VIEW FROM THE TOWER!

We hope that you think that NCI in general (and NCI Gosport in particular) do an important and worthwhile job.  It may surprise you though to learn that we receive no financial support from government sources.  That's right, we dont receive a penny from the state, be it from VAT or personal taxation.  So we need your help, in the form of a donation, to help us keep doing our job and to keep our station open.  Just a few pounds can make all the difference to us. We have a number of fairly painless ways of making a donation, which you can find on our web page here...  https://www.nci.org.uk/stations/donations The simplest is to use your phone....  just text     NCIGOSPORT   to  70450    to donate £5 Please, please help us by using one of these methods to make a donation, however small.  Your help lets us save lives.

  Problems with your Channel 65 radio check calls ? Making a call to check your radio is one of those basic safety tests one can make before heading out to sea; in the remote possibility of a problem on board, a fully functional radio can make the difference between a rescue and a tragedy. NCI stations are more than happy to reply to radio check calls on our working channel, 65.   As an HMCG declared facility we are very pleased to help reduce the workload on HM Coastguard, and indeed the Coastguard themselves prefer that you call your nearest NCI Station on Channel 65. Last month (April), the NCI Gosport station dealt with 126 radio check calls.   The other NCI stations in the Solent area (Lee, Calshot, Stone Point, Needles, and Bembridge) likewise dealt with a substantial number.   But occasionally check calls from boaters do unfortunately go unanswered.   Why might this be ? As a charity, manned by volunteers, and receiving no funding from t...

Correct use of the small boat channel. Also Crossing from Ballast Pile to Camber/Gunwharf Quay.   Written by an NCI Gosport watchkeeper I often watch the traffic in the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour and there are regular issues with those transiting the area. These issues are to do with both being unaware /caught out of the tidal flow and not following the correct route. Traffic exiting the harbour during the flood are often caught out by the strong east going tide flooding in from the inner swashway. This can be running at 3kn and will push the unwary towards the Round Tower as they meet the incoming flood, even those that have travelled south using the back eddy between BC4 and BC2 will be pushed east. It is not uncommon for yachts to be 1/3 of the way across the main channel before they realise and correct their course. With so much to consider it is not always easy to anticipate the cross tide. Vessels being pushed across the channel in turn tends to force incoming ...