The historical Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter - Part 1

Many consider the Bristol Channel pilot cutter to be the finest sailing boat design ever. Fast, seaworthy and beautiful to behold, the pilot cutter is the perfect combination of form and function - a thoroughbred perfectly adapted to a life in one of the Britain's most treacherous stretches of water. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe explores the life of the pilots and sails a perfectly restored cutter to find out just what drove these men and their wonderful machines.

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

Here’s a video of recent Sea trials during ‘Storm Bram’ aboard the ‘all weather’ Interceptor 48 ‘Northeast Pilot III’ we built for the North East pilots at Newport, Rhode Island in the USA. With winds of Storm Force 11 and heavy breaking waves conditions were pretty wild, and proved a good test for her seakeeping abilities, especially her stability where she recovered nicely from a hard 90 degree knock down. Also respect to the seamanship of the captain aboard Fokko Ukena whom we filmed and...

The new design, is based below the waterline upon our Barracuda deep ‘V’ planning hull, fully proven in service with versions operating as pilot and S.A.R. craft.

The CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE, our new flagship, is the first of a series of nine sister ships, a homogeneous LNG-powered fleet.
An innovation-packed feat, a pioneering choice that aims at preserving air quality.
The result of 7 years of research and development.
More than a flagship, a vision.

Bulker Energy cosmos ( 229/32 m ) swinging and berthing in Rouen ( Normandy - France ) to Soufflet Silo