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DandV

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1 hour ago, OldGoat said:

What's that on the far left?

 

I only know it from the days when MC moved from the bottom lock to where they are now.

It’s the old Mason Master factory. In the 70s some of the boat ladies worked there and we were never short of drill bits from a chap in the village, allegedly they were rejects. 

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19 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

It’s the old Mason Master factory. In the 70s some of the boat ladies worked there and we were never short of drill bits from a chap in the village, allegedly they were rejects. 

Thanks - that takes some of the glamour away fro Braunston being a canal town /village!

From Mason Master at one end and the glue works at the other it's quite indistrial..

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28 minutes ago, John Liley said:

Malpas Tunnel on the Canal du Midi, cut in just eight days according to folklore (and some say six), The Duke of Bridgewater visited this waterway in his youth, then went away with some ideas.

Malpas.jpg

That chap didn't need to duck down so low - the roll cage would have saved him.

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46 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Thanks - that takes some of the glamour away fro Braunston being a canal town /village!

From Mason Master at one end and the glue works at the other it's quite indistrial..

We lived in the high street the night some chemical overflowed into the canal from the glue works. The smell was awful and very nauseous but we were eventually told it was harmless. The canal turned white and the outlet from the works was by the bottom lock just next to the back end of an old butty that old Jinty lived on. They got him and all the other people on boats off very quickly.

braunston certainly was a canal village with many retired boatmen living in the council houses and others working in the blue line yard or for bwb and I was always grateful for their help and knowledge when we had our boats.

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53 minutes ago, Athy said:

I'm wondering about the initials. If "W" stands for "wide"......

 

What are you thinking for "F"? :D

 

 

 

 

(Work Flat if you are really interested.  It's a sealed skip, not an open work boat, so you can drive a digger onto it or have a pile of stone or gravel that doesn't need lifting out from the bottom of a hold.)

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1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

What are you thinking for "F"? :D

 

 

 

 

(Work Flat if you are really interested.  It's a sealed skip, not an open work boat, so you can drive a digger onto it or have a pile of stone or gravel that doesn't need lifting out from the bottom of a hold.)

And the W

Womble.jpg

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On this day in 2019

P5309787a.jpg.3eb649a1187ff95a6ad11deb32874708.jpg

This sign and rescue system, on the Rochdale Canal, is a serious attempt to preserve life, as a response to a fatality here in 2016.

I have written of comparable signs in Nottingham and Leeds here (p23).

 

Think of the passer-by finding someone in the water in need of rescue. They have never seen this sign before and need to act fast. Their attention is drawn to the section

"INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE" which has a numbered list underneath, which begins not with instructions for your phone but

"1. Use the lock code you have been given to open the box"

What might this mean?

How have you been given this code?

The person in the water needs immediate help.

Panic.

...

Calm down.

Look at the sign again.

...

Relief.

On the other side of the sign it tells you.

It says "Lock 62"

And there are numbered keys on the keypad ...

 

You couldn't make it up

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22 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

On this day in 2019

P5309787a.jpg.3eb649a1187ff95a6ad11deb32874708.jpg

This sign and rescue system, on the Rochdale Canal, is a serious attempt to preserve life, as a response to a fatality here in 2016.

I have written of comparable signs in Nottingham and Leeds here (p23).

 

Think of the passer-by finding someone in the water in need of rescue. They have never seen this sign before and need to act fast. Their attention is drawn to the section

"INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE" which has a numbered list underneath, which begins not with instructions for your phone but

"1. Use the lock code you have been given to open the box"

What might this mean?

How have you been given this code?

The person in the water needs immediate help.

Panic.

...

Calm down.

Look at the sign again.

...

Relief.

On the other side of the sign it tells you.

It says "Lock 62"

And there are numbered keys on the keypad ...

 

You couldn't make it up

At least its still there so you are in with a chance, when did you last see a line and lifebuoy in an urban area. Its just the same system they use for defibrillators 

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7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its just the same system they use for defibrillators

 

I don't think that you are supposed to "throw bag to person in water" with the defibrillators ...

