RYA and windfarms

oldharry

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Lots of strong feelings and views about the proposed South Coast windfarm. There are several others planned further up channel and Thames Estuary.

There will be local meetings which you can attend to have your say, both on the South Coast one announced last week, and others planned further up the coast. RYA is involved, and is producing a list of the public meetings about them for us, which we will post here.

So for once there WILL be a chance to actually have your say to the people organising all this.

Watch this space....
 

Stork_III

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Lots of strong feelings and views about the proposed South Coast windfarm. There are several others planned further up channel and Thames Estuary.

There will be local meetings which you can attend to have your say, both on the South Coast one announced last week, and others planned further up the coast. RYA is involved, and is producing a list of the public meetings about them for us, which we will post here.

So for once there WILL be a chance to actually have your say to the people organising all this.

Watch this space....
Stable door, horses springs to mind, East Coast anyway.
 

Major Catastrophe

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Why complain about them? We have loads up here in the Liverpool to Anglesey bay and they matter little to boaters and are of no inconvenience. In fact, they are interesting to sail through, which you can do legally - before all the "You can't do that" posts appear.

The fact they cost a lot of money and produce negligible amounts of electricity would be a far more worthy objection, but that is sadly beyond the RYA's remit.

Probably better to join Webby's campaign against wind farms.
 

Ubergeekian

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Lots of strong feelings and views about the proposed South Coast windfarm. There are several others planned further up channel and Thames Estuary.

There will be local meetings which you can attend to have your say, both on the South Coast one announced last week, and others planned further up the coast. RYA is involved, and is producing a list of the public meetings about them for us, which we will post here.

I wonder if the windfarm promoters have thought of sponsoring the RYA - it seemed to work for Marina Developments plc.
 

BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo

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Stable door, horses springs to mind, East Coast anyway.

Ah, but all those are all in the sticks. Now the South Coast is affected it is very, very important....

Edit - This does seem very odd to be calliing public meetings now given the large number of windfarms already built or under construction around the various bits of the UK coast.
 
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capnsensible

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Yup, put a Rutland on your pushpit & get a discounted berth. :rolleyes:

We actually do have a Rutland in our back garden. I also got a fishing reel jubilee clipped to it. I was moaning to Stingo the other day about my fishing skills, but this is the gear that has actually got a few mahi mahi. Still cost a load in lures, but its the thrill of the chase!

My wife is really good at cooking the bounties of the ocean, but is strangely absent at the kill. Women, huh!!
 

webcraft

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Probably better to join Webby's campaign against wind farms.

I'm not conducting a campaign against windfarms per se. I am against windfarms in the wrong places or put in for the wrong reasons, and I am against too much wind being installed before we have the storage, transmission and smart meters in place to deal with the intermittency problem.

I am also against windfarms if they are 'stealing' money from other renewable technologies.

I think 8 miles off the Needles channel is probably a reasonable location. Communities on the West Coast of Scotland are facing huge windfarms much closer inshore. The RYA isn't going to change any hearts and minds in any event.

- W
 

alahol2

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What exactly are the rules vis a vis sailing and windfarms. Can you sail through? How close are you allowed? Are you likely to lose your masthead light?
Had a quick Google but can't find anything definitive.
 

Stork_III

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What exactly are the rules vis a vis sailing and windfarms. Can you sail through? How close are you allowed? Are you likely to lose your masthead light?
Had a quick Google but can't find anything definitive.
Usually 500m exclusion zone, either compulsory or advisory (it varies) from any structure or construction vessel, during construction, then 50m compulsory exclusion zone from any structure except in emergency. I believe 22m minimum clearance MHWS.
 

Major Catastrophe

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Usually 500m exclusion zone, either compulsory or advisory (it varies) from any structure or construction vessel, during construction, then 50m compulsory exclusion zone from any structure except in emergency. I believe 22m minimum clearance MHWS.

