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If all it takes is being up at 7am to be able to have a leisurely day getting to my destination, I'm all for how the system works. I have to say, the balls disappeared quickly in March, within a minute of 7am.

How many horses do we have to beat to death to end this endless discussion?

I'm pretty sure participation is optional...be it mooring balls or threads.

Three times recently I tried to go to Cooper Island with a boat full for lunch. What I found was that there were no fcfs balls but plenty of Boaty Balls open. So needless to say Cooper Island did not get our business those days. In the case of Cooper Island, that does a big lunch business, you would think that they would realize that for every ball that is not occupied during lunch hours means business lost. Those days put a bad spin on Boaty Balls for me.

There are now 5 Boaty Balls in Great Harbor, JVD.

I thought I saw a past post that stated the BB balls were ok to use during the day for a lunch stop like that? Check out is say 11am, check in 2/3pm? That leaves a window where it is unreserved and usable?

TMM Charters has Internet on all boats.... No extra charge! Go TMM!

Can somebody confirm this please. If I come into Cooper or anywhere else that has Boatty Balls that we can use the empty ones until 2:00 PM regardless if the reserving boat shows and wants it?

I always thought that Boatty Balls were a result of to much salt water/moisture and chafing that usually required some medication.

Jim

It is a noon to noon reservation....

https://boatyball.com/howto.html

Coopers, a lunch spot, hasn't figured out that this is probably a bad idea with the timing....

Stopping into Cooper for lunch and to swap out tanks is a regular part of our routine. Might no longer be possible.
G

New balls or converted?
G

Converted...as far as I know they haven't added any new ones and now have infected Great Harbour, Cane Garden, & Diamond Cay...

We stopped in at Cooper for lunch last month using an unused BoatyBall. We were ready to go if an aggrieved renter arrived but had a nice lunch on the way to Norman. We also used bb to make sure we had a ball (for ease of mind) after a longer passage (e.g Jost to North Sound). We always got one, but they went quickly. One thing, some of the balls at Cooper are a little close together ( sorry can’t recall the numbers). Two cats kissed at 3am when we were there - oddly I was up to witness because our ball was slapping against the hull. There was no wind to organize the boats on the moorings so they were all swinging this way and that.

Bailau is correct. The reservations are from noon to noon. This was a change that we made based off of feedback from both the mooring ball owners and boaters.

Guilty! Local businesses in all three bays have decided to use BoatyBall to help promote and collect payments for some of their maintained and insured moorings. The decision to add more moorings is not a BoatyBall decision but a local business decision. This past year some moorings in Great Harbour were removed because the local business owner was not getting paid for them. If in Great Habour and not using BoatyBall please make sure you pay the correct owner. BoatyBall would like to see more maintained and insured moorings in the islands and not less.

BB: I am late getting into this thread, so I apologize if these questions have already been asked and answered:

Question 1: How does this impact / solve the "stop for lunch" issue? Many / most boats leave a mooring before 10:00 am. Suppose I show up at Cooper at 11:30 am and want to stop for a couple of hours for lunch. I see empty 6 BB moorings. May I use those for my lunch stop? If I do, how do I know that someone with a reservation won't show up at 12:30 pm and wonder why I am on the ball he or she has reserved?

Question 2: If one of the goals of BB is to help boaters avoid or eliminate the necessity to "rush for a ball", won't those with a reservation most likely show up after 3:00 pm? If so, why does the reservation run from noon to noon?

Let’s see what Alec says.

My understanding is that you cannot use the BB for a lunch stop, a stop to fill dive tanks or a quick visit to the gift shop. The ball might be reserved and such party could show up at any time, or the ball might be unreserved when you arrive and could be booked during your short stop by a party that just showed up.

aarpskier - good questions.

When we first launched the app we had an earlier check out time and a later check in time to try and accommodate for the lunch crowd. In theory this was a good idea but in reality it lead to a lot of the problems that we had early on with enforcement. Boats would come in for lunch and have one too many pain killers and then disappear for the day. So we decided to try noon to noon and we ended up having a lot less issues.

