15th June: Seawork 2023

I attended the last day of the Seawork Exhibition on Thursday, 15th June.  Compared to previous years there seemed a lot fewer boats on the water.  The largest was the hybrid crew transfer vessel belonging to HST Marine.  I met the coxswain of the Ryde Inshore Rescue lifeboat. For them, launching when the tide is in is off the slipway and when the tide is out it is a tractor journey to the edge of Ryde sands. However half tide is difficult due to the water covered undulating sand surface.  I asked him why they used outboards rather than water-jets. It turns out they can work in shallower water, which surprised me.  He said that at slow speeds in shallow water the water-jets  act like a suction dredger!

Onshore I visited the NCI trailer which was rather tucked away at the end of the road backing onto the water.  I had quite a long talk with Stephen Hand who is now NCI Chairman, and also with Ron Hamilton, Station Manager at NCI Lee-on-the-Solent.