Welcome to the water safety blog of Gosport NCI. Manned by volunteers, Gosport NCI is located in Fort Blockhouse and provides a visual and listening watch over Portsmouth harbour and the Eastern Solent.
Dolphin Watch
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This appeal came in to us recently. Unfortunately we dont get to see much marine life from our lookout tower, so this is really for anyone who takes a boat out.
Now on sale at YouBoat chandlery in Gosport Marina, our calendar features different and unexpected views of Portsmouth landmarks. It makes a great gift that lasts the whole year round. They are priced at just £8.50 with all profits going towards the running of the watch station. You can of course donate more if you wish!
Station Manager Interview For this Blog entry we interviewed Colin Church, Station Manger of NCI Gosport, to find out more about NCI and how the Gosport station operates. Q. We know that the NCI Gosport station overlooks the harbour entrance at Fort Blockhouse, but when did it first open ? Colin. The station opened in 2008 and has been in continuous operation since then, apart from a brief hiatus due to the covid lockdown. Q. How many volunteers man the station ? How many are there at any one time ? Colin. We have about 60 volunteers - more formally called ‘Watchkeepers’ - at Gosport. We open the station at 9am each day with two watchkeepers on duty; they hand over to another two at 12.30pm. In the summer months another two come on duty at 4pm; they close the station at 7.30pm. We have an online rostering system so that watchkeepers can choose what days and times they wish to be on duty. On average each watchkeeper will be on duty about three times per month. Q. Can anyone...
Time and Tide Part 1 This article in the ‘View from the Harbour Entrance’ blog looks at some of the problems caused by tides. Given how incredibly accurate tide predictions can be, and how easy it is to get hold of those predicted tide times and heights, you might think that watercraft users would never suffer tide-related problems. Unfortunately, in practice, you would sometimes be wrong. That’s not to say that everyone hits problems caused by tides – far from it. But there is one particular event that you can almost guarantee we will observe at almost every spring tide. Before we launch into that, let’s review where you can get tide information. Well, there are plenty of almanacs and harbour guides available containing tide information (note that times are invariably given in GMT, so you have to adjust by one hour in the summer). You can also get a tide app for your smartphone. Next, the QHM (Queens Harbour Masters) website gives tide information for that day; a good place to go is h...