Speed Limit on the Deben Lifted

johnalison said:
The Earth may not have been beautiful before Homo arrived to witness it, but beauty is a fragile thing that can easily and often be irrevocably lost. I would love to have been able to leave the City of London and wander among the farms in Knightsbridge, but this is never again going to be possible. The Deben is no longer the jewel it was fifty years ago when you could sail, anchor or swim without risk or disturbance, but this at least is remediable.

Just because you get pleasure from noise does not mean that others enjoy your fun. Most of us have come to appreciate that silence, darkness and peace are positive things. Gulls, at least Herring Gulls, are pretty coarse creatures, though they have their own virtues. Terns, Common, Sandwich, or Little, all locally present for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, will not survive to breed if they are disturbed, and the same goes for what should be numerous shore birds and passerines who are voting with their wings and leaving.
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only this year we have been on the Deben, stopped and enjoyed swimming just as you describe above
 
Major_Clanger said:
I'm afraid that's just a load of meaningless guff.
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I used to work in Landfill and quarrying. From experience, wildlife is not at all bothered by heavy plant and machinery ... fitted with reversing bleepers... Indeed landfill operators have to spend lots of money on keeping the flying shite hawks away to protect them from the nasties they might otherwise eat. Somewhere I have a photo of a bird taking a dust bath next to eh haul road in a quarry with empty tipper trucks banging and clanging only a matter of 20 yeards away. So I can see where Big Plumbs is coming from when he says wildlife is not as worried by disturbance as those who like to watch birds try to make out.

It is an interesting comment about the tide which I hadn't thought about. But I think he has a point.
 
johnalison said:
The Earth may not have been beautiful before Homo arrived to witness it, but beauty is a fragile thing that can easily and often be irrevocably lost. I would love to have been able to leave the City of London and wander among the farms in Knightsbridge, but this is never again going to be possible. The Deben is no longer the jewel it was fifty years ago when you could sail, anchor or swim without risk or disturbance, but this at least is remediable.

Just because you get pleasure from noise does not mean that others enjoy your fun. Most of us have come to appreciate that silence, darkness and peace are positive things. Gulls, at least Herring Gulls, are pretty coarse creatures, though they have their own virtues. Terns, Common, Sandwich, or Little, all locally present for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, will not survive to breed if they are disturbed, and the same goes for what should be numerous shore birds and passerines who are voting with their wings and leaving.
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When you talk about irrevocably loosing something of beauty. I am presuming you have researched Port Richborough in Kent as an example of human desecration that never goes away.. Except that today you would be hard pressed to know there was once a thriving and very busy port there.
 
you mean there is a speed limit on the deben...................well a lot dont ever stick to it..been passed by many motor boats and a few sailing boats beore now and i wasnt exactly going fast but my boat creates almost no wash compared to many others... went after one millionare a month ago as his wash made a few in dinghys fall over board... he wasnt very happy a 5foot 7 girl drenched with deben salt water gave him a right mouthful... he did leave the tide mill much slower the next day
 
jaydee1976 said:
you mean there is a speed limit on the deben...................well a lot dont ever stick to it..been passed by many motor boats and a few sailing boats beore now and i wasnt exactly going fast but my boat creates almost no wash compared to many others... went after one millionare a month ago as his wash made a few in dinghys fall over board... he wasnt very happy a 5foot 7 girl drenched with deben salt water gave him a right mouthful... he did leave the tide mill much slower the next day
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A problem is that even if people stick to the speed limit it is 8 knots. The Orwell is only 6. At 8 knots a large motorboat will make a great deal of wash even though it is strictly adhering to the limit.
I have always stuck to 6 knots or less at which speed our 30 ft Mobo makes little wash, though obviously through the moorings at Woodbridge, Waldringfield and Ramsholt I slow down a good bit more.
Legally you can go up to 10 knots below the Waterski area which could be fairly antisocial past Felixstowe Ferry.
 
Leighb said:
But your wash would have been insignificant. It is wash that matters not speed per se.
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My previous boat was a 8m mobo, at 8 knots it didn't create a wash, as such, it was more of a tsunami! If it was going against the tide it was even worse. At 15knts there would be almost no wash, but we had to go at 4 or 5 knots to be sensible.

The rule should be "max of x knots and no wash".
 
Many thanks for all the reply’s. As usual the discussion morphed a little and many lost sight of the original question which was actually about the Orwell and Stour but I think someone actually answered that part.

Re speed limits and the law few people realise that the only people who can take action and enforce this are the Police and no one else. Except of course the self apointed who think they know. This self appointment usually coming alongside grey hair, grumpyness and a strong belief that they know best. I suspect they are also in the local neighbourhood watch and local speed watch.
 
To morph the thread a little further.

Does anyone think their is a raggie alive who was in a lovely blow in perfect sailing conditions who would slow down Just because they were over the speed limit
 
Bigplumbs said:
Many thanks for all the reply’s. As usual the discussion morphed a little and many lost sight of the original question which was actually about the Orwell and Stour but I think someone actually answered that part.

Re speed limits and the law few people realise that the only people who can take action and enforce this are the Police and no one else. Except of course the self apointed who think they know. This self appointment usually coming alongside grey hair, grumpyness and a strong belief that they know best. I suspect they are also in the local neighbourhood watch and local speed watch.
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Guess that those peoples that you apparently describe with a certain amount of despise are actually doing a grand job then in assisting the Police and Authorities by being in the Neighourhood Watch plus local Speed Watch ; after all we are all in this together ; for the safety of ALL users Human or Animal or Bird or even Fish whatever

Sleep tight fella
 
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Capt Popeye said:
Guess that those peoples that you apparently describe with a certain amount of despise are actuall doing a grand job then in assisting the Police and Authorities by being in the Neighourhood Watch plus local Speed Watch ; after all we are all in this together ; for the safety of ALL users Human or Animal or Bird or even Fish whatever

Sleep tight fella
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Its Morning not going to Bed Yet..... Ever heard of the term Busy Body ?
 
Bigplumbs said:
And who else do you think can enforce?
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I did once.....

Very early 90s and anchored off Bradwell Creek with a charter party on board. A couple of jetskis seemed to think it was entertaining to keep circling us and performing their little tricks. I'd made it clear they should go away (politely at first) but they didn't oblige - possibly because some of the charter party were teenage girls. After about ten minutes I'd had enough and threw an empty mug at one of them after they started giving me the finger. Amazingly the mug hit one of the plastic panels and allegedly broke it. That made them disappear.

I thought no more about it (except feeling quite smug about my aim and wishing I could manage it playing cricket) but Alert III turned-up about an hour later at the behest of the jetskiers. The police came on board for a chat, drank tea, ate biscuits and after hearing the whole story went away laughing. No further action needed or taken.

I'd do exactly the same thing again if I felt the situation warranted it.
 
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