THE owner of a Scarborough cruiser is optimistic that trips to Whitby could soon be back on after he was offered a glimmer of hope.

Tom Machin was prevented from sailing the MV Coronia – which helped with the Dunkirk evacuation during the Second World War – the 17 nautical miles to Whitby because of Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) restrictions in response to EU regulations.

The legislation says that class C vessels, such as the Coronia, may travel no more than 15 nautical miles from the nearest refuge point.

But as the MCA never adopted the restriction, it has maintained the existing British ruling, limiting it to a journey of 15 nautical miles from its port of origin.

A total of 12,000 people signed a petition against the ruling which also affected the Scarborough-based Regal Lady and the Bridlington-based Yorkshire Belle.

This week Yorkshire MEP, Labour’s Richard Corbett, said there was hope for all three vessels after hearing from the EU Commission on the matter.

He said: “As far as they are concerned, all UK pleasure boats, currently sailing in Britain’s waters are, in fact, adhering to the requirements of the maritime directive.

“I therefore see no reason why the UK authorities cannot apply the restrictions in the directive that would allow the Coronia and Yorkshire Belle to continue making their traditional voyages.”

He added that the commission had said that it was entirely up to the UK authorities whether they apply the EU directive in full, or make a request that exemptions could be granted under certain circumstances to establish less stringent requirements than those contained in the directive.

Mr Machin said: “After reading the letter it sounds promising. We couldn’t have had a worse season than last year. We had 24 days of fog and then in June it started raining. This year must be better than last year.

“I am leaving the matter in their hands because we can’t do anything until we’ve heard officially from the MCA. We will be running up to Robin Hood’s bay and down to Bempton Cliffs near Flamborough.”

Mr Machin said that once he received official confirmation from the MCA then the daily round trips to Whitby would be offered to visitors once more.

From The Scarborough Evening News on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.