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Nick Clarance, Deputy Harbourmaster
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Mooring Maintenance on the River Dart
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Flooding of Bayards Cove February 2014
Dart Harbour - Newsletter March 2014
by Nick Clarance, Deputy Harbourmaster
Storms fail to shift moorings
The winter has, it’s fair to say, been very testing for anyone connected with the river – with storms, high tides and dangerous winds battering the harbour.
I’m proud to say we have only had one mooring drag out of the1,400 we maintain on the river. It is a testament to the hard work of our team of river officers that despite high winds, rain runoff and strong tides that only one mooring shifted. I’m delighted with my team. I’d also like to thank the massive majority of river users, who properly secured their vessels so that we had very few incidents on the river of parted lines. Remember – if you have a berth it is your responsibility to secure your vessel.
The bad weather has seen ferry services interrupted on a number of occasions. Sometimes for safety it’s necessary for the Harbour officer to shut the river, but I’m delighted that the skippers of all three ferry services are being so responsible and making the call themselves to stop at the right moment. We support them when they do this, as it is always done with the safety of their staff and passengers at heart. I’d like to thank them for working with us during these stormy few months.
Moorings maintenance nearing completion
Our team of eight River Officers is nearly finished on our yearly maintenance schedule of moorings. The team has suffered some delays due to the bad weather, and is working hard to catch up, but I’m pleased to report we are on track to finish before April as normal.
With 1,400 moorings to look after along the whole tidal stretch of the river, it’s a mammoth undertaking of nearly 8,000 man-hours over the winter months.
The team work incredibly hard year round and despite the winter maintenance schedule being very demanding they just get on with it and get the job done – I’m very proud of them all and grateful to have such a dedicated team.
Don’t get caught out on Harbour Dues!
Our office staff team is just getting ready to send out this year’s Berthing and Harbour Dues invoices to our berth holders.
You may not realise that if you pay your dues before the end of March we give you a discount on your Harbour Dues – of 50 per cent!
I think that’s worth repeating – if you pay your Harbour Dues by March 31 we give you 50 per cent off! If you have a 10-metre boat you would save nearly £100!
This amazing offer is never extended – so if you want to get a great deal on your Dues, get in touch soon!
Summer’s coming!
I think we can all agree that it has been an awful Winter – storms, winds and rain battering us seemingly constantly – but we can now start to look forward to Spring and an improvement (hopefully) in the weather.
We are getting ready for the lengthening days and subsequent increase in river usage – so the office will be open at the weekends from March 22nd.
Our Yacht Taxi will also be increasing its hours from April 1st - it will be open from 8am to 7pm and then will increase again from 8am to 11pm from May 1st.
New Website
We launched our new look website (still at the same address: www.dartharbour.org) in December. On it you can find lots of information about what Dart Harbour does, its history, and useful stuff such as sailing guides and weather forecasts. We would love to know what you think – we are trying to make sure it is as user friendly as possible – get in touch to let us know what you think!
Get in Touch
We want to make sure we are providing the best possible service to all river users – and we can only do that if we keep in touch with them, their needs and their hopes for the river.
If you would like to get in touch please give us a call on 01803 832337, email Info@dartharbour.org or follow us on twitter @DartHarbour.