What follows is my recollection of a radio conversation I had with the marina in Mackay recently.
First, the situation,
It is two thirty on a Thursday afternoon (late night shopping up here) and I am two hours out of Mackay. I plan to get fuel at the marina, get a taxi to the shops for supplies, have a haircut, restock the liquor cabinett and then get back on the move again sometime in the evening.

Conversation basically as follows,

ME. Mackay marina, do you have a 24 hour fuel dock or is there set times ?

MACKAY MARINA. Our fuel dock is open from 0800 to 1600 hours.

ME. OH, OK, looks like I am going to be to late to get fuel.

MACKAY MARINA. How far away are you ?

ME. I should get to you by 1630 hours.

10 seccond pause.

MACKAY MARINA. How much fuel do you want ?

ME. About 120 liters of distillate.

LOOOOOOONG PAUSE

MACKAY MARINA. No we definitely close the fuel dock at 1600 hours but you are more than welcome to take a berth with us and get your fuel in the morning.

ME. No, thats OK thank you, I will get my fuel in Airlie.


Now to my way of thinking, the first pause was to consider whether it was worth keeping the bowser operating if the person on the radio wanted a "decent" amount of fuel.
The second, much longer pause was when the Mackay marina was deciding to justify keeping the fuel dock open just to sell a miserly 120 literes of fuel when they could probably get the boatie to cough up for a marina berth for the night if they didn't.

It all sounded to me like a very blatant way of collecting money from another southern yachtie who is on his annual jaunt to the Whitsundays.

Well, I wasnt low on fuel. I was just topping off. I was more interested in the shopping. Airlie is just a day sail away, has a lot better fuel berth and I don't have to catch a cab both ways to do my shopping.

What did Mackay loose.

The sale of approx $200 of fuel
Approx $200 worth of groceries.
$50.00 in cab fares.
$25 at the barber
Probably $140 in the grog shop (good thing I dont drink much)
$40 to $50 for a nice meal out.

Thats nearly $700 that went into the pockets of businesses in Airlie rather than Mackay businesses.

Now it's one thing being in business to make money and tourists are usually ready to spend but the openly blatant way that they went about deciding whether to keep the fuel dock open and then "kindly"offering to hire me a marina birth when they decided not to keep it open just stung me a bit.

What doesn't come across in my recollection of the radio conversation was the tone and obvious attitude of the person I was speaking to on the radio.

I will certainly by pass Mackay on my future trips.

On a brighter side. We stopped at Port Marina in Port Macquarrie. East Coast Marina in Manly, Keppel Bay Marina in Rosly Bay and all of them were more than helpful in many ways.

I'm in Mackay at this moment Franrick sheltering from the weather, where were you going to moor while you went to town?

Hi Franrick

I think you are being a bit harsh on them as they are a business not a charity

Opening hours are opening hours and the person who would have had to stay back until you arrived half a hour after closing time (if your ETA was accurate) would probably expect to be paid and by the time you had tied up, filled up and paid it would probably have been a hour after closing time so perhaps they were thinking whether the profit they were going to make on the sale would have covered the wages

I have stayed after work hours to help various people out over the years for no pay but it depends on the circumstances and whether i have anything else planned (when thursday night twilight races are on i leave right on closing time so i can get home and get on the boat) as to how far i will go to help someone

As for the offer of the marina berth I dont think they were trying to make money from your situation, i think they were just offering you a option


Regards Don

Hi NSW,
I would probably have anchored in the old part of the port and sat there for a few hours.
I lived in and sailed out of Mackay for a few years in the early ninety's and that was common practice then.
At that time the only berthing for yachts was on pile moorings in the same area or you went up the creek.

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Donk107 said..
Hi Franrick

I think you are being a bit harsh on them as they are a business not a charity

Opening hours are opening hours and the person who would have had to stay back until you arrived half a hour after closing time (if your ETA was accurate) would probably expect to be paid and by the time you had tied up, filled up and paid it would probably have been a hour after closing time so perhaps they were thinking whether the profit they were going to make on the sale would have covered the wages

I have stayed after work hours to help various people out over the years for no pay but it depends on the circumstances and whether i have anything else planned (when thursday night twilight races are on i leave right on closing time so i can get home and get on the boat) as to how far i will go to help someone

As for the offer of the marina berth I dont think they were trying to make money from your situation, i think they were just offering you a option


Regards Don

Hi Donk,
Of course they are a business, theres no disputing that.
To understand the situation properly you would need to have heard the conversation.
I didnt expect charity and would probably have considered taking a berth if the conversation had gone a little differently.
It was the tone of voice and attitude expressed in the exchange that got me offside.
Clearly. if I was driving a big stink boat and required a considerable amount of fuel the fuel bowser would have remained open. This was clearly implied in the exchange however because I only required a relatively small amount of fuel I wasn't entitled to that courtesy.
The feeling I got from the exchange was simply that as I wasn't spending much money at the bowser then perhaps they could make it up by renting me a berth.
As I said, you needed to hear the exchange to get the feeling that went with it. I know they are there to make money, thats common sense but it was almost like, "Oh well, he needs fuel, he isnt going anywhere, we'll make him wait till morning and get a bit more money out of him at the same time". It was so openly blatant, not the sort of business I want to support purely as a matter of principle.
On my recent trip I came across so many honest and helpful businesses and individuals that it came as a bit of a surprise when a marina that has won awards for the services and facilities it offers could be so outrageously blatant about seeking my money. I have no problem with spending, if I did I wouldn't own a yacht but I also have principles.
I bumped into a few yachties on my way up the Qld coast that said they avoided Mackay if they could. I think I can see why now.

Mackay is damned expensive. I believe it is something like $300 per week to have a trailer sailer in the hard stand area.

