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Women on the cut facebook group/ boat driving


Leap of faith

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Hi everyone,

 

I am a new boater and really wanting to get to grips with how to drive my boat etc., I am in a marina until 1st week of June and then plan to be on the cut. I have been out a couple of times and had a bit of a practise steering but I do not really feel confident..  I know at the moment it is difficult with lockdown so I am not really sure what to do.  I know I could sign up for a one day narrow boat experience  but I do not think that will be enough. I was wondering is their anyone out their who would be willing to show me the ropes so to speak I am happy to pay. As you can see by the title would love to join the about group I understand someone would need to put my name forward.

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1 minute ago, Leap of faith said:

Hi everyone,

 

I am a new boater and really wanting to get to grips with how to drive my boat etc., I am in a marina until 1st week of June and then plan to be on the cut. I have been out a couple of times and had a bit of a practise steering but I do not really feel confident..  I know at the moment it is difficult with lockdown so I am not really sure what to do.  I know I could sign up for a one day narrow boat experience  but I do not think that will be enough. I was wondering is their anyone out their who would be willing to show me the ropes so to speak I am happy to pay. As you can see by the title would love to join the about group I understand someone would need to put my name forward.

 

 

If you say where you are you would have a chance of someone offering assistance.

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Cannot help with the FB group, being a bloke, but there are various organisations that will deliver RYA accredited training in steering your boat and lockwork.  Willow Wren Training are at Stockton, handy for Wigrams but they are not the only ones.

 

 

N

Edited by BEngo
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There is at least one woman boater facebook group, find it and request to join, if you really need a sponsor then I hope somebody on here can help.

A two day inland waterways helmsman (woman?) course is good and you will learn a lot. Some are better than others so do some research. Avoid "experience" courses.

 

There a lot of single handed women on the cut, and a few women only boats.

If you look at long term boaters, either the old working boaters or modern established CC'ers you will see that often the woman handles the boat and the man (usually stronger) handles the locks (or horse), or at least they regard the jobs as interchangeable. The much established routine of man driving and woman locking is actually a rather odd concept.

 

We are too far away to help.

 

..............Dave

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It is much harder for a woman on the cut, often we are locking and some bloke at the lockside will say to Gillie "can I give you a bit of advice luv?". After 11 years and several thousand miles Gillie really does not need their advice, but the assumption is that she needs help, and in particular that a woman can not possibly handle such a big boat.

For a woman its best not to ask for help as the man offering that help probably knows nothing.

 

One of the skills that I have acquired is assessing the "lock helpers", I reckon it takes ten seconds to spot the competent boaters from the general busy bodies, but this took a bit of time.

 

.................Dave

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5 minutes ago, dmr said:

It is much harder for a woman on the cut, often we are locking and some bloke at the lockside will say to Gillie "can I give you a bit of advice luv?". After 11 years and several thousand miles Gillie really does not need their advice, but the assumption is that she needs help, and in particular that a woman can not possibly handle such a big boat.

For a woman its best not to ask for help as the man offering that help probably knows nothing.

 

One of the skills that I have acquired is assessing the "lock helpers", I reckon it takes ten seconds to spot the competent boaters from the general busy bodies, but this took a bit of time.

 

.................Dave

It’s not just on the cut, though. I was once ‘helped’ to change a wheel by a chap who happily told me he’d never changed a wheel before!

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8 hours ago, dmr said:

It is much harder for a woman on the cut, often we are locking and some bloke at the lockside will say to Gillie "can I give you a bit of advice luv?". After 11 years and several thousand miles Gillie really does not need their advice, but the assumption is that she needs help, and in particular that a woman can not possibly handle such a big boat.

                                           the man offering that help probably knows nothing.

 

 

.................Dave

I had this at one of my first locks, as I was pondering what to do with a stuck paddle, so I handed him the windlass and took his dog. He said "it's stuck", I said "yes"

Edited by LadyG
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14 hours ago, Tonka said:

There is a Paul Smith at Calcutt Marina who does introductory courses may be able to help you. He has a website www.livingonanarrowboat.co.uk

This was the chap I was going to suggest. 

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I bought my first narrowboat from Devizes and sailed it to The river Trent at East midlands Airport, having never sailed a narrowboat before. The first thing i had to do was reverse it out of the marina mooring in a tight space and turn it 90 degrees, just took it slow and made a few errors. 140 locks over two weeks and the thames. I would not worry too much about the boat control. My experience was you get used to it and you settle down and the best way to get used to it is to do it. You will bump into things like banks, lock gates, boats but we all do it even very experienced boaters. Look at the Willow Wren videos on you tube very informative. Go out on a day midweek when overcast as there will be less traffic than the weekend, find a clear stretch of canal and practice mooring, steering stopping etc. Take your time and enjoy.

 

 

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