News from your cruising areaRegional NewsSend us your local news stories. Email PBO news editor Laura Hodgetts at [email protected], tel: 01202 440825, or write to the address on page 5
NEW BERTHSNine new finger pontoons and an SOUTH
improved layout have created an extra 18 berths at Royal Clarence Marina in Gosport. The pontoons replace some of the alongside berths
at Royal Clarence, and the berths are suitable for boats of up to 10m LOA. The 18 extra berths were put in place by Walcon Marine last week and they
are already filling up. The marina now has 150 fully-serviced berths. EUROPEAN MARITIME DAY
A launch event celebrated Poole in Dorset’s successful bid to host European Maritime Day in May 2017. More than 80 people attended the
Borough of Poole Council-hosted event at the Kitchen, Poole Park, including representatives of the UK maritime sector. European Maritime
Day will encompass a two-day international conference at Poole Lighthouse, 18-19 May 2017, followed by a weekend maritime festival. Since
2008, European Maritime Day has been held by a different country each year: host cities have included Brussels, Rome, Gothenburg, Athens
and Valletta. The event in Poole will be the UK’s only time as a host nation.www.poolemaritimefestival.uk
FRENCH SAILOR TRAGEDYA 59-year-old skipper of the 10m CHANNEL ISLANDS
catamaran he fell overboard three miles north- west of Normandy’s Cap de la Hague in the Alderney Race, the notorious Moon Dele was lost when
stretch of water separating Normandy from Alderney. The catamaran had been sailing from Omonville back to her home port of Portbail when the
skipper fell overboard. His crewman threw a life ring which was subsequently recovered by the Alderney lifeboat some eight miles south of the reported
‘man overboard’ location.An extensive search on 11November involved the Alderney lifeboat Mona RigoletSearch aircraft and a French military Roy Barker I, Channel Islands Air , French lifeboat
helicopter. Two of the crew members helped to sail Dele darkness approached, the search was into Braye Harbour, Alderney. As Mona Rigolet Moon
stood down by French officials. Despite further searches by the French coastguard, the missing skipper has not been found.
YACHT DONATIONA Jersey yachtsman has donated his £25,000 boat to the cause of migrants and refugees who are facing a cold
winter in Calais camps. Boat owner Michael de Petrovsky visited the camps with aid and construction workers and was so touched by the
plight of people living there that the pensioner has now given his seven-berth racing cruiser to volunteer aid worker Ghazi Najib to Contango
aid the cause. Mr Najib says the boat is for sale, and the money raised will be used to build emergency shelters in the French port town. He told PBO
that more than 300 shelters are needed at a cost of $1,700 each; each shelter can accommodate 20 people and provide facilities for eating and
lighting. Mr de Petrovsky is also willing to continue paying the boat’s £350 a month mooring fees until it is sold. The yacht is being sold privately by Mr
Najib, who said: ‘Every penny countsat the moment before the winter hits.’on 07797 862492 or email [email protected] buyers can call Mr Najib(^) BURRY PORT DREDGINGWALES
Major dredging work is to be carried out at Burry Port Harbour for the first time in 10 years. Despite annual dredging of sand, silt has built up to
an unacceptable level and a tender has been put out for the removal of silt from the entire harbour basin. The work is expected to cost around £0.
million and will be completed before next summer.
RESCUE MILESTONEThe Irish Coast Guard (IRCG) IRELAND
helicopter crew, based in Sligo, reached their 300th search and rescue (SAR) mission in November, surpassing the previous record of 275 missions in
a single year. Services provided by the Sligo helicopter include operations conducted off the west and north-west coasts out to 200 miles, services to
casualties on offshore islands and support provided to the HSE ambulance service. Minister of State for transport, tourism and sport Michael
Ring praised the ‘world-class Coast Guard helicopter service delivering year-round, day and night support’ to
people on land or at sea, and also acknowledged the supporting work of the Volunteer Coast Guard teams.
ROYAL DEE BICENTENARYRoyal Dee Yacht Club, one of the NORTH-WEST
oldest yacht clubs in the UK, has been celebrating its 200th anniversary. The club continues to operate without a clubhouse, with meetings staged at
hotels, other yacht clubs and members’ houses. Eaton Park, the Duke of Westminster’s A special bicentenary dinner at
estate near Chester, saw members receive a silver label badge featuring the club’s wolf’s head motif. Past and Honorary Commodore Richard
Yeoward, an Honorary Life Member of the RYA and published author on flag etiquette, sadly passed away two days after the dinner. The final bicentenary
celebration of the year was a two-mile walk at low tide from West Kirby to Hilbre Island in the Dee estuary, where RDYC was founded.
OBAN VISITOR BERTHS Hopes have risen that Oban may get SCOTLAND
new visitors’ berths by the summer of 2017. Plans for 36 berths to be built between the North and Railway piers had stalled because Argyll and Bute
Council was unwilling to provide
SOUTH-WEST
MARINA PROPOSALFalmouth Harbour Commissioners have submitted a planning application for a new marina to
be built within the Custom House Quay basin in Falmouth. The proposal includes a floating marina with berths for 60 boats
up to 6m in length and a ramped pedestrian walkway, plus an outhaul facility for some 20 boats situated between Custom House
Quay and Grove Place Boat Park, with access via a pedestrian ramp to a pontoon. If the application is successful, it
is hoped that building work could be completed early in 2016. However, an online petition started by local resident David Barnicoat, which
calls for Falmouth Town Council and Cornwall Council to reject the plans, has attracted more than 1,100 signatures.
BREAKWATER PLANSFunds are being sought to build a new breakwater at Ilfracombe. North Devon Council has lodged a
bid with the Government’s Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for £15million towards the cost of the £35million project. The breakwater,
said the council leader, would increase safety for craft, provide better shelter within, boost the economy and rejuvenate the area.
Commissioners’ proposed new small boat facilitiesAn artist’s impression of Falmouth Harbour
Councillor Xena Dion and Jim Stewart, Chief Executive of Poole Harbour Commissioners