St Kats....

[oldgit]

Went into St Kats over last weekend. Now seem to have sorted their hit and miss booking system. Booked by email and they actually replied with a neat PDF with booking details and requesting confirmation of arrival 3 days prior to arrival .Forgot and rang on morning of departure, somebody actually picked up the phone. Very quiet on river with virtually nothing moving either commercial or leisure. Main wash appears to come from Ribs ignoring the speed limit, trip boats and clippers seem to be following the rules. Only striking thing about the trip, the sheer number of cranes and amount of building going on in the city. Some of the outer development may be described as "London Living" but pretty sure the postcode will be Essex. Locking in was well organised, we squeezed in behind the most enormous Mochi 27?. Gloriana is in central dock Trip back under blue sky and brisk wind and told off in no uncertain terms by VTS for cutting corners. Chums P360. St Kats not cheap but head and shoulders above everything else and as for that stunning night skyline.

 

[mersey]

Main wash appears to come from Ribs ignoring the speed limit, trip boats and clippers seem to be following the rules.

You don't say what speed limit you think the ribs are breaking.

They are operating in the Thames 'High Speed Craft Zones' , under additional requirements including Class A AIS, flashing orange beacon, and skipper licensing. They are allowed to go faster than you and I legitimately, and from my observations they do keep to the limit as applicable to them.

To quote the PLA :

The first zone is between Margaretness and St Saviour’s Dock where
Certificate of Compliance vessels may be travelling at up to 30 knots and
will display an all-round yellow flashing light when traveling at speed.

The second zone is between Lambeth Bridge and Wandsworth Bridge
where vessels may be travelling at up to 25 knots and will display an allround
yellow flashing light when traveling at speed.

The dodgy behaviour I do see from them however, is frequently going back and forth across the channel, with little regard to colregs. Ironic as you got told off for 'cutting corners'.

 

[oldgit]

main turbulence is right outside St Kats lock and Tower Bridge. Thought the limit there was 12knots......the ribs were definately exceeding that.

 

[JerryC]

... Trip back under blue sky and brisk wind and told off in no uncertain terms by VTS for cutting corners ...

Sorry if I'm being thick, but I'm interested to know what did 'cutting corners' mean in your case? My boat's been S Coast based for many years now so it's a long time since our Thames trips into London from MBM. I assume you mean London VTS/PLA, not Medway. Does the Thames have traffic separation zones nowadays? Or did one of your group go through the barrier without radio permission?