Lochwatch is the Community safety organisation set up to patrol Loch Awe to help boat users in the wake of the tragedy that saw four Glasgwegian fishermen drowned when their boat overturned in thick fog in the north of that loch in the small hours of 21st March 2009.
On that night, ‘The Loch Awe Four’ – William and Stephen Carty, Craig Currie and Thomas Douglas, the fishing friends from Glasgow, drowned in the waters of Scotland’s longest and treacherous freshwater loch, in circumstances where they ought not to have chosen to return to their campsite by water; and where the rescue services were paralysed both by the lack of an available freshwater rescue craft and by the visibility to enable the effective use of such a craft.
Lochwatch has now applied to what has proved a widely enabling initiative, the National Forest Land Scheme (NFLS), to purchase approximately 2 hectares of land at Kinachreachan on the side of Loch Awe.
Administered by Forestry Commission Scotland, the NFLS gives communities the opportunity to bid to buy or lease national forest land, on the basis that it provides increased public benefits.
Lochweatch want to buy this this land – ideally situated, as shown on the map below – to use as a land-based lookout, as part of its overall commitment to increasing safety on the waters of this beautiful, popular but willful loch.
The land in question is hatched red – on the south bank of the loch and immediately north of the road, with fast access.
In September 2013, the Lochwatch Committee unveiled at Cruachan Power Station’s unveiled a dayboat they had bought as an immediate patrol boat to be operated by Iain Mackinnon and Murray Humphries, in advance of raising the £150k they will need to buy the most effective purpose built craft for the job.
A month later, Graham MacQueen of Oban’s MacQueen Brothers business, presented Lochwatch with a grant from his family’s charitable trust, to pay for a radar system for the patrol boat.
On patrol, the Lochwatch frontline team keep an eye on boat users on the loch, looking for signs of inexperience in boat handling [like standing up inappropriately] and for circumstantial risk, like drinking aboard. They offer friendly advice, explain the risks, pass on safety tips and can escort back to land any boat needing such reassurance.
Many people, short on boat handling experience, assume that freshwater lochs are safe. This is far from the case and Loch Awe is a frontline example of the serious challenges the large inland lochs offer.
Many enjoy a day out fishing or a weekend camping and fishing, where drinking is part of the scenario and cans of beer are aboard dayboats and consumed on the water. As was the case with ‘The Loch Awe Four’, who were said not to be drunk after an evening at The Tight Line in Loch Awe village but had had some beer while playing pool there, alcohol impairs judgment at times when decisions determine the difference between survival and death.
The public consultation period on the proposed purchase
The Forestry Commission’s National Forest Land Scheme scheme requires a 28-day open consultation period, which is now active – and public comments on any aspect of the proposal are welcome.
Details of the Lochwatch application to buy land for a shore base and a land-based lookout on Loch Awe, can be viewed here online at the NFLS website.
Deadline: All comments on the proposals detailed in the application must be submitted by Wednesday 2nd April 2014.
Responses and comments should be:
- posted to Malcolm Wield, Forestry Commission Scotland, Highland Conservancy, ‘Woodlands’, Fodderty Way, Dingwall, Ross-shire, IV15 9XB
- or emailed to: malcolm.wield@forestry.gsi.gov.uk
Forestry Commission Scotland has a policy of making these comments publicly available, unless requested to keep comments confidential.
