Harecastle tunnel breakdown and Westport lake

[Leemc]

Had an interesting day on Saturday. Southbound through the Harecastle and lead boat of 4 broke down about 1/4 way through. Horn signal every 30 seconds( which all the boats joined in with after a while). No help came, so using a mixture of chains on walls and poles, the non  working Dutch barge was pulled and pushed to daylight. Poor guy was very weary and apologetic, but all part of the experience for us so no apology needed. Instead of 40 minutes, passage took about 2 hours.

Then moored up by Westport lake, what a great spot. Highlight watching pair of Great Crested Grebes diving for fish to feed their two cute, stripey chicks. The best fishermen since Captain Birdseye!

Just don't bother heading into Longport for beer and food. What a strange place.

[nicknorman]

2 minutes ago, Leemc said:

Had an interesting day on Saturday. Southbound through the Harecastle and lead boat of 4 broke down about 1/4 way through. Horn signal every 30 seconds( which all the boats joined in with after a while). No help came, so using a mixture of chains on walls and poles, the non  working Dutch barge was pulled and pushed to daylight. Poor guy was very weary and apologetic, but all part of the experience for us so no apology needed. Instead of 40 minutes, passage took about 2 hours.

Then moored up by Westport lake, what a great spot. Highlight watching pair of Great Crested Grebes diving for fish to feed their two cute, stripey chicks. The best fishermen since Captain Birdseye!

Just don't bother heading into Longport for beer and food. What a strange place.

Well they make a lot of fuss about the horn signals and rescue system, so a bit disappointing to discover it is all BS! Anyway, at least you had an interesting day!

[Leemc]

Eventful probably better word.

[markeymark]

I heard that they were gonna ban dogs around Westport lake from last year which is a bummer when your dog wants to have a walk after the tunnel (going south). Did you see any dogs there?

[haggis]

11 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Well they make a lot of fuss about the horn signals and rescue system, so a bit disappointing to discover it is all BS! Anyway, at least you had an interesting day!

When we had the engine fire in harecastle we were rescued by another boat pushing us out some time later .on chatting to the tunnel keeper later he told me that when they hear the long blasts they alert the rescue boat crew who can be anything from 5 minutes upwards away. In our case they had arrived and were getting the boat ready when we came out . It is not an immediate recovery system.

Haggis

[MoominPapa]

2 minutes ago, haggis said:

When we had the engine fire in harecastle

Arrgh! My worst nightmare! Glad you lived to tell the tale.

 

MP.

[Sea Dog]

7 minutes ago, markeymark said:

I heard that they were gonna ban dogs around Westport lake ...

That would be a short sighted decision. My Labrador cleaned the entire area of goose poo last year - it'll cost them if they need to pay Virador to do it instead... 

 

[markeymark]

Just now, Sea Dog said:

That would be a short sighted decision. My Labrador cleaned the entire area of goose poo last year - it'll cost them if they need to pay Virador to do it instead... 

 

I agree but heard that wardens were gonna fine dog owners cos apparently dogs upset the bird life there and also they were complaing about dog owners not cleaning up after their dogs (reasonable IMO) but what about all the plastic and other rubbish?

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by markeymark

[frangar]

33 minutes ago, Leemc said:

Had an interesting day on Saturday. Southbound through the Harecastle and lead boat of 4 broke down about 1/4 way through. Horn signal every 30 seconds( which all the boats joined in with after a while). No help came, so using a mixture of chains on walls and poles, the non  working Dutch barge was pulled and pushed to daylight. Poor guy was very weary and apologetic, but all part of the experience for us so no apology needed. Instead of 40 minutes, passage took about 2 hours.

Then moored up by Westport lake, what a great spot. Highlight watching pair of Great Crested Grebes diving for fish to feed their two cute, stripey chicks. The best fishermen since Captain Birdseye!

Just don't bother heading into Longport for beer and food. What a strange place.

Did the tunnel keeper say anything when you all emerged?? I’d like to hope the incident was at least logged...it’s a worry that they didn’t follow procedures and acknowledge at the least. 

[markeymark]

I think the tunnel keepers are volunteers so maybe just do the minimum. The one I spoke to was very friendly and played some music for me on his 12 string...turns out he was the guitarist with Swinging Blue Jeans..but dont spread it about please!

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, markeymark said:

dont spread it about please!

So you posted it on here ...

[markeymark]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

So you posted it on here ...

