Members’ FAQs

What is the difference?

Licenses are issued, on payment of fees, to Members on a six- or twelve-month basis by the Harbour Board.  Fees are set annually at the AGM covering the various options available for boat storage, mooring or berthing.  A Receipt, in the form of a self-adhesive label, is issued which must be attached to the vessel to be clearly visible.

Membership  During the year in which Licenses are issued, the holder becomes an LFHA Member with a voice at the AGM.   There is no Membership fee.

Following the AGM (usually held in February), last years’ members will be invoiced by email on the basis of their previous Licenses usually by the end of February.

On payment of license fees, receipts in the form of self-adhesive Licence Labels are issued for each vessel licensed.  These labels shall be affixed to the respective vessel. such that it is clearly visible when stored.

As no sailing dinghies are stored on the hardstanding over winter, the issuing of licenses before the start of the sailing season does not guarantee that there will be space for your vessel when it is brought to the Harbour.  Space for dinghies on the hardstanding is only taken on a first-come first-served basis once the Harbour is declared open to summer licensees.  Refunds will be available if space is not found.  The Harbour Board will declare when the Hardstanding is deemed to be full, after which no sailing dinghies may be brought to the Harbour without specific email authorisation from the Board.

The racks will be emptied of winter-only licensed craft before Harbour Summer Opening by the Harbour Board.

The Association membership year starts and ends with the AGM which is usually held in February.   Otherwise, the year is divided into two approximately six-month periods, summer and winter.

The start of the Summer season is set by Spring Tides in April, during which the Harbour Board organises the craning of winter-stored vessels from the hardstanding to the Brook and sets a date for the Harbour Opening to summer-licensed vessels on the hardstanding & racks.  Before craning, a deadline is announced by which time owner-launched vessels that have been stored on the hardstanding over winter must have been removed.
From the Harbour Opening date, summer licensed dinghies tenders and canoes may be brought for storage.

The transition to Winter mode occurs in October usually, and repeats in reverse order events in April.  The hardstanding must be cleared of all summer licensed vessels by a published date and owner-retrieved vessels may only be brought to the hardstanding after craning ashore has completed.

The Harbour Board sets out its end-of-season craning and winter berthing plan at its September meeting. To avoid constant amendments, notice is hereby given that from 2023 onwards, no requests for new or increased license requirements for the forthcoming winter will be considered if received after the 31^st August.

Changing your vessel?  Whether you wish to swap, add or remove a licensed vessel from the LFHA property, please inform the Harbour Board by emailing the membership secretary as the first step.  Space, particularly on the hardstanding, is limited, so the likelihood that one can trade up from one vessel to another at any time is not a given.  To reduce the probability of waiting lists,  limitations to vessel numbers per category were introduced a few years ago.   

Be aware of different Harbour facility limitations available to different vessel types/sizes
The Association has finite storage & berthing capacity.  Dryberth capacity on the hardstanding in both summer & winter is on the limit from year to year.  It follows therefore, that requests for greater or different capacity, may be declined.  It therefore is essential that you enquire of the Harbour Board before purchase if you hope to keep a new vessel at Lympstone Harbour.
There is a limit of one each per household for each of the following categories irrespective of the availability of space:
   Dinghies – maximum length for summer only dry-berth storage is 4.9m
   Canoes/kayaks – maximum length in racks, <4.9m –  limited number >4.6m
   Inflatable tenders (small) –  maximum length on hardstanding summer or winter, 3.5m
   Moored vessels – will you need a new mooring?

Further restrictions by vessel type
   RIBS – large RIBS are not permitted to be stored on the Hardstanding at any time
   Cruisers – as a general rule, only private bilge-keel vessels <=8.5m loa & <=2.9m beam will be craned, but other constraints may apply.
   Vessels >10m cannot be accommodated in the tidal harbour
   Catamarans are not accommodated on the hardstanding at any time.

Advertising Boats for Sale
Members advertising their vessels for sale should confine wording to vessel-related features and not speculate on what facilities might be available in Lympstone to a new owner.

Beach mooring – shallow, lighter-duty moorings within a few metres of MHWS for small tenders only,  south of the brook.  

Craning – Typically in April and October (tide dependent) the Harbour Board hires a mobile crane to lift the large summer-moored vessels between the water and the hardstanding.

Craning out or craning afloat refers to the transfer of vessel into the water (April) as opposed to craning in or craning ashore that refers to the transfer from water to land (October).

Directions of the Harbour Board are emailed to members when a particular action is required.   If no reply is received by the deadline set, the Board will review that member’s licenses and membership.

Electrical Supply Pillar aka Ted’s Tabernacle –  a breeze-block structure,  positioned on the hardstanding to the eastern end.

