What about “anything that floats”?

“A picturesque wood … forms a sinuous shelter.. This is Halwell Wood, in the parish of South Pool, and belongs to Treby Hele Hayes, esq, the lord of the manor of South Pool, whose seat, called Halwell, lies about half a mile therefrom, but not in view of the water, while his flotilla of pleasure boats is protected from storms in (Halwell Creek)”. So writes the local historian, Hawkins, in 1819 in what is believed to be the earliest reference to any pleasure boats in Salcombe Harbour.

It is salutary to remember that pleasure boats are quite recent and, at least until the early 20^th century, all harbours were dominated by commercial use. Today, of course, Salcombe Harbour, apart from the fishing fleet, is almost exclusively a pleasure harbour. If only the law had caught up with this fact.

I attended a meeting recently at which we discussed, amongst other things, the byelaws and Harbour Directions which give Harbour Authorities their powers. These all tend to centre round a definition of a vessel which is defined as a craft “which goes from A to B” (you can almost hear a Judge saying that). A ship goes from A to B so is a vessel, as also is a yacht. But, in the eyes of the law, paddleboards, kayaks and jetskis do not go from A to B so are not vessels – and hence are not as easily controlled by byelaws and cannot be regulated at all through Harbour Directions.

The Department for Transport is now under pressure to alter this – one lawyer has suggested to “anything that floats”. The current definition of a vessel, and others contained in old legislation, has left some harbours unable to make any byelaws which makes it is a bit of a mystery why the opportunity wasn’t taken in 2013 with the Marine Navigation Act. But the problem the DfT faces now is that the legislative timetable for the foreseeable future is reserved entirely for Brexit: so will DfT be able to find a slot for a new definition of a vessel?

There is another solution. At one UK port (I had better not say which) there is a beautiful, shiny, painted noticeboard setting out the local byelaws. When the Harbour Master was asked what powers he had to make the byelaws, he smiled beatifically and said “None at all. I just made them up. But everyone seems quite happy to observe them”.