 

 

 

Edited by TheBiscuits
Quoting for clarity!
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This day 30th May 2020

From the otherside of the world where everything is different, mostly.

Night, is currently day here.  Last two days of spring, is currently last day of autumn here. And most importantly we are now almost totally free of covid, only one active case remaining so lockdown is a memory although some social distancing measures remain including a maximum group, or event  size of 100 persons up from 10 a couple of days ago so back to classic yacht racing winter series.

A lovely Autumn Day but a lack of wind meant a delayed start of a hour which we put to good use when things did not go to plan.

The halyard on the staysail parted on hoist so one of the lighter crew members volunteered for a trip up the mast in the bosuns chair to rethread a new halyard. 

A11 is having her first race in about 40 years. Designed and built in Auckland by Charles Bailey in 1895 she was shipped to Australia in the late 1980's where her hull was extensively restored but then she fell into disrepair on the death of her owner.

She was purchased for the Classic Yacht Charitable Trust shipped back to New Zealand two years ago for restoration back to near her original rig and deck and accommodation layout. on her first outing back she proved to be remarkably fast. 

 

To be continued with photos from the actual race.

 

 

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Edited by DandV
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Part 2 The Actual race. 

It was lovely to see so many yachts out racing in the "off season"

We got a bit left behind in the dying breeze which made a slow run to the finish line against a building ebb tide.

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On this day 1994

L10305a.jpg.b38f338c8ac5ac5f97afeea0ff0f72ef.jpg

Chirk Aqueduct Llangollen C

L10314s.jpg.9da993b0aa5a6bef0ff89a7682321839.jpgRiver Dee. And a shadow of Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

 

Another longish canalling day starting at Quoisley Lock at 6am and ending at Llangollen at 8.45pm without traversing any of the branches and with a half-hour stop for evening meal at twenty to eight. 14hhs15mins on the move, just over 35 miles and 10 locks.

 

 

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19 hours ago, PeterScott said:

On this day in 2009

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Wyrley and Essington BCN twixt Pinfold Bridge and Church Bridge

BCN challenge

Construction works had filled the canal with rubble, and this contributed to much pulling, shoving and imbroglio

I recall the delay was more due to demolition work than construction. The old bridge had been demolished, construction of the replacement had yet to start. And we all found out where too much of the old bridge had ended up.

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On 28/05/2020 at 17:53, PeterScott said:

On this day in 2009

 

Engaging local pulling power to overcome the closeness of bottom to t'top

L1545_20090528_0002.JPG.077f725de923f7ae7e950240854e213f.JPGMoored at Kingswood. I like the name.

 

 

It is the title of a Cat Stevens album released in 1970.

 

 

cat_stevens_teaf.jpg

Edited by cuthound
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In 2005, I made my third visit to the Solovki Islands, located in the White Sea, north of Archangel. The Russian Orthodox Church had set up a fortified monastery there in the 16th century, and the monks had developed a canal system on the main island for water supply, irrigation, water power, and finally for transport. It is the most northerly canal system in the world, with about 6 or 7 miles of canal. During the 1920s, the monastery became the first Gulag, with prisoners being sent from the island to work on the Baltic-White Sea Canal. During the 2WW, the island became a naval base, continuing as such until just prior to the end of the 20th century. It has been returned to the church, but is also a World Heritage Site. The first photo shows the monastery, with the entrance to the drydock on the right. The second shows one of the canals, on which visitors can hire rowing boats. I was with a group of Russian historians looking at the development of technology on the islands, here, in the distance, inspecting the remains of a turn bridge over the canal. The monks had a British-built steam launch, the hull of which still survives.

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Solovki.JPG

Edited by Pluto
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3 hours ago, David Mack said:

I recall the delay was more due to demolition work than construction. The old bridge had been demolished, construction of the replacement had yet to start. And we all found out where too much of the old bridge had ended up.

L1545_20090530_0283.JPG.5e2cdb0ba72a37415f0390e4a04c674c.JPG

Yes there was about ninety minutes of contemplation of the problem,

 

L1545_20090530_0323s.jpg.513ec3211e8c6c69f6fe3392506580f0.jpgincluding moving ballast from the back to the front via the topplank

 

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