Salcombe Harbour incidents

Fires, drunk people, dangerous swimming and near misses

Substantial damage was caused to the two yachts and their vessel in the incident that required police attention, and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating.

It is just one of a number of incident in the waters around the South Hams town revealed in a report to the Salcombe Harbour Board.

Other incidents that took place between April and August this year include hire boat staff falling into the harbour when crossing between boats, a serious near miss when avoiding action had to be taken by a fuel barge to get out of the way of a 30ft yacht, and the Harbour Truck hitting a parked Land Rover.

The report from the Salcombe Harbourmaster to the South Hams District Council Salcombe Harbour Board says that the owner of the vessel involved in the collision will have the mooring facility removed for 2019/2020 season and won’t be reinstated until the outcome of insurance claims and repairs to the damage are decided.

The Board is asked to endorse the report and take appropriate action in line with marine or national legislation and local policy, as well as endorsing the incident log from April, May, June, July and August.

Details of the incident log include:

• One abusive customer who was intoxicated while on-board the water taxi
• There were 21 collisions – the majority involving sailing dinghies
• Five boats were damaged – mainly due to manoeuvring errors by visiting yachts
• The Harbour Truck hit a parked Land Rover – no damage was caused and no further action was taken
• 62 boats were illegally moored and towed away. These were all second offences and does not include boats who were illegally moored and thus invoiced for their stay
• 21 speeding offences were deemed serious enough for further action to be taken
• Three swimmers were swimming in a dangerous area and further action was taken against them
• There were three near misses, the most serious being a 30ft yacht departing Normandy while the fuel barge was transiting out from the fish quay. Five short blasts and avoiding action was taken
• One commercial fishing boat was on fire
• Commercial hire boat staff falling in to the sea when crossing between boats at Whitestrand pontoon
• The incident in which the Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating

The log also says that five complaints had been received, the majority were to do with excess wash in the Harbour, but that 16 compliments, double the number from last year, had been received.

The defibrillator, mounted at the Harbour Office, was also used following a cardiac arrest, in which the person involved has made a good recovery.

The Salcombe Harbour Board meets on Monday, September 17, at 2.30pm in Salcombe.