And the Waveley hit TWO piers down south

We’ve already reported on new Scottish Lib Dem Leader, Tavish Scott’s disappointment at having his photo opportunity in Bournemouth with Argyll favourite, the paddlesteamer Waverley, ruined. The ship’s no-show was due to being delayed after ‘failing to dock’ earlier at Worthing Pier. “Failing to dock’ can safely be translated as hammering into the pier, part of which remains closed to the public. This was on Monday 15th September.

Now it seems that the Waverley had also ‘failed to dock’ the day before – at Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. On Sunday 14th, while returning passengers from a cruise to Weymouth and Bournemouth, the Waverley had a sharpish, unscheduled meeting with the Yarmouth pier. It too remains closed to visitors with part of its superstructure and a corner pier head pile damaged.

Before it left Argyll the Waverley paid its last visit to Tarbert on Loch Fyne, unable to dock there again with the current poor state of the pierhead there. Now, if only it had ‘failed to dock’ at Tarbert… a new pier there might have materialised sooner. The present one certainly wouldn’t withstand the sort of muscular docking failures the Waverley’s inflicting just now on the south coast of England.

Here’s a thought for the weekend. The Vestas company which plans to close it’s wind turbine manufacturing plant in Campbeltown in Kintyre has secured a sweet deal from the UK Government to relocate to the Isle of Wight. Is the Waverey Alex Salmond’s and Jim Mather’s secret agent of revenge? And she’s heading for the Thames after 25th September. And there’s a pier at Westminster Bridge…

A footnote to the story is that the Waverley did turn up at Bournemouth later on Monday after its engagement with Worthing pier – but too late for Tavish. The Scots Lib Dem Leader is probably counting his lucky stars. Imagine the press headlines. ‘Another ship with dodgy navigation and a history of failing to dock.’ Not what you’d want as you set out on the trail of Salmond netting.