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Rivers Can Be dangerous Places. I am surprised that this has not been reported previously but the details are now starting to emerge. A ‘few times’ hirer of NBs decided to buy one for themselves, a mooring was secured in a Marina., After a short time it was decided that the Marina was like a ‘Council estate’ and not what was wanted. So they booked into a Marina on the River Trent. 8th Feb 2016 Leaving the canals via ‘Meadow Lane Lock’ they joined the Trent – a fair bit of ‘flow’ was noticed but it seemed manageable, they went through the first lock at Holme Pierrepont without issue but as they approached Stoke Bardolph lock the flow ‘increased’ to the point they thought they would not be able to negotiate the lock and turned to get onto the visitors mooring, as they turned, the current ‘got them’ and tok them sideways towards the weir and the ‘dolphins’ – no amount of engine or steering would turn them or allow them to retake control of the boat and they ended up broadside onto the dolphins. After a couple of minutes the boat started to ‘roll under’ the dolphins, the steerers wife was thrown overboard as the boat went on its side, the steerer managed to grab her hand and keep her against the boat, realising that if she slipped she would be caught in the prop ( still in gear and under full power) he decided to let her go and stop the engine. They were then swept under the dolphins, the ‘top-box’, the morse controls and rear railings were ripped off, water was taken aboard (but not a huge amount) as the boat went over the weir, ‘fortunately’ being in flood, the weir did not have a big drop and the boat survived intact and righted itself, The boat then drifted into the trees below the windows where more damage occurred as tree branches broke windows. Fire Brigade and C&RT attended and everyone safely recovered. Boat recovered and dried out, repairs made and C&RT provided a ‘steerer’ to continue the journey to its new marina (arriving yesterday, 18th Feb) When asked why he left when the river was “in flood” the answer was “no one told me not to”. When planning to boat on rivers : Look at the conditions Can your boat handle the flow ( power) ? Have you experience to handle conditions ? – ask others Anchoring system on board ? Lifejackets for everyone on board ( NOT buoyancy aids) VHF radio ? If in any doubt DON’T go Stay safe – stay alive.

Does anyone know of any mooring near Newark or down toward Nottingham I could leave my boat for 5 days as I need to go away? Not been that way before so any advise would be good. Preference would be not to have to pay for a marina mooring.