Southampton Maritime Volunteer Service boat cover

Hello from all volunteers of the Southampton Maritime Volunteer (SMVS) Unit!

Formed earlier this year by the highly experienced MVS Head of Unit, Steve Collins (former Kingston MVS Head of Unit) our team of volunteers has grown rapidly over the past couple of months.

Our mission is to "Support Our Community" on the water.

We patrol Southampton water - as far up as Woodmill on the Itchen, Eling Tide Mill and Redbridge, assisting the Harbourmaster, Southampton VTS, in keeping the waters safe for all users. A large part of this activity is pulling dangers to navigation out of the water - often at the request of Southampton Harbourmaster. We've also been known to pull the odd stranded sailor out of the water and assist in getting broken down vessels back to their berths.

With 14 volunteers (as of the time of writing this - and growing weekly!) the SMVS has brought together individuals with decades of marine experience - including professional Captains and skippers, RYA Instructors, club volunteers as well as leisure boaters with years of experience on the water.

At the heart of the MVS is teaching - transferring skills and knowledge and every member who joins is encouraged to follow the MVS Pathway, leading to RYA Powerboat Level 2 qualifications as a minimum.

With the support of the national MVS, funds were raised earlier this year to purchase ‘Itchen Volunteer’, our Pans Marine P430 rigid boat. Based at Shamrock Quays with the kind support of MDL Marinas.

Now the weather is changing with the seasons, as an open boat, Itchen Volunteer is suffering with the enormous quantities of rain we've been having. On too many occasions crew have arrived for patrols, only to have to spend 30 minutes manually bailing out upto 18" of rainwater. This is time lost in keeping our waters safe as well as causing damage to our vessel.

We urgently need a proper boat cover to protect Itchen Volunteer. As a volunteer organisation with no funding other than member subs, we rely on kind donations to enable us to carry out our patrols and keep Southampton Waters safer for all users.

Our sister MVS unit in Kingston has recently purchased a wonderful, custom made cover for their near identical vessel 'Surrey Volunteer'. Made by Jeckyll Sails the cover costs £500, which is more than we can afford as an organisation.

So we're reaching out to our fellow Southampton Water users to ask for your help. If you could please kindly spare £5, £10, £25, £50 or even £100, together you can help make a difference and get us to our target for a cover for Itchen Volunteer. And any surplus from this fundraising effort will go towards purchasing fuel and other essential equipment we need for our vessel.

Do wave at us if you see us out and about - being bright orange, it's hard to miss us! And if you fancy getting involved and making a difference on the water, drop a message to us at [email redacted] or calling us on [phone redacted] 0687.

Thank you for reading

The Southampton MVS Unit Team