting a fee but it's the exception. In Hamburg Cove there are many for fee transient moorings which means transients hanging on private moorings are cutting into the marinas who own transient moorings bottom line. I would assume if a mooring is really privately owned it would be up to the owner to determine who can use it. If the private mooring owners gave the marinas permission to chase transients off their moorings, that would be their prerogative. In 2008 when Brewers Dauntless bought the Chandlery the got most of the moorings in Essex Harbor as well as some in Hamburg Cove. I wonder if the upcoming auction for Essex Island Marina (who owned no moorings) has anything to do with the situation.
 
There are 10 or so Town Moorings available in the runway. They do charge $25, and you can stay overnight. They usually come by later in the afternoon to collect, so if you get there early in the day, you should be able to use them free until they arrive. There are plenty of private mooring that everyone else uses. If you are unlucky to be on one when the yacht club or mooring owner arrives, you get booted. Just move to another one. In the many times (+100) I've been there, it happened only once. Last week I was there when someone got booted. It can get tough however if there is a big raft-up that has to move. There is no anchoring in the cove. Enjoy it - it's a great place to stay.
 
quote:
In the Thimble Islands, private moorings are routinely used for free and relinquished when an owner arrives. In the 20 years I have been visiting it has always been this way.

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Same for Hamburg. It is the town, not the marina which is in the inner cove and only has a couple of moorings in the outer cove. Town is looking to make some money. For those who haven't been there, many of the private moorings aren't used by the owners. It adds to the value of their house and there is a long wait, so people hang on to them. Most of the visitors come for the day. I suggest, if the town is trying to make money, charge $5 or $10 for a few hours, receipt on display and let the tradition continue on private moorings. Town is full of million dollar mansions and taxes accordingly. $20,000 in mooring revenue isn't going to make a difference.
 
Private moorings are private property - suggest you pick up a rental and/or contact the yacht clubs who own them and see what you can work out with them.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Andy65

quote:
In the Thimble Islands, private moorings are routinely used for free and relinquished when an owner arrives. In the 20 years I have been visiting it has always been this way.

Click to expand...


Same for Hamburg. It is the town, not the marina which is in the inner cove and only has a couple of moorings in the outer cove. Town is looking to make some money. For those who haven't been there, many of the private moorings aren't used by the owners. It adds to the value of their house and there is a long wait, so people hang on to them. Most of the visitors come for the day. I suggest, if the town is trying to make money, charge $5 or $10 for a few hours, receipt on display and let the tradition continue on private moorings. Town is full of million dollar mansions and taxes accordingly. $20,000 in mooring revenue isn't going to make a difference.

Click to expand...


"Town is looking to make some money." Ahh..yup. But what is the deal with that, and mooring up in a beautiful place for the night? Hello......$25. .?? Geez.......
 
Only way to find out what's going on is to contact the Harbormaster for the Town of Lyme (used to be/may still be Gary Reynolds - volunteer - doesn't patrol or anything). Unlike many areas, "sharing" vacant moorings has been a tradition here for 50+ years & it works very well. You stay aboard - if the owner comes back - you quickly vacate.

I believe it MAY even be part of your mooring agreement with the town. I had a mooring application mailed to me a few years ago & I BELIEVE it was stated there. The rental moorings are actually a fairly new thing (10 years or so). One possibility is that the marina who has the rental moorings may be upset that they are mostly only rented on Saturday nights when it's busy - I was there on a Sunday nite - while the private moorings were mostly full, all of the rentals were empty.

As I said, the custom of "sharing" the un-used private moorings has worked well here for 50+ years!
 
Wrong town, wrong state...those regs are for Essex, Mass., Hamburg Cove actually part of Lyme, CT, not Essex, CT...Essex Yacht Club does have a mooring in Hamburg Cove....not too confusing!
 
"Wrong town, wrong state...those regs are for Essex, Mass., Hamburg Cove actually part of Lyme, CT, not Essex, CT...Essex Yacht Club does have a mooring in Hamburg Cove....not too confusing!"

I fixed it for you - not too hard to find information about the moorings in that area. We are not at all near Essex but we do pick up a rental mooring when we visit since the others do not belong to us.

Hope this helps
 
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