Priced off the poles - what areas to look for a small mooring?

[motorb 20]

Hi Crew - New member here but have been sailing a little Tracker 7.7 since 2013. I've been on the Westhaven poles ever since buying her, but haven't been out once since the whole covid thing happened, and now with life getting back on track I've finally had to bite the bullet and reassess the cost of this! Rental rates have almost doubled since starting there while the service/value has been reduced and all maintenance long since halted (and there are abundantly clear signs that we're going to be kicked out before too much longer, however, that's a rant on it's own for another time....)

SO, having never had to look at moorings beyond the boats occasionally washing up against the westhaven sea wall, what are good spots to look for available moorings in the Waitemata? I'm based out in West Auckland for now, so trying to balance the nightmare of driving to Bucklands beach against time spent motoring against tide and wind to moorings up near Hobsonville.

I'm thinking Little Shoal Bay looks neat, as does Okahu but I'm not sure if these are too exposed? How does dinghy/tender storage work in these places?

Is building a trailer and parking it with the rigging up at a boat ramp a possible option? 

Any thoughts, advice or sage wisdom out there?

Thanks

(7.7m LOA, 1.4m draft, about 2000kg unloaded)

 

[Black Panther 1,523]

Check out Weiti. Not a terrible drive and close to all the excellent destinations once you get here.

[motorb 20]

15 minutes ago, Black Panther said:

Check out Weiti. Not a terrible drive and close to all the excellent destinations once you get here.

It's a bit of a drive (for me) to get up there, but if I lived closer I would certainly be onto that one. Do you know how long the waitlist is? (I heard it was a bit tricky to get on that list, too)

Definitely would be a nice way to get to Kawau though.

[Black Panther 1,523]

Gett8ng on the list is easy. Times are random. Seems there has been a lot of turnover recently. 

[Kevin McCready 83]

Okahu Bay is fine. But make sure your boat has big cleats so it doesn't get parted from the mooring in storms. Most which end up on the wall have the cleats ripped out of the foredeck. When I moved my Easterly 30 there I got the cleat bulked up and I also tie off around the anchor winch and the sheet winches. I even wrap up the buoy rope securely too, so it's still attached to the mooring, although with enough slack to avoid chaffing.

[motorb 20]

20 minutes ago, Kevin McCready said:

Okahu Bay is fine. But make sure your boat has big cleats so it doesn't get parted from the mooring in storms. 

The bow of my tracker as a very well set bollard(?) that got towed by the coastguard at about 12 kts and it didn't part ways so I reckon I'd be ok with that. Is there a lot of wave action with a north/north-easterly?

What is the story with getting out to the boat? Is there a dinghy rack or anything like that?

20 minutes ago, Black Panther said:

Gett8ng on the list is easy. Times are random. Seems there has been a lot of turnover recently. 

Ohhhh very interesting. I'd always written the idea off because of that. Thanks.

[Kevin McCready 83]

There's a public rack at the moment at The Landing at Okahu Bay but it's not very secure and the plan is to get rid of them I think. My well locked up dinghy was pinched from there. BTW there are no moorings now in Okahu Bay, I meant to say Hobson Bay where we've all been moved to. There are also a few lock up sheds for hire. I currently put my dinghy on top of the car and row out.

[Ex Machina 361]

11 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:

There's a public rack at the moment at The Landing at Okahu Bay but it's not very secure and the plan is to get rid of them I think. My well locked up dinghy was pinched from there. BTW there are no moorings now in Okahu Bay, I meant to say Hobson Bay where we've all been moved to. There are also a few lock up sheds for hire. I currently put my dinghy on top of the car and row out.

At what point do you hop out of the car and get into the dinghy to start rowing ? And what system are you using to keep water out of the intake manifold 

[waikiore 374]

Hobson Bay ,Glendowie etc are all good mooring areas but the council are actively removing Dinghy storage facilities, if you are a Westy what about Herald Island? Or alternatively pay to join the waiting list at Milford creek -there are a few Trackers in there.

[aardvarkash10 878]

Long shot, but we are pretty happy at Brooklands Boating Club on the Wairoa River, Clevedon.  Yes, a bit of a drive for a westie, but only two hours to the bottom end of Waiheke under pretty much any conditions.  And in a Tracker, the river depth at the mouth will not limit you a lot.  Poles, around $300 a month, very sheltered, jetty with drinking and washdown water, dinghy lockers (rack actually) secured gate entry and parking.  No clubrooms or other facilities.

https://www.bbclub.co.nz/

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5 hours ago, waikiore said:

Hobson Bay ,Glendowie etc are all good mooring areas but the council are actively removing Dinghy storage facilities, if you are a Westy what about Herald Island? Or alternatively pay to join the waiting list at Milford creek -there are a few Trackers in there.

