Practical Boat Owner — January 2018

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■ This is a picture of our seadog Sam. He

loves sailing and likes going for rides in the

dinghy but getting back on board can be a

bit tricky! As you can see, while the rest of

the crew are all busy working on board he

relaxes with a PBO.

Fergus Rodgers (age 10)

Inverurie, Aberdeenshire

SEADOG OF THE MONTH

Send us your seadog photos for our web gallery

http://www.pbo.co.uk/seadogs and your pet could well

£30 become Seadog of the Month and win you £

stems from vessels running
generators or their engines in
harbour to sustain battery
strength – the exhausts of
many of them seem often to
be directly in line with
monohull cockpits spraying
water and exhaust gasses
straight into the cockpits.
I’m no scientist but
understand that carbon
monoxide and diesel
particulates kill people.
I do know that the MCA
don’t appreciate this because
they have a ludicrous
regulation (sent down from
shipping) that states that
engine bays should have
polluted air extracted from
engine bays and vented into
the cockpit – right where
people are, of course.
This message is for many
people, not least of whom are
the owners, builders and
charterers of these types of
larger yachts: the exhausts
should not be situated in line
with the main hatches or
cockpits of other, smaller
yachts if the idea is to be in
harbours or marinas.
Engines generally should
not be run in marinas or quays
where there are people who
might be poisoned by

Q I hope readers who cruise in French waters

found December’s Cruising Notes on the River

Risle of interest. In addition to the two pictures

published the attached will probably be of

particular interest as it shows the stone shoal

at LW springs that needs to be avoided. It isn’t

at all soft like the surrounding ooze. This photo

was taken at LW springs. At LW neaps, this

shoal is concealed.

Richard Hare

the exhausts. This is much

more than simply arrogant

bad manners – it really could

result in death or serious

illness.

I understand that big yachts

in the quieter Caribbean run

engines and generators while

they are at anchor or on a

mooring, where they rarely

affect anybody else, but doing

it in busy European harbours

and marinas is not just

inconsiderate but also

presents great danger to other

boat users.

Pumping these gases into

other people’s living space is

not far off attempted murder. It

is certainly an assault likely

to cause injury.

Less dangerous but

certainly antisocial, as these

engines and generators are

also invariably water cooled

the endless splashing can be

infuriating on an otherwise

quiet evening.

So before some boat owner

kills someone, I thought it best

to publicise this matter and

bring it out into the open.

Finally, I’d advise affected

parties to move to somewhere

else for their own safety and

peace of mind. Either that or

jam a potato up the offending

exhaust! Carbon Monoxide

KILLS and diesel particulates

do the same thing – only

more slowly.

Please wake up, all boaters,

and give some thoughtful

consideration to your

neighbours when at anchor.

Barrie Neilson

Sailing Holidays Ltd

See the invisible

pot buoys

Q When driving along a

country road do we expect to

fi nd something placed in the

way that can damage our car?

Do we expect the person

who placed it there to fi t it with

adequate lighting or refl ection

and is it a good enough

excuse that the object placed

is merely painted yellow?

We do of course by law have

to have lights on our car so

driving along the road we

should see anything ahead,

providing of course that it has

good refl ecting properties.

On the water it is entirely

different. We have no lights

and on a cloudy, moonless

night nothing but a black mass

exists beyond our coat collar.

The chance of hitting

something without it being

seen is therefore very real and

not within our ability to avoid.

Modern location devices

these days are extremely

cheap and can be fi tted in

minutes. A good many of us

already have similar devices

attached to our car keys so we

can fi nd them using our mobile

phone, so it should not be

beyond the wit of man to

adapt such a device to show

buoy locations.

I believe it should be

mandatory that anything

placed upon the water from

pot buoys to racing buoys

should not only be large and

refl ective enough to see, and

be marked with ownership

details, but also have a

location device fi tted.

Tony Barlow

Stone shoal on the

River Risle needs

to be avoided

Tom Cunliffe

Hidden shoal of the River Risle

LETTERS