...seals and other wildlife

Important NewsWildlife Sailing faces stormy seas and rising sea level. We are sorry to report that all our Offshore Cruises have ended this year. The main reason is that the last 3 summers have been the windiest we have ever known. In addition, all the seal haul outs have been sinking every year since we started 16 years ago. The first one we visited disappeared in 1998 so we changed to another one which by 2007 did not appear above water, except during the big early morning low tides. In 2008 we changed to a third bank 6 miles offshore, with grey and common seals on a sand bar with deep water on both sides. During the winter of 2008, this bar, consisting of what must be many thousands of tons of sand, collapsed, blocking the channel. Most of the seals have disappeared, because they prefer quick access to deep water. During the last 16 years, global warming has caused a sea level rise of about 8 cm, speeding up each year. This seems very little, but as most sandbanks are very flat, huge areas are now covered at low tide. This should mean that the water round the banks is deeper, but the opposite is true because the sand is spreading out making the water shallower each year. Wildlife's draft of only 54cm, used to be ideal near sandbanks but is now too deep. This, plus the almost continuous rough seas during 2009, meant that most days were too dangerous to set sail and caused a disastrous 80% cancellation rate. The Yacht Wildlife is for sale- see Link on Home Page. If we still own Wildlife in the summer of 2010 we intend to run some commercial cruises from Harty Ferry near Faversham. There are no pristine sandbanks to walk on, but there are large flocks of birds, a few seals, creeks to explore and sheltered sailing. Our future plans are to purchase a much smaller day sailer for private use, but one that could carry 4-5 passengers if an MCA licence is possible. This will float in 30cm of water and could be pulled up on to an offshore bank in calm conditions. We are very greatly indebted to the incredible support from many thousands of passengers, crew and family during the last 16 years. Mike Turner.
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