Engine Store Door  Apply to the membership secretary to request a place for one outboard engine.  There may be a waiting list.

Harbour  – the area bounded by The Cliff base, the southern edge of Wotton Brook outfall adjacent to the East/West Harbour Wall, the contour of MHWS to the East and the Western harbour wall.

Hardstanding / Hard / Dry harbour / Dry Berth gravelled area overlooked by LSC balcony, just above MHWS on which dinghies etc are stored in summer, cruisers in winter.  The Canoe racks and the Vertical Inflatable Store rack are also situated on the hardstanding

HPC – Homebased Portable Craft
A category of licenses for owners with multiple small craft stored at home and transported to the harbour by hand on a daily basis.  One license can be used with any such craft used singly.

LFHA Letterbox – to the Estuary side of the Clubhouse building, on the wall of the LFHA Store & Noticeboard.

MHWS – Mean High Water Springs – the average HEIGHT of the HIGH WATERS of SPRING TIDES above Chart Datum.  Spring tides exhibit a large range of daily levels whilst Neap Tides the minimal range.

Noticeboard –  Location – to the Estuary side of the Clubhouse building, on the wall of the LFHA Store.

Seasons / Summer / Winter – LFHA operates a two season year.  During the summer, suitable vessels are moored in the estuary. Their tenders, & dinghies may ooccupy the hardstanding.   During the winter months, most of these vessels are removed from Association property, replaced by the summer-moored vessels.

Storage vs Berthing  Whilst most summer-moored vessels are stored over winter on the hardstanding, the storage of sailing dinghies at The Harbour over winter is not permitted.

Store – see Engine Store

Racks  – Horizontal Storage These racks are for the exclusive use during summer of canoes, kayaks & paddleboards <=4.9m in length.  Over winter, any space may be taken by small inflatables; located aginst the cliff-face on the northeast edge of the hardstanding.
                  Vertical Inflatable Storage (VIS) located to the east of the above, this can accommodate 6 inflatables – summer and winter.

Ted’s Folly – hardstanding to the north of the tidal Harbour, for tenders only.

Ted’s Tebernacle – see Electrical Supply Pillar

Tender – a vessel less than 3.5m length overall (loa) licensed in association with a summer moored vessel, used for ferrying to & from the mooring. Such tenders are confined to a certain area of the hardstanding in summer & Ted’s Folly. Other small vessels are deemed to be dinghies & are subject to space availability on the hardstanding.

Tidal Harbour – see Wet Harbour

VIS – see Racks

Wet Harbour  / Wet Berth / Tidal Harbour – tidal area bounded by the harbour walls.

Email the Membership Secretary at any time, stating your current licenses and what changes you hope for.  The Harbour Board convenes near the start of most months with membership matters an agenda item.

The Harbour Board sets out its end-of-season craning and winter berthing plan at its September meeting. To avoid last-minute amendments, no requests for new or increased license requirements for the forthcoming winter will be considered if received after the 31^st August.

It was, and has always remained, a condition of membership that the Association accepts no liability whatsoever for any property stored by members. If the Association was to accept such a liability the insurance would be so impossibly expensive that the harbour would have to close.

We do not own the cliff and the National Trust, which does, does not insure against Acts of God.

The Harbour Board cannot entertain any claim made by members but must refer you back to your application which makes this clear and asks you to confirm that you have insurance for your own vessel.

Padlocks are not permitted to secure licensed vessels to any structure at the Harbour with the exception that canoes may be locked to the rack on which they are stored by bicycle-type locking cable.  Should it be necessary, the Harbour Board reserves the right to cut such devices without recompense to the owner.

Buy?   No.    The fundus is owned by LFHA.

However the Harbour Board issues renewable annual licenses to its Members for the laying of a mooring for a specific licensed vessel at an agreed position on its property.   The hardware for a licensed mooring  is owned by the licensee, whose responsibility it is to maintain the tackle in good order.

Members laying a mooring for the first time or taking over a disused mooring pay a non-returnable registration fee, together with an annual license fee related to the length of the specific vessel.

The fees for such licenses are set annually.

All  hardware & equipment associated with a mooring allocation is the responsibility of the licensee at all times – procurement, laying, regular maintenance & renewal.

Email the membership secretary to pursue an application for a mooring in the estuary.

Yes, email the membership secretary to enquire if there are any spare places.

The LFHA owns the single storey building abutting the Sailing Clubhouse, which is used as an outboard store for Members.

The Harbour Board is the Executive arm of the LFHA.  With a maximum of 10 elected members, half of whom resign each year but may stand again for election.  Co-options are allowed when required.

Board members have specific duties; new nominees need to state what roles they are prepared to take on.