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Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering - "One Big Weekend"


alan_fincher

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10 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

My opinion isn’t relevant, i am reporting the opinion of someone who was there. And of course when you say “there”, that is just a general thing. You weren’t in the specific place at the specific time, seeing the specific interactions, as this person was.

I was there observing the proceedings for much of the boat parades when most of the interactions between event participants and passing boats took place. Obviously I don't know if I observed the passage of your particular informant. All I can say is the vast majority of the passing boats went through with little or no delay, and certainly no adverse comments about any of their boats.

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28 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

My opinion isn’t relevant, i am reporting the opinion of someone who was there. And of course when you say “there”, that is just a general thing. You weren’t in the specific place at the specific time, seeing the specific interactions, as this person was.

David Mack is quite correct...the medical emergency involved CPR and getting someone off a boat that was in the channel but I guess you don’t think that’s important to stop the other traffic for 45min or so..much like the boat that forced its way thro...funnily enough it was a shiny cabin boat...but there you go. 

 

Interestingly the only boat to not acknowledge me today because they had to move over a bit and possibly come off the plane was a Hudson...but you owners really don’t do much to endear yourselves to others do you??  

 

Edited to add

 

I think me & Alan are talking about the same “lady”....I use the term loosely...the male that was with her kept telling her to shut up! 

 

Edited by frangar
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15 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

Nick, I trust you are also going to also tell the story relayed from the lady on a private boat during Sunday's parade that was swearing at the crews of every boat she passed.   It would be a wonderful work of fiction, if you can get hold of her.

 

Cath and I were fortunate enough to blag a ride on a lovely historic boat called Manchuria, which was in the very capable hands of somebody called Penny, who won an award for best steerer of the day.  She was exemplary, and really could not have done a better job.

 

Despite us being queued up waiting against the tow-path, "Mrs Swearey" had a right old go at Penny for "pushing her into the bushes", despite there being no bushes on this perfectly straight stretch, and the fact you could have put a 12 foot wide-beam between her boat and the offside, (oh and the fact we weren't actually moving at the time!).

 

There were a few totally ridiculous people about at the weekend, but unless you were there I would not take their descriptions of things as being too factual.

 

You say "work on our image", but when you encounter people who are complete clusterf***s, how exactly do we work on our image? I suspect your version of "work on our image", means "stay on our home moorings". 

EDIT:

Bloody hell, if it's not bad enough that I have previously heard Cath exchanging friendly banter with other passing boats, I can now here her doing so with those on the towpath....

She has clearly not been instructed in "how historic boaters should piss off everybody in sight" - sorry - must go, as she clearly needs some training!

 

 

I am sure that there are some grumpy, rude and slightly mad non-historic boaters around. But when a group has a get together such as Alvecote, individual behaviours tend to reflect on the group.

 

This chap didn’t mention being held up nor any specific physical issue with navigating through the group, it was just attitudes encountered and some incompetent steering (though he didn’t say that this actually impacted on him).

 

It is a natural human state to enjoy being in a gang of like minds and like interests, but that can give the impression to those not in the gang that they are considered inferior, outsiders etc. Maybe this is inevitable but my suggestion is to work on it a bit so as not to leave random passers-by with a bad impression. That presumes that you care how other people (not in your gang) perceive you, of course.

Edited by nicknorman
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Of course we should have stopped cpr to let the modern through. Terribly sorry.

next time we will.

 

As an aside ,and speaking  as a trained nurse who has been in several of these situations, to all those who got involved  you were bloody magnificent.

i have seen more chaos on a hospital ward. It was safer to let you get on than get involved, once started. 

Congrats to Malcolm and his staff too for the defib.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Of course we should have stopped cpr to let the modern through. Terribly sorry.

next time we will.

 

As an aside ,and speaking  as a trained nurse who has been in several of these situations, to all those who got involved  you were bloody magnificent.

i have seen more chaos on a hospital ward. It was safer to let you get on than get involved, once started. 

Congrats to Malcolm and his staff too for the defib.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have we any updates on how the chap is doing? Whilst it’s a terrible thing to have happened at least he was near others that could help and get a defibrillator quickly. Might have been a very different story at a lock in the middle of nowhere. 

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1 minute ago, roland elsdon said:

Of course we should have stopped cpr to let the modern through. Terribly sorry.

next time we will.

