TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Boatyball

Akflyer-

Per our conversation as you can see from the hopefully attached webcam shot Cooper is pretty open on a Saturday morning

Very true!

It would be interesting to know if there are enough moorings to support every boat out on charter any given night. If there were, it would seem having them all be by reservation and allowing the reservation to be made a week or so in advance could allow one to plan out all their stops. If the first stop wasn't available, just change the itinerary. We tend to have a plan and usually stick to it so I would find this appealing. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't bother. I think the only real issue with this is how to deal with someone changing plans, cancelling or not showing up?

The other is weather making a anchorage unusable. Reservations a week out will encourage people to overnight where they should not be for a given set of weather conditions.
G

If you could reserve a mooring ball linked to your dinner reservation would this be a viable system?

Now there is one great idea..book the ball..book the table..one low stress day and great evening meal..and good night's sleep..and one bill to pay..I see bright orange balls in front of the "WD" soon!

We reserved a boaty ball at Anegada this past Tuesday. This was our first experience using boaty ball. Got up at 6:30am and was able to reserve ball #3. Left Leverick and took our time knowing that we had our mooring reserved for the night. We arrived around 1:00pm to find a Moorings boat on our ball. We told the people on the boat that we had reserved the ball and could they please leave. They replied that they had the ball and they were trying to reserve it. I again told them that we had already reserved it. They did not respond but the captain got up and walked back to the helm. We proceeded to circle back around so we could pick up the ball once they released it. When we arrived at their stern everyone on their boat except one person went below. I asked them again to leave and that we had reserved the ball. He said he was sitting on our ball hoping and waiting for another FCFS ball to open up so he could move. We again asked him to leave and he just stared at us. We then threatened to cut their mooring lines so we could take our reserved ball, we would not had done that but we felt that was the only way to get them to leave. They then proceeded to release the ball and we were able to tie up. Unfortunately I did not get the name of the boat. Hopefully the Moorings will read this post and have a better discussion with their charter groups on how Boaty Ball works.

I think Boatyball are the ones that need to monitor and enforce their moorings since you're paying a premium for the reserved ball. Thankfully, anchoring is an option at Anegada if no moorings are available. Seems like Boatyball has increased the blood pressure of many captains since its start.

I would have told the skipper that when he chartered the boat he told the Moorings that he was competent to anchor the boat when needed. Since he clearly was not comfortable doing that the in the easiest place to anchor in the BVI he needed to call the Moorings and have a skipper placed on board.
G

We are planning to arrive in Anegada on the 17th, so we will look out for the Notre Dame hat.

I agree....at this point, it seems like the “boaty ball” founders are sitting in front of a computer in a land far away from the BVI, watching their bank accounts grow and eating popcorn while everyone bitches, but keeps using them....

I'd like to know if "Boatyball" has a trade license to be operating a business in the BVI.

....wondered the same thing....particularly since they seem to be working some restaurants?

Quite! Not really the island-vibe we are all seeking. The kind of encounter Islandtimebill enjoyed could bring a very different mood to the rest of the day...and that's assuming that the 'conversation' with the squatter doesn't continue in the bar in the evening. Anegada-agro...its a no from me.

...and these are the times I really miss Saildoggie....he would have been all over this one....lol

Bring on the Abacos.....

Boatyball sent an email justifying the increase in prices as increased cost of "enforcement" as that is on them and not Moorings or charter companies. I will ask Moorings how they are doing the "education" piece in May.

Does anybody know who "owns" which balls? I would like to get the contact numbers so if I have to pay the Boatyball tax and have an issue I can speak directly to the owner?

I would suggest taking any issues you have to the restaurants/bars that are getting the fees as boatyball doesn't seem to be interested in fixing their mess.

It seems the BoatyBall entrepreneurs must have had some money to throw around and decided to embark on a business that they thought would follow the rules of a text book.

Port and starboard poop deck, roll out the guns, give em a broadside !

This old sailor is a wee bit overwhelmed......boaty ball has erupted into a bloody war. I really do not think that their idea of reserving their specific moorings was going to result in all this mayhem.

What will us long time , happy hour rum loving, sail trimming sailors do ?

KEEP IT SIMPLE AND JUST KEEP ON SAILING THE BVI LIKE WE ALWAYS HAVE..