What on earth is council doing removing dingy racks? City of Sails no longer it would seem.

Milford seems a bit limiting with the tides, and in any case I imagine it's not going to be as cheap as Weiti, but I hear the old floating piers from Westhaven are going to be sent up there to be reused so that might be part of a nice do-up of the place for those that are there.

Hobsonville or Herald island might be an option as it only adds an hour by sea to get out to the inner gulf... of course that makes a 4 hour return trip to Motuihe into a 6 hour trip but at least it's on the water. Does anyone here know what the dinghy/parking/jetty situation is like out there?

2 hours ago, aardvarkash10 said:

Long shot, but we are pretty happy at Brooklands Boating Club on the Wairoa River, Clevedon.  Yes, a bit of a drive for a westie, but only two hours to the bottom end of Waiheke under pretty much any conditions.  And in a Tracker, the river depth at the mouth will not limit you a lot.  Poles, around $300 a month, very sheltered, jetty with drinking and washdown water, secured gate entry and parking.  No clubrooms or other facilities.

https://www.bbclub.co.nz/

$300 a month is a bit cheaper than what I'm paying now, but definitely a big drive to get out there. Thanks for that info though they actually sound interested in supporting their customers.

Westhaven poles went from 200 in 2013 to 380 now, probably 400+ next June. There's no maintenance being done, a snapped off pole that is only visible near low tide and they are using the area as a graveyard for old piers. 

In that time, a small berth went from 390 to 670 per month. So after removing the swing moorings for superyachts and massive cats, they've increased poles 90% and small berths 70%, then claimed that there's falling demand..... meanwhile a 14M berth has only gone up 38% in that same time. They then have the audacity to tell us our rates are going up to fund the redevelopment project (that is removing small berths and all the poles) and maintenance (that isn't being done).

Ugh... I'm just sick of council and council controlled organizations constantly screwing over regular Aucklanders. The prospect of paying more for a pole than what a berth cost just 10 years ago has really got to me.

[harrytom 626]

could try panmure river if you want piles,,tide flow can be an issue but generally safe in a blow.

 

[funlovincriminal 137]

Weiti are struggling to house boats at the moment.

 

Members who wish to have a mooring go on a waiting list, whilst you are on that list you go on sublets which means if the holder of a permanent mooring goes away for a decent period, or goes on the hard, or sells their boat but is replacing it and continues to pay their full mooring fees - the club can sublet that mooring out to someone on the waiting list (draft and length permitting of course).

Downside for people on sublets is they don't have access to the dinghy locker and often have to relocate at reasonably short notice. Kind of like Musical Chairs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[motorb 20]

Weiti is looking pretty good just for the sake of proper parking, jetty, haulout and dingy lockers.... 

I had a chat with Westhaven and they're not taking new rentals to fill the largely empty poles as they'll be reconsolidating anyone left into the one row eventually, which I presume is after replacing the rotten/broken poles and tidying the place up a bit. However, this doesn't bode well for me if I have the boat transported out to my place for some refit and repair work next year and want to come back after 6 months.... trailer sailers are sounding like a pretty good idea these days!

[ballystick 67]

Nick Davenport from BBYC has a mooring available https://www.facebook.com/groups/1490621321180183/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=3315599508682346

[Cheap Transport 58]

As FLC said above,  at Weiti you go on a waiting list to get a pile mooring. Current wait time is approx 3 years and growing. Sublets are currently at a minimum, possibly only a couple at the moment. 

The club however is great, good facilities, hardstand etc and a beautiful spot to boot. A Tracker could probably get out of the river an hour and a half either side of low tide. 

[motorb 20]

Just an update on this topic:

I'm still at Westhaven, and as of this morning, I'm the third boat (that I know of) in the last 12 months to have a rotten mooring pole snap off. Westhaven aren't 100% sure where to put me, as they dont know which poles are sound or not.

Further updates to be made once this is resolved, but long term plan is to go on the Weiti waitlist, and see whether I get a mooring before I eventually give up and sell. At the very least I'll need to be using their hardstand given the lack of capacity remaining anywhere else so at least the membership fees wont be wasted.

[ex Elly 185]

Or maybe Westhaven could just replace the pile? Like they used to regularly.

 

[Addem 85]

It may not be helpful to an Auckland based boat but looks like t there is lots of capacity at Whangamata as an interim. 

[Ex Machina 361]

31 minutes ago, Addem said:

It may not be helpful to an Auckland based boat but looks like t there is lots of capacity at Whangamata as an interim. 

I was going to say the same about whangarei and only half the distance to bay week and a much shorter sail home from the coastal . Added bonus of numerous hardstands within 1 km of each other . 4 pole mooring is approx $1400 PA for an SR sized boat .