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1. New Higher Ferry
2. Wow! at
Wildfire
3. Satellites
save lives
4. Small News
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1. New Higher
Ferry
The image above shows our own actual
Dartmouth Ferry, close to Rotterdam. OK we took some liberties
and superimposed it on the River Dart, thanks to Colin Cadle for
this visualising. Click
here to see some of his other award wining works.
Kerry Southern reports:
"The hull of the new ferry has been constructed in Holland and
is expected to arrive in Falmouth shortly. It is due to be
delivered to Dartmouth on 10th June – and will enter service
around 16th June.
During the life of the present ferry (49 years), road traffic in
the UK has doubled. The life of the new ferry is expected to
also be around 50 years – and the owners are taking the
necessary steps to “future-proof” the new vessel.
It will have a nominal capacity of 32 cars (as opposed to the
present 18) and 250 passengers. Crossing times will be reduced
by 25%. A substantial reduction of the present queuing-time is
envisaged. Main propulsion will be provided by a pair of
hydraulically driven “bull wheels” on each side which pull the
ferry along two steel wires which will be anchored to each side
of the river. This design will be much quieter and efficient
than the present paddle-driven design. Four thrusters will
provide additional manoeuvrability to correct vessel alignment
when required e.g. strong wind or tidal conditions. Simultaneous
loading/unloading of the new vessel, together with a new
traffic-management system on the Dartmouth side of the river,
will ensure a quick turnaround time.
Power will be provided by two
engines, Scania DI 1262EM (rated at 280kW each), of which only
one will be required for normal operation. These engines are
exceptionally quiet, fuel-efficient - and have particularly low
levels of carbon emission. Although the vessel’s
construction will allow it to carry vehicles of up to 20 tonnes,
the owners only intend to carry vehicles of up to 16 tonnes – as
was the situation prior to 2001. The new ferry will be
approximately 10 metres longer and 6 metres wider than the
existing vessel.
The present slipways are now being
upgraded in readiness for the new ferry. The Dartmouth slipway
will be widened marginally along its northern edge. The historic
‘lifeboat’ slip (damaged some years ago during construction work
by BT) will be sympathetically restored to preserve its
heritage. The new ferry will float 20cms deeper than the
existing vessel; a modest amount of dredging on the Dartmouth
side is presently being considered." |
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2. Wow! at
Wildfire
 
 
The Dartmouth dot TV team
recently visited Wildfire Bistro and sampled the new Wow! menu.
With a range of enticing dishes which includes Slow cooked ham
and date terrine, Venison pudding and Bigbury Bay oysters, as
well as a number of specials, it was really difficult to choose.
In the end we plumped for these very succulent scallops with
coconut and chilli from the specials board and duck spring roll
as starters, followed by the Semi Cured marinated escalope of
salmon and, of course, Dave's favourite, fillet steak!
there was just room to fit in a classic tiramisu and the very
striking tropical sorbets with flaming mandarin liqueur - great
to watch as well as eat! Many thanks to Jo and Chris Jones
for looking after us.
Wildfire have a special deal on
until 12th February which offers "Buy 2 main courses from the
new menu and get the cheapest free!". You have to book in
advance mentioning the offer before next Friday 23 January and
there are some exclusions, but we'd recommend you give it a try.
Call 01803 837180 and mention 'Dartmouth dot TV' to qualify for
the offer.
To see the new menu
click here. |
| 3.
Satellites save lives
If you have an epurb on your boat,
or if you watched the weather forecast last night you will have
already had some contact with the strange world of weather
satellites. Our owner Dave Cawley is an acknowledged world
expert in this rather specialist field and his company recently
sold 14 weather satellite systems to the Indian Navy. The
UK and the French Navy also use his systems,
click here for more
details.
Every 2 or 4 years the
satellite operators hold a Users Conference. Held in
in December in Miami, where the weather is good and the beer is
cold, over 200 delegates gathered to exchange views. Dave
represents around 15,000 private individual users of these
satellites and was asked, once again, to give a paper to this US
Department of Commerce conference. After presenting his
paper, Dave was asked by USA Government officials for
private meetings; he duly obliged! Some of the conference
presentations started at 8:00am, worked through lunch, and
continued until 8:00pm. On one day though, Dave decided
the theme wasn't for him and he re-visited the Art Deco area of
South Beach where the rich and famous hang out. Roll on
2010 says Dave! |
Dave Cawley
giving a paper in Miami |
4.
Small News
- Some people have
suggested that the circulation of this internet news has a
greater penetration in Dartmouth than the local paper.
Certainly a leading Dartmouth business said this week, that
after we ran a story about them, they got more enquiries
than from their somewhat large advert in a local paper!
If you have a business in Dartmouth or if you are an event
organiser or a local organisation, ask us about the
publicity we can offer.
Click here and tell us about what you need.
Naturally this won't always be for free, but our charges are
extraordinarily reasonable!
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Why not come and visit Dartmouth?
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Dartmouth dot TV ~
Marketing Dartmouth
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