Torbay News

The installation of the first monopiles and transition pieces has kicked off for the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States - the Vineyard Wind 1.“We can finally say it – as of today, there is ‘steel in the water,’” said Klaus S. Moeller, CEO of Vineyard Wind, the company developing the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm, located in a federal wind energy area 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and 35 miles from mainland Massachusetts.Vineyard…

Eight crew members have been taken off a flooding tug boat a mile off Hope’s Nose, Torbay, on the south-west coast of England. The UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency reports that the tugboat began taking water after it collided with the vessel on tow. Nearby Brixham Coastguard has been coordinating the rescue operation after the collision in the dark on Sunday evening. The RNLI Torbay all-weather lifeboat and the Exmouth all-weather lifeboat were sent to the scene, along with a local harbour tug from Brixham, the Royal Navy vessels HMS Lancaster and HMS Severn, the RAF search and rescue helicopter from Chivenor and the Torbay Coastguard Rescue Team. Efforts are being made to keep the tug afloat with a salvage crew from the Royal Navy on board, equipped with pumps.

The 2008 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to a Brazilian seafarer who saved fellow crew members from a dangerous fire on a ship. Mr. Rodolpho Fonseca da Silva Rigueira, of the drill ship Noble Roger Eason, nominated by the Government of Brazil, for his decisive, selfless action to rescue six fellow crew members from a catastrophic fire which burst out on it. The fire originated from an explosion, causing imminent risk to the lives of crew members in the vicinity of the explosion; yet, instead of evacuating the area, he repeatedly faced the fire and very high temperatures to save his colleagues, at severe risk to his own life. Mr. Rigueira was presented with the award by IMO Secretary-General Mr. Efthimios E.