Please make sure your club or organisation is represented at our next business meeting on Tuesday 26 September, 7pm, at Strood Yacht Club. You should receive the agenda and minutes by email very soon. If you don’t receive anything please let webmaster@msba.org.uk know so we can update our list.
Following a complaint by Whistable Yacht Club, a report published on the Marine Management Organisation’s website acknowledges that the presence of oyster trestles causes or is likely to cause obstruction or danger to navigation, whilst concluding that the farm’s operations are now acceptable as a low risk to marine navigation.
In response, the RYA has formally written to the Director of Marine Licensing at the MMO setting out their concerns with the report and arguing that the measures put in place since the investigation started do not negate the need for a marine licence. The RYA considers that these trestles require a full marine licence on the basis that they could cause obstruction or danger to navigation.
Photo Dan Salter
In the early hours of this morning, a huge blaze has destroyed eight boats, three cabins and a workshop at Iron Wharf, Faversham.
UPDATE: A 30 year old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson.
John Kempton at MDL Chatham Marina asks if anyone knows anything about this 25ft approx cabin cruiser that has been left on their upstream lock fendering. There are no markings on the boat. Please contact j.kempton(at)mdlmarinas.co.uk
Poorly marked lobster pots and fishing gear are the most difficult and unpredictable hazard facing coastal cruising people. Fishermen, too, report the loss of expensive gear as a result of entanglements. These encounters could even be life-threatening. In one year alone the RNLI dealt with 295 incidents of fouled propellers. Most Cruising Association members say they would try to sort the problem out themselves so this could be a fraction of the actual number. One lifeboat station said 25% of their call-outs were purely from boats caught up in fishing gear.
Network Rail will be closing the non-tidal River Medway to navigation at the railway bridge, just upstream of the disused lock and below Branbridges at East Peckham, (known as East Peckham Rail Bridge). This is effective from the 1st October until mid December – for essential Bridge repairs.
Young talent across the RYA London and South East region is receiving a boost thanks to Performance and Coaching Bursaries from the regional Youth Training Fund Charity (YTFC). The awards are intended to provide modest financial assistance to support either a sailor’s ongoing efforts to fulfill their recognised potential or a coach’s activities towards the development of their talent and coaching ambitions. The RYA has a bursary for young people who do dinghy sailing.
Tony Rowe, RYA YTFC Secretary, says: “The YTFC has been established for many years and is well known for its provision of dinghy fleets to support the sail training of young people in Kent and Sussex. The demand for the fleets is diminishing as clubs become more self-sufficient and the Trustees have decided to supplement the provision of dinghies with ‘Youth Bursaries’ to encourage young sailors in the form of the new bursaries. We have an abundance of talent in the region and we want to give all our young sailors, whether destined for podiums or as coaches, the best chance to realise their ambitions.”
Photo Lee Marriot
Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club will be hosting the world famous Round the Island Race, a true “tick in the box of life” for leisure and professional sailors. This year the event is open to all types of “non mechanical” vessels including windsurfers, rowers and stand-up paddleboards as well as dinghies and catamarans. Estimated number of entries: 50 – 100 boats.
UPDATE: Phone number for the race will be 01795 663052 and will be on channel 37 Call sign Shepp.
PLEASE NOTE: Queenborough Harbour will be closed to visiting boats from Noon Friday 8th to 6pm Sunday 10 September to accommodate the classic boat event. We hope to see you there, but kindly request you come by road or rail.
Nick Ardley
is an eccentric, an anachronism from a simpler age, for the way he sails his clinker sloop around the Thames estuary. In Rochester to Richmond: A Thames Estuary Sailor’s View. The book is a reflective journey between Rochester and London, a path once of commerce, but now pleasure. Rochester was of immense importance to Britain’s past trading richness too. The belching chimneys pouring acrid fumes and cement dust have evaporated. Oil refineries have slipped away, but wharves lining the banks survive. As a distraction, he wanders a little above Rochester and then again, a little above the Pool of London towards Richmond. Between, he lands amongst the marsh and mud, finding graves and farmsteads enveloped in purslane and lavender. Many towns sailed past were part of this heritage, supplying building materials and food carried by the tan-sailed barge to London. Ardley dips and dabbles into these communities and explores how they have transformed.
Nick will have copies available on Whimbrel at the Queenborough Classic Boat Festival on 9+10 September.