Practical Boat Owner - July 2018

THURSDAY 14 JUNEISSUE ON SALE SUMMER

Next

month

SUMMER PBO ON

SALE 14 JUNE

BOATS

Second-hand test

■ Peter Poland compares the

Elan 340 cruiser-racer with the

Elan Impression 344

■ Round Britain boats

Rupert Holmes looks at choosing

a boat for sailing round Britain

including singlehanded options

CRUISING

Readers’ stories

■ Enjoying the unspoilt

Peloponnese, plus a childhood

adventure on the East Coast

PRACTICAL

Electric Bounty’s End

■ Conrad Humphreys on fi tting

his Mutiny launch with a motor

EAST COAST AND SOUTH-EAST

SCOTLAND

Donald Campbell’s rebuilt

Bluebird K7 will be returning

to the water this August for a

crew training exercise on

Loch Fad on the Isle of Bute.

The two-tonnne jet

hydroplane crashed, killing

Public consultation is

underway on plans for major

developments at Stornoway

Harbour. The proposals

include a deep water port with

a 400m-long quay and a new

100-berth marina, with a

services building, public

slipway, boat lift, hard

standing for boat storage and

an engineering workshop.

Stornoway Port Authority’s

existing marina can take up to

80 yachts, but it says this isn’t

enough to meet the growth in

marine tourism.

The 2016 Sailing Tourism in

Scotland report, funded by

Highlands & Islands

Enterprise, The Crown Estate

and Scottish Canals,

CONSULTATION ON STORNOWAY HARBOUR PLANS

estimated the value of sailing

tourism in Scotland could

increase by 18% by 2023.

FORTH & CLYDE CANAL

CONCERNS

A third bridge has shut on the

Forth & Clyde Canal. The

waterway, between Bowling

and Grangemouth, was

closed to through traffi c in

January after the bridges at

Bonnybridge and Twechar

were deemed unsafe. Now

the pedestrian bridge at

Knightswood, Glasgow, has

also shut. The Inland

Waterways Association wants

repairs to be made urgently,

citing the impact on boaters.

Scottish Canals said it is

looking at a short-term

solution until funding for

repairs can be found.

Campbell, in 1967 during a

record attempt at Coniston

Water in the Lake District. The

vessel was recovered in 2001,

and volunteers, led by Bill

Smith (pictured), have been

restoring the boat since then.

The former coxswain of

Scarborough RNLI has

accused the charity of losing

‘its focus in saving lives at

sea’ after he was stood down

for leading an ‘unauthorised

training exercise’ in 2017.

A petition is underway for

the reinstatement of Tom

SCARBOROUGH RNLI ROW

Clark, who said the RNLI’s

claims were ‘rubbish’.

In a statement, the RNLI said

Clark ‘led an unoffi cial exercise’

where untrained passengers

‘were given operational control

of the lifeboat in poor weather

conditions and strong winds’.

It said no contingency plan

had been put in place for an

emergency call.

Clark said he has previously

taken out RNLI donors, and

that on this occasion, he took

out two passengers, one of

whom was an RNLI

representative.

Scarborough’s inshore and

all-weather lifeboats remain

in service.

DUNKIRK LITTLE SHIP

DISCOVERED

An investigation by Norfolk’s

Rescue Wooden Boats has

confi rmed that the former

whelker, Bessie, was one of

the Dunkirk Little Ships.

The charity has been

restoring Bessie, which

worked out of Wells harbour,

since 2011. Built for

fi sherman Billy Cox in 1935,

Bessie was one of four boats

Gary Williamson/Alamy

Owen Humphreys/PA Images

RNLI/Alison Levett

CAMPBELL’S BLUEBIRD RETURNS

Bessie in the 1940s

A new 100-berth marina is

planned for Stornoway

Bluebird K7 will

be on the water

again in August

which took part in a failed

secret rescue effort in 1940

across the English Channel.

The Association of Dunkirk

Little Ships has added Bessie

to their register.

Kent’s Queenborough

Harbour is trying to raise

funds by encouraging

people to ‘Adopt a Plank’

from its newly refurbished

walkway. The harbour trust said all the money raised would go

towards improving harbour facilities for users.

ADOPT A PLANK

Tony Lilley/Alamy

Tom Clark (centre) has been

stood down by the RNLI