It seems we have to get used to uncertainty about the Egremont. The latest position appears to be that the trustees have put in a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for just under £1m. If they get this, and the required matched funding from individuals, Egremont will go away for a major refit this autumn or in early spring 2016. In the meantime, the sailing school side of the ICC has been acquired by Chris Turns so is expected to continue this season.
The Harbour Board favours the north end of the Harbour becoming zoned for dinghy sailing, canoeing and paddle-boarding, rather than fast motor boats. So some thinking is going on about how best to foster and encourage this. One possibility is that, as the houseboats are removed (which should happen soon), their moorings are likely to be taken up with pontoons for dinghy sailors. It is much easier to get into a dinghy from a pontoon than from a launch, especially if you are a beginner.
It also follows that there is an increasing need for a clearer fairway through the Bag. In a strong SW wind, the yachts on swinging moorings lie across the Bag and, as yachts have got longer, it becomes very difficult to see a good way through. This is tricky enough for locals but it baffles visitors. So, alongside creating a dinghy sailing pontoon, thought is being given to finding a way of making a clearer passage through the Bag.
All this is at relatively low cost, as the Harbour currently has some spare pontoons from the work in Shadycombe – enough, I’m happy to say, for it to be likely that South Pool’s pontoons will be replaced before long. Gradually the infrastructure improvements work their way around the Harbour.
The Harbour is now getting everything in place to be able to make Harbour Directions (a quicker method of getting byelaws) and the Port Users Group (which is an essential part of the system) met in March. It was gratifying that they chose to emphasise, amongst other things, the need for navigational lights at night to be enforced, better marking of trot moorings to stop dinghy sailors becoming entangled when they sail across them, encouraging “wake awareness” and adherence to speed limits. “Wake awareness” is especially important: with stubby wide-transom motor boats, their maximum wake can often be 400 metres behind them, causing chaos while they obliviously swing sweetly on.
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