Welcome to our winter visitors both ashore and afloat. Almost all our prebooked boats have now arrived and the marina is looking very full, both ashore and in the water. The hard standing is fully booked but we can fit in a few more afloat if any one else turns up. The lift out programme has so far run very smoothly with our two teams of Brian and Roy on the crane and Pete/James on the hoist/boat parker making the process much more efficient than previous years. Thank you guys. The improved slipway helps - allowing us to eliminate some of the double handling by taking boats out directly with the boat parker. Still to be filled up is Wooden Boat Corner - Nick's customers who will be snuggled together by the green workshop. Elsewhere the Deck continues busy with Debbie requesting we build a further extension (to which my answer was unprintable). I think she was joking! You can enjoy Christmas Carols at The Deck on Thursday 8th December, together with some mulled wine or champagne and canapes - booking essential, details on 01243 376161. Only negative comment been from some cafe customers complaining about the decor on the stairs - saying it is like a hospital. After my hours spent on the extension you can guess how impressed I was with that particular feedback - I prefer to think of the colour scheme as marine not hospital!  I also just followed some cafe visitors up the stairs who were moaning that it was too utilitarian.... I'm not quite sure what they were hoping for - marble? Anyway some nautical artwork for the walls is on its way which will hopefully please these detractors.

Alison

Its hard to believe its now September, kids are back at school and the building work is finished (except for the inevitable final touches). Even the Building Regulations officer appears to be happy - although we do need to designate a dedicated disabled parking bay outside the cafe. Talking of The Deck, it appears to be going well with plenty of customers and positive comments. I have been enjoying their sandwiches and soups for lunch (particularly the mozzarella baguette) although have managed to resist the cakes so far.

Time now to catch up with the neglected work from the last few months and address the teething problems such as the security system on the new extension and trying to find a long term solution to the parking issues that we have. I am also having to think about next year's charges (its amazing how fast the time goes) while Neil is hard at work scheduling the lift out programme and working out where we are putting berthholders and visitors ashore. The frenetic pace of recent months seems to have passed - giving some time to take stock of where the business is and where we should be going - although I have made a vow not to take on any significant projects for at least six months! Meanwhile heres hoping for that promised Indian Summer in September - not seen too many signs of it so far.

Alison 

This week has seen a fair amount of (organized) chaos at the marina. The builders are installing a new sewage pipe across the road outside the Harbour Offices. The old 1960s pipe had fallen in on itself - I will leave you to imagine the consequences. The first day of work saw water water everywhere due to an unfortunate encounter between digger and water pipe - only resolved by the heroics of the plumber who effected a live repair getting soaked in the process. Elsewhere on the site, the slipway is being repaired and returned to its original width, having been partially covered by earth. This should make the boat moving process more straightforward as we will be able to use the boat parker on the slipway and take boats directly onto the shore and to their allocated hard standing space.

The building work continues, with the steels for the deck being assembled on site, like a giant mechano set. Inside work continues on the second fix and the finishes downstairs while we wait on delivery of the upstairs curtain walling due on 16th June.

Having just escaped from the office for a day to kick my heels while my younger son plays tennis, I have decided to blog about the joys of building projects. Taking on an extension to the Harbour Offices didn't sound so bad in theory, after all we have an architect managing the project and a great team of builders headed by Stuart Anscombe. However inevitably the problems and issues came thick and fast. There have been all the joys associated with extending a building built in the 1960s with asbestos, bizarre wiring and an unfortunately located British Telecom pit. Having decided to extend 4 metres to the eastern end of the building, it turned out that the small piece of land we wished to build over was riddled with drainage pipes, telephone wires and electricity cables - with of course no plans to show where they went or what they did. Simply moving the BT pit was a feat in itself only resolved by finding (eventually) a practical and helpful BT engineer who made things happen (at of course a significant cost!). Meanwhile there have been delays to delivery times, most recently in the curtain walling for the first floor which have added to the length of the project. The temporary toilets have been something of a nightmare in their own right, initially not fitting on the site, requiring some improvisation on the steps and subsequently requiring emptying seemingly all the time!

Now we are at the "finishing" stage which has required plenty of decisions from myself in conjunction with my advisor (and mother) Ann - we have picked colours/tiles/ironmongery/flooring. I so want it to look good ... Fortunately for the cafe we seem to have been lucky in attracting the attention of Juliet Graham and Debbie Green, local caterers who are going to take on the cafe and have plenty of ideas and enthusiasm. It seems like a perfect fit, they are lovely people who seem very switched on to what would suit our customers and situation.

Thank you to everyone for your patience with the necessary disruption and the loss of some facilities. I'd especially like to thank Karen of the Emsworth School of Navigation and her clients - who were the unfortunate victims of a leak in the heavy rains last weekend and Jeremy of Slipway Marine who has had to lose part of his office space while the work has been going on. Your tolerance is appreciated. 

At the Hog Roast last Saturday, I was struck by the changes that  a year has brought. Not only did the sun shine but the marina looks very different these days. Last year we were still reeling from the collapse of Tarquin and Emsworth Shipyard and the subsequent revelations about their debts and activities. Now the long line of large motor boats has been replaced by a mixture of smaller motor boats and yachts. The shipyard has come back to life with new tenants and activity, the Harbour Chandlers has moved and expanded, Slipway Marine has done the same. Our new signs are going up and looking very smart and we have the planning permission for the development of the Harbour Offices with better facilities and a cafe. We have "weathered the storm" and are definitely on the up!

It has been a busy few days at the marina. The new travel hoist arrived in pieces and was then assembled last Friday and Saturday by a team from Marine Equipment Trader. Basically like a giant Meccano set! Yesterday the guys received some training and today the first lift took place - John Cutler's Uncle Eric which came out for a short time to allow him to scrub the bottom. It was only once his boat was safely back in the water that John realised he had been our "guinea pig" boat! The hoist is looking very smart with its new Emsworth Yacht Harbour sign and logo and we hope to put it to good use. That definitely completes our purchases of boat handling equipment for the time being.

Dear everyone

This is an experiment to see whether or not a blog will work! To blog you need to register some details about yourself and your boat and the usual blogging rules apply. I will be acting as a moderator for blog comments so please bear with me until we get things up and running. Alison