Id say the "approximately" $12 to $20 dollars profit they may have made in fuel was not going to cover their wages cost for sure. This is why 24hour facilities are a better option at these types of places.
Did they forbid you berthing on the fuel wharf till opening?

You could of berthed at the fuel dock as that what everyone else does when you get in late or pull up on the outside berths till 8.00am then go to the fuel dock and they will be none the wiser. The profit on fuel sale is very little and their is no 24hour fuel stops I have ever seen anywhere along the coast!

All marinas are trying to make a profit and you get what you pay for. I wish I could get the hardstand for $400 a week............

Happy travels fellow sailor.

There certainly are 24hour Fuel Facilities around the Coast of Oz. More in WA than the East though. Gladstone Marina and White Bay in Sydney are a couple.

I am used to seeing 24 hour fuel berths. There are more places than ever now and they outnumber the older style ones.
I m lucky to have a very good fuel range and would much rather sail than motor so I will always go to somewhere where it is convenient. I have a three hundred liter fuel capacity that gives me a motoring range of in excess of 1000 nautical miles but I like to keep my tanks full wherever possible.
The places that don'r offer a 24 hour service need to catch up with the times as they are certainly loosing out on business.
It would appear that the regional marinas are the ones that don't offer a 24 service. I guess if you have no opposition you don't need to.

When I first started cruising 30 years back the opinion of commercial tradesmen was that "yachties (grotty) wanted everything for nothing". This may not be the case for all yachties but unfortunately for some of the boating community, what ever is on offer, it will be never enough, too expensive or not suit their needs or time table. Yep, the glass will always be half empty.

Crusoe,
I have also been cruising on and off since the early eighties.
The "grottie yachtie" tag was well deserved back then as almost everybody back then was trying to do it on the cheap and some were even downright dishonest about how they saved a dollar here and there.
I think that has changed in the last decade or so and yachties in general are much more cashed up and more than willing to pay their way.
We all know that boaties pay far to much for goods and services and now and then it would be nice to see someone put the word "customer" in front of the word "service " but I really think that is a thing of the past.
In my case, I am NOT a marina person. My boat is completely self contained. There is nothing on board that relies on 240volts. I have ample fuel and huge water capacity for my needs. My Danfross fridge and freezer have not been turned off since September last year and run entirely from my three solar panels and small wind generator. My boat lies to anchor very well and is more than comfortable.
In general I only go into a marina to have a loooooong shower, use the laundry, top up fuel and water and do my shopping. I bought my yacht to be out on the water, not to sit tied up to a berth. On this trip I have stopped in four marinas in ten months.
You are right, generally things are to expensive and I honestly think that we dont get what we pay for in terms of quality and value for money.
If your glass is only half full then fill it up. Mine isn't quite there yet but it's well above the half way mark.

We fuelled up at Port Macquarie and Southport at night using credit cards.

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Franrick said..
Crusoe,
I have also been cruising on and off since the early eighties.
The "grottie yachtie" tag was well deserved back then as almost everybody back then was trying to do it on the cheap and some were even downright dishonest about how they saved a dollar here and there.
I think that has changed in the last decade or so and yachties in general are much more cashed up and more than willing to pay their way.
We all know that boaties pay far to much for goods and services and now and then it would be nice to see someone put the word "customer" in front of the word "service " but I really think that is a thing of the past.
In my case, I am NOT a marina person. My boat is completely self contained. There is nothing on board that relies on 240volts. I have ample fuel and huge water capacity for my needs. My Danfross fridge and freezer have not been turned off since September last year and run entirely from my three solar panels and small wind generator. My boat lies to anchor very well and is more than comfortable.
In general I only go into a marina to have a loooooong shower, use the laundry, top up fuel and water and do my shopping. I bought my yacht to be out on the water, not to sit tied up to a berth. On this trip I have stopped in four marinas in ten months.
You are right, generally things are to expensive and I honestly think that we dont get what we pay for in terms of quality and value for money.
If your glass is only half full then fill it up. Mine isn't quite there yet but it's well above the half way mark.

It doesn't matter if your glass is half full or half empty, clearly there's room for more beer in it.

Good one Sam.
Of course if we used a smaller glass it would appear to be fuller, sooner.

Well I have to go into marinas some of the time when there are no outside anchorages.

Haven't seen anybody smaller than me yet on this trip but I do know my cabin is smaller than some workshops on the yachts cruising this year

New blog at www.sailblogs.com/member/seaka will explain other reasons.

Hi NSW,
I read your blog. Looks like you had your hands full for a time there.
I was reading about your lack of internet at Island Head Creek. I had the same problem but solved it by putting my Testra WI-FI device in a plastic bag (it was raining) and then in a washing machine net bag and hoisting it up my backstay with a line attached to get it back down. It solved the problem and a few people were interested to know how I could email them but not connect by phone. I tried Skype but there was not enough signal to support video and the sound was not very reliable either. The good thing was that I could get METEYE and Buoyweather and plan accordingly.
Something you might like to try if you get a similar situation again.
Did you get your spottie at Cape Manifold. I got one there after trolling almost the whole way from Sydney without success.
Interesting to note you lost your crab pots at Island Head Creek. I lost two there as well. I think the tide is just to strong in the main part of the channel there.
At least you have some great sailing destinations ahead of you for a while.
When I was in Airlie a few weeks back I got fuel and water at the marina (not 24 hour) and then exited to the north west of the marina and anchored amongthe moored boats. Theres plenty of room. You can take your dinghy to the small beach beside the boat ramp and VMR station and it is only a five minute walk to the shopping complex at Cannonvale where you can get most of what you want.
The other thing that was clear in your blog was the friendly and cheerful people you met along the way. That is something that has never changed over the years and hopefully it will remain that way.
Cheers, Rick.