News has reached the IIMS head office about a prestigious Royal award that has recently been given to the Institute’s oldest member. Ian Nicolson is still surveying, winning races and writing books at the grand old age of 97.
Ian, who lives in Cove, Scotland, will receive an MBE after being included in the King’s Birthday Honours List last month.
And, just last month, he won the CYCA two-handed class at the Scottish Series on Loch Fyne and has since competed again in the Round Bute Race, partnered by a relative youngster aged just 80. An expert in surveying, yacht design and restoration, he has published 27 books (including several handy guides through IIMS) and is still writing. Continue reading “Royal honour for yachtsman, author and IIMS Honorary Fellow, Ian Nicolson”
Recently, I attended the annual Certifying Authority BCC meeting at the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) in Southampton, which drew about 40 attendees. All the UK Certifying Authorities and the Recognised Organisations were represented and present. We were joined by senior and key MCA personnel and others from the Jersey and Cayman Islands registries. For the large part, it was business as usual as the regulator announced new initiatives, interpretations and to give a general news update on a series of policies and ongoing work behind the scenes. 
This is not the first time that floating sauna stories have come to my attention, so clearly, you can see I am fascinated by this concept. It is just, well, so whacky!
It troubles me once again that I feel the need to start this month’s column by raising the topic of lithium-ion battery fires, especially as the story I want to share with you is a land-based one that happened recently, and not a maritime disaster. You may know of my keen interest in this technology and the challenges surrounding it. The incident I want to speak about, and share with you, is a massive fire in the Scottish city of Glasgow. A major fire broke out in a vape shop adjacent to the city’s main railway station. Over the coming hours, the fire 
This month, I want to address the matter of recurring safety issues in our industry, and I pose the simple question, to which there is no easy answer: “What are the barriers to progress?” Of course, I don’t have the answers, but as a joined up, interconnected industry, perhaps we could do as we seek to make incisive inroads into ship, crew and vessel safety. Over the years, the realisation for enhanced safety training and mechanisms has grown and is now accepted as the norm, as has their implementation, but still, we see the same old type of incidents and accidents recurring.