Yachting_Monthly_2016-01

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LETTERS

Most letters are edited for brevity. You can read more correspondence, online, at http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/letters

At our marina near Melbourne, Australia, we have developed a simple but highly effective method of controlling berthing.

It consists of 18mm nylon rope, 12in polystyrene ball floats and stainless steel turnbuckles.The nylon rope, complete

with styrene float balls, is attached across two finger berths, some 3ft short of the main dock. Knots are placed

each side of the floats to prevent their movement along the rope and the rope itself is secured and tensioned each end

with the turnbuckles.the rope at slow speed and her The boat is motored up to

forward momentum causes the rope to bow forward. The bow of the boat starts to move away from the finger pontoon, but it

is blocked and secured by the styrene ball.in forward gear and secured With the vessel still idling

against the styrene ball, you apply full left or right rudder to bring the stern across to align the boat with the finger

pontoon. Leave the boat idling in forward gear and simply step off and secure all lines. Easy!Ray Geake, Melbourne, Australia

6 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com january 2016

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Pull up to the bumper

PHOTO: Ray Geake

flying with lifejacketsBefore flying to Corfu, I contacted my carriers, Norwegian Air and BA, and the Civil Aviation

Authority, to establish that I could fly with my lifejacket with its 38g cylinder and two spare cylinders. I printed the permissions of all three.

were not permitted, so I produced the print-outs. After 40 minutes, we were allowed to fly, provided the cylinder was firmly screwed in, At Gatwick check-in, I was told lifejackets

with one spare cylinder per jacket, so we each gave the other to Norwegian Air’s collection of items wrongly taken from passengers. At Departures, we were told gas cylinders

were not permitted. I asked to speak to the supervisor, who asked why were we wasting his time, then I showed him the print-outs. Then we were allowed one cylinder per

lifejacket but not screwed in. Finally, we boarded with our spare cylinders and wearing our lifejackets, to the amusement of the crew.On declaring lifejackets and cylinders for

the return journey, BA check-in said that was fine, so did Security. British airports seem to be run by people who would rather apply a misunderstood regulation than common sense.

William Potter

RIGHT: The ultimate solution for bows-to marina berthing?

Sad sightWhile we were in Langstone there were two old, but serviceable small boats on the quay

looking sound, but a little unloved. On our return this is what we found. Hadn’t paid their mooring fees apparently! How sad – the Sea

Scouts would have loved them.Duncan Kent PHOTO: Duncan kenT

Have you paid your mooring fees? If not, your boat could go the same way

buoyant in bembridgeRegarding the letter about the grounding in Bembridge Harbour entrance channel (Nov 15),

perhaps some context would help. The evening before, my staff advised that, with high water at 0352, any exit should be as early as possible

using the middle of the channel. The yacht left at about 0630/0700 when the channel depth would have still been 2.2/2.4m, enough for her 1.4m draught, but motored along the channel’s

western edge. There was no damage to the yacht, and her crew enjoyed breakfast, tea and biscuits in our boardroom until she floated off. Regular groundings may have been the

case before our ownership, but since 2011 we have managed channel dredging and buoyage. Since May 2015 our new tidal depth gauge shows actual net depth at the channel

entrance, updated every 60 seconds (also available on our website and by phone). Together with markings on the visitors’ pontoon, all skippers are well briefed of

the prevailing depth, but like most Solent harbours, our access is tidal.Bembridge – a free overnight berth awaits!I’d like to invite the skipper and crew back to

Malcolm Thorpe, Bembridge Harbour Auth.