Hugh Marriage Posts

The public gets notoriously worked up about car parking and, similarly, the Harbour’s moorings policy is always on the edge of controversy. Much has happened over the last few years – not least significant improvements in mooring equipment as well as the abolition of the two-tier list (one for “locals” and the other for “second-home owners”). The improvements are (now) pretty widely welcomed – the new pontoons, the soft deep-water mooring buoys, the availability of fresh water and so on.…

There are snowdrops and daffodils in the garden, and a clear blue sky over the Harbour (although big fluffy clouds on the Edinburgh side of Frogmore Bridge). All this heralds a new season which might bring some interesting developments. Firstly, this looks like being a season without Egremont. The Egremont Trust has decided to do all her refurbishment work in Sharpness, rather that try to do some on her mooring in the Harbour. This means she won’t be ready to…

On Christmas Day there was a remarkable event, hardly reported in the UK. The Frenchman Thomas Coville completed a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation of Planet Earth in his 105ft trimaran Sodebo Ultim. He had sailed 28,400 miles in 49 days, an average speed of 24 knots (28 mph – fast waterskiing). That world-record speed is truly amazing for a sailing boat. It confirms boats with three hulls as the vessel of choice for high-speed blue-water sailing – after a terrible history of…

The start of a New Year is traditionally the time for resolutions – and each year I press people who live around Kingsbridge and Salcombe to make one simple resolution to improve the water quality of the Harbour. This is to change to phosphate-free dishwasher tablets or powder, in line with the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine’s Green Blue Campaign. This is especially essential for Salcombe because an unusual feature of the Harbour is that it is a ria,…

It has been a notably mild autumn – we were swimming in the Harbour without a wetsuit in mid-November. We are becoming inured to each month being warmer than last year (and the year before and the year before …) and each year being hotter than the year before and the year before … Environmentalists try not to panic as we approach the point of no return, when the benevolence of the climate irreversibly collapses. There is some good news,…

By happy chance, for the 15 years that I have been playing in South Pool (frequently, as can just be seen in today’s pic, from the top of the church tower), Remembrance Sunday morning often seems blessed by excellent weather. This year was no exception with clear blue skies and very little wind. But what wind there was blew from the north. This prevented the bang from Salcombe reaching South Pool, since that has to be carried on a south-westerly.…

We all have our strengths and Accounts are not mine (is it a coincidence that the numbers at the bottom are exactly the same?); so I am normally abroad when the Harbour Board considers its accounts and sets the budget for the next season. However, not this year. Apart from the formal signing off, there was the start of an intriguing debate which centred on the relationship between the Harbour Board and South Hams District Council. As I am sure…

It was a beautiful, calm, morning in Salcombe today when the people who live around the Harbour turned out in their hundreds to pay tribute to the 13 crew members who died in the Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster on 27 October 1916. The two Salcombe lifeboats, accompanied by the Plymouth lifeboat (nearest the camera), three de-commissioned lifeboats, three Salcombe rowing gigs, a flotilla of small boats and the Coastguard helicopter, laid a wreath near the spot where the William and Emma…

It has been a good summer – windy, yes, but plenty of good weather. Two thirds of the Harbour’s revenue comes from residents – mainly harbour dues and moorings – and this income is predictable and reliable: but the remaining third comes from visitors and this is chancy because it depends heavily on the weather. This year visitor numbers should be up because of the sunshine, but undoubtedly the long-term trend is down. Last year there were 5000 visiting yachts,…

Egremont crossed the Salcombe Bar at 1615 on 29 September en route for Sharpness Dry Dock, near Gloucester accompanied, no doubt, by flights of angels. She rounded Land’s End early on 30 September. John White kindly sent me this pic of it all happening, the two tugs, and clearly showing the amount of work which will have to be done to restore her.