"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
I think the reason many people do not cruise is because it takes so
dang long they run outa time. They need to leave their boats
somewhere for a month till they can get back to sail on further. This
is very difficult because almost all marinas are geared toward long
term slip agreements.
What I envision is a series of mooring buoys spaced roughly 50 miles
apart on the Gulf coast to be used for no more than a month. Marina
operators may not like this but they mostly have enough business
anyway. These might have to be on state property (most bottoms are
state property). Fees would be by the night, by the week or by one
month max. payable at a drop box ashore or by CC online. The operator
of the system would pay fees to the state and community. Any boat
that exceeded the 1 month limit would be towed by commercial service
to a local marina.
Cruisers who would use such buoys, do not mind spending money at local
restaurants and stores so it would help local businesses.
Thoughts?

The West of Scotland has many such groups of mooring buoys, mainly owned,
laid and maintained by various Local Authorities. The main problem is that
in the high season you have to arrive before lunchtime otherwise the
moorings are all taken.

Another problem is policing the moorings, since casual leisure sailors tend
to ignore local rules and can hog the moorings for hours without paying. It
is not unusual to arrive in the early evening and find a couple of tiny
pleasure craft with families out for a day trip using the buoys to turn
their small craft into a dive platform.

The local authorities who do maintain a close watch on their moorings have
to pay for so doing, and this translates into higher fees per overnight
stay, often making the price difference between mooring fees and marina fees
not worth considering.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying such moorings are a waste of time, but
some form of advance booking and local control would be desirable if no
other facilities were available in the area, and all this takes money.

A few years ago the Irish Republic laid many large moorings in it's harbours
for the use of visiting yachtsmen. These were immediately siezed by local
fishing vessels who were paying mooring fees whilst tied up alongside the
quay. In response to complaints from some of my fellow-yotties, I wrote to
the Irish Government to complain about this. After nine months I received a
reply to the effect that it was the responsibility of the Local Authority to
stop such practices, but as most Local Authorities were cash-strapped, there
was nothing the Government could do about it.

The idea is a good one, but in practise the complications of running the
scheme make it impracticable. That said, it is always a wonderful experience
to arrive at a local anchorage and find a vacant mooring in the West of
Scotland, whether free or not!

N.B. - we always carry a substantial anchor!


Dennis.