 

As an aside ,and speaking  as a trained nurse who has been in several of these situations, to all those who got involved  you were bloody magnificent.

i have seen more chaos on a hospital ward. It was safer to let you get on than get involved, once started. 

Congrats to Malcolm and his staff too for the defib.

Ah, smokescreening. Very good. Did anyone suggest that CPR should have been stopped to let the chap I was talking to, through? Did I not specifically say that he did not say his progress had been impeded? But never mind, don’t allow the actual content of posts to get in the way of some great denial and justification.

 

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21 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

I am sure that there are some grumpy, rude and slightly mad non-historic boaters around. But when a group has a get together such as Alvecote, individual behaviours tend to reflect on the group.

 

This chap didn’t mention being held up nor any specific physical issue with navigating through the group, it was just attitudes encountered and some incompetent steering (though he didn’t say that this actually impacted on him).

 

It is a natural human state to enjoy being in a gang of like minds and like interests, but that can give the impression to those not in the gang that they are considered inferior, outsiders etc. Maybe this is inevitable but my suggestion is to work on it a bit so as not to leave random passers-by with a bad impression. That presumes that you care how other people (not in your gang) perceive you, of course.

Speaking as someone that has a “welded boat” I have to say I’ve never been made to feel inferior....like most people I tend to find that if you go in with an attitude it comes back at you....whereas if you take time to chat then that is better.....have you ever tried winding your neck in btw? 

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40 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:


Bloody hell, if it's not bad enough that I have previously heard Cath exchanging friendly banter with other passing boats, I can now here her doing so with those on the towpath....

She has clearly not been instructed in "how historic boaters should piss off everybody in sight" - sorry - must go, as she clearly needs some training!

 

 

 

I seem to recall that it was you, rather than Cath, that was having friendly banter with me as you passed our house recently. ?

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Having watched the 2 sets of boat turns very few passing boats were held up, until the minor chaos caused by a boatowner literally dropping on the counter and having to be  saved rescued, taken off the boat and then re sussed. 

The historic  boat movements were ceased immediately the information was given to the announcer.

This caused a few minor issues as boats were reversed back into the marina. I saw no impacts or near misses but there was a lot of bow thruster noises from an oncoming vessel and some shouting , dont know why i was otherwise involved.

As an aside of the four boats that passed me today only the hire boat said hello in response to my wife who says hello to everyone regardless of walking cycling fishing or boating.

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11 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

I seem to recall that it was you, rather than Cath, that was having friendly banter with me as you passed our house recently. ?

You promised you would not let that information leak out!

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21 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

As an aside ,and speaking  as a trained nurse who has been in several of these situations, to all those who got involved  you were bloody magnificent.

i have seen more chaos on a hospital ward. It was safer to let you get on than get involved, once started. 

Congrats to Malcolm and his staff too for the defib.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Couldn't agree with you more - prompt and professional response by, I assume, West Mids Ambulance Service and what little I saw a totally committed and professional team including a policeman helping too in searing temperatures.  I do hope the gentleman is recovering well - last I heard he was stable but that was on Sunday evening.  May he continue to recover quickly. 

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19 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Ah, smokescreening. Very good. Did anyone suggest that CPR should have been stopped to let the chap I was talking to, through? Did I not specifically say that he did not say his progress had been impeded? But never mind, don’t allow the actual content of posts to get in the way of some great denial and justification.

 

The sole relevant content of your post was....
 

Quote

We are returning from a big trip oop north and met a boat at Wychnor who had a bad experience going past Alvecote at the weekend. “I’ve never seen so many nasty rude people, tut tutting at us because we had a modern boat. And some of the helming was atrocious”.


You have chosen to repeat that information as if it is fact, but you have absolutely no evidence that supports it, other than the word of one boater involved.

 

You have had people who were there, and are not owners of historic boats, who were there tell you that it is not in any way an accurate reflection of the whole event.

What do you want Nick?  Someone to actually give some validity to the claim made by your one hacked off boater that suggests there is some truth in it for the event as a whole?  Good luck with that!

I suggest there is only likely to be damage to the image of the event if you could turn up quite a few people who were unhappy with it.  I don't think a couple of unhappy people are going to do a great deal of damage to image, unless there are lots of people like you who weren't actually present, but are still eager to believe what they are being fed.

