Heard Today

[Guest]

I heard this today on the River Medway as large commercial vessel xyz passed me.
"Vessel xyz this is Medway Radio"
"Medway Radio this is xyz"
"Sir we where watching you on our radar and CCTV system and you were recorded as doing 11 knots in Gillingham Reach. This is an offence under the local bye laws which are 6 knots in that stretch of the river"
"But M/Radio I dont think my wash caused any problems"
"Sorry xyz it did, as we have received a complaint from a moored boat. In future you must abide by the local bye laws or you will be recorded on CCTV and heavily fined"
"M/Radio sorry for any problems I caused, I will of course be more careful next time"
"xyz thankyou for your co-operation Medway Radio out"

AND that folks was only 1 of 3 I heard in one hour,
WELL DONE MEDWAY PORTS.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

And if they had fined the skipper £1000 on the spot then the next two wouldn't have been going so fast...... As near as I can work out 11knots is about twice the speed limit. An apology is fine but it doesn't do anything for the environmental damage caused by large wakes. The fact that your soup leaped out of the bowl and landed in your lap is secondary to the very real damage that wash does to the marine environment.

Rant over.

Regards


Fred

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

 

[FlyingSpud]

But if it was a large commercial vessel it would have had a pilot on board, so who is doing the speeding here?

 

[Guest]

One day they'll have cctv all over the solent to enforce the colregs.

Three strikes and you're out. Retake your ICC, after a minimum 12 months water ban, then watch your (compulsary) insurance premiums rocket.

Far fetched?

Good thing or bad?

Ps, Don't forget your B.O.T certeficate

 

[extravert]

The master is always in charge and always takes responsibility. A pilot is only there to advise. The master can take or leave his advice. Is something goes wrong or an offence is committed the master takes the blame.

 

[castaway]

I wish they would do something like that at the top of Portsmouth harbour. The stretch past my mooring must have some sort of dispensation for the local fishermen and ribs to open up and do 20kt.

Pi55e5 me off to see the port regulations flauted so regularly and openly.

Nick

 

[Guest]

Not nescessarily, for those boats that regularly use the river/docks you dont have to have a pilot aboard.

 

[Guest]

I would add that it was not me that "grassed him up" I was simply going by at the time and his wash was not that big, but he was stomping on a bit.
Medway Ports have had the ability to record both their radar and CCTV images for about a year now but it seems only now are they starting to "flex-their-mussles" and tell skippers that they are commiting an offence,whether they would actually fine a skipper is not sure, but they do at least threaten it!

 

[incognito]

Heard a week or so ago..

Approaching NForeland, Ch16 swamped with music - sounded vaguely EMediterranean - for some minutes.

Dover CG asked whoever it was broadcasting to please stop etc.

More music.

Dover CG announced that they had trained their DF onto the source and identified the boat, and that if it persisted they would be prosecuted. All in much more stern language than this.

Music stopped.

 

[bedouin]

Re: Heard a week or so ago..

What puzzles me about this is - if he was transmitting on Ch16 (or any other channel for that matter) how did he hear the CG asking him to stop?

Do commercial ships have duplex VHFs - and even if they do surely the local transmission would drown the CG at short range?

 

[FlyingSpud]

It is true the master is in 'charge' but a master who ignores a pilot is going to find himself with all sorts of problems if things go wrong. In practice, they are not going to argue. Most of the commercial shipping in the Medway does seem, to my ears anyway, to have a pilot.

One other point. The speed limit is 6 knots, but I assume that would be 6 knots through the water. There can be quite a current down there, so it could seem that a boat doing, say, 9 knots on the radar is still within the speed limit. Do you think Medway are cross referencing all this?