Dock drama/dilemma

Russ Calasant

Russ Calasant

Active Member
Dec 9, 2009
2,128
East Greenwich, RI
Boat Info
2001 480 DB
Engines
CAT 3196
Thought this would be a good place to throw this out there and get some opinions.
Our dock at the marina has a reputation of being a "party" dock. There are often late night parties that can and usually are accomanied by loud music. I will admit sometimes the later it gets and the more alcohol added the music gets louder. 80% of the dock is usually involved which typically accounts for 99% of the folks that are actually at the dock. I have been at the dock for 4 years now and am a lead offender. We have never been made aware of any complaints other than the rare occasion there is a transient. Our repution is well known by management and the other docks. Also keep in mind as the season begins and wraps up it's a more common occurrence, not so much during the season as we are all off to other destinations.
Enter the problem; we have a new dock mate and he does not subscribe to our "party" culture, particularly the loud music. He had spoken to many people prior to joining our dock and was forewarned. He chose to slip in the middle of the core "offenders". To his credit he seems to be a nice man and he is discussing this with us first for resolution. However he does threaten to speak with management and local law enforcement. I agree that a compromise should probably be made. I am not sure what that should be and I can only speak for me but he seems to direct it to me because I think I have been friendly and helpful aside from my loud music contribution.

I hope I have fairly represented the situation, what do you think? Any one else had similar situations? Dock drama!?
 
Here'e my 2cents. He knew you were party animals when he moved in.
If it were me I would look for a more low key dock as I have killed all the brain cells I need to and just sit and watch the sun go down before retiring to bed and make love to my wife all night long.
 
What are the rules in the marina? I think you need to consider the rules for the small minority that doesn't participate and work a reasonable compromise. But now you have a person that doesn't want to party - can you compromise on the music?
 
Why do you have your tunes so loud in the first place :huh: Are you deaf while drinking. :grin:
 
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Why did he choose the slip he did knowing about the parties? Is it a prime slip? It would seem easiest for him just to get a new slip away from the noise. If that's not possible, you may want to check the marina rules as suggested. Is there a quiet hour? How late do you go? If you go past midnight on a weekend, or around 11 on a weekday, maybe you could consider those your self imposed quiet hours, if the marina has none.
 
Wow. Sounds like my club! Seriously though, this is a tough one. A thousand years ago, when I was in my 20's, I was one of the "offenders" as well. While we partied, had loud music, the occasional bikini-clad (or not) debauchery and the like, we were cognizant of the fact that not everybody partied, and that some folks wanted a quiet place to dock, etc. So, we kept it down after midnight. In fact, quiet time was really 11pm. Management didn't really say too much, unless it REALLY got out of hand.

Also, our marina management actually had one area set aside for quiet boaters only, and no partying was aloud. That seemed to work well.

Fast forward almost 30 years, and I'm now the new guy at the yacht club. I'm dead-center between my friends, and they are partiers, and I really don't any more. But, I couldn't care less. (But I will still participate in drunkin bikini-clad debauchery!) We're lucky, because everybody will get smashed up at the club, then just mosey down to the dock and it stays pretty quiet.

Now, your non-partying friend decided to dock by you folks, and knew what he was getting into. It's tough to just tell someone "hey, we were here first", because boating is supposed to be about commraderie (sp), friendship and all that. IMHO, if you have a bunch of people (no matter what the circumstances) that are partiers, everybody's gonna think that the quiet guy is trying to throw a wrench into your fun, and a few might even get pissed off and tell the guy to take a long walk off his short dock. That'll just cause more issues.

I think it's fair to say that if he speaks with management, he'll most likely be moved to a more quiet area of the marina, after giving you guys the speech about being friendly boaters.

As far as getting law enforcement involved, I doubt if the cops will come onto a private marina. But, they could give management a hard time.

Good luck on this one...
 
I'd suggest you contact Gideons and get a supply of bibles, then at 6:00 or so turn off the music and start your bible study.

Oh wait, did I just say that? Sorry, kinda lost my head for a moment. This guy sounds like the kind who would move near an airport then beitch about the noise. If the noise hasn't been a problem with the marina management in the past the precedent is already well established. I'd politely tell the guy that he might find more quiet on a distant dock.

GFC
 
I think the "marina rules" are clear. "Party till you puke. Make sure clothes are removed prior to puking (hard to clean)".
 
everyone one knows we are the party dock, it is explained to all by the owners prior to them accepting a slips. Usually done by midnight, occasionally we go over the the captains dock or the fire pit as they are farther away from the boats. Or up to the old repair building if we have a band.

