There's a mutiny among our local matelots! According to this week's Gazunder, fisher folk have been holding parties on the new beach that used to be the entrance to our Royal Harbour to protest the fact that, although they're charged for deep water berthing, they're unable to get in and out unless it's virtually a spring tide.The blue tub in the photo is Ramsgate's The Ramsgate, and it's supposed to dredge the harbour and channels, keeping them free of all that estuary silt that builds up. But the cap's retired, and the boat itself should have been sent to the knacker's yard years ago judging by the state of it.
And who's responsible for this 'sandy' state of affairs, eh? Well the clue's in the question. Yes, you guessed it, none other than our wonderful Thanet District Council (Leader: Sandy Beach), who run the harbour. So what more appropriate epithet for the new facility they've created in the harbour entrance than... [drum roll] The Sandy Beach Sandy Beach!
6 comments:
much like T.D.C then,shallow and scared of getting into deep water.
Still a captain(sandy) must go down on his ship(thanet)instead of on his bosun(latchford)or are those rumours not true?
In the article, the council response was basically that the fishermen were talking crap, mostly on the grounds that the dredger could get in and out of the harbour without apparent diffculty. On the other hand, Ramsgate's fishing boats look about the teeniest (and shallowest) boats possible, so if they think it's getting trickier, what chance does a decent size yacht have? It seems pretty self-evident that the harbour entrance being half blocked by sand at low tide is less than desirable, but I'm only a landlubber.
If you pay fees for a deep water harbour then that is what you should get. Latchford's comments in the gazunder were absolutely amazingly arrogant and miss the point that TDC is failing to maintain its harbour correctly.
How much have HM Customs paid to berth their cutter Valiant there? They must be less than chuffed, surley?
Zumiweb you are more correct than Cll Latchford. Yachts have had to wait outside the harbour at some low tides this year, to wait for the tide to rise. The dredger has also had to wait at times, do not believe what the Councillor says, and for him to call people with a genuine grievance beggars belief. I wonder how many fishermen are in his constituency. He also stated that the ferry only went on the bank because of the wind, excuse me but the point is that the bank should not have been there in the first place! But he choose to ignore that fact.
I should have inserted "childish" after grievance.
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