Practical Boat Owner — November 2017

Diary Dates

Send your diary dates

to [email protected],

see more online at

http://www.pbo.co.uk/events

n Kent Boat Jumble,

8 October, The Hop Farm,

Tonbridge. boat-jumbles.co.uk

n HMS Trincomalee’s Secret

Stories, 18 October.

The last in a series of talks by

the Curator, Clare Hunt, given

as part of the ship’s bicentenary

celebrations.

The talks are half an hour long

and focus on different themes,

uncovering some of the histories

of the ship that aren’t covered

on the site or in the guidebooks.

They take place lunchtimes and

evenings in the Baltic Suite at

National Museum of the Royal

Navy, Hartlepool. Tickets are £

each (£10 with entry to site).

https://tickets.historicdockyard.

co.uk/WebStore/shop/

ViewItems.

aspx?CG=NMRN&C=EVE

n Scotland’s Boat Show, 13-

October, Kip Marina, featuring

free talks and demonstrations

with PBO Ask the Experts Live!

http://www.scotlandsboatshow.co.uk

n East Hants (Indoor) Boat

Jumble, 5 November, Havant

Leisure Centre, Hampshire,

boat-jumbles.co.uk

n London Boat Show 2018,

10-14 January, at London

ExCeL, londonboatshow.com

n Round Britain and Ireland

2018, 3 June two-handed race,

Plymouth start, rwyc.org/rbandi

n Golden Globe Race 2018,

will start on 30 June, Plymouth,

http://www.goldengloberace.com

n The Irish Sailing and

Mountaineering Adventure

Challenge 2018

The Irish Sailing and

Mountaineering Adventure

Challenge – The ISAMAC –

will start at 6pm on Saturday

16 June 2018 in Kinsale, and

involves yacht crews sailing

and mountain-running through

some of the most picturesque

scenery in Ireland.

The challenge starts with

a 12.5km ‘Two Forts’ running

race around Kinsale. Crews

then sail to Adrigole to run the

Hungry Hill ridge, before sailing

to Templenoe to cycle to and

climb Carrauntoohil – Ireland’s

highest mountain at 1038m.

The final sailing leg is to Dingle,

from where the runners will

take the ridge to Mount

Brandon (952m) and back to

Dingle to the finish – in John

Benny’s Pub.

http://www.ISAMAC-race.com

rya seeks government assurances

on red diesel after Belgian fines

Lobster pot survey and petition

relaunched following election

Sailors and powerboaters are
being urged to log issues and
entanglements with fishing
gear. Since the launch of the
RYA’s online form in May 2017,
just 85 reports have been
submitted despite
considerable anecdotal
evidence that incidents occur
much more frequently. The
reporting of 58 entanglements
and 27 observations has
proved useful in identifying
hotspots around the country
and the RYA has published a
‘heat map’ of poorly marked
fishing gear based on the
incident reports.
The RYA’s fishing gear
entanglement report provides
a simple to complete electronic
form in an attempt to collate
quantitative data to support
boaters’ concerns.
A petition recently launched
by the Cruising Association
urges the Minister of State
(DEFRA) to improve the way
static fishing gear is marked for
the safety of all small craft at
sea. With over 3,200 signatures
to date it is evident that boaters
feel strongly about this issue,
but unless the petition is

A map of reported entanglements around the UK and Irish coast

An EU committee on Excise Duty met in mid-September 2017

The RYA has welcomed
assurances from Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs
(HMRC) that the department
will strive to defend the UK

stance on red diesel as the

Committee on Excise Duties

and Indirect Tax Expert Group

(attended by all 28 EU states)

prepared to consider the issue

in mid-September 2017.

The meeting comes after

British boat owners were fined

in Belgium for having traces of

red diesel in their tanks (see

PBO news, September 2017

issue). These issues were the

subject of a ‘productive’

discussion between HMRC,

Craig Mackinlay MP, the RYA,

and the Cruising Association.

RYA Cruising Manager,

Stuart Carruthers, said: ‘The

UK Government and the

European Commission have

been in discussions over the

continued availability of

marked ‘red’ diesel for use in

private pleasure craft in the UK

for several years. We will

continue to actively lobby on

this matter, working closely

with HMRC, and will keep

boaters informed.’

underpinned by data, it may

simply be seen by

Government as an emotive

demand for action based on

nothing more than opinion

rather than factual evidence.

The online reporting form is

readily available on the RYA

website at http://www.rya.org.uk/go/

entanglements.

NEWS