Horns: does anyone use them anymore?

[Mike Todd]

26 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

What's the horn signal for "don't turn the lock against me!"

Traditionally, I believe, wave your lock key at them.

[Puffling]

57 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

What's the horn signal for "don't turn the lock against me!"

Related to that, I used a short bip on my horn to return the attention of a volunteer lockkeeper this morning. He was deep in thought and unable to see my signal that it was fine to drain the lock by opening the paddle on his side.

 

H e was a little startled but of course I immediately apologised for being so brash.

[Arthur Marshall]

As the average age of boaters I saw last week must be around seventy, and we're all standing on top of diesels, I doubt whether more than 2% of boaters will hear a horn signal however often you blow it. I couldn't even hear mine last week after a fortnight being Listered.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I seem to recall reading in WW a few years ago that the UK had got an exemption from an EC regulation requiring canal boats to sound their horn for a minute when approaching a bridge.  

 

When we hired a boat for a week on the Norfolk Broads a couple of decades ago and couldn't find a button for the horn, I was told they had removed the horns from all their boats. Apparently waterside residents had complained about being kept awake by revelling holidaymakers sounding their horns at night.

I hired a day boat to take the grand kids and my son into Beccles on the Broads, got the safety talk and instructions and he finished with" and thats the horn, but you dont need that " he then made a comment about signals finishing with  "I though somehow you might know them"

[LadyG]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

 

What that you gave the wrong one?

They could hold their course, or more safely move to port, over towards the centre of the fairway, where they should be, instead they edged to starboard in front of my intended course.

Edited June 10, 2023 by LadyG

[Mike Todd]

2 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

As the average age of boaters I saw last week must be around seventy, and we're all standing on top of diesels, I doubt whether more than 2% of boaters will hear a horn signal however often you blow it. I couldn't even hear mine last week after a fortnight being Listered.

One of the shortcomings of hearing aids (at least mine!) is that it is difficult to discern direction when the sound is in certain directions, most notably directly behind. Whilst I will hear the horn it will take a moment of two to work out where it is coming from - especially if it was a brief toot. Same applies to cyclist coming from behind on the towpath.

[Ray T]

When I sailed offshore learning the horn signals were an obligatory part of the RYA exams to obtain a "Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence."

For what it is worth I use them when applicable when out on the cut. 

 

If I get any remarks, rude or otherwise I have a stack of these I hand out:

 

[LadyG]

It's fine to use col regs horn signals on commercial waterways, as people using them should be cognizant however on a wide muddy ditch I would not expect to use them in normal navigation, except for the long blast, and that is to draw attention to my presence eg at a blind bend or tunnel.

I would not expect many boaters to know the signals and act accordingly, but they should look behind fairly frequently, particularly if they are doing something unusual, and I include pottering along in a trip boat at 2mph to be unusual, so they should actually be looking behind them more often. The skipper of a trip boat or any commercial helmsman should be aware of the correct signals, and how to place his craft, if he dithers, and creates a likely collision scenario he will get a signal of intent, or five blasts if he continues to ignore a possible  collision situation.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

On 14/05/2021 at 14:10, BrumBargee said:

Back when I was little and my dad first taught me to steer a narrowboat, he always stressed the importance of using the horn at blind bends, bridges etc. for avoiding collisions. It's something I still do and I am convinced it has helped to avoid a significant number of incidents.

 

It seems recently to me though, that many boaters don't use their horn at all (and some don't even have a working horn onboard). I recently came through a blind bridge hole on the GU just north of Gayton junction. I did my usual procedure of backing off the speed and sounding the horn. There was no reply, but as I came through there was a boat stopped on the other side. The skipper was very thankful, saying "thank you for the signal, we wouldn't have been able to stop in time otherwise". Why then, did he not sound his own horn as he approached? I can understand not memorising all the different horn signals (I struggle to remember the full list myself sometimes) but a horn is a universally recognised sound to signal "I'm here". It's why boats have them in the first place.

 

Has anyone else found that boaters are just less horn-y than they used to be? ?

But if they had used their horn wouldn’t that be confusing?

 

Does the first hornblower reckon they’ve won the bridge hole?

They, the first hornblower could be over excited and let one off way in advance and therefore make the responding hornblower wait unnecessarily. 
 

 

 

 

[Rob-M]

I find there are very few truly blind bridge holes, I try to position our boat so I can see through a bridge or at least make our bows visible to an on coming boat.

[Paul C]

My approach to blind bridgeholes is to sound the horn, but also slow down a little so you can stop if needs be. Invariably, if a boat is coming the other way then they will have heard the horn and slowed (maybe stopped), but they don't seem to return with a horn beep, never mind.

 

No bridgehole is truly blind anyway, there is always an appropriate speed to do it which is safe.