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52 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

The sole relevant content of your post was....
 


You have chosen to repeat that information as if it is fact, but you have absolutely no evidence that supports it, other than the word of one boater involved.

 

You have had people who were there, and are not owners of historic boats, who were there tell you that it is not in any way an accurate reflection of the whole event.

What do you want Nick?  Someone to actually give some validity to the claim made by your one hacked off boater that suggests there is some truth in it for the event as a whole?  Good luck with that!

I suggest there is only likely to be damage to the image of the event if you could turn up quite a few people who were unhappy with it.  I don't think a couple of unhappy people are going to do a great deal of damage to image, unless there are lots of people like you who weren't actually present, but are still eager to believe what they are being fed.

I suggest the event is a rather large success and has a brilliant atmosphere due to the lack of boaters with attitudes like nicks....who would delight in finding something to moan about...

 

When I was filling with water on my journey on Monday at Grendon SS another boater pulled up and said didn’t the festival supply water....I pointed out I was moored on the towpath and just visited like any other boater or indeed public could...and all for free...seems some people will have a dig just for the sake of it! 

 

Well done to all concerned I say

 

signed (to avoid confusion!)

A welded boat! 

 

Edited by frangar
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As owner of one historic boat and long time boater on another I have not come across any dislike of other boats from my fellow historic boat owners. The vast majority of us started our boating on non-historic boats, many have owned one or more non-historics and some still do. Some choose to boat in company with friends on non-historic boats, and all I think are equally happy to share wide locks with any other boat, old or new, private or hire boat, shiny or scruffy.  The boatyards that specialise in the repair and maintenance of historic boats are run by enthusiasts, but much of their bread and butter income comes from work on ordinary craft.  

So where does the idea come from? Why do historic boats "need to work on your image"?

Is it really because of something second hand told to a forum member by another boater and then being ignored by a historic boat whose crew at that time probably had no idea who said forum member is?

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15 minutes ago, David Mack said:

As owner of one historic boat and long time boater on another I have not come across any dislike of other boats from my fellow historic boat owners. The vast majority of us started our boating on non-historic boats, many have owned one or more non-historics and some still do. Some choose to boat in company with friends on non-historic boats, and all I think are equally happy to share wide locks with any other boat, old or new, private or hire boat, shiny or scruffy.  The boatyards that specialise in the repair and maintenance of historic boats are run by enthusiasts, but much of their bread and butter income comes from work on ordinary craft.  

So where does the idea come from? Why do historic boats "need to work on your image"?

Is it really because of something second hand told to a forum member by another boater and then being ignored by a historic boat whose crew at that time probably had no idea who said forum member is?

Well having watched one of these historic boats ascending Calcutt Top lock on the Sunday before the Big Weekend, I shall tell you what happened and then let you decide.

A boat went down through Calcutt Top Lock leaving the bottom gates open for the historic boat to come in. The boat came in with 2 people onboard. One person got off on the towpath side, and closed the bottom gate that side. A lady had walked down from boats awaiting to come down (about 6) and she closed the bottom gate on the offside. Both go to the top end and open their respective paddles. The water comes up and the lady opens the offside gate. The person promptly gets on the historic boat not even attempting to close their top paddle or even open their top gate. The boat just goes off through the gate gap that the lady had made by opening the gate. You should have heard the lady saying how selfish the boater was and to be honest I agree with her.

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46 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Well having watched one of these historic boats ascending Calcutt Top lock on the Sunday before the Big Weekend, I shall tell you what happened and then let you decide.

A boat went down through Calcutt Top Lock leaving the bottom gates open for the historic boat to come in. The boat came in with 2 people onboard. One person got off on the towpath side, and closed the bottom gate that side. A lady had walked down from boats awaiting to come down (about 6) and she closed the bottom gate on the offside. Both go to the top end and open their respective paddles. The water comes up and the lady opens the offside gate. The person promptly gets on the historic boat not even attempting to close their top paddle or even open their top gate. The boat just goes off through the gate gap that the lady had made by opening the gate. You should have heard the lady saying how selfish the boater was and to be honest I agree with her.