The behavior is definitely changing and it is not unusual to see the BB moorings empty at 3pm even though they have been reserved. We hope this means boaters are able to spend more time doing what they love and easing some of the pressure at the National Parks. With boaters staying on the water longer it also means that the restaurants are changing strategies. That being said, all of the bays have first come first serve moorings. Cooper has 15 FCFS that are maintained and another 5-10 on the south side of the bay that boaters can use if they want to go in for lunch.

There are some users of the app that will reserve and still show up around noon. I have spoken with several boaters that have done this and they say they like the convenience of the app and the security of knowing they are tied up to a maintained mooring. Others will reserve and show up early but they did it simply for the location. So we have some boaters using the app to spend more time on the water and others using it out of convenience. We continue to gather feedback and make changes so if you have suggestions we would love to hear them.

So whats a person that doesn't have internet service supposed to do?

Having internet is nice! Can check weather. Can check emails. Don't have to, but CAN. Having WiFi give you Option of reserving BoatyBall! (Warren has WiFi on Scuba Doo, but exercises his option to NOT use BoatyBall. On Sea Tiger I option to reserve BoatyBall sometimes. But we both agree that WiFi is nice to have)

ALL TMM Charter boats come with FREE WiFi. So perhaps you charter a boat in TMM fleet ;-)

BB, do you have any plans to change the style and type of ball so it won’t damage the underside of cats?
G

As the number of BB increases, and the number of fcfs balls decreases, I may find that I have no choice but to use boatyball or anchor.

Since the additional $10 was reportedly to enable "enforcement", I hope BoatyBall will make their FCFS at the $30 rate.

Actually Wes, the rate should be below $30 because the owner of the ball saves the cost of collecting the mooring fees.

The ball owner has to pay cc fees, but that should be their issue. I don’t mind the cash and the cc card company can’t block your use of cash for suspicious activity. Cash does not require a pin or get compromised. The are no foreign currency fees with cash as there are with cc.

I hope that the owner still allow payment to the guys in the dinghy. I enjoy chatting with them. Everything in an app is to impersonal.

GeorgeC1 - We have had a few people share concerns about the shape of the new moorings and the potential for damage. However, there has been no reports that the new moorings actually damaged a boat. We do not own the moorings but we do pass along any reports we hear to them. One plus of the app is that it is easy for boaters to notify us of any issues so we can help track issues and pass along.

Warren - thanks for your post. The mooring ball owners pay for the maintenance and insurance of the moorings. They also pay local taxes on the moorings. These taxes have gone up significantly over the past couple of years. They also pay someone to go out and collect. Unfortunately, in some bays there is an issue with locals going out and saying they are collecting for the owner but they are not. This obviously causes a problem for the local mooring ball owner whose costs continue to go up while collections are going down.

Cash creates another issue for the locals. There are very few banks for them to deposit money into and the owners we have spoken to prefer the credit card transactions verses cash. For obvious reasons they do not feel comfortable sending employees with a large sum of cash over to Tortola to deposit money. The credit card transaction fee is covered by BoatyBall. The goal is to help the local businesses stay profitable so they will invest in more moorings.

Cross your fingers and good luck getting a FCFS ball. If more balls are being converted to BB and no new balls are being added, it’s either bite the bullet and pay for WiFi or cellular service (my international plan was $10/day only when I used it), or join the rat race of trying to snag a FCFS. Which means getting there earlier in the day and spending less time on the water.
I felt like several of our stops two weeks ago we were seeing all balls taken by 1pm, mainly Great Harbour JVD, Anegada and Leverick. We basically prioritized every morning being underway early and hoping we could get a ball when we arrived. Certainly took away from being able to spend more time on the water sailing! I think next trip we will try hitting our stops on different days of the week than we have in the past to avoid the hot spots on their typical busy days.

SonOfTheSea - We understand your frustration. Your experience is one of the reasons we created the app. We felt that most boaters would prefer to spend an extra $10 to be able to spend 3-4 more hours on the water. We also felt that boaters would spend the extra money to know they are supporting locals who pay to have their moorings maintained and insured so you can get a better nights sleep.

We are also beginning to see boaters who normally would stop at Norman, Peter, or Cooper on day one heading to Leverick or Jost to get ahead of all the other boaters. If being able to reserve a mooring helps spread out the boaters this might help with some of the congestion. Time will tell.

