Great day on the Solent, only spoilt by the slip way state at Camber

Superjetjim · 05 June 2016, 21:41

Had a great day on the rib with the family today, launched at high tide and had a cracking day.

Sadly the recovery was a slightly different story - the slipway is dangerous! You can barely walk on it now below high tide - it used to be jet washed and safe to use, not anymore. I've been down three times this year and it's like this. The whole rig would end up in the sea if you dared put any car / 4x4 on it. Dread to think of what would happen if kids were in the car as we saw in Ireland recently (all dead apart from a baby) Such a shame.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-Donegal.html

I'll be reporting the state of this slip to the council in the morning. They need to sort it out or stop charging to use it!

jyasaki · 06 June 2016, 01:20

There's a small boat ramp that divers use for access in a State Park in California (Pt. Lobos in case anyone is interested.)

Divers took it upon themselves to power wash the ramp every so often after a number of injuries from falls. Took a bit of doing to get approval being a State entity, but made the ramp a lot safer for everyone.

jky

mick · 06 June 2016, 07:16

Go spray it with bleach

paintman · 06 June 2016, 08:03

As they're charging to use it I wonder whether there could be duty of care issues & potential liability on them should someone injure themselves?

Dry Run · 06 June 2016, 08:04

Sorry Superjetjim, but I'm going to have to take serious issue with you regarding the "state" of The Camber slipway. I'll declare an interest as my company has responsibility (on behalf of the Harbour Master for Portsmouthy Commercial Port) for the slipway and other areas of The Camber Dock.

Firstly, receipts from the slipway barrier show that at least 23 people launched and recovered from the slipway over the weekend (including you and not including those regular users that have prepaid key fobs)! There were no reported incidents or accidents!

Secondly, the slipway is used weekly by Portsmouth Sailing Club and other local associations and we liaise with them regularly to ensure the slipway is maintained.

Thirdly, the slipway is regularly (monthly) pressure-washed and treated (albeit, the modern eco-friendly treatments are not as effective as previous ones). Records show this was last pressure washed May 12th (top half) and May 14th (bottom half).

Fourthly, The advice of The Harbour Master is that by its nature, the slipway is a potentially a hazardous environment and if the slipway appears to be unsafe to use, you should not use it. You obviously launched on the slipway, but chose to recover the boat at dead low tide on a Spring tide - perhaps not the best decision you will ever make.

Finally, maybe part of you ire is down to the fact that you tried to take advantage of an offer I made you a while ago (when we launched you with the forklift) when you were celebrating your 40th birthday and "blag" another lift out from my dry stack crew.

Anyway, I'm glad you had a great day out on the water and let's hope the fine weather continues for a lot longer.

Regards Steve

willk · 06 June 2016, 08:48

Hmmmm.

I use the slipway in Ireland referred to above - it is nothing like this one (which actually looks quite OK in the pics). The slipway here was covered in many months of full on seaweed growth. So long as the vehicle tyres have traction then IMO, a slipway is useable (with care).

I'd caution about complaining too loudly to the Authorities. They have a tendency to simply close "dangerous" facilities under their care rather than remedy them. Our local Council simply locked the offending slipway and forgot about it. No more launching boats in Buncrana!

Chlorine is now banned for slipway cleaning - it has a fairly wide killzone and takes out a lot of marine life as well as the seaweed - especially in enclosed docks. It's very effective though and mysteriously, our local slipway never seems to get much seaweed buildup. A lad slipped and died as a result on the same ramp a couple of years ago and there was a lot of muttering in the local community. The weed just sort of gave up after that...

Max... · 06 June 2016, 09:34

I wish we had a public slipway (slippery or not) - we're five miles from the sea, endless beaches and not a slipway to be seen...

matt h · 06 June 2016, 12:25

That Slipway looks superb compared with what we have.

Pikey Dave · 06 June 2016, 14:29

See rule #5
https://youtu.be/t8udpm-BwoI

Sh1t happens

Poly · 06 June 2016, 14:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

I'd caution about complaining too loudly to the Authorities. They have a tendency to simply close "dangerous" facilities under their care rather than remedy them. Our local Council simply locked the offending slipway and forgot about it. No more launching boats in Buncrana!

That was my immediate reaction on reading tim's post too.

FWIW a rope is a useful tool on a slippy slip. I've also found a good few handfuls of sand on the green slime is a very effective scourer under the drive wheels.

mick · 06 June 2016, 18:06

The lads at the fish farm where we launched above just use bleach