New isle of wight ferry

[j.sabourn]

#29... John sounds like the bloke. Who shone the Aldis on the anchor ball at night. JWS

[Keith Tindell]

Towing reminds me off the power boat which left Lymington at night, after a little session in the pub no doubt, came out of the river and gave it full taps for Yarmouth, and straight between the tug and a tow. It decapitated the helmsman, but i cannot remember what happened with crew. This was about 30 years ago, kt

[Keith at Tregenna]

Keith, are the prices any better? last time - a few years back now took the car over,
I was told then that it was one of the most expensive stretches of water in the world.

I was the best man at a Newport wedding so had to pay the going rate.

Regards,

Keith.

[j.sabourn]

#32 On an ocean tow there would be a lot of wire out and the cantalever of the wire would be fathoms down, in shallower water that was always a problem of estimating the deepest depth the wire was so as not to touch or snag the bottom. You always shortened the wire to be sure you didn’t. You rarely saw the wire when towing a rig on an ocean passage. Usually only when you were backing up to the rig to pass his pennant and bridle back. Length of wire out if the gauge on the towing winch was dicey had to use the radar to give a check on its accuracy. Was really a game of experience. Today would assume the micrometer gauges etc, on the towing winch to be more trustworthy and accurate. Today with sharks jaws and pop up pins, permanent gog eyes and a few other goodies the job is a lot easier. But is still a dangerous place to be on an anchor handlers deck when working anchors or making fast or releasing towlines. Another way of estimating how much wire was out was counting the wraps of the winch were out, but you had to know or work out what length each wrap was beforehand. A wrap was the total number of turns from one side. Of the winch to the other, and these are big winches and big wires today most have automatic spooling gear on so as to have no riding turns to damage the wire , otherwise had to be spooled back on using the tiugger winches. Now with all that second hand knowledge Keith which is probably useless today as the modern world changes all the time . The skipper on the tug bringing your ferry to the IOW will probably be a very experienced tug master and will know his own ship well or hopefully so. And so will be his crew. He”$ probably less concerned than you and probably looking forward to a pint before he goes home. Cheers JS

[Keith Tindell]

Keith 33, still silly money, and using the old adage of hit em while the goings good, if we have a pop festival, school holidays etc, up goes the price. Its cheaper if you want to catch the 0400 hr ferry, or the 2300hr ferry. but a car and 4 passengers in Aug at a guess would be in excess of £100, lot of money for 3 mile stretch of water, kt

[robpage]

It is always been the most expensive route for nautical mile in the world especially on the Portsmouth Ryde service . I don't know if it still applies but do you still get a reduction on car rate if your car is registered as an Isle of Wight car as opposed to a mainland car . I know somebody who used to do a lot of work over there so he registered one of his vans at their little Isle of Wight base and I'm pretty sure it save quite a hefty percentage off the regular crossings

[Keith Tindell]

Different system now Rob, we can buy a book of residents tickets, minimum of 12 singles, valid for a car and up to 7 passengers. we can use the tickets on any sailing, as long as a maximum of 10% resident bookings. This brings the cost down a lot, a single works out at approx £27, its the cheapest way for us. as long as i am in the car, it can be for eg 4-5 0f us playing golf on the mainland in someone else car, kt

[Keith at Tregenna]

I was advised of this earlier:

You can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers for Wightlink ferry travel and enjoy a fantastic trip to the Isle of Wight or mainland. Exchanging is easy and offers you great value – £2.50 of Tesco vouchers will give you £7.50 to spend with Wightlink.

Buy ferry tickets with Tesco Clubcard tokens

Keith.

[Keith Tindell]

Not just wightlink Keith, there are dozens of different offers, holidays, even car tyres i believe, kt

[Keith Tindell]

looks like a good job done by the tug, bonus in the pocket and a few beers i guess, kt

New dawn for Wightlink's flagship ferry, Victoria of Wight | Isle of Wight County Press