You would have to know who it was and at which end he works and what days he works there...but you are right

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

9 minutes ago, markeymark said:

I think the tunnel keepers are volunteers so maybe just do the minimum. The one I spoke to was very friendly and played some music for me on his 12 string...turns out he was the guitarist with Swinging Blue Jeans..but dont spread it about please!

They’re paid seasonal workers. 
 

 

[john6767]

Glad to hear it all worked out, but very disappointed that there was no acknowledgement of the emergency signal.  I thought the leaflet said what the acknowledgement would be, or have I made that up?  Did the tunnel keeper said that they had heard it, and if so what response was in progress?

[Leemc]

55 minutes ago, markeymark said:

I heard that they were gonna ban dogs around Westport lake from last year which is a bummer when your dog wants to have a walk after the tunnel (going south). Did you see any dogs there?

Dogs everywhere. But now you mention it, they all did seem to be on leads. Amazing place for a dog walk.

[Leemc]

45 minutes ago, frangar said:

Did the tunnel keeper say anything when you all emerged?? I’d like to hope the incident was at least logged...it’s a worry that they didn’t follow procedures and acknowledge at the least. 

I'm sure there were discussions going on as we emerged. Had a few banter(ish) comments from line of boats waiting to head north.

i would hate to think what would happen in a real, time dependent emergency though. It's tricky communicating under there with those noisy fans and also assist other boaters. We offered our daughters services to help with the manual pulling/ pushing but don't think other boat in between us and stricken boat wanted him to use their boat as a stepping stone.

 

Daughter's boyfriend-oops

[Cheshire cat]

2 hours ago, Leemc said:

Had an interesting day on Saturday. Southbound through the Harecastle and lead boat of 4 broke down about 1/4 way through. Horn signal every 30 seconds( which all the boats joined in with after a while). No help came, so using a mixture of chains on walls and poles, the non  working Dutch barge was pulled and pushed to daylight. Poor guy was very weary and apologetic, but all part of the experience for us so no apology needed. Instead of 40 minutes, passage took about 2 hours.

Then moored up by Westport lake, what a great spot. Highlight watching pair of Great Crested Grebes diving for fish to feed their two cute, stripey chicks. The best fishermen since Captain Birdseye!

Just don't bother heading into Longport for beer and food. What a strange place.

Burslem is slightly better. The market square has a couple of decent pubs and there are a couple of curry houses. It's a 20 minute walk though

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Don't they keep the rescue boat at the North Portal of the tunnel just as you come out? I'm happy to be corrected here but if that is the case, if they sent the rescue boat in and you were all heading south, it would have been coming up behind you.

 

Do they have a second rescue boat at the South Portal?

[Tracy D'arth]

16 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Don't they keep the rescue boat at the North Portal of the tunnel just as you come out? I'm happy to be corrected here but if that is the case, if they sent the rescue boat in and you were all heading south, it would have been coming up behind you.

 

Do they have a second rescue boat at the South Portal?

No. I have often wondered what use the rescue boat really is. If as in this case the boats are going south the boat can only get to the last one.

Pulling them out backwards would be difficult.

If going north then I suppose they can take the boat in and drag the boats out facing forward with the tug in reverse.

 

The whole question of safety in a small tunnel like the Harecastle is not straight forward. Faced with a line of 6 or 8 boats as it used to be, I can see extraction being a long and difficult process.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

16 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

No. I have often wondered what use the rescue boat really is. If as in this case the boats are going south the boat can only get to the last one.

Pulling them out backwards would be difficult.

If going north then I suppose they can take the boat in and drag the boats out facing forward with the tug in reverse.

 

The whole question of safety in a small tunnel like the Harecastle is not straight forward. Faced with a line of 6 or 8 boats as it used to be, I can see extraction being a long and difficult process.

I suspect that the principal purpose of the rescue boat is to recover people from the tunnel particularly following the fatality back in 2014.

 

As far as boats go it seems to be self recovery. It is just sod's law in this case that it was the lead boat that broke down since any other boat breaking down could have been pulled out by the boat ahead of it (even though you may find that your insurance doesn't cover you for towing, but in these circumstances I'd certainly do it). I think that there should perhaps be a little more emphasis on how to react if someone sounds the alarm signal, like everyone stop engines to try to find out what the problem is, it could after all be anything from someone with a bag around their prop, to someone having a heart attack.