16/01/2025

Peelports Proposed fee

 You may not be aware of the proposal by Peelports which is the company employed to manage harbours in the Clyde estuary to institute an annual charge of £100 +VAT to recreational boat users who keep their boats anywhere within Clyde waters - which includes all of the Clyde sea lochs.  

Unsurprisingly there is considerable opposition to this and a petition is in existence.  Whether or not you possess a boat you are encouraged to sign it. 

 Petition to oppose Peelports Conservancy Fee

Stuart McMillan, the Inverclyde MSP who is the convenor of the Scottish Government Cross Party Group on Recreational Boating Marine Tourism has issued the following open letter:

Quote

To whom this may concern,
Re: Peel Ports Clydeport’s plans to introduce conservancy fee
I write on behalf of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group (CPG) on Recreational Boating and Marine Tourism which I convene.
I am writing to make you aware of Peel Ports’ intentions to introduce a £100 conservancy fee for leisure craft sailing in the Clydeport area from April 2025.
By way of background, this has been discussed at two of the most recent CPG on Recreational Boating and Marine Tourism meetings on 24th September and 27th November 2024. On both occasions, Peel Ports were invited along to outline their plans, but twice declined to participate. Consequently, it was unanimously agreed at the November meeting of the CPG that our collective position is that these plans should be abandoned.
Concerns include how the marine tourism economy will be damaged as boaters will be put off sailing within Clydeports’ waters. Boaters are also angry at the lack of meaningful dialogue with them about these plans, which has led to questions arising over how the fee will be spent.
Another worry relates to the progressive increase in charges that will surely happen if a conservancy fee is implemented. The somewhat limited fee, as proposed, will inevitably not remain the same in the coming years. In effect, this fee is considered very much as a ‘cash grab’ by the recreational boating sector.
The reason I am bringing this matter to your intention is because it affects areas within your local authority area. Consequently, when Peel Ports initiate the statutory consultation period, which is expected to begin later this month, we wanted to ensure that [X] Council were in a position to respond to the proposals.
Understandably, I appreciate you will be limited in your ability to respond to this letter given the current lack of details provided by Peel Ports about these proposals. However, I wanted to make you aware of the Open Letter that I have sent to Peel Ports on behalf of the CPG, with Kenneth Gibson MSP and Clare Adamson MSP also co-signatories, and the public petition that I’ve launched which is calling on Peel Ports to abandon their plans to introduce a conservancy charge. I’ve also attached a briefing note that was sent to all MSPs regarding this matter.
So far, the petition has reached over 2,300 signatures – but we know that this only represents a small amount of the boating community in Scotland. Plus, I have received correspondence from sailors who live in other parts of the UK who visit the Clyde and have said they oppose these proposals, and would consider sailing elsewhere if it was introduced. I will therefore continue to call on Peel Ports to ditch their plans for a conservancy fee in the Clydeport area, and try to make as many stakeholders as possible aware of these plans.
I trust this information is helpful.
Kind regards,
Stuart 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

18/11/2024

 2024 Photo competition

1.Choppy Loch Fyne - Séamus Lalor

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.Learning the ropes - Trevor Watson

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.August squall - Don Reid



 

 

 

 

 

 

4.Snowmelt! - Norena MacAdam



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.Two feet one yard - Jane Hinshalwood Runner up



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





6.Dolphin off Skye - Gavin Kenny



 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

7.Late summer dawn Crinan - Dugald Glen The Winner


 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.Dugald trying out his summer wardrobe - Val Glen



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.A Red Deer for shore - Graham Gillies

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.End of Season High - Caroline Hutchinson

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.High winds - Steve Pickles

 











11/11/2024

 

SYC  NEWSLETTER  November 2024

 

Message from the Commodore     Tom Hutchinson

 

The Serpent Annual Dinner and Prizegiving will once again be held at the Glasgow Art Club, one of Glasgow’s grandest and most elegant settings,

on Saturday December 7th 2024.

The Art Club has recently installed the celebrated Glasgow restauranteur Gordon Yuill as it’s new operations director. His task is to make the Art Club more accessible and his chefs are now running the kitchen.

 

The cost will be £60pp to include a pre-dinner glass of fizz or juice and a three course meal followed by tea or coffee.

As this year is the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI, we are delighted to confirm that the speaker will be Ms Roberta Young who has long been involved with the Institute.

 

Please see attached Menu and application form for the dinner. As usual we require to have menu choice pre-orders. The Chef will tailor choices made to any stated diet requirements.

Orders must be received by 26th November.

 

Autumn Muster Report

The Autumn muster and race were scheduled to take place at Largs over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of September. As with a number of events this season, a close weather watch was undertaken in the run up to the event. A weather window appeared on Friday and three yachts made their way to Largs to berth in the very busy marina on the Friday afternoon where the crews socialised in the traditional Serpent Yacht Club fashion.

Saturday morning dawned with the predicted strong winds of up to 37 knots blowing up the Clyde Estuary. It was agreed by all that given the current weather conditions the race should be cancelled. Encore, Silverjack and Black Pepper remained in the marina and were later joined by Jim and Lorraine from Stiarna, and Séamus and Marie from Emma Louise for a superb meal in Scott’s restaurant on the Saturday evening.

The weather improved overnight and the three boats berthed in Largs enjoyed a fine sail back to their various berths.

Once again, despite the poor weather and some resulting cancellations, this was a very enjoyable event. I must thank Don and Marje Gillies on Black Pepper for hosting the Commodore and to the rest of the Committee for organising the event.

 

 

Closing Supper Report

 

The closing supper was held on the 17th of October with pre dinner drinks in the Horseshoe Bar (which reminded me of my misspent youth) followed by supper in the Bombay Blues Indian restaurant in Glasgow. 12 members attended and enjoyed an evening of sailing related chat with much discussion around plans for next season. Again, this was an excellent evening which was well supported. We are hoping to repeat this next year following an official tour of Central Station which comes much recommended.

 

 

Photo Competition

 

Following the success of our remarkably popular photo competition last year, we are hoping for a bumper crop of special shots from you this year. The theme this time is very loose, ‘Summer 2024’ which should allow for considerable latitude. The rules are that you must have taken the photo yourself in the past year, only one photo submission per member, and you must be happy for us to display the photo on the Serpent website.

Please email your photo, in the highest resolution possible together with a title to Graham at gwagillies@gmail.com  The closing date is not far away on Monday 18th November so don’t delay.

 

 

Association Karukinka

 

Members who managed to attend the club’s mussel fest in Loch Spelve in June this year will remember meeting Lauriane and Demian from yacht Milagro and having  a fascinating conducted tour of their 65 foot steel ketch (see photo). The Association Karukinka who own and manage the boat, plan to use it as a base for their research and support work with the native peoples of Patagonia.

 

The organisation are offering several opportunities for people to pay to sail with them for the experience, crewing on various legs of the delivery trip to Patagonia and also  three, eighteen day, circular trips exploring the islands of the region. Although French, their English is excellent.  They have decided the Patagonian exploration trip departing from Puerto Williams in Chile on 19th February will be an English speaking trip.

Some club members have already signed up to go on this trip.  If anyone is interested in learning more about it the link to their website is:-

https://karukinka-exploration.com/en/patagonia/