Westhaven ??

[Terry B 71]

Maybe I've been lucky but I've had only good experiences with the Westhaven staff - admittedly I've only been there (not quite) 3 years.

 

I've found the security guys helpful and friendly - so far.

 

I've stayed casually a few times at Gulf Harbour and the team up there were great as well.

 

Maybe it's my good looks, charm and charisma?

[John B 106]

Yes , I've only ever had good experiences with Westhaven staff too, they have some good people for sure.

[Guest]

Hi Guys, I have spent the day getting info on this west haven B/S.

I won't fully comment just yet as i am awaiting a couple of phone calls.However it is looking like that westhaven have had there resorse consent changed , now making the whole of the area private therfore they do not have to abide to the above mentioned laws.Hopefully I will have clarafication on this soon.

 

What to do; This carry on not only affects us sailers / boaties it also affects the many companies that use this jetty as part of there trade.

If you own,work for, or use one of these companies please inform them of this development as it will affect there business negatively.

Once I have all the information i will send an E-mail to the marina office.

 

As far as a protest flotila COUNT ME IN however lets just see what hapens in the next few days

 

Cheers Pete

[B00B00 310]

So after standing up for the Marina earlier, I had 3 altercations with the same guy myself (im guessing it was the me guy) on saturday night.

He was trying to pick a fight with us. What a tosser he was.

I have complained to the marina office about his attitude, funnily enough several other guys at work also had run ins with him.

He threatened us all with life bans from the marina for arguing with him.....

[Marshy 30]

Hahaha i would love to see how well that marina would function if they gave all the local sail makers, or tradesmen lifetime bans from the place!!

[wheels 543]

However it is looking like that westhaven have had there resorse consent changed , now making the whole of the area private therfore they do not have to abide to the above mentioned laws.

Someone is trying to feed you some proverbial I think. The Marina is a company in it's own right, but that company is owened by the Council. It is still a company though. It is nor free public access. If it was, then all Berths would be free and accessible. It is private in that respect and operates as a Private company, like any Marina.It is just that the Council is the principle stake holder.

RC is something quite different. You can not have a grated RC changed by anyone. RC is about the use of. In this case a Marina. RC would be granted for such things as driving in Piles, parking boats, the Jetties, the Roading, the breakwall and so on and so on. It has nothing to do with the company itself as such. The Company is who applies for the consent.

I hope that makes some sense.

[Guest]

Have just got off the phone with the harbour masters office.

the guy I was talking to has been following this thread and informed me that the marina was a private co .Meaning they can control the marina and surrounding water ways as they feel fit.

Local body elections coming up, Anyone know a counseler that wants the marine vote?.

As we are not the only people that use this place are there any other groups or websites we should be alerting to this crap.

[Guest]

How does this settle with the guy who was anchored inside W/H for weeks in a dilapidated old launch a couple of years back? They couldn't move him on?

[wheels 543]

How does this settle with the guy who was anchored inside W/H for weeks in a dilapidated old launch a couple of years back? They couldn't move him on?

But they can and did. Just like evicting someone from a House. You have to follow a process and the Process is often slow and leans early on, seems to stack heavily in the evictee's favor.....for awhile that is. Eventually process wins.

It is probably also why the seemingly heavy handed'ness that has been seen. "Don't let em get a foot i the door to begin with".

[Guest]

I've been given permission to print this from our OP

 

HI, Early last week I sailed my boat from Coval on my way to my base at Herald Island. When I got to Auckland I was very tired and also had wind and tide against me. As I considered it dangerous and foolhardy to continue I did the prudent thing and turned to port and mindfully dropped my anchor in the bay by the public launching ramps and Z pier, An Anchorage I have used many times in the past.At about 0800 I was woken by West Haven security telling me that I was not allowed to anchor there and I had to leave.When I explained my predicament and asked where I could shelter I was told "not our problem, leave".Being a peaceful chap I made a cuppa and got on my way.

 

Two days later I tied up to x pier to pick up a technician and a sail maker to sort my mainsail. I and them understood this pier to be for the use of the public for exactly this purpose. There were no other boats on the pier so I was not impeding others.

Within 5 or so minutes of tying up West Haven security arrived and told me that "this was not a public facility and i had to leave". After some heated banter a woman arrived and proceded to "read me the riot act" to the point telling me that X pier was only for berth holders and she didn't "want my type tying up" she then went on and threatened me with a trespass order.

At about the same time my sail maker arrived This woman reluctantly allowed me time to fit and sort my sail out.However she would not allow me to pick up the technician. Even to the point of trying to phone him to advise him that she would stop him from boarding my boat. I stopped her informing her that It was not a good idea as I would make other arrangements.

After my sail was fitted I untied and left.

