Motor Boat & Yachting — February 2018

UKNEWS

MCA registers vessel

The UK Ship Register, part of the

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

(MCA), has registered its first

unmanned vessel to the British flag.

Built by ASV Unmanned Marine

Systems, the C-Worker 7 is a mult-

irole work-class ASV (autonomous

surface vehicle) suitable for a variety

of offshore and coastal assignments.

It can be used to complete tasks

such as subsea positioning, surveying

and environmental monitoring

without the need of a ship on station

or seabed anchoring.

Doug Barrow, director the UK

Ship Register said, “By supporting

emerging technologies such as

autonomous systems, we are helping

to keep the UK at the forefront

of the global maritime industry.”

First UK-fl agged

unmanned craft

Chichester goes to the dark side

All eyes on revamped London

Boat show organisers go for a new layout and shorter format to win over critics

Harbour designated three discovery sites as excellent spots for stargazing

A revamped London Boat Show will

hope to revive flagging interest when

it opens its doors on January 10. The

show will feature a new layout with

all the main boat stands lined up

along the back wall. A shorter five-

day format should also help reduce

exhibitor costs, attract more small

marine businesses and focus visitor

numbers into a narrower time frame.

There will also be a greater

emphasis on getting into boating,

including an all new Boating &

Watersports Holiday Show within

the same exhibition hall at ExCeL

and an inland boating section.

So far the signs look positive, with

23% of the exhibitors being new

to the show. The Boardwalk display

of smaller boats is also proving

popular with over 200 craft already

confirmed, an increase on last year.

Take up from the bigger boat

manufacturers has been mixed

but Sunseeker, Princess and Fairline

will all be displaying boats, as will

Prestige, Bavaria and Bénéteau.

Organisers British Marine say

35 boats will be making their show

debuts at London, including the new

Princess V50 and Rodman Spirit 42

Coupé, though many manufacturers

appear to be keeping their powder

dry for Düsseldorf later in the month.

Visit http://www.londonboatshow.com for

further details.

Three new Dark Sky Discovery Sites

have been designated in Chichester

Harbour. The sites were all identified

as excellent places for stargazing due

to their levels of darkness, excellent

lines of sight and good accessibility.

The locations are in West Itchenor,

Chidham and Thorney Island.

Chichester Harbour Conservancy

made the nominations earlier this

year and each was approved by the

Science and Technology Facilities

28,

THE MONTH

IN NUMBERS

Days of service carried out by

volunteer assistant lock keepers

and boatmen on the Thames

since the scheme began in 2010.

200

250,

Over 200 members have joined

the ACR ARTEX SurvivorClub

since 2012. The club is for people

whose lives have been saved

by an ACR or ARTEX beacon.

Visitors expected to attend the

Düsseldorf boat show in January,

said by organisers to be the

world’s largest boat show.

Council. The designations were

particularly welcomed because in

2016, the Campaign to Protect Rural

England said that the harbour had

some of the highest levels of light

pollution across England’s 33 Areas

of Outstanding Natural Beauty. By

raising awareness of the issue, the

conservancy hopes such ‘night blight’

can be reversed.

Roger Price, the chairman of the

conservancy, said, “Preserving our

dark skies has so many benefits...

for education and astronomy, for

nocturnal animals... For humans, dark

skies are critical as they affect our

health and wellbeing.” During 2018,

the conservancy will organise a

number of stargazing events with the

South Downs Astronomical Society.

12

British Marine will

hope the relaunch

proves popular

Dark sky at night

is to Chichester

Harbour’s delight

The distinctive C-Worker 7 will

perform a variety of tasks