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.

Pilotage is being able to navigate safely into and out of a harbour/anchorage/port knowing where you are at all times, where your hazards are and a safe route in/out. This is particularly useful if you are heading into somewhere new or a challenging/busy area – or both!

Another great education video by Knud Benedict (Germany): Practical experiments for getting useful data for planning.

It remains a sad fact that accidents and near misses continue to occur during pilot transfers with frightening regularity. Most of these fortunately do not result in injury, and a surprisingly high number of them are not even recognised for what they are.

Surveys into pilot ladder safety consistently reveal that unacceptably high numbers of pilot transfer arrangements are not compliant with the regulations.

The Halifax Pilot Boat recovering a Pilot from a cruise ship in some rough weather
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Article originally published in SWZ|Maritime September 2022

Through the years, the Dutch Pilots have developed a system of selection, initial education and continual professional training. What is the current state of affairs?

Marine-Pilots.com has launched a new function for registered users today. From now you can tag articles and videos as favorites or sort them in personal libraries that can be created individually.

An innovative technique to board a sailing ship without any loss of time.