We start this latest harbour news by welcoming Darleen Ellis as our new Maritime Assistant. Darleen brings a lot of maritime experience to the role and has already made her mark on the harbour with her organisation and attention to detail.
It’s been a busy summer, with lots of visitors making use of the harbour facilities. We’ve seen a lot of people launching boats and particularly jet skis. Whilst the majority of people have been well behaved, they have been let down by a number of people not following rules and behaving in not only an inconsiderate, but also unsafe way.
The hot weather attracted a lot of people to the water, with many jumping off the quays as well as swimming in the harbour entrance. This is an extremely dangerous practice, with a high risk of collision with powered vessels operating within the harbour. Please swim away from the areas that boat operate in.
August brought an unfortunate incident of a van getting stuck on the beach and subsequently flooded by the tide. This is why we have a policy of no vehicles to park on the beach.
September will not be as busy as usual at the harbour, with not only the Fish Festival, but also both the Men’s and Ladies’ gig championships cancelled – all due to the current Covid situation.
MAIB Report – Globetrotter
Following an investigation led by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch the UK Harbour Masters Association, RYA and other maritime bodies have been asked to highlight the lessons learned from this accident and other similar accidents and to request assistance with promulgating the advice contained in Emily’s Code to leisure boat users.
Summary of accident
At about 0800 on 31 May 2020, the 12m wooden hulled recreational boat Globetrotter sank in 5m of water during a sea angling trip off the coast of Fleetwood, England. Its owner made a Mayday call shortly before he, his son and a friend all entered the water. None of the sea anglers were wearing lifejackets or buoyancy aids, but they were able to use Globetrotter’s two lifebuoys to help them remain afloat. The legs of the owner’s son became entangled in Globetrotter’s anchor rope and despite the exhaustive rescue efforts of the crews of two nearby boats, he was dragged under the water and drowned.
Safety Issues
Globetrotter was not in a seaworthy condition and was ill prepared for the voyage the owner was an experienced leisure boat user but had little appreciation of the risks he was taking and the importance of passage planning the son’s chances of survival would have been increased had he been wearing a personal flotation device.
For further information please see – https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/sinking-of-the-wooden-hulled-motorboat-globetrotter-with-loss-of-1-life & https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge/safety/emilys-code