 

Sighted bridgeholes, my approach nowadays if it looks marginal is to INCREASE speed, so far I have a 99.9% record of getting through with no issues and with a friendly wave from the other boater. Obviously if its not marginal and the other boat IS closer, I will wait. The one occasion it didn't work out, was when it looked marginal, I slowed to a stop once I decided it was too close to make it through so we'd let them through. The other boater got a bit confused and didn't slow down much, resulting in a nose to nose collision. It was so slow speed it was all a bit of hilarity and we all had a good laugh about it.

 

The point being, is if you're the 2nd one at the bridgehole, you want the other boat to get through nice and quick, rather than both slowing and drifting around aimlessly.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

6 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I find there are very few truly blind bridge holes, I try to position our boat so I can see through a bridge or at least make our bows visible to an on coming boat.

 Yes, and approach at a speed you can stop/manoeuvre appropriately as soon as you see a bow is closer than you are. 
 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Goliath

[haggis]

Even if you don't have a good line of sight through a bridgehole you can usually tell if there is a boat coming by looking for any water movement at the side of the bridge or the visible bank through the bridge.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Oh, that Armitage tunnel that’s not a tunnel, sometimes I’ve blasted me horn when travelling South when I am in the tunnel as a warning to folk. 
But usually I only use it if I see a bow poking and nudging to come in the other end. 
That tunnel is a tricky one, you can’t see through (when entering from the Armitage end) until your boat is lined up

Edited June 10, 2023 by Goliath

[MrsM]

I use the long blast and the starboard, port and astern bips regularly so some of us newbies do use them. Wouldn't be able to claim I know the others off pat though. Would ideally like one of the brass plaques with the list of signals on for my binacle if anyone knows where I can get one. 

[Rob-M]

12 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Oh, that Armitage tunnel that’s not a tunnel, sometimes I’ve blasted me horn when travelling South when I am in the tunnel as a warning to folk. 
But usually I only use it if I see a bow poking and nudging to come in the other end. 
That tunnel is a tricky one, you can’t see through (when entering from the Armitage end) until your boat is lined up

When heading towards Great Haywood I take it gently round the bend, prepared to reverse out if something is coming.  There is a point as you approach if you get right over by the towpath where you can just about see through but the moored boats at the other end can cause confusion.

I think on just one occasion someone has come in at the other end when I was under the road bridge so gave a long blast and flashed the tunnel lamp and they backed out.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

1 minute ago, Rob-M said:

When heading towards Great Haywood I take it gently round the bend, prepared to reverse out if something is coming.  There is a point as you approach if you get right over by the towpath where you can just about see through but the moored boats at the other end can cause confusion.

I think on just one occasion someone has come in at the other end when I was under the road bridge so gave a long blast and flashed the tunnel lamp and they backed out.

Yes, I just take it slow and hope if there is another boat their horn is working. 
There are bollards to tie up and walk and have a look but I know my luck, by the time Ive done that and got back on boat someone will have entered the other end 😃

[Tonka]

4 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

When heading towards Great Haywood I take it gently round the bend, prepared to reverse out if something is coming.  There is a point as you approach if you get right over by the towpath where you can just about see through but the moored boats at the other end can cause confusion.

I think on just one occasion someone has come in at the other end when I was under the road bridge so gave a long blast and flashed the tunnel lamp and they backed out.

What happened to the signs at Armitage telling you to send someone ahead to make sure that the way is clear 

[Rob-M]

Just now, Goliath said:

Yes, I just take it slow and hope if there is another boat their horn is working. 
There are bollards to tie up and walk and have a look but I know my luck, by the time Ive done that and got back on boat someone will have entered the other end 😃

Going to check is a bit pointless when single handing through there.

Just now, Tonka said:

What happened to the signs at Armitage telling you to send someone ahead to make sure that the way is clear 

The signs are still there but no point checking when single handing.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Have you been the pub there?

The Plumb Pudding?

Ive always ignored it thinking it’d be a posh eatery. 
But it’s alright.  
Decent beer at a fair price. 
Just watch out for the slope in the carpet, it’ll catch you out even sober. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Goliath

[Rob-M]

Just now, Goliath said:

Have you been the pub there?

The Plumb Pudding?

Ive always ignored it thinking it’s be a posh eatery. 
But it’s alright.  
Decent beer at a fair price. 
Just watch out for the slope in the carpet, it’ll catch you out sober. 

We've never stopped there but often thought we should give it a try.

[Tonka]

5 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Going to check is a bit pointless when single handing through there.

The signs are still there but no point checking when single handing.

Are you sure, I did not see them when we came through last week. A new crt sign telling you to give way, sound horn and put your tunnel light on

[Rob-M]

3 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Are you sure, I did not see them when we came through last week. A new crt sign telling you to give way, sound horn and put your tunnel light on

I've not been through for three weeks so maybe they have been replaced.

[enigmatic]

11 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Traditionally, I believe, wave your lock key at them.

Can you throw the lock key if they're not looking at you? Asking for a friend 

[koukouvagia]

I use mine quite a bit because I like the noise it makes when I turn the handle.