August 2021
Welcome to August's newsletter. It's had a little bit of a facelift and a couple of other changes that we hope will improve the readability and your enjoyment of finding out about recent events at CHC.
July and August are busy and high profile times for Cowes. We have continued to welcome cruise ships and some of those calls have coincided with Cowes Week. We continue to work hard to secure more visits which will raise our profile as a destination port and bring additional revenue to the town.
 
I am pleased to report the team is growing at CHC as we welcome Steve Spilsbury in his new role of PR and Marketing Manager. Steve brings a wealth of experience with him and I know he is keen to apply this to aid both CHC and the town of Cowes. We will also welcome a new Deputy Harbour Master in September - so there will be more details about this in a future newsletter.
 
Finally, with safety being our primary concern, we recently completed an out of date flare collection and launched a safety awareness campaign called 'How Cool' to reduce the amount of dangerous activity taking place in the harbour.
 
As a team, we continue to work hard to provide a safe and enjoyable harbour experience and deliver improvements for the benefit of our stakeholders.
Gary Hall
Chief Executive - Cowes Harbour Commission


Harbour Master's
Safety Briefing



We're here to save your pocket - not just your life.
The Red Funnel passenger vessels, commercial cargo vessels, along with the chain ferry, are the largest and most obvious dangers for smaller craft on the river. Cowes Harbour General Directions inform all harbour users how to interact with each other safely, however, if you undertake 

"‘shocking and dangerous manoeuvre(s)"

you not only run the risk of causing an accident but also prosecution and a fine-maybe more!

As reported in The Portsmouth News on 22 July this has been the case for the master of a 6.5 metre long RIB who has received a £6,000 fine as he was seen to go over the harbour speed limit of six knots before overtaking and turning sharply within 8 metres of the bow of the Southampton-bound Red Osprey in September last year. The manoeuvre caused the master of the ferry to take evasive action and, in addition, none of the four people onboard the RIB were... Read more
A successful central collection for TEPs
Supporting the government-led Maritime Safety Week, we provided a central collection point for out-of-date distress flares at Shepards Marina between Sunday 4 and Sunday 11 July 2021. The provision was limited to Isle of Wight residents only but despite this, over 2,100 flares were collected.

As a Trust Port, the service was provided as a Stakeholder Benefit by the Commission, so it was free of charge up to a limit of 6 TEPs (Time Expired Pyrotechnics) per person. More than 6 could be handed in but additional items were charged for. Read More
The world’s largest square-rigged sailing ship arrived in Cowes
Tradewind Voyages’ Golden Horizon arrived in Cowes for its maiden call on Wednesday 21 July. Golden Horizon is the world’s largest square-rigged sailing ship and will offer voyages with unique sustainability credentials when it sails east from September 2021. The five-masted sailing cruise ship is 524 feet (162 metres) long and carries up to 272 passengers in luxurious accommodation with 159 crew.

The call formed part of its inaugural season which will see her visit Cowes on two more occasions this year. The ship’s arrival continued the trend for cruise ships to call at Cowes with 3 more ships scheduled for the rest of the year. Read More
CHC launched safety campaign following
World Drowning Prevention Day
CHC joined the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF) in recognising the first World Drowning Prevention Day (WDPD) on Sunday 25 July. This historic and recently declared initiative recognises the need to reduce the ‘deeply concerning’ global annual figure of deaths due to drowning.

The WHO reports that drowning is in the top ten global causes of death for children between the ages of 5 and 14 and so the date of the awareness day was especially timely for us as the schools have broken up and the number of incidents in Cowes harbour historically increases during the summer months. ‘Tombstoning’ is a practice that is especially dangerous in the UK and in Cowes, along with generally diving into and swimming in the harbour. Read More

We have also launched safety campaign to highlight the behaviour in the harbour that can increase water users' risk of drowning. We are increasingly seeing sailors not wearing personal flotation devices (PFDs), not using ‘kill-cords’ but also children ‘tombstoning’ into the Medina to show off and anti-social behaviour from some boat owners who do not show due respect for other harbour users. Read more
Annual Public Meeting - 19 August
We would like to invite all harbour users and stakeholders to attend the Annual Public Meeting on
19 August.

The meeting will cover the activities and events of the past 12 months in Cowes Harbour, including: governance, safety, finance, harbour development, people, and the environment.

This will be followed by an open Q&A session so if you would like to ask any questions please email them, ahead of time, to: chc@cowes.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you at the Island Sailing Club.

David Riley
Chairman, Cowes Harbour Commission

Thursday 19 August 2021 at 1900
PR and Marketing get a new focus
In July CHC welcomed its newest member to the team when Steve Spilsbury joined as PR and Marketing Manager. Steve brings with him a wealth of experience across many business sectors, most relevant being the travel and cruise industries. He has implemented award winning campaigns that have achieved notable improvements to revenue figures but also increased customer satisfaction in companies’ communications to varied interested parties and groups.

Steve also has experience of communicating change management and corporate branding which was of interest to the board and Gary Hall, CHC's CEO, as the organisation undertakes a progressive change in direction.

Steve is keen to apply his skills and experience to aid CHC in their new approach as he feels there are many aspects of CHC’s trust port work that go unnoticed and he is already looking into ways to raise the profile of how CHC helps the sailing and other local communities in Cowes and the Isle of Wight.
Advertise with us and reach your
target audience
If you are a company offering products and services to the sailing community, water users or even tourists to Cowes, you will want to get your business message in front of the right people. CHC can help you with this. We have a range of outside advertising spaces at Trinity landing, Shepards Marina, Town Quay and even the new Breakwater.

Prices vary depending on location but every package includes the cost of the banner. We can even create the artwork for you to show your business off in its best light.

For further information please email CHC@cowes.co.uk
Further information about CHC
Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) is constituted under the Cowes Harbour Act and Orders 1897-2012. It is the Statutory Harbour Authority for Cowes Harbour on the Isle of Wight. CHC receives no funding from either central or local government and re-invests surpluses into the organisation for the overall benefit of harbour users and stakeholders.
 
CHC’s vision is to fulfill the potential of Cowes Harbour and the River Medina in delivering first-class port facilities and leisure services and by acting as the main transport and shipping gateway supporting the Island’s economy and employment.
 
CHC is a trust port and offers the following to the sailing and local community: harbour and river moorings, events centre, boatyard services and storage, commercial marine services and a fuel berth.

For further information on CHC, please visit our About Us page.
Local Notices To Mariners
To keep up to date with the changes to the operations of the harbour, we issue Local Notices To Mariners in advance of whenever these changes are due to come into effect. You can see these notices on the Local Notices To Mariners (LNTMs) page on our website or sign up to receive these direct to your inbox.
Cowes Harbour Commission | Website