 

Upon reflection I thought that maybe she didn't like me and this whole carry on was just a "Bee in the Bonnet" deal. However a colleague of mine phoned West Haven marina office and was curtly told that the public were not welcome in westhaven and it was for berth holders only and they were sick of the public tying up, in fact they were rude even asking.

 

It seems to me that there has been some law changes as to the use of West Haven marina. Could you please let me know if in fact you have changed your laws and if so what your laws now are?

 

Cheers Pete

[wheels 543]

I doubt anything has changed apart from the fact that as stated, they are sick of general public tying up and are now enforcing the point. Possibly and probably to their detriment, as they are only going to create a bad name for themselves to possible future tenants.

The major disadvantage to "public" is that Marina's are full and staff attitude's can get away with being bad.

Made me think of a Wharf down in Picton. It is a concrete wharf at the front of the Town and anyone can tie up to it and get groceries or a coffee etc, but there is a sign that say's you have to pay for that privilege. It's $5 or $10, can't remember exactly.

[Guest]

Wack a day glow vest on and issue a holstered walkie talky to any prat and hey presto "instant dick" will appear.

I have until recently found the staff at the marina to be generally friendly and competent but unfortunately I had to encounter "instant dick" on friday afternoon, I should have done the world a favour and run the prat over but I am devoting all my energies to observing the enthrallingly close and competitive cut and thrust of a enormously successful sailing event that is presently happening in San Francisco.

Maybe marina management would like to offer up a comment or two over these matters that have been raised by their customers in this thread.

It would not exactly be a large ask at all to respond to these encounters with staff and advise those who are users of the marina wether such mean of spirit and officious behavior is part of some great new and yet unannounced business plan.

[Marshy 30]

To be honest though, i am amazed that the general public feel that they have access to the marina infrastructure when they aren't berth holders??

The infrastructure there was built and is still funded by the berth holders. It runs as a business and has to be self sufficient.

 

Would you expect to walk into city council and borrow a desk and computer and start working just because its publicly owned?

[Guest]

To be honest though, i am amazed that the general public feel that they have access to the marina infrastructure when they aren't berth holders??

Probably because the council insist the public have access to private structures of similar type and use.

So the public are just seeing another case of Council hypocrisy, something this Council is fast becoming a specialist at.

[Murky 1]

- "Gidday mate [or "good morning sir"], I haven't seen your boat around here before, are you a berth holder in this marina?".

 

- "No, I'm just here to pick up a sail and a techo, I've done it heaps of times in the past. I should only be here half an hour or so."

 

- "Actually we're not permitting that any more."

 

- "Why not?"

 

- "Well firstly the facilities need to be kept available for the berth-holders, and secondly they are the ones who have paid for them, so it's not really fair to let other people use them for free. Since it is a weekday morning and there is [no-one/hardly anyone else] wanting to use them, the first point is not really an issue in this case but we will ask you for a fee of $10 for the first-half hour or $30 for a half-day and we do expect you to move on by the agreed time, so I will be swinging by to check that you have done that. Does that sound reasonable?".

 

Either:

- "Yes, paying $10 seems fair in the context of the overall job and considering that I do not want to row the sail and the techo out in my dinghy"

or

- "No, $10 is too expensive for me, I would rather take my chances at another location, can you cast off that bowline for me?"

 

Probably less time involved in that conversation than the one that was actually had...

[wheels 543]

Yeah but all that is sensible Adult communication Murky. You wouldn't expect that kind of thing would you

[Grinna 2]

Well, the Westhaven Marina security staff that I've had dealing with have all been really decent .... very sensible, diplomatic, adult about things.

 

I would have expected (and responded better to) the sort of scenario that Murky sets out.

[wheels 543]

I had to pop into Marina office one day to sort out a gate pass. I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice everyone was. They promptly sorted the issue and I was on my way. A nice experience.

[Guest]

Well done Wheels, now tomorrow try swinging by in your boat and trying to find somewhere to tie up while you walk to the office to arrange a park for the night.

 

 

the berth holders pay to have somewhere to park and to have a loading dock. 99% of the use of the loading dock is probably on the weekend, thus if someone stops by to pick up a sail on a tues , and no one else is waiting to use the dock, and the owner remains on board in case someone does turn up - then the berth holder is not out of pocket in any way (the visitor doesn't wear out the facility). SO why make a fuss?

 

As said above , charge a small fee - not worth collecting so have an honesty box and empty it once a week.

[Deep Purple 511]

I think what Ogre is saying is that up at Whangaparaoa anyone is welcome to use the Barfoot carpark, spend a penny in the toilet, warm up in an airconditioned office, eat their takeaways in one of their boardrooms and check their emails on a workstation provided nobody else is using any of those things at the time.