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Another moan about speeding boats


jeddlad

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49 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Any generally accepted or recommended speed limit of 2mph only exists in the eyes of people who like to control other people because of the sense of power and importance it gives them. To any vaguely intelligent person a 2mph speed limit is utter bollocks. A reasonable speed depends entirely on the nature of the canal at that point. I don’t think you will find many boats on the Thames passing moored boats at 2mph because it is an entirely pointless waste of time. Ditto some of the huge wide deep northern canals. On some canals 2mph is too fast. A shallow drafted cruiser can pass much faster than a deep drafted narrowboat for the same degree of disturbance. The whole thing about relating it to a speed is just a massive demonstration of stupidity and ignorance. Expecting people to pass at 2mph on a wide deep canal or river is a feature of self important, controlling and entitled people.

 

You're entirely correct of course., except for your first rather crass sentence.  You are stating the obvious to experienced boaters like you and me, but not every body are as intelligent or has our vast experience of boating :) . Obviously not all situations are the same.  

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As my boat only cruises at 3mph, slowing down to 2 wouldn;t be much of a hardship.  I generally (on these shallow midlands ditches) reckon i go down to about half speed, less if I notice boats swinging about too much or boats on pins rather than piling hooks / chains. The boaters that drive me to drink are those that go down to about 1/2 mph with a hundred boats to pass. And then slow down again when they come to a bridge just in case it jumps out in front of them...

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4 hours ago, Neil2 said:

It's a slightly depressing aspect of the modern canal environment that many users now seem to think their floating home with all the comforts of land based living should be immune from the slightest disturbance.  When I started boating, an awful lot of canal craft were grp cruisers or lightly built Springers - the first steel boat I had would rock from side to side if you sneezed.

 

Of course at the same time the new breed of canal boater can't be bothered to learn how to tie their boat up properly.  

 

I'm waiting for the day that someone yells at me from the towpath at Tixall.  It's only a matter of time.

A friend of mine who is on the south Stratford got shouted at this morning and was told he shouldn't be on the move this early (started at first light), and he was breaching the terms of his licence! 

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1 hour ago, Arthur Marshall said:

As my boat only cruises at 3mph, slowing down to 2 wouldn;t be much of a hardship.  I generally (on these shallow midlands ditches) reckon i go down to about half speed, less if I notice boats swinging about too much or boats on pins rather than piling hooks / chains. The boaters that drive me to drink are those that go down to about 1/2 mph with a hundred boats to pass. And then slow down again when they come to a bridge just in case it jumps out in front of them...

 

Getting behind a crawling boat on the Shropshire Union is the worst I think, there's so many linear moorings on that canal.  I think it's the stretch down to Ellesmere Port where the moored boats seem to go on for hours.

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30 minutes ago, BWM said:

A friend of mine who is on the south Stratford got shouted at this morning and was told he shouldn't be on the move this early (started at first light), and he was breaching the terms of his licence! 

A fisherman had a go at me for moving before 8am once. He honestly believed that the 8 till 8 rule for running engines also applied to moving boats.

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1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

 

Getting behind a crawling boat on the Shropshire Union is the worst I think, there's so many linear moorings on that canal.  I think it's the stretch down to Ellesmere Port where the moored boats seem to go on for hours.

Golden Nook? That's probably the one thing i don't miss about the Shroppie :D 

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Since the OP appears to have had time for a conversation it suggests the other boat was overtaking at a modest speed in excess of the OP's speed.

If the boat being overtake should slow down  it would make life easier for the overtaking boater who does not need to go quite so fast.

 

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12 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

I suspect the clue is in the fact that the OP is passing a long line of boats. I've followed boats doing the same, crawling so slowly that I spend half the time out of gear and losing steering. And have often felt the urge to overtake them and carry on at a sensible speed, though have only done it once.*

As the only way to get past a crawler is to wind the throttle up, that might explain the speed,  the wash, and the frustrated uncommunicative nature of the overtaker, who had probably lost his cool ten minutes before.

Of course, none of this may be relevant in this case, and the overtaker may just have been an idiot.

 

*On the Llangollen, when the hire boat in front was stopping dead at every bridge while a bloke on the front poked the nose in with the pole. He then hit each bridge as he had no steering and had already hit three moored boats. First wide bit I surfed past him on full revs, making no eye contact. Passed him again next morning at 6am, moored on a lock landing.

Lol, Arthur, I'm certainly no slouch and was going at a decent pace myself. The guy over taking me whilst we were passing a long line of boats was at almost full throttle......

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18 hours ago, jeddlad said:

Lol, Arthur, I'm certainly no slouch and was going at a decent pace myself. The guy over taking me whilst we were passing a long line of boats was at almost full throttle......

No offence meant! I'm surprised there was room on a line of boats to even get past. Some people there is no excuse for.

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It's funny how, within the canal community, what are really very trivial matters seem to be dramatized by some into being an outrageous act worthy of shouting and fierce criticism. This includes boats going a little faster than 'normal' past moored boats even if they're not disturbing their ropes; opening top gate paddles too quickly for others' liking even if it's perfectly safe to do so; accidentally leaving a lock gate open even if no danger of the pound emptying. 

 

There are probably other examples but these are off the top of my head. There is a distinction between the above examples and just being selfish; the fierce criticism is more justified if the boater is being selfish, ie. they go tearing past moored boats and can see they are knocking them all over the place but still don't back off.

 

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