The Boats That Built Britain - The Pilot Cutter - Part 2

Many consider the Bristol Channel pilot cutter to be the finest sailing boat design ever. Fast, seaworthy and beautiful to behold, the pilot cutter is the perfect combination of form and function - a thoroughbred perfectly adapted to a life in one of the Britain's most treacherous stretches of water. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe explores the life of the pilots and sails a perfectly restored cutter to find out just what drove these men and their wonderful machines.

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

The first ship equipped with the technology of future fairway services was directed from the Port of Kokkola to the fairway on Wednesday. At the same time, the suitability of the technical arrangements for remote piloting was tested. The systems were used in parallel with normal pilotage.

Back in August 2022, we received an offer to accompany the Port Colborne Pilot boat to make a video about the process of putting Pilots on board ships sailing on the Great Lakes. Port Colborne is the upbound terminus of the Welland Canal, and opens onto Lake Erie.

In this article Marine Pilot André Gaillard gives us his vision of the maritime pilotage profession of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The PDF of the second issue is available for download here

Ocean Pacific was contracted to construct a state-of-the-art Pilot boat for the Pacific Pilotage Authority. The craft features a MAN tier III emissions system, offering reduced diesel emissions.
In September 2021, The Pacific Guardian was splashed for the last time after some final finishing touches, and left Campbell River for Victoria where it will join a fleet of four other vessels for the Pacific Pilotage Authority. This state of the art pilot boat will aid in carrying out safe,...