Harbourmaster

Thanks Rob - where are you doing yours? I'm not going to be available until May, but cheers anyway. The May issue of Canal Boat has got an article on helmsmen's courses.

Thank you all so much! Trevor - unfortunately I'm working Easter, but thanks for your kind offer.

Hello. I'm a total newbie, but I'm hoping to buy a narrowboat soon as a solo liveaboard. Can anyone please recommend any boating courses in the West Midlands/South Staffs area? I'm looking to learn all the basics, and really find out if it's for me (which I'm pretty sure it is!). There's only so much you can learn from the magazines after all. I just don't want to start panicking at locks and really annoy the "professionals!" I've searched the internet, but I've no idea if courses advertised are any good or appropriate for me, so I'd rather hear people's experiences and recommendations. Thank you!

In the first half of the twentieth century the historic Glamorganshire Canal was plagued by expensive breaches and subsidence. By the 1940s Cardiff Corporation was desperate for a reason to close it. On 5 December 1951, a 154 ton suction dredger, called Catherine Ethel, crashed into the inner lock gates of the canal. The gates collapsed, and all of the water in the mile-long section emptied into the estuary. The gates were never repaired and the difficult job of closing the canal was solved overnight. Their excuse was that the canal gates were beyond economic repair. Today, there are short unnavigable sections of the canal that still contain water, but on the whole it has been covered by roads and housing estates. The canal from Merthyr to Cardiff that was built by Thomas Dadford for Richard Crawshay, and completed in 1794, is now lost to time. This cannot be allowed to happen again just because some idiot government gave all our money to the banks. The CRT really need our support - not our vilification - because they are the last defence against the destruction of our canal heritage.

Speaking as a noob, but someone hoping to "use the Ouse" in the future, what steps can be taken to avoid sinking when the Ouse rises rapidly like today?