MSBA AGM, Tues 27 Nov 2018

Dear members, partners and friends,

The Medway and Swale Boating Association annual general meeting will take place next Tuesday 27 November 2018 at 19.00hrs at the Kent Boat and Ski Club, Cuxton. This meeting will be followed by the quarterly business meeting.

We request that your organisation is represented at our meetings. Everyone is most welcome. Snacks will be provided in the interlude between meetings and there is a well-stocked bar.

The agendas for both meetings and minutes from the 2017 AGM and the September business meeting can be found via this LINK

If anyone would like to stand for the executive committee, please send nominations to the secretary before the meeting.

Medway Queen and the Smithsonian

Medway Queen features in the online version of the Smithsonian Magazine. A contact out of the blue requesting information on MQ’s part in Operation Dynamo was responded to in quick time to meet a tight timescale and the article appeared online last week. Going from first contact to “in print” within just 3 days!

The article contains details of Medway Queen’s part in the operation with many links to other information including the MQPS website. Appearances in magazines such as this are always very welcome as they put the MQPS before a new audience that may not already be familiar with the ship, her story and our efforts to restore her.

Read the article in Smithsonian Magazine…

Police miss golden opportunity to catch suspected people smugglers

David Metcalfe, Commodore of Lower Halstow Yacht Club, has confirmed that the burned out red boat which seriously damaged their jetty was the coaching launch stolen earlier in the day from Medway Towns Rowing Club. Here is his account of what happened yesterday:

Sadly yesterday evening around 17.00 one of our committee members was alerted to our jetty being on fire. The blaze was attacked with buckets of water and finally extinguished with the club’s long hose pipe. A red dinghy was found to be the cause resting on the lower landing stage. The fire brigade attended with 3 appliances and pulled the remains of the boat off and placed it alongside the slip.

Separately, the Gransden family reported intruders, possible illegal immigrants on their sailing smack, Thistle, off Shoregate Wharf. It was also reported that a red dinghy/rib was alongside Thistle. The Coast Guard attended, but with no enforcement powers and the tide out were unable to do anything. Kent Police decided it didn’t require an attendance.

Had Kent Police shown an interest in the possible illegal immigrants and intercepted them as the tide came in, that issue could have been resolved and MTRC’s stolen launch could have been recovered.

Instead, due to Kent Police’s ineffectual response, the launch was driven to our jetty and set alight, completely destroying the launch and causing serious damage to our jetty.

Did you see this boat yesterday?

One of the Medway Town Rowing Club’s coaching launches was stolen from Rochester yesterday morning at about 5am (high water). The boat is a Fun-Zac Secu 12 and the engine is a Tohatsu Model MFS 98 A3, engine serial number 027905.  As you can see in the photo, it is a very distinctive colour!

The theft may have been connected with incidents at Lower Halstow later in the day resulting in a red boat being set on fire causing damage to the Lower Halstow Yacht Club jetty. A group of suspicious people were seen during much of the day on moored boats belonging to members of Shoregate Wharf Sailing Club but the suspects had gone by the time police arrived in the evening. Several items had been stolen from a smack and foil blankets had been abandoned.

If you saw a boat like the one in the photo yesterday or witnessed what was going on at Lower Halstow please call Kent Police on 101 quoting reference 15-1509

Queenborough Harbour closed from 15 Nov

The harbour will be closed from the evening of this THURSDAY 15th November for up to 2 weeks. The next stage of works involves removing the link span bridge from the walkway to allow the repairs to be made. The team will still be available up at the South Street office and via the normal lines of communication. We will have a trot boat up the creek to enable us to still make checks on your moorings and vessels.

Mystery boat on Rochester Pier – gone!

A grey and orange vessel is moored on Rochester Pier without authorisation, the council have served a notice which expires on Thursday 15 November.

If the owner does not move the vessel off the pier, the council will seize the boat and sell it. If anyone knows who the owner is, please ask them to contact Medway Council as soon as possible to remove the boat from Rochester Pier.

UPDATE 14 Nov: The boat has now gone to Strood riverside but the mystery remains unsolved!