HAYLE SLUICE

[Mark R]

Guide.

[Mark R]

Some time ago I received a message saying that use of the sluice was for Hayle Canoe Club members only.

Anyone know more about this?

[StoneWeasel]

Some time ago I received a message saying that use of the sluice was for Hayle Canoe Club members only.

Anyone know more about this?

Just go paddle it, you will get no hassle, I have certainly never had any. I would recommend parking somewhere where the harbour authority has no jurisdiction though, I recommend the old dive shop just past Jewsons which has a path down to the water running along side the abandoned shop.

Denzil

[Simon Westgarth]

D they still have slalom gates set up there?

[StoneWeasel]

D they still have slalom gates set up there?

Not for many many years I'm afraid, some of the guys from Hayle CC still come over in those strange long pointy things but they don't have any gates.

Denzil

[Simon Westgarth]

D they still have slalom gates set up there?

Not for many many years I'm afraid, some of the guys from Hayle CC still come over in those strange long pointy things but they don't have any gates.

Denzil

Are they any gates set up in the South West? If not were would be a god place, as I have a friend who needs to train using them.

[StoneWeasel]

D they still have slalom gates set up there?

Not for many many years I'm afraid, some of the guys from Hayle CC still come over in those strange long pointy things but they don't have any gates.

Denzil

Are they any gates set up in the South West? If not were would be a god place, as I have a friend who needs to train using them.

I can't think of anywhere that has gates set up, unless Penzance canoe club have some secret training facility hidden away. It may be worth contacting Hayle Canoe Club to ask about the possibility of gates at the sluice as they are in communication with the harbour authority that dictates what is allowed.

Denzil

[Rich aka Jesus]

Update on access; just back from a surf trip and stopped off to check out the wave. We were on less than an hour and when we got off a security truck pulled up. According to the security guard, no access is permitted unless you are a member of the local canoe club (£28 p/a) and they (council?) are aiming to prosecute in future cases inline with whatever by-laws exist. Currently no visible signs displayed.

[StoneWeasel]

Never been pulled up by them before, how odd they are starting now. I'll head down there some more and see what the hell is going on, see if we can not work something out.

What I would do in the mean time though is if you are questioned tell them you are part of Hayle club but your tag is on your other boat (none of the club members ever seem to have there tags on there boats when playing in the sluice).

Denzil

[StoneWeasel]

Looks like I have upset the Hayle Harbour lot.

Dear Mr Pearce

I have been instructed by the Hayle harbour master to inform you that only members of the Hayle canoe club are authorised to use the water under HHML jurisdiction. You should be aware that failure to comply with the byelaws or harbour masters directions is a criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted.

Guidance provided by you to others re the Hayle sluice on various Web sites has been down loaded for the attention of our solicitors and is to be removed immediatly please confirm that this has been done.

Any person found to be on the water who cannot be identifed as a member of the HCC will be instructed to leave the site should this result in a confrontational situation the police will be informed.

Regards
P Haddock Deputy HM

I have sent an email in response

Hi there,

I am really very disappointed that you are taking this stance. After the sluice has been being used for at 15 years by kayakers all over the country being the only tidal playspot in 400 miles and as such the only thing to keep white water kayakers and freestyle kayakers entertained through the dry summer months within 400 miles.
The current stance of all paddlers having to be a member of Hayle Canoe Club is completely unworkable, most people visit the sluice a handful of times a year or less, over the summer visiting paddlers often call through just once. Expecting people to pay £28 for the priverlidge is just not reasonable, apart from which the sluice is a fikkle beast so people could well go through the logistical hassle and expense of joining a club they have no contact with in many cases based hundreds of miles away only to find the sluice not working anyway when they turn up to paddle.
I am particularly dissapointed as at all changes of ownership / issueing of development plans etc. we have always been promised that kayaking on the sluice would not be affected and would always be taken into consideration, now we find that you are trying to shut down paddling on the sluice apart from for a handful of (maybe 10) paddlers from Hayle Canoe Club that use the sluice.
I find the current situation quite detestable and would ask you to work with paddlers towards a more reasonable solution in which the sluice would be usable as the summer playspot it has been being used as for over a decade and a half.

