NCI - Calshot Tower

NCI Calshot is the result of months of phone calls, letters and hard work carried out by the Trustees of the National Coastwatch Institution coupled with the generosity of Associated British Ports who allow NCI free use of the tower.

The initial recruitment meeting at the Waterside Sports & Social Club back in January 2010 took everybody by surprise. We were expecting 20-30 people to pop along and lost count at 107! Training in earnest commenced in April 2010 with the station refit started in May, and still in process, followed by a number of shakedown watches at weekends to iron out the ‘bugs’, with a hopeful ‘Official Opening’ due soon.

Daily training watches commenced on July 7th and we expect to run 7 a week year round, Summer watches being 0800-1200, 1200-1600, 1600-2000 and shorter watches being planned for the winter as the nights draw in.

Our mission is quite simple – we are the ‘Eyes Along The Coast’, to Spot, Plot and Report.

SPOT - we maintain a continuous visual watch from Ryde Steeple to our South East, Cowes to our South and from Fawley across to Netley, north of the lookout during daylight hours.

PLOT – Identify the location of any incident so it can be plotted quickly on an Admiralty Chart or Ordnance Survey Map, when reporting to the authorities

REPORT – contact call HM Coastguard at Lee-on-Solent who will decide on the best course of action to follow.

Volunteers come from all walks of life with a number of watchkeepers having no previous maritime experience. A good pair of eyes and inquisitive nature are all you’ll need to join the team, we’ll teach you the rest all of which are excellent life skills; You’ll find out how to read Admiralty Charts and Ordnance Survey Maps: Understand how the moon dictates how tides work: You’ll get to know the Beaufort Wind scale is made up and learn some basic weather forecasting! You’ll almost certainly work with the emergency services providing valuable information and become familiar with Marine VHF radio. Full training is provided.

If you’d like to find out more give us a call on 02380 988366 or drop us an email at calshot@nci.org.uk.

The NationalCoastwatch Institution does not endorse commercial firms or products mentioned on this page. This page in maintained by watchkeepers at Calshot whose aim is to simply provide useful information relative to our watch area.

Neither the National Coastwatch Institution nor NCI Calshot Tower endorse any commercial firms or products mentioned on this Facebook page. The page is maintained by NCI Calshot watchkeepers with the aim of providing useful information relative to our watch area.​ ​Any views and opinions expressed on this page are purely those of volunteers from NCI Calshot and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or views of the National Coastwatch Institution.