It may not be the quickest naval voyage of all time, but Miniport's small boats could raise £1,000 for a children’s charity
Portsmouth-based boating organisation Miniport has completed its charity cruise across the Solent, making the four-mile passage in three tiny vessels.
The 12ft boats in question are scale versions of warships and ferries, and had never left the safety of the Miniport boating lake before today (7 July).
So it shouldn’t be much surprise to learn that it took the Miniport team four hours to make the crossing to the Isle of Wight, with the 0.5kw electric motors achieving an average speed of just one knot.
But since the vessels are Sea Design Category D compliant and were escorted across the Solent by RIBs from Mendez Marine, David Ritchie, Managing Director of Miniport, told MBM that he was more than pleased with their progress:
“We’ve been really well looked after, we even got police escort out of the harbour, partly out of caution on their part,” he said.
“We encountered headwinds the whole way, so it was quite choppy, but the boats themselves are ridiculously seaworthy, given what they’re designed for.”
All of this was done in aid of Chernobyl Children’s Lifeline, and at the time of writing Miniport had nearly raised half of its £1,000 charity. For more information and to donate, visit the Miniport JustGiving page.
