Oban Bay Consultation - Need to Teview New Harbour Authority Proposal

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 36384
  • Start date Start date
Quandary said:
I suspect that the big change has been the considerable increase in visiting cruise liners most of which anchor N.of Kerrera and the traffic that the continuous stream of tenders running back and forward through the N entance generates.
Click to expand...

One has appeared overnight right next to where I'm anchored.

IMG_20180706_090838514-1040x780.jpg

I wonder if I could cadge a lift into town.
 
This all sounds like the arguments over the Right To Roam and Loch Lomond camping restrictions, existing laws and by-laws existed to deal with the problems but they just weren’t enforced. Why not cure the problem by enforcing the existing Oban Bay by-laws? If the cruise ships are the problem, refuse access to ones that flout the rules. Gunboats? :)
 
Quandary said:
I suspect that the big change has been the considerable increase in visiting cruise liners most of which anchor N.of Kerrera and the traffic that the continuous stream of tenders running back and forward through the N entance generates. Who would have expected a few years ago that they would often have two anchored outside and another in the bay? The new pontoons have encouraged a lot more small cruise boat visits too. At both Oban and Tobermory the cruise liners are generating a lot more money than the yachts so the focus is changing, though the barely walking clientele do not seem to spend much.
Inverary surely has potential for a cruise liner destination if they can overcome their problems with the private pier.
Click to expand...

A very good point. Just been up at Invergorden for a week and 4 cruiseliners berthed overnight, whiskey trail bus trips. Aberdeen is building a dedicated tender dock and transit point for buses to Royal Deeside. Inveraray, a great idea as a cruise liner destination. At the end of the day it’s a market that needs to be addressed and Oban bay should do a lot more to take advantage of it’s transport hub. I wonder what it would take to build a new North Pier big enough for the large cruise liners, as well as removing the various hazards to navigation. In from the south, out to the north.
 
I have seen it stated that Oban is the 2nd busiest ferry port in the UK. It is getting very busy, and there have been incidents of yachts impeding larger vessels who are constrained by draught/ability to manoeuvre in the bay. It is sadly routine to hear 5 blasts from one of the larger Calmac ferries.
I do not understand why a trust port is not the first consideration, Tobermory has led the way in its setup for years, but Oban has always seemed backward.
 
ctva said:
This all sounds like the arguments over the Right To Roam and Loch Lomond camping restrictions, existing laws and by-laws existed to deal with the problems but they just weren’t enforced. Why not cure the problem by enforcing the existing Oban Bay by-laws? If the cruise ships are the problem, refuse access to ones that flout the rules. Gunboats? :)
Click to expand...

The cruise ships are the ones they want, yachties are now just a pain to be put up with, the long delay in Oban's pontoons ended when the cruise ships started coming to Tobermory and they constructed a berthing pontoon to encourage them. Oban saw what could be done and followed.
 
Quandary said:
The cruise ships are the ones they want, yachties are now just a pain to be put up with, the long delay in Oban's pontoons ended when the cruise ships started coming to Tobermory and they constructed a berthing pontoon to encourage them. Oban saw what could be done and followed.
Click to expand...

Well summed up.

While I welcome the new pontoons, the Oban Bay "masterplan" has, in my view, not been well thought out. Two examples;

1. Calmac ferries are now making "all ships" announcements on Ch16 advising other mariners to hear their announcements on Ch12. What's the point? Their announcement takes just as long as it would to tell us that they were about to enter/leave by the north channel. Most yachts have their radios down below while their skippers are in the cockpit. I'd be surprised if everyone bothers to go down and switch over to Ch12 and I'd guess that many simply ignore these double announcements;

2. A new (port hand on entering) green buoy appeared in the north channel quite close to the west cardinal buoy. I suspect that its siting, combined with the "large vessel designated narrow channel" malarkey has caused confusion and led some sailors to assume that the "small vessel route" goes NE of the cardinal, which would risk grounding on the Corran Ledge.

Whether the changes were justified or not, it does seem to me that this has been a bureaucratic top-down decision that has not taken account of the needs and views of all interested parties.

To make matters worse, the harbour authorities are, even now, publishing contradictory information about the above mentioned green buoy;

- now you see it - http://www.obanharbour.scot/files/1615/2041/8671/CoP_A4_2sided_2018.pdf

- now you don't - http://www.obanharbour.scot/files/1015/1083/5474/A4Poster.pdf
 
Well highlighted, Donald. In addition these pdf's give the impression that the harbours are 'Calmac Harbours' which they are most definitely not.

Donald
 
How do you come to that conclusion? Largevessel definition can be applied to lots of vessels, not just CalMac Ferries.
 
I have to admit that after being told to stick to the edges as it has now been designated a narrow channel I nearly succumbed to ‘the ledge’! I have been using Oban for years and am well aware of it but one thing drives out another and I was creeping round the edge dutifully avoiding the main channel before I remembered the ledge and needed to take quick action to get back on track! Stupid of me but I am sure someone will ground at some point!
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
How do you come to that conclusion? Largevessel definition can be applied to lots of vessels, not just CalMac Ferries.
Click to expand...

One of the favoured options is the Oban Harbour being managed by CMAL - who whilst technically not the ferry operator, they do own all the CalMac ferries so perhaps somewhat ferry oriented rather than fully representative of wider harbour users.
 
stevepick said:
I have seen it stated that Oban is the 2nd busiest ferry port in the UK. It is getting very busy, and there have been incidents of yachts impeding larger vessels who are constrained by draught/ability to manoeuvre in the bay.
Click to expand...

Where, precisely, are they restrained by their draught?

Np3J2Io.png


This sounds like the same sort of rule stretching which has in the past led the masters of stone carriers to claim that the Sound of Mull is a "narrow channel".
 
pmagowan said:
I have to admit that after being told to stick to the edges as it has now been designated a narrow channel I nearly succumbed to ‘the ledge’! I have been using Oban for years and am well aware of it but one thing drives out another and I was creeping round the edge dutifully avoiding the main channel before I remembered the ledge and needed to take quick action to get back on track! Stupid of me but I am sure someone will ground at some point!
Click to expand...

A (very) recent survey of the north channel confirms that the beacon off the NE tip of Rubha a Chruidh is 25m in from the edge of the navigable area at LWS. That makes the small craft channel very narrow with a very hard edge at LWS.
 
doraymefa said:
A (very) recent survey of the north channel confirms that the beacon off the NE tip of Rubha a Chruidh is 25m in from the edge of the navigable area at LWS. That makes the small craft channel very narrow with a very hard edge at LWS.
Click to expand...

I am in the marina on Kerrera at the moment. I came past that beacon at LW this afternoon ... in 2 metres of water. Eeek. The small craft route is, as you say, VERY narrow.

I was interested to note that the Coruisk approached from the south, cutting across the small craft route and did not, as far as I could hear, make any announcement.

The marina, by the way, is a ghost town. I suspect it is being eaten alive by the transit marina. It's a lovely place, though, and even though I am here for a shopping trip into Oban (dead engine battery) I wouldn't want to stay on the town side.
 
Last edited:
Aja said:
Basically the bit not on your selective chart
Click to expand...

I'm not convinced. With the exception of the rocks, it's all pretty deep, and it's the width rather than the depth which constrains in the north entrance. I can probably only get 10m closer to the shore than the Clansman ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Black Diamond
Farewell to the creeks ....
Replies
2
Views
897
MikeBz
MikeBz

Share this page

Top