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Cruise around UK?


robtheplod

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I know people have taken their narrowboats across to France in the past, but has anyone gone around the UK in one?  I'm watching a YouTuber who is doing it in a tiny RIB at present and it got me thinking... (no, not for me, just curious!). What an adventure this would be, especially if it was a fleet of boats - utterly mad but so British!

Edited by robtheplod
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10 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

I know people have taken their narrowboats across to France in the past, but has anyone gone around the UK in one?  I'm watching a YouTuber who is doing it in a tiny RIB at present and it got me thinking... (no, not for me, just curious!). What an adventure this would be, especially if it was a fleet of boats - utterly mad but so British!

If you are speaking about visiting all the waterways of the UK this has been done many times and Owen & iris  Bryce wrote a couple of books many years ago - one of them was Canals are my Home - about their adventures in their boat Bix.

 

Equally, if you mean a circumnavigation of the UK coast again it has been done, although not usually by cruising in company, apart from a few "challenges/races". A notable circumnavigator for example was Ellen MacArthur before she became famous, using a small sailing boat based in Hull.

 

Howard

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I really cannot think of something I would rather not do in my narrowboat.  Just coming up the tidal bit of the Severn, between Gloucester and Tewksbury, immediately after a spring tide, was “interesting” enough.  I expect that we will, in coming years do the Thames from Brentford, the tidal Ribble and scary bits of the Trent, but going out in proper green waters in a flat bottomed boat with a comparatively small engine, is not my idea of fun.

 

you are right though, people have done the Channel, most famously captured in “Narrow Dog to Carcassonne”, but if you read, you will appreciate the precautions he took.  OK for a one day push, but every day for however long it would take to go round our little, but not that little, island...

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Why would anyone want to? A standard narrowboat would need to be heavily modified to safely accomplish a long distance coastal passage, or even small hops.There are far more suitable craft for undertaking such a journey, and many UK circumnavigations completed each year in them.

 

Cruising around the coast of the uk (if that is what you mean) would, imo, be a foolhardy exercise in a narrowboat, heavily reliant on being a fully paid up member of the RNLI. UK coastal waters can be a challenge at the best of times without adding unnecessary complexities into the equation.

 

There was apparently a narowboat that crossed the Atlantic some years back. Ifrances or summit similar it was called.

 

Mind you, some chap swam around the coast last year, so anything is possible.

Edited by rusty69
RNLI not RLNI
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Thank you, Matty, I enjoyed reading that again. It reminded me that we were sitting on our little Sea Otter, GAMEBIRD in Crinan basin when John arrived doing a reccie for Ocean Princess. I think he was a bit surprised to find another narrow boat there! We had trailed her up to Ardrishaig, launched into the sea and I cruised round to the lock at the entrance to the Crinan canal while Iain parked up the landrover and trailer. We then cruised the Crinan and when we got to the sea lock at Crinan when the lock was being used for a sea  going boat we took the opportunity to go out to sea, cruise out a bit and come back into the lock. 

The second time we cruised the Crinan, (as part of an event when the Scottish Inland Waterways Association welcomed the Irish Inland Waterways Association)  we then trailer GAMEBIRD north and cruised the length of the Caledonain canal. 

A couple of fun trips and we were told that we were the first narrow boat to cruise the Crinan. Ocean Princess was the first to do it after a sea journey. We actually met Princess Anne on her boat at one of the locks on the Crinan  - and we thought everyone had come out to see us ? 

 

haggis

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1 hour ago, robtheplod said:

I know people have taken their narrowboats across to France in the past, but has anyone gone around the UK in one?  I'm watching a YouTuber who is doing it in a tiny RIB at present and it got me thinking... (no, not for me, just curious!). What an adventure this would be, especially if it was a fleet of boats - utterly mad but so British!

Don't be so daft. It is interesting enough doing it in a lumpy water boat with a big keel.....to keep it upright........ The channel would be doable if you have a weather window of 12 hours or so following a week of no wind but still an issue of wash from the big botes, but no chance of stable enough conditions for a coastal passage. Lumpy water botes are designed so they shouldn't invert or let water in the sides through all the holes. NBs are not. 

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2 hours ago, rusty69 said:

There was apparently a narowboat that crossed the Atlantic some years back.

This is surely an urban myth!

 

I know of merchant sea men who speak of being full speed ahead, yet going backwards for days on end, and that’s in proper ships, with proper engines, and enough equipment, charts and knowledge to be able to get around weather if at all possible.  The shortest crossing is 1600 miles, so a good dozen days (24/7) at best in a narrowboat, so no chance of picking a “good weather window” either.   Also would need three times the amount of fuel that even the biggest narrowboat diesel tanks hold!

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1 hour ago, The Dreamer said:

This is surely an urban myth!

 

I know of merchant sea men who speak of being full speed ahead, yet going backwards for days on end, and that’s in proper ships, with proper engines, and enough equipment, charts and knowledge to be able to get around weather if at all possible.  The shortest crossing is 1600 miles, so a good dozen days (24/7) at best in a narrowboat, so no chance of picking a “good weather window” either.   Also would need three times the amount of fuel that even the biggest narrowboat diesel tanks hold!

