Displaying items by tag: Silting at Heysham

28th December 2021

Service to Fleetwood 'Not a Viable Option' for Manx Operator

Issues of silting at Heysham Port in England, is a regular issue for the Isle of Man ferry the Ben-my-Chree.

It's unlikely sailing to Fleetwood rather than Heysham would solve the silt problems the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company faces when sailing to Lancashire.

That's from pilot and former Douglas South MHK Paul Quine.

The ferry operator's managing director recently said silting remains a problem for the Ben-my-Chree when entering Heysham.

But Mr Quine believes that issue isn't unique to Heysham.

In addition to Manx Radio's report, scroll down the page to a podcast on the matter.

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Isle of Man Steam Packet Make Changes to Schedule On Heysham Route

In this photo montage is the fastferry craft Manannan and conventional ferry Ben-My-Chree. Sailing by these vessels to and from Douglas will be effected due to silting at Heysham Port.

#ferry - Ferry crossings by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company reports EnergyFM, are being forced to change sailing times to Heysham, this week because of increased silting in the north-west English port.

The company says the sailing time changes are necessary to work around the water depths available and to allow sailing crews to maintain work and rest patterns.

Fastferry craft Manannan will operate two sailings tomorrow, in place of conventional ferry Ben-my-Chree.

The revised schedule is as follows, by consulting directly the ferry operator's website.

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About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2

ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2

ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2