Salcombe collisions almost double

The town's harbour master says it follows a busy season

The number of collisions that took place in waters around Salcombe Harbour nearly doubled last year – with a fourfold increase in boats capsizing.

The number of illegal swimmers in the harbour also doubled and the number of thefts tripled compared to last summer, a report to the South Hams Salcombe Harbour Board has revealed.

But the report of Cameron Sims-Stirling, the Salcombe Harbour Master, added that the number of complaints made in the last 12 months was dropped from five to two and that there has been a 50 per cent increase in the number of compliments about the Harbour.

Monday’s meeting saw a log of incidents that had taken place between April 1 and September 1 provided, with the board asked to note the performance recording mechanisms as outlined in the report.

Mr Sims-Stirling’s report added: “We have had a good season mainly due to the long periods of fine weather conditions throughout the season. However, poor weather conditions at the beginning of August reduced the visiting yacht numbers we would have expected for that time of year.

“The only performance indicator that has shown a reduction on our four year average is Town Landings Overnight. We are reporting an increase on last year, but the trend over four years is down due to years’ 2016 & 2017 having a large charter boat using the facility for the majority of the season.”