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Would you like to enjoy having a regular flutter on a local lottery, and support NCI Gosport at the same time ?   You can do this by signing up to the Gosport Community Lottery .  The Gosport Community Lottery is managed by Gosport Voluntary Action and is supported by Gosport Borough Council.   It is an exciting weekly lottery that raises money for good causes in Gosport. All good causes supported by the lottery will benefit Gosport and its residents.   Play the lottery, support Gosport - it’s that simple! Tickets for the lottery cost just £1 per week. Each ticket has a  1 in 50  chance of winning a prize each week, with a top prize of £25,000! That’s a better chance of winning than the National Lottery or the Health Lottery! To enjoy a flutter and support NCI Gosport, just go to this web page and purchase tickets...     https://www.gosportcommunitylottery.co.uk/support/nci-gosport

To us NCI Watchkeepers in our lookout tower at the harbour entrance, it often feels strange   that occasionally water-borne visitors will arrive without knowing that there are rules dictating how to enter, where you can go, and who you have to speak to.   They don’t seem to realise that Portsmouth is the home of the Royal Navy, has a lot of commercial and cruise movements, and is the second busiest ferry port in the UK.   Visiting skippers who get things wrong do rather often ‘get away with it’ if the port is quiet, only to keep getting it wrong on subsequent visits.   But then there are times when ignorance of the rules causes disruption and annoyance, and sometimes worse.   Take for example the case of a small rowing boat we spotted recently.   It first appeared as a small dot in the far distance, and seemed to be midway between 1Bar and 2bar buoys….   Ie in the centre of the channel.   As it gradually got closer – still in the centre of the c...

While we are all recovering from a very wild and windy weekend, you might be wondering just how windy it was.  Well, at the NCI Gosport station, we got this... Date - 15 July 2023 Time - 17.05 Max gust - 44.3 knots Direction - SSW   This is the highest recorded windspeed at our station since we started putting our weather data online; it's just breath away from Force 9.   [Happily, our station is still standing and suffered no damage.]

Coastal safety is set for an extra boost this summer with the official launch of ‘Stay Safe Along The Coast’ from National Coastwatch. As well as their traditional task of keeping a lookout for vessels and persons in distress on the sea and along the coastlines, NCI Watchkeepers will be taking a more proactive role in promoting coastal and water safety. NCI stations which are public facing will offer practical safety support, distributing wrist bands for children to carry their guardian’s contact details so they can be quickly reunited, waterproof phone pouches, and stickers for owner’s contact details for paddleboards and personal watercraft. The charity’s volunteer watchkeepers will also provide information on local sea and tidal conditions, and local weather. Stephen Hand, National Coastwatch Chair said: “We’ve been active in promoting coastal safety for some time but the official launch of ‘Stay Safe Along the Coast’ is an important step forward. We also work clos...

In a lot of situations, our main activity is to keep a casualty vessel under observation, pass details and updates to the Coastguard, and be there to notice in case things should go from bad to worse.   One of our Watchkeepers – a keen sailor – recently wrote about the reassurance that she felt knowing that someone was keeping an eye out…. As a Gosport NCI Watchkeeper I know the routine of keeping a watch – being the eyes and ears along the coast.  I am also aware that whilst we all work to a common understanding and methods not all stations have the same volume of activity as we do at Gosport NCI. Recently I have been sailing in waters unfamiliar to me – from Gosport towards the Netherlands and return - via Dover.  On the way to the Netherlands we sailed through strong NE winds (Force 5 to 6) in moderately rough seas.  It was very reassuring to know that I had some fellow watchkeepers along the coast watching me and knew that help would be there if we needed it....

 W ritten by one of the Gosport Watchkeepers who is a keen sailor. As a Gosport NCI Watchkeeper I know the routine of keeping a watch – being the eyes and ears along the coast.  I am also aware that whilst we all work to a common understanding and methods not all stations have the same volume of activity as we do at Gosport NCI. Recently I have been sailing in waters unfamiliar to me – from Gosport towards the Netherlands and return - via Dover.  On the way to the Netherlands we sailed through strong NE winds (F5/6) in a moderately rough seas.  It was very reassuring to know that I had some fellow watchkeepers along the coast watching me and knew that help would be there if we needed it.   Those strong binoculars would be looking out the window and would know that we were out there.  

Most boaters sail past the Boyne buoy without giving it a second thought - but it marks a local catastrophe...     The Boyne Buoy (Fl.(4) G 10s), marking the Bar Channel between Castle Buoy and Horse Sand Buoy, came into being to mark the remains of the wreckage of HMS Boyne. HMS Boyne, was a 98 gun second rate ship of the line. She was the first of a class of similar ships built to the designs of Sir Edward Hunt in 1783. Construction took place at Woolwich over a period of 7 years. She was launched on the 27 th July 1790 and commissioned into the Royal Navy the following month. HMS Boyne was 182 feet (55m) in length along the gun deck, had a beam of 50 feet four and 5/8 inches (15.35m) and a draught in excess of 21 feet 9 inches (6.63m). She was a fully rigged ship (3 stepped masts, square rigged) and had a 'burthen' of 2,021 tons. Her armament comprised 28 x 32 pounder cannon on the main gundeck, 30 x 18 pounder cannon on the middle gundeck and 30 x 12 pounder cannons ...

Have you ever wondered how KHM operate, the legalities and regulations it has to comply with, the risks it has to plan for , etc etc ?  In a busy port like Portsmouth, where leisure traffic, military vessels, cargo ships and cruise liners all jostle for space, things can get complicated.  Well wonder no more.  You can read all about it in the KHM Annual Report for 2022. Just click on this link.... https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/-/media/khm/portsmouth/documents/20230320-dpp-annual-report-2022.pdf?la=en-gb&rev=9a4dd9badff5423ba4d17467ab950fe9&hash=7904FB9D28F6CA17CF9F29EEADC895A3

  As Watchkeepers, we are always on the lookout for people or vessels that are in distress or danger.   It saddens us therefore when we see people – usually recent school leavers - deliberately put themselves into a dangerous situation.   We refer to the act of ‘Tombstoning’, something we see a few times a year as youths jump off the Round Tower into the sea.   Admittedly it takes a certain amount of courage to do that; unfortunately, it also involves a high degree of stupidity.   Here are the thoughts of one Gosport Watchkeeper on the subject.   Sunny Wells   During 2008 a young man named Sunny Wells jumped off South Parade Pier into shallow water.  Although he had jumped from the same spot a number of times before, on this occasion, he had not properly assessed the depth of water below him.    Rescuers rushed to the scene to find him barely conscious and while they supported him and ensured his airways were clear, t...