Had a family of Mormons move in, spent two days before they moved to another dock. Nice guy, I helped him a bit with some tornado damage he had.
 
Be proactive and speak with management yourself. Tell him of the situation and mybe they will talk to him about moving. This way it looks like management cares and everybody is happy.
 
Hey Russ,

That really stinks when you have a group formed and everyone is enjoying the time as 99% of dock mates are accustom to and all of a sudden you get a new “party pooper” who’s messing it all up. IMO, all questions like why he chose to stay knowing the fact that this is a party dock, are all irrelevant. He simply might have thought that he doesn’t mind partying and this could be fun, so why not, let’s give it a shot. But, now he faced the reality where it’s more than he can tolerate. In short, as others have mentioned, as long as you’re within the quite hours limits (I don’t remember exactly, but it’s around before 6am-7am and after11pm) he can’t do much. If you go beyond that, then legally he’s right and if he calls authorities you’ll have to take it down to the comfortable level to everyone around.

The fact that he came to you first shows that he’s tries maintain the “normal” way of doing things and he’s just trying to resolve the situation among yourselves. The fact that he starting to mention getting 3rd parties involved means only one thing, he tried to handle it within the group internally but it’s not working to his satisfaction.

Before you get to the point where other parties are involved (marina management and/or authorities) have you asked him if he considered moving to another dock since this is not working for him? This is of course will be entirely his personal preference and decision. He may not care what others will think of him if he chooses to stay just b/c he likes the spot, but it would be your best outcome if you guys can nicely talk him in to relocation. It's obviously best if you could keep all of it internally between him and the group and get marina menagement to help occomodating him with new spot.
 
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I've been on both sides of this one before - and I'm dealing with a situation right now - my take is I rent one slip form the marina, just like everyone else. My obligation, as well as theirs, Is only to abide by the rules of the marina and or law. IF everyone is following the "rules" and I still don't like the situation i guess I have three choices - deal with it, move, or rent all of the slips around me. Too many people think that because they pay the marina 5k+ for a slip they can control the environment of the entire marina - case in point, At a marina I used to be at, of one of the docks we could "stern to" and have a great view of the bay - then the marina started renting out the face dock to 100' transients blocking the view - people started to ***** to management - my reply - rent the face dock slip every weekend so you can have your view - that shut 'em up.

It would be nice if everyone on both sides of any given situation could use common sense (in Russ' case if the party pooper just applied some this situation would not exist) - but it never seems to happen that way.
 
Oldskool: I like the way you think

Skolbe: There are no rules but I am thinking the music compromise is the way to go.

Waynes World: Yes, do you drink? is the short answer/question. Long answer, music sounds better louder especially when your on the dock and it's coming from the boat. We typically have many bikini clad women at our parties and they like to dance.

Ch435: inot sure, it is a good slip. I agree with quite hour I think.

Rick: yes, I know. Four years was too good to be true. Everyone was really getting along, no issues or drama - we even planned winter activities together.

GFC: That was our first reaction, he first approached us mid party! Not a good idea.

Monaco: I am not sure but he likes it and does not want to move.

Comsnark: that about sums it up!

Bucit: great minds do think alike!

Alex: yes it does stink, solid logic, thanks for your input- I will talk to you more off line.

Ididntdoit: What if there are no rules? And every slip around is rented by like minded folks? It is an unfortunate situation.


A little more info, this guy approached the situation like a bull in a china shop- just about the same subtlety. He is a retired out of town policeman and has an aggressive edge, not to mention the bravado. Other slip renter backgrounds include an active state police detective, four lawyers, a couple marketing folks and a few other various professions- quite a group. This is just to provide some insight, i am not type casting or disparaging any proffesion! We work hard and we play hard and do not like to be told when or how to do it. This being said I am of the same mind as a lot of you and would really like to get along. I have agreed to lower the volume at midnight, I cannot speak for the rest but I am getting some pretty good buy-in thus far. I appreciate everyone's input- thank you.
 
This guy sounds like an a-hole on a power trip. I am a little shocked that your marina doesn't have mandatory quiet hours, but if that is the rule who is this guy to tell you to do something different? You have done right to try to make peace with him. Have you spoken with him while all parties were of clear heads? Was he able to see your side of the story?
Hopefully you can find a peaceful solution to this.

Good Luck!
 
Leave a case of beer (full, not empties... LOL) on his swim platform, he'll get the picture...
 
Well.......

If he dosen't accept the nice present on his swim platform, than recycle the beer in the fuel fill....
 
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