I heard from a friend of mine that went shopping near Tamworth over the weekend. He said the shopkeepers daughter had been walking the dog along the path and someone on a boat had looked piercingly at the sign she was walking towards, and then slowed to the same pace she was walking. 

She felt intimidated and scared, the dog has had to go to the vets for innoculations , and she has arranged counselling.

The sign said Tickover Or Else.

She was almost hysteric....

 

Edited by matty40s
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11 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Well having watched one of these historic boats ascending Calcutt Top lock on the Sunday before the Big Weekend, I shall tell you what happened and then let you decide.

A boat went down through Calcutt Top Lock leaving the bottom gates open for the historic boat to come in. The boat came in with 2 people onboard. One person got off on the towpath side, and closed the bottom gate that side. A lady had walked down from boats awaiting to come down (about 6) and she closed the bottom gate on the offside. Both go to the top end and open their respective paddles. The water comes up and the lady opens the offside gate. The person promptly gets on the historic boat not even attempting to close their top paddle or even open their top gate. The boat just goes off through the gate gap that the lady had made by opening the gate. You should have heard the lady saying how selfish the boater was and to be honest I agree with her.

So a boater waiting to come down helped a boat going up through the lock. That boat left leaving the lock with an open gate ready for the oncoming boat.  What was the offence? Leaving open the paddle perhaps, but its trivial. And what is the particular relevance of this being a historic boat?

If I arrive at a lock with a boat coming the other way I will go forward to help, opening paddles (with the steerer's agreement) and opening gates. With the lock full/empty I expect the other boat's crew to board (unless they have already started walking to the next lock) and the boat to just leave. Easy for me as the one standing on the lockside to drop a paddle as the boat leaves the lock.

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13 minutes ago, David Mack said:

So a boater waiting to come down helped a boat going up through the lock. That boat left leaving the lock with an open gate ready for the oncoming boat.  What was the offence? Leaving open the paddle perhaps, but its trivial. And what is the particular relevance of this being a historic boat?

If I arrive at a lock with a boat coming the other way I will go forward to help, opening paddles (with the steerer's agreement) and opening gates. With the lock full/empty I expect the other boat's crew to board (unless they have already started walking to the next lock) and the boat to just leave. Easy for me as the one standing on the lockside to drop a paddle as the boat leaves the lock.

The trouble is now that people don’t help each other or indeed think of setting a flight ahead...Apparently you now just work your lock in isolation....I’ve even had people get on the boat between locks when doing flights like Atherstone....not helped by some thinking it’s normal for the vollies to do everything for you. 

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22 minutes ago, David Mack said:

So a boater waiting to come down helped a boat going up through the lock. That boat left leaving the lock with an open gate ready for the oncoming boat.  What was the offence? Leaving open the paddle perhaps, but its trivial. And what is the particular relevance of this being a historic boat?

If I arrive at a lock with a boat coming the other way I will go forward to help, opening paddles (with the steerer's agreement) and opening gates. With the lock full/empty I expect the other boat's crew to board (unless they have already started walking to the next lock) and the boat to just leave. Easy for me as the one standing on the lockside to drop a paddle as the boat leaves the lock.

Can I ask where you bought your rose tinted glasses from. There were about 6 boats waiting to come down so they wanted both gates open but none of this occurred to the boater going up. There was no relevancy in it being a historic boat but after reading Nicky Normans comments it then appeared more relevant. It was selfish behaviour what ever age of boat.

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Well the hirer i met on atherstone today was well clued up. Passed me as we were going past a line of grumpy ex working boaters, with a foot each side, said hello, and smiled happily.

His lock wheeler had opened the left side gate for me as i closed the right side paddle .

 

it was pouring down maybe the shiny boats had tied up.

the ex working boat owners werent at all grumpy really, i made that up.

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Some people are just plonkers all the time.

 

Most people are plonkers occasionally.

 

Sometimes full time plonkers buy historic boats.

 

Sometimes full time plonkers buy none historic boats.

 

Sometimes none plonker historic boat owners have plonker moments.

 

Sometime none plonker none historic boat owners have plonker moments. 

 

The problem historic boat owners have I think is they stand out so the full time plonkers stick in people's memories as do the occasional plonker moments.

The same can be said for any distinctive boat type, Hudson, scruffy, shiny, etc.

 

In fact change boat owner for fishermen, cyclists etc. It's all the same

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