We are not going to get involved in boaty ball. There are FCFS moorings, and sometimes slips are available. we like the easy feeling that moorings and slips will allow confidence that our boat is secure..
If anchoring, for additional safe feelings, we would anchor away from the masses, using a bahamian moor.

We do not plan to use boaty ball, The boaty balls have reserved written on them and they look totally different from the More Secure moorings. For what is worth, back on Kauai, we stay off posted lands that say Kapu.
Simply put, PRIVATE LAND , STAY OUT ! We respect that. We respect those who have reservations with boat ball.

After reading most of the above posts we just plan to sail our 36 ft. monohull, just the two of us, normal procedure, and yes we will leave or previous mooring early, but that gives us more time to pick up a FCFS mooring, and get in our snorkeling early,

However, I also realize that many bare boaters are sailing the fanastic BVI, for only ONE WEEK......That time is going to pass at warp speed. .

Just our observations, we all on the mainland live or have lived at the speed of light.....tooooo faaaast. If ti is possible, and sometimes the demands of businesss, etc, preclude that TWO WEEK OPTION. ....but lordy, two weeks would
make the BVI sailing vacation, more on ...well, ISLAND TIME, and not a rapid sea world experience on a floating light speed sea going hotel. Is that possible, probably not for most folks until retirement kicks in. .

We all have to enjoy the BVI, as best we can, may your sailing vacation be the best ever.

Denny, had they added moorings for reservations instead of taking some of the limited FCFS moorings with "said" intentions of taking more, this would probably not even be an issue and probably even welcomed.

Xrayman67, I agree completely. It would have been a big addition to the cruising grounds if they had increased the number of moorings. . As boatyball has been implemented, reducing the number of FCFS moorings,I wish it would pack up and get out of town. Otherwise watch the prices continue to creep up on their moorings and watch more FCFS moorings go to the dark side.

I started watching this thread when it started in November, made a couple of comments and in March had a lovely two weeks in the amazing BVI. I had the BB app loaded and was prepared to reserve at 0700, what really happened was that it did not affect our experience one iota!

There was one day that we had Cooper as a goal, got there about 3p.m. no moorings, ok on to Marina Cay, it was a beautiful day, aren't they all, and we were really enjoying the sail NBD, change the plan.

The owners/managers @ BoatyB have responded to questions in this thread. In fact "we" have helped them refine and improve (maybe) the product. I bet they have some other ideas to make the whole process better for those that choose to use it.

I don’t see where you helped them, according to this thread it has been getting worse,more costly and annoying a lot of charterers who come down to enjoy there vacation.

I didn't say I helped, I said the group here on TTOL has been providing feedback since November. I chose not to use the service, though I won't judge the product, and I understand that it isn't for everyone just as it wasn't for me.

To be fair this thread has 21 authors and about 4 people that have actually used the app. That’s hardly a fair representation of all of the boaters in the BVI and those that have used the system.

Well said......

I was optimistic at first. Boatyball said they were installing new mooring balls. Then came the real news, FCFS balls were being replaced with "reserved balls". Alec, without someone in the mooring field being proactive, this is just someone getting paid for nothing. Having someone prepay, only to find somebody else on the mooring, is very risky and potentially dangerous.

There is someone in the mooring field though. There are bay managers in each of the locations that are trained on the system and serve to prevent people from tying off to moorings without a reservation and facilitate the remediation of conflicts. That’s partly why less than 1% of reservations have had this issue. Look, the system is 3 months old; it’s not perfect. But the guys at BoatyBall aren’t just sitting on their butts and collecting a paycheck (collecting a $10 service fee and covering credit card transactions doesn’t exactly line your pockets). Getting stuff right takes time and money, and believe it or not, BoatyBall actually does read this thread quite a bit as well as emails from clients and are constantly working on tweaks to make the system better. I get how converting FCFS moorings is frustrating too. But installing completely new moorings in a lot of the locations just isn’t feasible. And even if it was, the mooring company is hesitant to install more because they have no way of tracking the occupancy rates on the moorings. I’m not saying that your concerns aren’t valid, I’m just saying that maybe you should give it some time and recognize that they are actively trying to make the system better for everyone involved.

