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Boat rescued off Gunthorpe weir


Dave123

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Just saw this on Facebook. Anyone know what happened? I'm guessing they broke down or lost power somehow?...surely weren't daft enough to go out if the river was so fast they simply couldn't make headway? Scary though!

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/live-updates-fire-specialist-crews-3166910

 

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40 minutes ago, Dave123 said:

Just saw this on Facebook. Anyone know what happened? I'm guessing they broke down or lost power somehow?...surely weren't daft enough to go out if the river was so fast they simply couldn't make headway? Scary though!

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/live-updates-fire-specialist-crews-3166910

 

Hard to say really. We are all capable of misjudging a situation. Good news is that the crew appear to be safe and uninjured. 
Perhaps the story will emerge in due course.

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Going up or downstream against a flow is a lot different from turning across the stream. The 10/1 length to width ratio of a narrowboat means if it starts going sideways you need a lot of room to turn against the flow. They possibly ran out of room, then you are lost.

 

They are ok thats what matters.

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2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wonder if they had time to deploy it or where they more occupied in trying to drive out of danger?

 

Is there any reason why both cannot be done concurrently ?

 

Once the anchor has set and pulled the boat 'straight' the engine can be used to take the 'weight' off the chain, pull it on-board and as the boat passes over the anchor make-off the chain and let the boat break out the anchor backwards, and then just pull it in as the engine keeps the boat moving forwards.

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3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Is there any reason why both cannot be done concurrently ?

 

Once the anchor has set and pulled the boat 'straight' the engine can be used to take the 'weight' off the chain, pull it on-board and as the boat passes over the anchor make-off the chain and let the boat break out the anchor backwards, and then just pull it in as the engine keeps the boat moving forwards.

Of course there is no reason at all why this can't be done as you suggest. However,  you are making a great  assumption that those on board were competent, have at least a modicum of seamanship skills, and had the time to sort themselves out before getting into danger in the first place. IMHO it would have needed at least two crew members to be reasonably able, and quick witted enough to act in sufficient time.  I am not able to answer any of those questions in this particular case, but I would  suggest that  many boaters in similar situations would not be able to manage what you propose, and may not even totally understand what you are suggesting - especially if they are hirers with limited boating experience.

 

Howard

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11 minutes ago, howardang said:

Of course there is no reason at all why this can't be done as you suggest. However,  you are making a great  assumption that those on board were competent, have at least a modicum of seamanship skills, and had the time to sort themselves out before getting into danger in the first place. IMHO it would have needed at least two crew members to be reasonably able, and quick witted enough to act in sufficient time.  I am not able to answer any of those questions in this particular case, but I would  suggest that  many boaters in similar situations would not be able to manage what you propose, and may not even totally understand what you are suggesting - especially if they are hirers with limited boating experience.

 

Howard

All very true.

But with a modicum of knowledge and the fact there was 5 people on board there should have been someone who was available to 'drop the hook'.

 

When it happened a couple of years ago at Stoke Bardolph weir, the boat was rolled under the dolphins by the  force of the water, the boat owner said 'someone should have told us, or stopped us going, we didn't know it would be so strong.

His wife was rolled overboard and was dangling over the prop - he either let go of her, or stopped the engine before she was 'sliced'.

He let go of her, she was swept over the weir, closely followed by him and the boat.

The boat righted itself and after getting stuck in the trees was recovered and C&RT taken it into Kings Marina. The owners were both recovered alive but shaken.

 

Folks think the sea is dangerous but on a river and operating in a confined space with weirs, I have more 'anxiety' on the Trent than I do 60 miles out at sea.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Not really one of the scarier locks on rivers I would have thought as there is quite a long protected run in to the top of the lock with mooring options. To get swept onto the weir must have taken some considerable fresh. Bit surprised that they would not have been warned at, say, Stoke Bardolph.

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