Pilot boats

[IanL]

Why do pilot boats always travel at top speed? Surely all their business is booked well in advance and they could set out a little earlier and travel at a more modest speed using less fuel and causing less wash.

I guess the answer is- because they can. Is there another reason?

 

[sailorman]

no doubt best torque rpm

 

[johnalison]

Although they no longer have to race each other for custom, I imagine that time is money to the owners. In Harwich they have to go a few miles to make contact, which could be ten minutes, or an hour at yacht speed. They can be a damned nuisance though. I got a wave from one once.

 

[colind3782]

If they're anything like me, they get up in plenty of time then get into internet/Facebook/YBW stuff and have to race out the door at the last minute!

 

[awol]

The Clyde yins slow down when passing yachts. Gentlemen.

 

[knuterikt]

Less speed = more travel time = less time piloting and less time available on the pilot boat = more pilots and boats or more waiting time for pilot.
increased cost for?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Less speed = more travel time = less time piloting and less time available on the pilot boat = more pilots and boats or more waiting time for pilot.
increased cost for?

Something good on telly, or one more choccy biccy to finish with their tea, so they leave at the last second.

 

[ionbard]

Not all of the Clyde chaps are gents.... Spilled my gin off the Cloch last year, one of them.

 

[horatio_nelson]

If I was a pilot I'd certainly blast around in my launch at high speed - perk of the job

 

[Stork_III]

If I was a pilot I'd certainly blast around in my launch at high speed - perk of the job

But best to stop once you reach the container ship. http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?374132-Ouch&highlight=pilot+boat

 

[ancient mariner]

If I was a pilot I'd certainly blast around in my launch at high speed - perk of the job

As a pilot of 35 years myself (and also a keen yachtsman I may add), I am constantly telling my Coxn's to slow down when passing yachts and other small craft, as the wash kicked up by our fast launches is often not appreciated by our leisure customers. Unfortunately, many pilot boat coxswains are not necessarily 'small boat men' and therefore do not have the full picture when it comes to the effect that the considerable wash can have on small craft. Ramsgate comes to mind here, as their pilot boat Coxn's seen to have little regard to moored yachts alongside on the West Marina visitor's pontoons, when putting out to sea or when returning into Ramsgate after landing a PLA or Medway pilot. I once witnessed a woman on a Belgian yacht which was moored safely alongside being knocked off her feet by the wash generated from a passing pilot boat (Estuary Elan), when outbound from the Royal Harbour on one occasion, due simply to the fact that that the pilot boat was proceeding at far more than a recognised 'safe speed' for the confines of the harbour in question. No excuses whatsoever then, and as far as pre-planning for pilot boarding/landing goes in these days of technology-advanced data systems etc , there is simply no excuse for 'just in time' and 'last minute rush' high-speed departures for any pilot vessel carrying out normal boarding and landing procedures in any port in the UK (irrespective of the "last cuppa or a few more digestive biscuits before we get under way, lads") thinking. I am perhaps fortune in being able to consider both sides of the argument in this case (ie: as a professional Marine Pilot as well as a yachtsman), but would advocate that good seamanship and perhaps more importantly, downright common sense prevail at all times, irrespective of whether it be commercial or leisure interests in the frame at the time.

 

[johnalison]

Thanks for that summary, which is at least partly encouraging. I'm surprised that this happened in Ramsgate, which would have been under the noses of the harbour office. I must have a word with my pontoon neighbour who is an ex Harwich pilot.

 

[Sybarite]

N

As a pilot of 35 years myself (and also a keen yachtsman I may add), I am constantly telling my Coxn's to slow down when passing yachts and other small craft, as the wash kicked up by our fast launches is often not appreciated by our leisure customers. Unfortunately, many pilot boat coxswains are not necessarily 'small boat men' and therefore do not have the full picture when it comes to the effect that the considerable wash can have on small craft. Ramsgate comes to mind here, as their pilot boat Coxn's seen to have little regard to moored yachts alongside on the West Marina visitor's pontoons, when putting out to sea or when returning into Ramsgate after landing a PLA or Medway pilot. I once witnessed a woman on a Belgian yacht which was moored safely alongside being knocked off her feet by the wash generated from a passing pilot boat (Estuary Elan), when outbound from the Royal Harbour on one occasion, due simply to the fact that that the pilot boat was proceeding at far more than a recognised 'safe speed' for the confines of the harbour in question. No excuses whatsoever then, and as far as pre-planning for pilot boarding/landing goes in these days of technology-advanced data systems etc , there is simply no excuse for 'just in time' and 'last minute rush' high-speed departures for any pilot vessel carrying out normal boarding and landing procedures in any port in the UK (irrespective of the "last cuppa or a few more digestive biscuits before we get under way, lads") thinking. I am perhaps fortune in being able to consider both sides of the argument in this case (ie: as a professional Marine Pilot as well as a yachtsman), but would advocate that good seamanship and perhaps more importantly, downright common sense prevail at all times, irrespective of whether it be commercial or leisure interests in the frame at the time.

I would have thought that they could use a simple rib for a majority of interventions....

 

[Pye_End]

Ramsgate comes to mind here, as their pilot boat Coxn's seen to have little regard to moored yachts alongside on the West Marina visitor's pontoons

+1 - especially middle of the night when all are trying to sleep. It would only take a few seconds at a reasonable speed to be less anti-social.

 

[Pye_End]

Ramsgate comes to mind here, as their pilot boat Coxn's seen to have little regard to moored yachts alongside on the West Marina visitor's pontoons

+1 - especially middle of the night when all are trying to sleep. It would only take a few seconds at a reasonable speed to be less anti-social.

 

[oldbilbo]

Hmmm. Pilot boats..... are occasionally indicators of potential problems to come.

One remembers, during a YM Practical exam many years ago and while approaching Fowey from the south-east, fairly close in, the pilot launch charging out the narrow harbour entrance a few cables ahead. Those who know that corner of Cornwall will recall that high ground screens the view into the harbour itself until one is right IN the entrance....

I had a think, and a good look out to seaward. Nothing seen.

The penny dropped, and I dropped the revs..... as the bow and foredeck lights-mast of a large departing clay carrier emerged, followed by several hundred feet of the rest of her.

 

[Davy_S]

Not many yachts in this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihzaDoG1JfY

 

[pathfinderstu]

pilot boat coxns..... you pay peanuts you get monkeys springs to mind ,,,I think you will find Harwich pilotage a completely different kettle of fish than Ramsgate. and don't forget the coxn is the legal master of the pilot cutters not the pilot who is a passenger.

 

[awol]

Not all of the Clyde chaps are gents.... Spilled my gin off the Cloch last year, one of them.

Were you perhaps in an AWB? They are discriminating gents.

 

[Seajet]

Hmmm. Pilot boats..... are occasionally indicators of potential problems to come.

One remembers, during a YM Practical exam many years ago and while approaching Fowey from the south-east, fairly close in, the pilot launch charging out the narrow harbour entrance a few cables ahead. Those who know that corner of Cornwall will recall that high ground screens the view into the harbour itself until one is right IN the entrance....

I had a think, and a good look out to seaward. Nothing seen.

The penny dropped, and I dropped the revs..... as the bow and foredeck lights-mast of a large departing clay carrier emerged, followed by several hundred feet of the rest of her.

Good tip; by the same token, I always tell people if you see a ferry, look on his reciprocal course as his mate may well be coming the other way...