The historical Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter - Part 1

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.

Pilot Boat working close to shore, but not the best of weather.

New pilot boat CORUÑA PILOTS 8, build by #SafehavenMarine in Cork, Ireland. The Interceptor 48 is typically powered by twin Volvo D13 500/550hp engines and twin Disc or ZF gearboxes providing the vessel with an operational speed of 24-26kts. The vessel is 15m LOA, with a 4.4m beam and 17,200kg Displacement.
Nueva lancha de Prácticos Coruña, la Prácticos Coruña 8, construída por los astilleros Safehaven Marine en Cork, Irlanda. El tipo de lancha es una Interceptor 48 propulsada por dos...

The RCMP are investigating the death of a man who went overboard outside St. John's harbour from a pilot boat early Tuesday morning.

This video shows the Pilot Vessel "KOON" inside the Canal Acceso a Puerto La Plata when she arrived at Pilot Station Lanchas Del Este, La Plata Harbour, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
The video was filmed by @ultrabarqueros

It does not happen very often that we have a Eurochannel bound ship to sea. In this case the MARIA P LEMOS, 333 m with a draft of 20,7 m left Rotterdam underway to the Far East .

Understanding the fundamentals of the pivot point is highly required for understanding the alteration of the courses. Pivot point is an imaginary point on the vessel which turns on a circular path on the perimeter of vessel’s turning circle when the vessel makes a turn. The knowledge about the position of the pivot point in a manoeuvring situation provides the ship handler with the information on the geometry of motion of the ship.