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Displaying items by tag: Row: Ardrossan

Scottish government owned Caledonian McBrayne (CalMac) has condemned one of the country’s key port operators which it said has left a major ferry port harbour in an "unacceptable" condition. The situation was putting safe operations at risk despite CalMac paying out nearly £15.5m in fees over the last decade.

CalMac, the UK’s largest domestic ferry operator, has made a rare broadside over the conditions it has to operate in Ardrossan Harbour. The ferry company having delivered a damning indictment on the state of the port in North Ayrshire. The 55 minute service provides a crucial lifeline to and from the Isle of Arran and in a response to a campaign to nationalise Clydeport to bring the ports and harbours on the River Clyde into public ownership.

The ferry company’s interim chief executive, Duncan Mackison, has criticised the state of Ardrossan Harbour which is owned by Peel Ports Group, the UK’s second largest port company. Commenting on the facilities he said: "have not been maintained to an acceptable standard" and he added that there has been a lack of investment.”

In addition, he said in a message seen by The Herald, that the condition of Ardrossan Harbour "is all the more unacceptable" because of the £15.48m that CalMac has paid to Peel Ports for the use of its berths among them the ‘Irish’ berth as Afloat previously reported.

More here on the dispute between the ferry operator and port group.

Published in Ferry

Esailing & Virtual Sailing information

The concept of e-sailing, or virtual sailing, is based on a computer game sailing challenge that has been around for more than a decade.

The research and development of software over this time means its popularity has taken off to the extent that it has now become a part of the sailing seascape and now allows people to take an 'active part' in some of the most famous regattas across the world such as the Vendée Globe, Route du Rhum, Sydney Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup and some Olympic venues too, all from the comfort of their armchair.

The most popular model is the 'eSailing World Championship'. It is an annual esports competition, first held in 2018 and officially recognised by World Sailing, the sports governing body.

The eSailing World Championship is a yearly competition for virtual sailors competing on the Virtual Regatta Inshore game.

The contract to run the event was given to a private company, Virtual Regatta that had amassed tens of thousands of sailors playing offshore sailing routing game following major offshore races in real-time.

In April 2020, the company says on its website that it has 35,000 active players and 500,000 regattas sailed.

Virtual Regatta started in 2010 as a small team of passionate designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs gathered around the idea that virtual sailing sports games can mix with real races and real skippers.