As featured in the Port’s 2020 Leisure Safety Digest.

Summary

  • Late summer and a commercial workboat was attending to maintenance on fixed navigation beacons east of Wear Spit. The works were notified to mariners through the Port’s Notice to Mariners system and vessels were asked to pass at slow speed with minimum wake. Over the course of the works, several large cruisers from local marinas transited past at speed causing a large wash to impact the workboat, on one occasion causing damage to the vessel’s lifting equipment and on another occasion causing the vessel’s tender to break away.
  • A sunny evening in summer, spring tides and approaching high water. Lots of leisure vessels were moving through the Waterway and the youth sailing groups were preparing their dinghies on shore ready for the evening’s racing. As it was approaching high water, they were limited as to how much space they had to rig boats and so were close to the water’s edge. Large cruisers, although not at full speed, were coming through on their approach to Neyland Marina carrying considerable wash behind them. This large wash impacted onto the slipway as the preparations were underway causing dinghies to be swept about, impacting on each other and the young people attending them

Lessons

  1. Situational awareness - we are mostly aware of the need to look forwards when we are boating, but how often do we look behind to see what our wash is doing? How large is it and is it going to impact someone? We all have a duty to navigate safely and with due consideration to others. Port pilot vessels and tugs are all instructed to reduce speed when east of Wear Spit for this very reason. Your wash can carry a considerable distance and impact others long after you have passed.
  2. Byelaw 20 Vessels To Be Navigated With Care: A vessel shall not be navigated or manoeuvred within the Haven in such a manner or at such a speed as will or may-, (e) cause damage, danger or inconvenience to other users of the Haven.
  3. Notice to Mariners - these works were the subject of a NtM therefore had the vessels involved been up to date with these they would have been aware of the works and taken appropriate measures.
  4. Helping others be aware - the workboat had erected a ‘Slow Down’ banner, however the positioning of it took no account of visibility to other vessels. As a result, it was difficult to see from many angles and until they were very close.
  5. Local knowledge - the yacht clubs on the Haven are well established and follow a regular calendar of training throughout the season. By keeping up to date with happenings on the Waterway and by keeping a good watch out for things like dinghies preparing on the shore, mariners can adjust their track and speed accordingly to avoid causing problems.

The full document can be viewed here: 2020 Leisure Safety Digest