Practical Boat Owner – June 2019

A campaign is under way to save the Bristol

Channel pilot cutter Frolic, which was the fi rst

boat of its kind to have a steel boom.

The 55ft vessel, which was built in 1905, is

currently languishing in Skarholmen near

Bergen, Norway and has to be moved by

mid-May or face destruction.

The current owner has agreed to sell Frolic

for one Norwegian krone, but the boat needs

shipping back to the UK because it isn’t

seaworthy. It is estimated that 95% of the

vessel will need to be restored.

Will Loram, who is behind the campaign,

said Frolic was based out of Cardiff and the

boat should be returned to Wales where it

would be included in the National Ships

Register of the top 200 most important

historical vessels in the UK.

“These cutters are incredibly seaworthy

and the likes of Bill Tilman took them around

the world. We would like to bring Frolic back

to Cardiff to be restored and used as an

attraction and educational resource to

illustrate Cardiff’s maritime history,” he said.

From 1905 until 1933 Frolic was a working

boat before being sold to Major Jack

Crosthwaite Eyre. Under his ownership,

Frolic won the inaugural Cock of the Channel

Race in 1936. It is one of just 18 Bristol

Channel Pilot Cutters left.

Anyone interested in joining the campaign

to save Frolic can email Will Loram at

[email protected]

NEWS

Abandoned boats on a Fens

river have been scrapped,

including a Dunkirk Little Ship

which helped to rescue troops

during the Second World War.

The Environment Agency

(EA) said it had tried to contact

the owner of the 40ft wooden

cruiser, Compass Rose, but

without success. While some

vessels had been left to rot in

the River Lark at Isleham in

Cambridgeshire, others,

including the Compass Ross,

had sunk, causing a hazard to

navigation and the

environment. Most were not

registered with the EA – a legal

requirement for all vessels

using EA-controlled waterways.

The UK Harbour Masters’

Association has publicly

acknowledged that abandoned

boats are a growing problem

around the UK, especially as

there is a lack of facilities for

safely breaking up unwanted

boats or recycling parts. It is

also relatively easy to erase

traces of a boat’s identity

before it is abandoned.

The RYA has previously said it

would back a UK boat

scrapping scheme. It is part of

the European Boating

Association, which has already

set up a working party to look

at the issue.

In March, Canada passed Bill

C-64, The Wrecked, Abandoned

or Hazardous Vessels Act,

which prohibits vessel

abandonment and increases

owner responsibility and liability

for vessels. It also enables the

Government of Canada to

remove problem vessels and

send owners the bill.

Blitz on abandoned boats

En

vi
ro

nm

en

t^ A

ge

nc

y

U

ni

ve

rs

al

Im

ag

es

G

ro

up

/G

et

ty

The

Maritime &

Coastguard

Agency (MCA) has issued

a special safety bulletin to

all mariners who use older

GPS following a so-called

week number rollover

event on 6 April 2019.

Find out if it affects you.

What is a week number

rollover event?

All GPS systems count

time in weeks after 6

January 1980. The week

number is stored as a

10-bit binary number

which only allows for a

maximum of 1,024 weeks

(19.7 years) before

resetting itself to 0. This

rollover to 0 happened on

6 April 2019 and had the

potential to affect all GPS

receivers and systems

using GPS chips for both

position and UTC which

are over 10 years old.

How do I know if my

GPS is affected?

Only equipment more

than 10 years old and that

hasn’t had regular

fi rmware updates from the

manufacturer is at risk. If it

is affected, your GPS will

show an incorrect date,

either 19.7 years in the

past or future.

Will this affect the my

GPS accuracy?

The MCA has advised that

the size of an error on

position readouts has not

been quantifi ed, but

stressed that all satellite

positions are based on time

and therefore any wrong

time in the system will

have an impact. The US

Department of Homeland

Security reported that a

nanosecond error in GPS

Time can equate to one

foot of position error.

What should I do if I

think I have an error?

Yachtsmen with older

units should contact the

GPS system manufacturer

to see if they need to take

any specifi c action.

The Compass Rose was causing a hazard

to navigation on the River Lark

Frolic, built in 1905, is just one of 18 Bristol

Channel pilot cutters left

Race to save Frolic

Is your GPS

accurate?