Alec-

I am fine with this in theory and very used to similar apps in the parking/driving world in DC. It is the execution and app that are flawed. I must say however you and your family and business partners are starting to lose me with your "deceptive" PR for your business.

There are 23 unique authors on the 1st page of this 10 page blog alone. I have used the app and although I didn't look through 10 pages I am highly confidant there are more than 3 others who have used the app. I would be curious as to how you can make the statement you did.

I have a lot of respect for you as an early college student for being involved in this business and for tangling with a bunch of "old salts" on this board. Please fix or at least attempt to fix the issues outlined and stop trying to minimize or marginalize them

Fair enough.

Your kidding right? Moorings is going to "educate" charterers. Moorings and for that matter all of us in the charter industry have nothing to do with Boatyball. This intrusion into the industry and the market is an attempt to solve a problem that doesn't exist. It is just that an intrusion. It is not the charter companies problem. This desire to schedule and plan to the last minute is simply not needed. A web page that makes you get up and compete for a mooring at 7:00 AM every day so you can make it to the "promised land" only to compete with someone not playing by the same rules adds no value to your vacation or sailing experience. Frankly at this point I would completely ignore Boatyball and their moorings. Sail where and when you want to sail, have a back up plan if their is no room at the inn and turn off your internet.

Do I get credit for trying to use the app but didn't get a reservation because my internet connection was too slow?

Regarding enforcement, do the bay/harbour managers only involve themselves when an issue of a squatter is brought to them? This is already too late in my opinion. Seems like a potentially easy fix would be for them to verify the boat name matches the reservation as soon as they observe someone hooking up to a Boatyball. If not, they are told to move and a conflict between captains will be avoided when the reserved boat arrives.

We just got back from 3 weeks on our boat. We anchored about half the time and used FCFS balls the rest of the days. We tried the Boaty ball option for a day that we were headed to Cooper but our internet was in a dead zone that morning so it did not work out. When we were at Leverick we noticed that most of the BB moorings were empty while the FCFS balls were all in use and a few boats were anchored. I suspect that once the Saba and Bitter End balls are back in play the only BB spot that will remain viable will be Cooper.

I agree. With demand so high I don't understand why Saba and BEYC don't put some of their balls back into service. They are missing a chance to make some easy money.

Regardless it has annoyed charterers at the end of the day when they should have been in a positive mood.
Turned a 7 day vacation to 6.

We just got back from 3 weeks on our boat. We anchored about half the time and used FCFS balls the rest of the days. We tried the Boaty ball option for a day that we were headed to Cooper but our internet was in a dead zone that morning so it did not work out. When we were at Leverick we noticed that most of the BB moorings were empty while the FCFS balls were all in use and a few boats were anchored. I suspect that once the Saba and Bitter End balls are back in play the only BB spot that will remain viable will be Cooper. - henryv
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Well said henvyv:

I think one by-product of Irma is that "for the most part", many people had to skip a year of chartering, have returned this season (abstinence makes the heart grow fonder), and have endured the "cost increases". The BVI hierarchy has gone from "fleecing" people to maybe "skinning" them. The demand may exceed the product, but the BVI is taking a risk. As an example, we use to head down to the islands once or twice a year. This year, after a post-Irma hiatus, we charted "a big cat", paid the increasing arrival-departure fees, the increasing BVI cruise tax fees, etc and had a good time. However, our plan for next year, if we get to go, is to charter a fifty year old 32' mono-hull or maybe a bamboo raft and anchor everywhere.

+1 to Jay's post.

Quite simply Boatyball (what an awful name btw!) Has created so many new problems whilst not addressing in any way the fundamental issue of under-supply.

This and several other points made repeatedly by other veterans of this forum continue to go unanswered by BB.

I note also that this thread appears to be one of the most popular in recent history on this forum...second to the post-Irma thread...maybe BB might recognise that this is not necessarily a good thing...

We have made use of BoatyBall five times this trip (we are on one now). Mostly the app works well (one day it seemed to have trouble but ultimately revived) but of course you need luck to actually secure a ball because they often sell out quickly.

Another +1 to Captain Jay’s post.

Looks like Leverick Bay may have removed themselves from BB? Don’t see them on the map this morning.

They’re using the boatyballs to hold their docked boats because of the poker run today. They should be back online tomorrow.