I would also request that you inform me how you got hold of this private email address?

Yours Sinceraly,
D Pearce

I will keep people posted as to how this develops, if I vanish for a long time anyone fancy breaking me out of jail?

Denzil

[andya]

Dear Mr Pearce

I have been instructed by the Hayle harbour master to inform you that only members of the Hayle canoe club are authorised to use the water under HHML jurisdiction. You should be aware that failure to comply with the byelaws or harbour masters directions is a criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted.

Guidance provided by you to others re the Hayle sluice on various Web sites has been down loaded for the attention of our solicitors and is to be removed immediatly please confirm that this has been done.

Any person found to be on the water who cannot be identifed as a member of the HCC will be instructed to leave the site should this result in a confrontational situation the police will be informed.

Regards
P Haddock Deputy HM

This seems like quite a heavy handed over reaction, to you saying "what I would do" ....

Never been pulled up by them before, how odd they are starting now. I'll head down there some more and see what the hell is going on, see if we can not work something out.

What I would do in the mean time though is if you are questioned tell them you are part of Hayle club but your tag is on your other boat (none of the club members ever seem to have there tags on there boats when playing in the sluice).

Denzil

Sad times to see infighting over the few remaining resources left. Just my 2p

[StoneWeasel]

Bad times indeed. Obviously with the current goings on and my posts being passed on to legal types it would be a catastrophically bad idea for me to encourage people to ignore the harbour authorities and go paddling anyway so I won't.
At the end of the day it is up to the individual to make up there own minds on how they should deal with the situation and as far as internet postings go I am sure I will behave and avoid the sluice until this is all blown over ;)

Denzil

P.S. I have a feeling I must have been dobbed in by a paddler, I doubt the Harbour Master is in the habit of trailing through UKRGB for posts about the sluice, now this really is bad times :(

[Hydraxian]

How rubbish, by the by is the sluice running at a good level any time this week?

[StoneWeasel]

How rubbish, by the by is the sluice running at a good level any time this week?

Not fantastic on any day but ok on one day, I'll PM you the details, it may save hassle.


Denzil

[quicky]

Is the sluice on a tidal part or private property?
Is this it?
http://www.hayle.net/documents/2478_roa ... thquay.pdf

[StoneWeasel]

It's Tidal but part of the harbour and is therefore legally 'owned' by the harbour authority despite it being tidal.

I have checked this out in the past and yep they have the authority to kick us off if they so wish, as sadly it appears they now do.

Denzil

[graemepaterson]

Hayle Canoe Club should be ashamed of themselves.

[StoneWeasel]

This has a lot more to do with the Harbour Authority than the club but I get the feeling that not everyone at the club can be smelling of roses throughout this.

I do not want to besmirch the club though, there are a lot of very nice helpful people in Hayle club that are none too happy about the whole situation either and it is a very active and good club.

Anyone though that has had any hand in getting things to this awful state though should feel very ashamed of themselves indeed, this spot has seen myself and many many others through many a dry summer.

Denzil

[renhoek]

I'll visit you Denzil, when there's no surf :-). Marc

[storm]

How about a mass paddle at Hayle local press TV ETC to expose the evil harbour authority,obviously this isnt something I would I would suggest just the thoughts of a friend of mine.
Steve

[jadedkayaker]

Dear Mr Pearce

I have been instructed by the Hayle harbour master to inform you that only members of the Hayle canoe club are authorised to use the water under HHML jurisdiction. You should be aware that failure to comply with the byelaws or harbour masters directions is a criminal offence for which you can be prosecuted.

Guidance provided by you to others re the Hayle sluice on various Web sites has been down loaded for the attention of our solicitors and is to be removed immediatly please confirm that this has been done.

Any person found to be on the water who cannot be identifed as a member of the HCC will be instructed to leave the site should this result in a confrontational situation the police will be informed.

