Bookings for this year’s RYA Cruising Conference are now open! The online event has a packed schedule to interest regular and novice cruisers alike. Topics will include real-life stories from fellow cruisers, as well as practical cruising advice from the RYA experts and all the latest updates on travelling around the EU.
Places are free for RYA Members and just £10 for non-members. Tickets will allow you access to not only the live speaker sessions but also to the exhibition area where you will be able to visit virtual stands and chat with experts. You can also learn more about the current trends in the cruising world by watching the pre-recorded presentations and videos.
The historic Queenborough Harbour is to be linked with Milton Creek. At Queenborough, the harbour trust is improving mooring facilities for Thames sailing barges.
Lloyds Wharf, in Milton Creek, is home to the TSB Raybel Charters project. There is also a magnificent new building which will house the reborn Dolphin Barge Museum. An inaugural meeting is to be held shortly.
Peel Ports have arranged for two red beacons to be placed beside the wreck of the infamous “pirate ship” Revenge in Faversham Creek.
photo Michael Wilcox
Unfortunately one of the beacons is positioned just the wrong side of the channel and we have suggested that it should be moved. If you are passing the wreck please try not to knock the beacons.
Medway Yacht Club is looking for an RYA Senior Instructor to take on the Chief Instructor role on a full time, permanent basis. The role requires a flexible approach with the successful candidate working a minimum of 37 hour contract over weekends, evenings and bank holidays as required. Typical working week Wednesday – Sunday.
The position is designed to lead and manage the existing Club Sailing groups: Junior, Youth, Adults, Royal Engineers, NAS school all operating from March to November with Winter Training Sessions mostly for the Youth team. The position will also involve delivering Powerboat, Stand Up Paddle-boarding, shore-based courses as well as Team Building days. The successful applicant will lead on training at the Club and report to the Commodore and Flag Officers. The applicant will work closely with the other employees and volunteers.
The Forth Umpire was out yesterday collecting hazardous debris between Chatham and Peters bridge after the previous day’s tidal surge. Note that the majority of floating debris is sawn logs, believed to originate from tree lopping upstream on the non-tidal Medway.
Please see details below on how to join the meeting at 19.00 on Thursday, 14 January 2021, cruising in the USA and Canada: Cantilena of London sails Chesapeake Bay and the ‘Down East Loop.’ We all have a dream and Cruising Association members Des and Terry Crampton departed Ramsgate in May 2018 and shipped their Najad 380 Cantilena of London from Southampton to Baltimore MD, USA. Following exploration of Chesapeake Bay, they entered the Atlantic by transiting the C&D Canal and the Delaware River before sailing north along the New Jersey coast to New York City. Here they commenced the ‘Down East Loop’ which involves navigation into the upper reaches of the Hudson River and a lock-assisted climb over to the St Lawrence River. The circuit is completed by a south-westward cruise
Cantilena lands on the deck of MV Singelgracht in Southampton
of the Atlantic coasts of Nova Scotia and New England. Des and Terry took the opportunity to extend the Loop with an eastward passage of the Erie Canal, entering southern Lake Ontario at Oswego. Cantilena was winterised and stored at Sodus Point NY, and in early summer 2019 they began a clockwise circuit of Lake Ontario which included visits to Toronto, Bay of Quinte, Kingston, and the Thousand Islands. Having made the downward passage of the giant Seaway locks, they visited Montreal and Quebec City, sailed outwards around the Gaspe Peninsula, and returned to the Atlantic via the Northumberland and Canso Straights. Cantilena was winterised a second time and stored ashore in the beautiful Bras d’Or Lakes of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Covid-19 restrictions intervened in 2020 leaving Cantilena high and dry in Nova Scotia for her second winter There are some beautiful and stunning photographs including the whales! Please join us and make our first Zoom a success so that whilst the coronavirus pandemic continues we can still enjoy the CA Kent Winter Warmers.
The RYA’s annual Cruising Conference will take place as an online event next year on 21 March 2021. The conference promises to cover the issues that matter most to cruisers, including post-Brexit guidance, training insights, real-life stories from fellow cruisers, as well as the latest developments in safety and more.
Although the event cannot be held in-person this year the conference will still deliver informative and eye-opening talks from a range of speakers. There will also be opportunities for the audience to get involved and a chance to put questions to the experts.
We don’t normally feature news that is not specific to the tidal Medway and Swale but this has just been passed to us from Peter Norris, MSBA committee member and Director of Network Yacht Brokers. There are new Customs and HMRC rules that come into effect from 31December 2020.
Peel Ports have issued the following statement: “On the 26th of April 2020 a water craft collided with another vessel causing it to sink and causing serious injury to one of the occupants. Police attended the scene and the defendant was breathalysed and found to have a levels of alcohol in his system exceeding the amount permissible for driving a vehicle on the road, resulting in his arrest. The injured party maintained that the defendant had been performing ‘doughnut’ turns around her vessel but had lost control of his vessel causing it to collide with hers.
“The Port of Sheerness Ltd brought prosecution proceedings against the defendant pursuant to the Port Byelaws alleging that the defendant had failed to navigate his vessel with the requisite level of care and that he had been in charge of his vessel whilst unfit by reason of drink, contrary to byelaws 22 and 33 respectively. The defendant was summoned to appear before magistrates sitting at Medway on the 10th of December 2020. At this hearing the defendant pleaded guilty to both allegations and was ordered to pay fines, compensation and costs totalling £3,950.”
UPDATE: The “water craft” referred to in the Peel Ports Notice was a small motor cruiser, not a PWC (jet ski). The other vessel was a dinghy.
Peel Ports have asked us to notify boaters that a recent near miss incident involving a small fishing boat and an LNG vessel has highlighted an issue surrounding the movement of such ships and the proximity of small boats. LNG vessel movements are extremely sensitive for a number of reasons; the size of the vessel, the level of tug assistance required, the complexity of the berthing/unberthing manoeuvre and the very nature of the cargo they carry. When an LNG ship is transiting the River Medway or in the process of manoeuvring on/off the berth at Isle of Grain all vessels are required to keep well clear and maintain a safe distance.
The chart above shows the potential turning circle of an LNG ship and indicates the amount of sea room that needs to be kept clear for the turning manoeuvre. The area highlighted may alter depending on the size of the vessel and if the adjacent LNG berth is occupied by another ship, however, the zone marked is based on the largest LNG vessels expected (345m). When the ship is fast alongside the established LNG berth exclusion zone and associated rules apply to all craft as per Medway NtoM 02 of 2020.
