Friday 21 August 2015

Canadian Coast Guard Equipment

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for these pictures, taken yesterday. They show an object he found....

....washed up near Ardnamurchan Point lighthouse.

The markings on it clearly indicate that it's something used by the Canadian Coast Guard.

As can be seen from this map of the North Atlantic surface currents (courtesy 'Jack' via Wikimedia Commons), currents from the coast of Canada wouldn't have brought it to our shores, so it must have started from somewhere out in the Atlantic.

A search on the internet produces an object called a 'spar buoy' which looks like what Kilchoan Early Bird found - see here - but the reference doesn't really explain a spar buoy's function.
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3 comments:

  1. Unknown21 August 2015 at 16:00

    May be you should send it back as it has a 20 year guarantee?

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  2. Anonymous21 August 2015 at 17:05

    I think it's an ice resistant spar buoy Jon.
    From the look of this one though, either the thickness of the ice was under estimated or the boat shot off with the buoy still attached!
    Peter C

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  3. Jon22 August 2015 at 16:14

    Many thanks to both of you. I'll ask out local Coastguard if we can send it back for a refund through them.

    I would love to know how it got here, particularly, Peter, if it's designed for ice, which suggests it would have been in place even further north.

    Jon

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