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.

Presentation by Nick Bonser at the AMPI Conference Wollongong 2022.

As the world struggles with the Covid-19 virus, the maritime world is being hit hard, not only economically, but also socially and operationally. Iin shipping there are no borders.

Livestream mit Blick auf die Liegeplätze der Color Fantasy, Color Magic, Stena Germanica und Stenda Scandinavica.

Incident between pilot boat and practical Nissos Chios (Balearia), leaving the port of Ceuta (Spain). June 2019

Danpilot Echo (IMO 9839519) Pilot Vessel. Gross Tonnage 18. Built 2018. Baltic Workboats, Estonia. L. 20.3. W. 6. Propulsion 2x Volvo Penta D16MH. Flag Denmark.

32x real-time. Footage by Tim Gourlay (www.perthhydro.com) during April 2016 GNSS ship motion trials with the Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Curtin University, and Fremantle Ports.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.