Disappointment for Devon as Azamara skips Dartmouth

HURRICANE Bill has scuppered a visit which would have seen the biggest cruise ship ever to drop anchor at Dartmouth show up with 700 money-spinning visitors.

The tail end of the hurricane, which had been battering the Eastern seaboard of the USA, has also caused a second Dartmouth regatta disappointment — with the grounding of the popular Battle of Britain flight.

The massive 180-metre Azamara Journey cruise liner was due to steam into the River Dart at Dartmouth yesterday morning for a one-day stopover.

The fact that the liner's visit would have coincided with the official opening of Dartmouth Royal Regatta was a coincidence, but regatta organisers were hoping that the 27,000-tonne ship, which would have dwarfed the 1,677-tonne 79.5-metre River Class fisheries protection vessel regatta guardship HMS Tyne due to turn up tomorrow, would have acted as a major draw for visitors.

It would have also acted as a major financial boost to Dartmouth's economy with experts estimating that cruise liner passengers spend an average of £40 a head in each port they visit.

But yesterday morning the captain of the Azamara Journey told Dart Harbour that he was giving the port a miss because the strength of the winds in the Dart were so strong that it would make manoeuvring the huge boat in the river too awkward.

Instead the ship, which has steamed from Cork, just sailed past and is heading for its next port of call at Amsterdam.

The same weather system, which brought wind speeds of 20 knots in the river along with heavy rain, also sunk the Battle of Britain Flight fly past which was supposed to take place yesterday evening.

The Second World War Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster bomber remained grounded in Lincolnshire instead.

Dartmouth Regatta chairman Basil Williams said: "It's one of those things. We had a warning with the weather forecasts that it would be touch and go whether the Azamara Journey would come in.

"Up to last night they were trying to come in but they couldn't. They took a look at Dartmouth and waved."

He said the loss of the Battle of Britain flight had also been a 'disappointment' for the regatta.

Dart Harbour's assistant harbourmaster Rick James said the weather that had hit Dartmouth was the tail end of Hurricane Bill leaving a legacy of rain and the strong winds.

He explained that the Azamara Journey had planned to tie up in the Dart at 9.45am and leave for Amsterdam at around 10pm.

"We had a space for the ship and everything was ready for her to come in," he said when the master of the liner informed the port early yesterday morning that she was sailing by.

Dartmouth Regatta was expecting more than 1,000 people to 'spend the night together' for the annual regatta rock event.

This year the town was rocking to a Rolling Stones tribute band and an Amy Winehouse tribute singer.

Next year the River Dart will be breaking its cruise liner record again when the massive ship The World shows up with more than 1,000 passengers.

When she drops anchor The World, which is 198 metres long and weighs 43,000 tonnes, will be the largest vessel ever to visit Dartmouth.

She is so big that she will have to be brought in backwards because she is too long to turn around in the river.

This article was taken from thisissouthdevon.co.uk, with thanks