Miker
New member
Had a good sail from Fleetwood to Whitehaven and back last weekend. On the way out past Walney Island at around HW I noticed a couple of Red flags on poles that I thought were lobster pots. Little did I know!
On the way back passing Walney Island at an hour after LW, cutting it a bit fine in 19 ft of water but no worse than our sails of last year, we saw ahead what we thought was a line of dark seaweed. As we approached the depth suddenly dropped and I realised that it was a raised gas pipeline and the "lobster pot" flags were in fact warning markers - not very big, easy to miss and not visible in the dark. My 2010 chart shows the pipeline but does not mention any reduced clearance. My 1826 Irish Sea East does mention the possibility of upto 2 metres less clearance. Pity I didn't study the small print before, but even then 19 feet to less than 6 is more than 2 metres!
I can find nothing in any notice to mariners so what have I missed? As well as nearly hit.
On the way back passing Walney Island at an hour after LW, cutting it a bit fine in 19 ft of water but no worse than our sails of last year, we saw ahead what we thought was a line of dark seaweed. As we approached the depth suddenly dropped and I realised that it was a raised gas pipeline and the "lobster pot" flags were in fact warning markers - not very big, easy to miss and not visible in the dark. My 2010 chart shows the pipeline but does not mention any reduced clearance. My 1826 Irish Sea East does mention the possibility of upto 2 metres less clearance. Pity I didn't study the small print before, but even then 19 feet to less than 6 is more than 2 metres!
I can find nothing in any notice to mariners so what have I missed? As well as nearly hit.