New Year Competition.............Pot Buoys

[Fascadale]

Where deserves the nomination as the worst place round the coast of this big island for pot buoys? (for sheer density) The ones round Portland Bill usually get a mention but my three worst places would be, in ranking order,

The very worst....................... the three Nms to the south of the Tees, off Redcar, well marked but hundreds of them

The second very worst(?)..........................Montrose to Stonehaven, barely visible black flags

The third very worst (???)........................The Antrim coast south of Glenarm

I thought the Portland Bill buoys a potential nuisance, especially dragged down in the tide, but there were not very many of them.

The Redcar buoys, although there are very many of them are extremely well marked but I'm glad I didn't motor through them in the dark.

 

[Daedelus]

Weren't many but the ones in the Alderney race put the fear of God into me.

Screamed past them doing about 12 knots over the ground (only 4 of them mine) and the markers were just submerged with the strength of the tide. Thought that if we get one caught round the prop or rudder it'll probably pull the stern under so quickly that the boat will sink.

 

[Duffer]

The ones that really bug me are the ones at the entrance to Plymouth sound that use old plastic oil cans/milk bottles. They are invisible in the dark or against the sun (if we ever get any!) When they are properly marked with brightly coloured buoy and flag there isn't much excuse for hitting them so keep looking under the jib!

 

[Lady Campanula]

The proliferation of unmarked pots along the Portland Bill Inshore Route is one reason I prefer to route well south of that corner, for it is no place to have a line around your rudder - as the Weymouth Lifeboat records show clearly.

The same problem in the charted approach channels to Plymouth Sound is growing, and one which the Queen's Harbour Master is well capable of sorting out. He will probably have his staff respond to a certain volume of complaint, so here's the URL.

If it matters to you, bang in an email....

 

[John_Silver]

Les Hanois, Guernsey gets my vote. Got my prop too headed back to Poole from Perros Guirec September just gone. Saw one big pink buoy overr the swell. Diverted 10 boatlengths downtide and downwind of it. Got a wrap as they say. Lifeboat said they twin the pot buoys on sw corner of Guernsey with up to half a km of in this case floating line. Other buoy must have been either towed under or behind the swell to starboard. Cox said he'd just had £20k's worth of engine damage to his Contessa due to exactly the same cause. Watch out for twinned pot buoys if you're off the west coast of Guernsey and take Les Hanois WIDE even if wind & tide are setting you off nicely!!

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Cox said he'd just had £20k's worth of engine damage to his Contessa due to exactly the same cause.

How did he manage that? The boat itself isnt worth a lot more than 20k!

 

[DJE]

Some years ago there was a huge expanse of pot buoys off Hastings between Sovereign Harbour and Dungeness. All in nice straight lines though and well marked with black flags but there were hundreds of them!

 

[prv]

More than ever am I glad of my long keel, prop aperture, and keel-hung rudder!

(Ok, I know it doesn't make me invulnerable, but it certainly helps.)

Pete