fireball
New member
Ok - if your scraping down both sides of the mudbank at the same time then it is narrow ... but .. if leisure vessels (and I believe it is generally leisure vessels where the confusion arises) believe that they are operating within "rule 9" then what are the general guidelines for identifying a narrow channel?
Clearly a narrow channel for a 60' vessel is not always a narrow channel for a 15' launch, but how does the 15' launch know that the 60'er is operating in a narrow channel? I accept there are no hard and fast rules that cover every situation, but there must be a general acceptance of what constitutes a Narrow Channel for the vessels navigating it.
Chi Harbour (and I know the world revolves around the solent ... but technically Chi harbour isn't in the solent ... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif ) Office has stated that fairways with swinging moorings constitute a Narrow Channel and those devoid of moorings do not to all vessels.
Using Chi Harbours definition as a guideline a guestimate of the width of the fairway in between moorings in the Itchenor reach is ~100 foot. As this fairway serves Chichester Marina I've taken a guess that a mean size of vessels using the fairway are in the region of 40' ... this gives an approximation of 2.5 x LOA.
I accept that there are other factors that come into account - strong wind and tide always make it more interesting, but I believe a general rule of thumb is needed to make a clearer definition of Narrow Channel.
Taking this to a conclusion would indicate that any stretch of water whose width is less than or equal to 2.5 x LOA would constitute a Narrow Channel for that vessel, thus enabling other water users to judge more easily if a vessel is expecting to operate under rule 9 and give way accordingly.
Does that seem like a reasonable conclusion from the assumptions made?
Clearly a narrow channel for a 60' vessel is not always a narrow channel for a 15' launch, but how does the 15' launch know that the 60'er is operating in a narrow channel? I accept there are no hard and fast rules that cover every situation, but there must be a general acceptance of what constitutes a Narrow Channel for the vessels navigating it.
Chi Harbour (and I know the world revolves around the solent ... but technically Chi harbour isn't in the solent ... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif ) Office has stated that fairways with swinging moorings constitute a Narrow Channel and those devoid of moorings do not to all vessels.
Using Chi Harbours definition as a guideline a guestimate of the width of the fairway in between moorings in the Itchenor reach is ~100 foot. As this fairway serves Chichester Marina I've taken a guess that a mean size of vessels using the fairway are in the region of 40' ... this gives an approximation of 2.5 x LOA.
I accept that there are other factors that come into account - strong wind and tide always make it more interesting, but I believe a general rule of thumb is needed to make a clearer definition of Narrow Channel.
Taking this to a conclusion would indicate that any stretch of water whose width is less than or equal to 2.5 x LOA would constitute a Narrow Channel for that vessel, thus enabling other water users to judge more easily if a vessel is expecting to operate under rule 9 and give way accordingly.
Does that seem like a reasonable conclusion from the assumptions made?