Regards
P Haddock Deputy HM

This reeks of the kind of bluff and bluster we have been accustomed to receiving from so-called landowners and their angling buddies.
I would ask the Harbour Master:
- what authority HHML invoke in limiting this facility to HCC members
- what byelaws apply specifically to this situation (None, probably)
- what HM directions apply specifically to this situation (ditto)
- what authority do HHML think they have to instruct you to remove non-defamatory material from a public website
- what on earth can HHML possibly gain from this stance, other than alienating a sector of the general public? There is clearly no income involved.

Furthermore, the only possible source of confrontation is clearly from HHML and their "security" operators interfering in the harmless activity of law-abiding canoeists, so go ahead and bring on the police.

[Strad]

This quote from the dept of transport (dft port safety website) is interesting.

Harbour authorities have been created by statute to serve a public interest. Where a harbour authority has been established, there is a public right to use the harbour for the shipping and unshipping of goods and passengers. As a general rule, there is also a public right of navigation in harbour waters. The public interest is wider than that of harbour users, however, including the local community and environment; and there are duties to ensure that these too are protected in the management of the harbour undertaking.

1) I was always under the impression that Harbour Authorities were like gods if they said x you did x (given to me when sailing as a nipper) looks like I was wrong to an extent, like many jobsworths their role is to serve the public not give them issues
2) I think this bit is important - As a general rule, there is also a public right of navigation in harbour waters - although I guess it could be argued as to whether playing on a sluice constitutes navigation

[jadedkayaker]

1) I was always under the impression that Harbour Authorities were like gods if they said x you did x (given to me when sailing as a nipper) looks like I was wrong to an extent, like many jobsworths their role is to serve the public not give them issues
2) I think this bit is important - As a general rule, there is also a public right of navigation in harbour waters - although I guess it could be argued as to whether playing on a sluice constitutes navigation

Thought they were probably bluffing. Nothing in there then about agreements with canoe clubs, byelaws against canoeing, removal of things they don't agree with on web-sites, etc. Sounds like they ought to be promoting water-borne activity, not trying to restrict it.
Still, let's be charitable - maybe they think they are acting in the interests of public safety or some other honourable, if misguided, cause. Perhaps all will become clear in the course of Denzil's prosecution.......

[Jon_Brown]

Spotted this in thisiscornwall not sure if is good access news?-
HAYLE harbour assets could end up in public ownership, it has emerged.

Hayle mayor, John Bennett, said this week background negotiations were going on over the transfer of harbour owner ING's land and property.

These could include East Quay, access land to the train station, land around Copperhouse Pool, including Wilson's Pool and the Triangular Spit, Penpol Terrace garden strip, the north side of Isis Gardens, the harbour office, walkways around the quay, moorings, Dynamite Quay and Carnsew Quay.

[mahobalib]

hi all,
just curious whats the current access situation of the hayle sluice most of these posts seem pretty old and I was wondering if the situation was out dated, and all is good now for a free session??

[Effigy Cutter]

Hi Guys/Gals
As Hayle Club is an affiliate of the BCU couldn't they, if they wanted, give members of the BCU an affiliate membership. Then if you were in the BCU you would be an affiliate member of Hayle cub so you could paddle the sluice. Seems easy to me, I'm not a lawyer and I don't know where Hayle Sluice is, but it seems an easy get out.
Good luck to all. :)

[Ribster]

I don't think you can get access to the sluice at present, or if its even working. As part of the re-development work to the North Quay a new bridge is being built over where the sluice was so you can't get near it.

I am not sure what the situation will be once once the building work is completed, although I have heard that the plan is for sluicing to start again to reduce the silting of the harour.

[Ollie5]

We went on satarday 25th Feb, my mate who lives in Hayle took us, access was easy we just parked up by the Hayle canoe club stores then paddled over carried our boats over to the pond and waited for tide to come in. Never saw anyone as all the building work has slowed down apparently with the recession etc.. I wasnt overimpressed to be honest but worth going once, theres better waves on the Dart.

[paddletastic2]

Thinking of checking this out over the next few days. As I understand it 6 pm is high tide locally so we need to be there at 3? Anything we need to know?