Tam & Di

I had the impression that the OP is far from being an inexperienced newby?? I've boated over much of the UK (but admittedly not the Calder and Hebble other than a BWB promotion trip back in the 60s) and a lot of continental Europe. So there has obviously been a lot of locks of a type I'd not met before. I wouldn't say that everything has always gone exactly to plan and there certainly have been the odd blips, but with an understanding of the basic principles and a lot of care we've never been anywhere to have the sort of experience the OP complains of. Perhaps I've just been lucky. Perhaps too there was no social media back in the day, so you just moaned a bit to friends in the pub, not to the world at large, and I think that is really what I take exception to. Tam

Firstly I have to confess that I've not boated on UK canals since volunteer lock keepers came into being, but I'm very confused here. I cannot for one moment imagine lending a windlass to someone who says he will help, whatever the circumstances and whatever jacket he might have on, and especially if I were on my own. It means I would be totaly powerless and with no way to intervene. It does seem to me that volockies have changed boaters' expectations of what is normal. In my world there were professional lock-keepers or I worked them myself. Even should I OK anyone offering assistance they would have to be watched like a hawk and told exactly what I wanted of them. This world where you have strangers with unknown experience working at locks is a world totally outside of mine, and appears to take away personal responsibility. Tam I'd go further and suggest that there is no way the OP should have even contemplated allowing him to interfere with her passage through a lock. It is her job, and her responsibility to do it or have it done competently. On her own I can see why she got into the postition she relates, but it simply requires more self confidence to tell such people to go away and leave you alone to do the job yourself.

The General Canal Bye-laws only require port and starboard lights on certain commercial waterways - the Trent Navigation, the Weaver Navigation, the Aire and Calder Navigation, the New Junction Canal and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. You would need them on most non-CRT rivers of course. Otherwise the Bye-laws say: 10. lights and visual signals Displaying of Lights and Visual Signals (1) Subject as hereinafter provided, a power-driven vessel (other than a narrow canal boat) when under way at night shall carry – (a) On or in front of the foremast, or if a vessel without a foremast then in the forepart of the vessel, and in either case at a height above the hull of not less than four feet, a visible white light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twenty points on the compass (225°) so fixed as to show the light ten points (1121⁄2°) on each side of the vessel that is, from right ahead to two points (221⁄2°) abaft the beam on either side; and (b) in addition to the above light, at her stern a visible white light so constructed as to show an unbroken light over an arc of the horizon of twelve points of the compass (135°) so fixed as to show the light six points (671⁄2°) from right astern on each side of the vessel. (2) A power-driven vessel, being a narrow canal boat, under way at night shall display in the forepart of the vessel, where it can best be seen and at a height above the deck or gunwhale or not less than one foot, a visible white light. (3) A power-driven vessel (other than a narrow canal boat) when towing another vessel at night shall display:- (a) Two visible white lights in a vertical line one over the other, not less than three feet apart. Each of these lights shall be of the same construction and character as the visible white light prescribed in paragraph (1) (a) of this Bye-law and one of them shall be carried in the same position as that light; and (b) at the stern a visible white light of the same construction and character as that prescribed in paragraph (1)(b) of this Bye-law.

I'm a bit late looking at this thread, but we've had several occasions when we put the stern on the cill deliberately (mostly GU locks) in order to cut barbed wire or other nasties off the blades, even with loaded boats. Doing it in a controlled manner, with the boat tied back to prevent it slipping off and someone on the paddles to control levels as necessary, is obviously a very diffferent scenario (and not a thing to be generally recommended 😃). These accidental cillings are almost inevitably due to loss of concentration during what is always a potentially dangerous situation, and then not taking appropriate action before a problem becomes a disaster. It's been said recently elsewhere, but engaging in idle chat with people at locks always makes such accidents more likely. Tam

The only way I can imagine for you to overtake him starboard to starboard is for one of you to be travelling in reverse. In my world when you overtake someone the starboard side of one vessel will be adjascent to the port side of the other. Tam

Why isn't she out there on the tiller so you can have a nice peaceful lie-in? Tam

I can just imagine the howls from the safety inspection bods at the thought of some two dozen or more people standing for 2 hours on the top of a narrowboat, moving or not, plus God knows how many there were crammed inside as well. Tam

Certainly the case on the Thames, where they are Dumb Barges or Lighters (originally vessels that emptied/lightened a ship off-shore). Tam

I've known the Scots term 'but and ben' since childhood, long before I heard the word 'butty' in canal terms. There is arguably some slight etymological connection conceptually. Wiki tells me: But and ben (or butt and ben) is an architectural style for a simple building, usually applied to a residence. The etymology is from the Scots term for a two-roomed cottage.[1] The term describes a basic design of "outer room" conjoined with "inner room" as a residential building plan; the outer room, used as an antechamber or kitchen, is the but, while the inner room is the ben.[2] The word but, here, comes from Early Scots/Middle English "bouten" "outside", and ben from ES/ME "binnen", "inside". Tam

In my experience boatmen running a pair simply used the word 'boat' if they meant the one with the motor, and 'butty' for the unpowered one. Tam

I'm not sure it would be the simplest way even were we still part of the EU Alan. Maybe Pelinsu D could use his skills in the UK - they do have a common language. Tam

He appears to be slightly lost 🛶 >>> 🇫🇷 Tam

I'll give that a try, but as I am on mains power (and lazy) I generally just leave open the 5 or 6 sites I view regularly, so I'm not often starting it from scratch. Tam

I use ApplePowerbook and Firefox. Generally at top left of the screen and bottom left of the page I have "Home > Activity > View New Content". Top right shows "View New Content" and bottom right of the page too, plus also "Mark Site Read". Occasionally and seemingly at random I lose the option "View New Content", and can't even get back to it by using the back-arrow to all prior pages. Then suddenly it reappears again as usual when I close the thread I've been reading. It is mildly annoying when it happens, but not the end of the world 😉 Is this a known quirk?

And that is the major element. Working a lock is a potentially dangerous occupation, and anything else such as chit chat has to be peripheral to the main task which is concentrating on the job and doing it safely and properly. If you come across as rude, then tough tit. When we're on our own Di and me barely need to pass a word in a lock - we both know exactly what we are doing, and we do it. It does help if you're an antisocial git like me, but it's seen me well over our years of boating. 😁