A couple of years ago I looked into this and posted my findings here or on Mobo. and 'at the time' there was no exclusion zone once construction was complete. Landing was forbidden, except in an emergency.

If you are correct, then the rules have changed.

EDIT: this thread supports a 50 metre exclusion zone. http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248083 When I did my research most agencies managed to make up an off the cuff exclusion zone, and it was only when I asked for proof of legislstion, even a bye-law that I found that there wasn't one. But as I said, this was two years ago.
 
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oldharry

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Yes there are lots of windfarms around already, but the particular interest in the one off Dorset is that it is bang in the middle of a heavily used fairway. Right in the track for both leisure and commercial vessels heading round Portland down channel from Southampton/Portsmouth, Slap across the main ferry track out of Poole, close enough to the western end of the Solent to be a hazard particularly for inbound vessels coming in from France, and completely blocking the south and western approach to Poole. Whatever your views on windfarms, this is one of the most difficult places to consider putting one.
 

Robin

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I'm not conducting a campaign against windfarms per se. I am against windfarms in the wrong places or put in for the wrong reasons, and I am against too much wind being installed before we have the storage, transmission and smart meters in place to deal with the intermittency problem.

I am also against windfarms if they are 'stealing' money from other renewable technologies.

I think 8 miles off the Needles channel is probably a reasonable location. Communities on the West Coast of Scotland are facing huge windfarms much closer inshore. The RYA isn't going to change any hearts and minds in any event.- W

My objection to this one is not because it is a visual problem but because I believe it is a safety navigational one. This windfarm is not on a sandbank or shoal area or out of the way of regular traffic, but is right on the approaches from offshore to the western Solent, directly on the route from Poole and the Solent to France and Channel Islands and including ferry traffic. Boats navigating around (or through) this will have cross tides to cater for that run at up to 5kts. That to me makes it a hazard for shipping and a nightmare for small boats and like it or not this is a very busy area. I once heard Solent CG on VHF reply to yet another trip report that you could walk across the Channel that night with dry feet from boat to boat as it was that busy.

Quite aside from the effectiveness or not of windfarms (I am not convinced) it is the location of this one I object to. They have been so determined to avoid it's visual effect on the tourist beaches that they have in my view forgotten the other problems, because moving it just a few miles west and closer inshore would IMO be safer.

I also remember when we had oil rigs drilling offshore out here, with guard zones and guard vessels to keep ships away. The radio traffic with ships was constant and still they got too close. As a yottie back then we once were crossing west and uptide of one rig (pre-Decca and GPS) with what we thought was plenty of clearance. With the huge cross tides however we were being set down hard towards the zone markers, we had a spinnaker up and headed more and more upwind until we had to drop it in a hurry and almost beat clear, by which time the guard boat was headed our way... That was in clear visibility, fog doesn't bear thinking about.

I'm not bothered BTW for myself as our next adventures afloat will be in the USA and well away from this but I'd hate to hear my fears were confirmed.
 

Stork_III

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A couple of years ago I looked into this and posted my findings here or on Mobo. and 'at the time' there was no exclusion zone once construction was complete. Landing was forbidden, except in an emergency.

If you are correct, then the rules have changed.

EDIT: this thread supports a 50 metre exclusion zone. http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248083 When I did my research most agencies managed to make up an off the cuff exclusion zone, and it was only when I asked for proof of legislstion, even a bye-law that I found that there wasn't one. But as I said, this was two years ago.
You may be right on the 50m zone, post construction. I can't find anything with authority, but it seems fairly sensible to me, if not further.
 

alahol2

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By sheer coincidence I just received these by e-mail...
wind01.jpg

wind02.jpg

wind03.jpg

wind04.jpg

wind05.jpg

wind06.jpg

wind07.jpg

wind08.jpg

wind09.jpg

wind10.jpg

wind11.jpg

wind12.jpg

wind13.jpg

wind14.jpg

wind15.jpg

Looks like they could be even more interesting than I originally thought.:D
 

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