By John Francis, Bruce Peninsula Press
COVID-19 inspired a lot of people to take up new hobbies — golf, gardening and baking have all grown in popularity but enthusiasm for sailing, yachting and fishing has also increased. To accommodate this, MNBP implemented new policies and regulations for Lion’s Head Marina.
The marina has approximately 210 berths; traditionally there have been about 100 boats with full-season slips, plus another 70 with height-of-season slips. There was also a sizeable waiting list.
Under the new regulations, more than 200 slips can be rented for the full season. Nearly all of the height-of-season sailors agreed to convert to full-season and nearly 40 people from the waiting list now have slips. Harbourmaster John Malott explains that unfortunately, this doesn’t quite eliminate the waiting list — it went from over 70 to about 20, with a few more slips to assign, but with the popularity of boating, “the waiting list keeps growing”.
The new system will still leave four or five berths available for transients and in a pinch, there are always vacant seasonal spots that can be used, as local yachters often sail away on trips for weeks at a time.
A busy season is expected.