My cell company also charges $10 per day while in the BVI. Several of the charter companies like TMM provide free wifi while others charge for it. Another option is to go grab a cup of coffee at one of the local restaurants that provide free wifi. They would love to have your business!

Are those local restaurants open for the 7:00am BoatyBall reservation race?

Why would they need to be?

Um, because it was suggested to go grab a cup of coffee at them to use the wifi thats needed to make a reservation on BoatyBalls.

Seems obvious! You need to be online to book the ball at 0700, otherwise you miss the chance!

Came into Great Harbour Jost this morning. There are now at least 5 boatyballs that I can see from where we are moored.

Hearing a lot of negative vibes on our travels about BB. Even our boat briefer at Sunsail had a mouthful of expletives to share about them, I didn't say a word about my views, but he told us in no uncertain terms that they are bad news and suggested we stay away from them.

On the plus side...BB's meddling has encouraged us to so far anchor two nights at Prickly Pear and two nights at Pomato Point, so thanks for the $120 lads. And sorry to whichever local pocket that cash would have gone into in previous years. Ah who am I kidding, it will end up in the hands of some beach bar along the way!

I have said this before. The BB controversy will diminish when the Irma damage is repaired. There was a shortage of moorings this high season which was the first with a “normal” number of boats post Irma. We were down in late February. I have never seen so many boats racing to Anegada at 9am. The lack of Willy T at the Bight. BEYC closed, Saba closed, Marina Cay limping, Trellis limping, Little Harbor limping, WE limping.
In my 29 years of boating in the BVI Cooper was always an after thought. Now because they are open they are the bell of the ball. Everyone wants a piece. Not me, service there has almost always sucked.
Two years from now BB will be a service some use. But many will opt not to pay the premium. Gotta play the long game and not get your panties in a bunch.

Boatyball , Please name some local restaurants that are open at 7:00am that have free wifi.

Actually changing the style of the mooring ball isn’t going to make the chafing and banging of the hull any different.

When your moored there’s usually a breeze to keep the pennant taught and if the wind dies out you’ll be at mercy to the currents and regardless of the mooring shape it’s going to bang against the hull.

Currently watching a fight between a large sportfisher (who seems to have reserved one of the boatyballs) and a Moorings monohull who was refusing to move.

Has been going on for a while now. Sportfisher just upped the ante by ramming them in reverse (with the Moorings dinghy as a cushion between the two so he didn't damage his Sportfisher).

Now Moorings has moved...but dropped anchor within half a boat length of the boatyball...perhaps as a protest...perhaps they just don't know how to anchor.

And now a third monohull is trying to pick up the boatyball. Two ribs and a centre-console also somehow involved.

I'm confused as to who the good-guys are now!

You’re last paragraph should read:
Two years from now BB will have total control of BB and FCFS mooring balls and will then talk with the BVI National Parks to make it illegal to destroy the Turtle grass in the mooring fields and therefore NO anchoring will be permitted.

Wow...at Great Harbour? Dont know who they good guy is but we all know who is the bad "guy"

In February I moored at the east end of that mooring field only to have someone come and anchor in 30 feet of water east of me and swing into me that night and then had to deal with drunk winch they left on the boat to go to Foxys.

send video...:)

You will think I am exaggerating but the Moorings boat has now attempted anchoring over 15 times. Has hit 3 boats and been fended off numerous others. They are still at it...

From my end of the binoculars it appears that they understand how much chain to put out but seem to think that the boat will remain exactly where it was when you started to drop the anchor...they have now headed into the shallows toward Foxy's so I suspect they may soon find a different way of fixing the boat to the seabed.

A different fight on another boatyball has just concluded. The evicted monohul is also now circling around trying to find somewhere to anchor. And...have just dropped right in front of another mooring...perhaps they are from the same anchoring-school as the first evicted monohull.

I hope they both stay away from us. Whilst it's not our yacht, so we shouldn't care...we take pride in returning our boats in same or better condition than we got them. Which seems to put us in the minority.

Edit - a third monohul just screamed in at high speed...and is now aground in front of foxy's.

Genuine muppet-show this evening!