It was a narrow boat: that is, a boat of less than 7ft width. I've seen it and I wouldn't describe it as a "narrowboat", i.e. a craft significantly influenced by English canal boat design.

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On 10/11/2019 at 10:01, haggis said:

Thank you, Matty, I enjoyed reading that again. It reminded me that we were sitting on our little Sea Otter, GAMEBIRD in Crinan basin when John arrived doing a reccie for Ocean Princess. I think he was a bit surprised to find another narrow boat there! We had trailed her up to Ardrishaig, launched into the sea and I cruised round to the lock at the entrance to the Crinan canal while Iain parked up the landrover and trailer. We then cruised the Crinan and when we got to the sea lock at Crinan when the lock was being used for a sea  going boat we took the opportunity to go out to sea, cruise out a bit and come back into the lock. 

The second time we cruised the Crinan, (as part of an event when the Scottish Inland Waterways Association welcomed the Irish Inland Waterways Association)  we then trailer GAMEBIRD north and cruised the length of the Caledonain canal. 

A couple of fun trips and we were told that we were the first narrow boat to cruise the Crinan. Ocean Princess was the first to do it after a sea journey. We actually met Princess Anne on her boat at one of the locks on the Crinan  - and we thought everyone had come out to see us ? 

 

haggis

Ocean Princess was a specially modified narrowboat IIRC to cope with the anticipated conditions. I seem to recall a tug style raised front deck with sealed doors and other strengthening mods to cope with waves and the impact from waves. A Wyvern Shipping boat IIRC. Yes, just found it see: https://www.canalholidays.co.uk/about-us/ocean-princess-cruise

Roger

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On 10/11/2019 at 13:16, Richard Fairhurst said:

It was a narrow boat: that is, a boat of less than 7ft width. I've seen it and I wouldn't describe it as a "narrowboat", i.e. a craft significantly influenced by English canal boat design.

Quiet correct. A boat designed to cross the Atlantic by the naval architect owner that just happened to be dimensioned to fit the UK narrow canal system.

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2 hours ago, Albion said:

Ocean Princess was a specially modified narrowboat IIRC to cope with the anticipated conditions. I seem to recall a tug style raised front deck with sealed doors and other strengthening mods to cope with waves and the impact from waves. A Wyvern Shipping boat IIRC. Yes, just found it see: https://www.canalholidays.co.uk/about-us/ocean-princess-cruise

Oh, that reminds me where those noodles went!  James & Julie took them away from Gloucester on Ocean Princess.

 

@Dr Bob have you got them yet or are they still at Wyvern Shipping?

 

I'd hate them to go past their best before date ...  

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2 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

Oh, that reminds me where those noodles went!  James & Julie took them away from Gloucester on Ocean Princess.

 

@Dr Bob have you got them yet or are they still at Wyvern Shipping?

 

I'd hate them to go past their best before date ...  

No, not heard a peep. I've got the mortgage agreed with the bank but was awaiting delivery before writing the cheque!

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On 10/11/2019 at 10:36, Dr Bob said:

Don't be so daft. It is interesting enough doing it in a lumpy water boat with a big keel.....to keep it upright........

Yebut, lumpy water botes that have big keels also tend to have big mast full of sails trying to push them over. Bigest waves we've encountered were wash in the Pool of London, and whilst I was sometimes worried that one of them was going to join us in the boat, I never worried that we were not going to stay baseplate-horizontal. It was really very stable.

 

MP.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Yebut, lumpy water botes that have big keels also tend to have big mast full of sails trying to push them over. Bigest waves we've encountered were wash in the Pool of London, and whilst I was sometimes worried that one of them was going to join us in the boat, I never worried that we were not going to stay baseplate-horizontal. It was really very stable.

 

MP.

 

 

Have you tried going round Ratray Head? Prolly Ok if its like a mill pond but there is usually a force 7 blowing and a horrid short wavelength chop. We managed 15 knots in our lumpy water boat one night surfing the waves downwind. Nah, never in a sewer tube.

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Just now, Dr Bob said:

Have you tried going round Ratray Head? Prolly Ok if its like a mill pond but there is usually a force 7 blowing and a horrid short wavelength chop. We managed 15 knots in our lumpy water boat one night surfing the waves downwind. Nah, never in a sewer tube.

I'm not saying that it's a good idea, I'd certainly never try. I'm just saying that you'll probably meet your doom be swamping, or burning the engine out whilst being blown backwards, or getting washed off the counter, rather than by capsize.

 

MP.

 

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10 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

I'm not saying that it's a good idea, I'd certainly never try. I'm just saying that you'll probably meet your doom be swamping, or burning the engine out whilst being blown backwards, or getting washed off the counter, rather than by capsize.

 

MP.

 

I always used to make sure my cap was the right size to stop it getting blown off.

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