LNTM - 04/01/22

Reporting of Damage, Incidents and Potential Risk
04 January 2022

(This notice replaces Local Notice to Mariners 8 of 2016 which is hereby cancelled)

Notice is hereby given that any incident that reflects on the safe operation of Cowes Harbour is to be reported immediately to the Harbour Master.

Such incidents are considered to be those that involve, please note that this list is by no means exhaustive:

• Damage to vessels
• Damage to harbour structures or shore facilities that could affect the use of such facilities by other vessels
• Any damages or defects to navigational marks
• Close quarter situations between two or more vessels, which results in emergency action on the part of any of the vessels involved
• Other near-miss incidents with the potential to have caused injury or damage

In these circumstances, an immediate report is to be made to the Harbour Master:

• By VHF Radio, call sign: ‘Cowes Harbour Radio’ on VHF Channel 69
• By telephone 01983 293952 (office hours).

In the event of any of the above incidents, the Harbour Master shall be notified within 24 hours of such event.

Please note that even “minor berthing incidents”, such as bumps and scrapes involving other vessels, need to be reported to either the berth/marina operator or to Cowes Harbour Commission

Online reporting form

If a report is requested to be submitted, members of the public are encouraged to submit accidents, incidents and potential risk reports using the convenient electronic form which can be found at: www.cowesharbourcommission.co.uk/incident. Once completed, the form is automatically sent to the Harbour Master. It is vitally important that the form be submitted as soon as practicable. It is crucial that all incidents are reported so they can be acted upon, and to ensure that any “lessons learnt” can be carried forward on to improvements on harbour safety.

In the event of any incident causing personal injury or involving safety of life at sea, the circumstances of which demand immediate action, then contact should be made with HM Coastguard who will then coordinate the emergency services. They can be contacted:

• By VHF Radio, call sign “Solent Coastguard”, Channel 16 / 67
• Telephone 02392 552100

All harbour users are reminded of Cowes Harbour General Directions Chapter 3 – Navigation and Movement of vessels, with specific reference to paragraphs 3.8, 3.9, and 3.10 which refers to reporting requirements.

This local notice to mariners will remain in force until further notice.