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Hero hit by canal barge after saving girl, 5, with just seconds to spare


Nunovyrbizz

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Hmmmm, the ' instructor' is not wearing a life jacket, just as well the kiddie had one. Not a great idea to 'teach' someone aged 5, on a canal. Canoeing or kayaking. 

Extremely sloppy reporting, (can't call it journalism) 

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I assume the "Rodley Canal" is the Leeds and Liverpool at Rodley.

 

"Canoe instructor leaves inexperienced five-year-old alone in wrong place near moving boats" doesn't have quite the same punch as a headline though.

 

It's one of my pet hates with the canoe rental places, who rarely seem to tell canoeists which side they are supposed to be when another boat comes past.  Keep right, dammit!

 

If the narrowboat didn't slow down they are at fault too in this case.

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11 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Sick of these begging folk. 

 

Any licences apparent? Kids badly supervised on a canal built for boats, not flimsy kayaks.

Yes, of course they might be fully signed up members of British Canoeing I think it's £45 for an adult and £27 for each person under 18. They would be covered for public liability if anything happened to other people. 

Edited by LadyG
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Just now, LadyG said:

Yes, of course they will be fully signed up members of British Canoeing I think it £45 for an adult and £27 for each youth, they would be covered for public liability if anything happened. 

 

It's far more likely the boats are on a club licence ...

 

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7 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

It's far more likely the boats are on a club licence ...

 

I was being ironic, its not likely the mother of three is an instructor, and she would not be a club member for long if she endangered their lives like that on a regular basis. 

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35 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Hmm. I'd quite like to hear the steerer's side of that story.

They probably have a YouTube channel with "Last Minute Steering Saves Girl From Drowning". And a video clip with lots of talking and a girl falling off a boat on the other side of the canal and getting a bit wet 

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Not quite sure how the 'barge' could come out of nowhere at Rodley. The photo is the road bridge which sits between 2 swing bridges with, usually a lot of moored boats. 

 

As was said earlier, perhaps the steerer would put a different slant ln the story.

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its not hard to miss something that low in the water if it suddenly appears from say behind a moored boat and its view is already blocked by your hull shape. do they erect warning signs at a suitable distance when running the sessions to warn approaching craft of the possibility of inexperienced paddlers?

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18 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

its not hard to miss something that low in the water if it suddenly appears from say behind a moored boat and its view is already blocked by your hull shape. do they erect warning signs at a suitable distance when running the sessions to warn approaching craft of the possibility of inexperienced paddlers?

 

In view of the ever increasing difficulties, why would C&RT (the Canoe and Ramblers Trust) even consider that a boat may using the canal ?

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"Barge came out of nowhere..." - presumably it was beamed in from starship Enterprise. Or maybe barge was chugging along at 2.5mph, in sight for several minutes, but despite the coach being responsible for small children in the water, he/she wasn't paying attention. Yes, that sounds more like it.

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54 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I have blown my whistle at swimmers  ?

About 40 years ago I was taking part in a WRG work camp at Frankton Locks. After a long day's work in very hot weather a bunch of us went for a swim in the Llangollen main line. Some time later one of the others shouted at me, I turned round and was very surprised to find a boat almost on top of me. No way had I heard it coming, and the steerer had probably not seen me with not much more than my head above the water. Easily done I think.

Although a canoe should be a lot more visible than a swimmer.

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17 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

Perhaps they should consider mounting a "flag-onna-stick" to the kayaks to make them more visible, much like a recumbent bike has to do when on the road.

Those do give you more to aim at, but they're far from being adequate.

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It's almost impossible from the report to understand what exactly was happening, but seemingly there was a woman with 3 children having lessons in one or more kayaks. There were 2 instructors, but presumable the children, one of them just 5 years old, were alone in the boats, and mother was watching from the towpath. All that and no-one saw a boat approaching, and the only way to avert a possible collision was for one of the instructor to leap into the canal. That is a very poorly run school to my mind. When we were a RYA school we had to submit an accident report for any such incident - I wonder if they did?

 

Tam

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24 minutes ago, Athy said:

Those do give you more to aim at, but they're far from being adequate.

 

but, you must admit, better than nothing?

 

nothing in the setup the instructors have in the pics is screaming professional. no buoyancy aids, no hi-vis. in fact i'd question the legality of the operation.

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12 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

nothing in the setup the instructors have in the pics is screaming professional. no buoyancy aids, no hi-vis. in fact i'd question the legality of the operation.

 

Presumably this outfit, since they have instructors Lynne and Jazz and operate all over Yorkshire.

https://learntopaddle.co.uk/about

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