Keeping right

[jake_crew]

On the roads we keep left (no Napoleon influence here), so why do we keep right on the water ?

[dave moore]

Because.....

[Puffling]

Colregs, innit?

[TheBiscuits]

 

As I understand it in the old days vessels would always pass portside to portside so the "steering boards" (star boards) wouldn't get fouled.

 

When central rudders came along it was established practice and has stuck, so we still pass port-to-port unless there's a specific reason not to.  In that case we use our signals to make sure the other boat knows what we are up to ...

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

As I understand it in the old days vessels would always pass portside to portside so the "steering boards" (star boards) wouldn't get fouled.

 

When central rudders came along it was established practice and has stuck, so we still pass port-to-port unless there's a specific reason not to.  In that case we use our signals to make sure the other boat knows what we are up to ...

 

 

Very droll.

 

Has there ever been a case of one NB understanding the sound signals of another? (Other than in a 'Why you hooting at me?' kinda way.) 

 

But I expect that was your point! 

[Mad Harold]

But be aware that not everyone knows to pass port to port.

Once on the C+H a  (hire) narrowboat coming towards me,I naturally moved over to stbd, and watched the other boat not altering course at all.Waited untill it was obvious he was not going to move over and I had to move pretty sharply left to pass stbd to stabd.

I mentioned to the skipper that we were supposed to pass port to port and his reply was "oh,right,thank you".

[ditchcrawler]

30 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Very droll.

 

Has there ever been a case of one NB understanding the sound signals of another? (Other than in a 'Why you hooting at me?' kinda way.) 

 

But I expect that was your point! 

I find a good wave of the arm the best bet.

Mind you the professional skipper in Birmingham who coming towards me kept pointing to the right which had me thinking she wanted to go that way, when she actually wanted to go straight and wanted me going out the wrong way to make it easy for her

[Rob-M]

27 minutes ago, Mad Harold said:

But be aware that not everyone knows to pass port to port.

Once on the C+H a  (hire) narrowboat coming towards me,I naturally moved over to stbd, and watched the other boat not altering course at all.Waited untill it was obvious he was not going to move over and I had to move pretty sharply left to pass stbd to stabd.

I mentioned to the skipper that we were supposed to pass port to port and his reply was "oh,right,thank you".

I had a similar experience on the Stratford near Kings Norton junction, the private boat coming towards me was almost up the bank trying to keep left. He wasn't convinced when I told him he should be keeping right. Hopefully he wasn't heading towards the tunnel.

[alias]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I find a good wave of the arm the best bet.

Mind you the professional skipper in Birmingham who coming towards me kept pointing to the right which had me thinking she wanted to go that way, when she actually wanted to go straight and wanted me going out the wrong way to make it easy for her

 

Most people seem to use hand signals to communicate their own intentions, rather than to try to give instructions to the other person, but there's always one!

[Idle Days]

12 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

As I understand it in the old days vessels would always pass portside to portside so the "steering boards" (star boards) wouldn't get fouled.

 

When central rudders came along it was established practice and has stuck, so we still pass port-to-port unless there's a specific reason not to.  In that case we use our signals to make sure the other boat knows what we are up to ...

 

Do other boats understand signals?

[Tonka]

Because aircraft do.

 

 

Have you ever asked yourself why do we drive on the left

[haggis]

7 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Because aircraft do.

 

 

Have you ever asked yourself why do we drive on the left

Because the drivers seat and steering wheel are on the right 🙂 

[doratheexplorer]

13 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

As I understand it in the old days vessels would always pass portside to portside so the "steering boards" (star boards) wouldn't get fouled.

 

When central rudders came along it was established practice and has stuck, so we still pass port-to-port unless there's a specific reason not to.  In that case we use our signals to make sure the other boat knows what we are up to ...

What's a steering board?

[IanM]

8 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

What's a steering board?

 

Them things you see on Viking longships hanging down the right hand side at the stern, used to steer with, hence steerboard=starboard  

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steering_oar

Edited March 8, 2022 by IanM

[Hudds Lad]

13 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

But be aware that not everyone knows to pass port to port.

Once on the C+H a  (hire) narrowboat coming towards me,I naturally moved over to stbd, and watched the other boat not altering course at all.Waited untill it was obvious he was not going to move over and I had to move pretty sharply left to pass stbd to stabd.

I mentioned to the skipper that we were supposed to pass port to port and his reply was "oh,right,thank you".

We met a lovely day boat on the upper reaches of the T&M crewed by around ten lads all as drunk as Lords, they resolutely refused to move over and we were forced to pass them on the left. As we passed i pointed out the young red-faced chap's error as he buried the boat in the reeds, he told me i was entirely wrong as that's not what happens on the road and wouldn't they have told him that at the hire centre? We left him to it as he pinballed from the reeds into the boat following behind and began another shouty exchange about how he was right and everyone else was wrong.

[Scholar Gypsy]

When I hired a boat on the Skegness canal a few years ago, they told me to drive on the left.  There was only one other boat out that day...

And there's a short stretch in Cambridge where you drive on the left.  This is to allow racing eights to take the inside of this bend while rowing upstream. You can just see the keep left sign, which appears to be sprouting out of my chimney!

[Derek R.]

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

Have you ever asked yourself why do we drive on the left

 

There are a few reasons given, though most will come down to those on horse would be right handed (in the main) and passing to the left of an opponent gave the right hand wielding a sword a better chance of landing a blow. Knights jousting, would ride on the left with the lance in the right hand and arm. The first Such 'jousing' matches had been held on the Scottish Borders as a way of releasing tensions between England and Scotland.  One such was held in 1390 on London Bridge between the champion of England, Lord John Welles, and the champion of Scotland, Sir David de Lindesay. The event was a spectacle that thousand thronged to see, the two parties charging one another three times, until eventually Lord Welles was unseated. Though injured, he did recover. Sir David tending his opponent at the scene. (The 'Old' bridge with all the shops houses and chapel on). Lasted over 600yrs that did. Cost of maintenance and congestion saw its demise.

 

But in 1722 a decision was made to enforce traffic (both foot and carriage) with the rule to cross the bridge on the left. Those coming into the City to keep to the West side of the bridge, those leaving the City to the East side. The Common Council, led by Lord Mayor Sir Gerard Conyers passed the 'keep to the left law', which would one day be taken up throughout Britain and a number of countries around the World from Australia to Japan.

'Old London Bridge' by Patricia Pierce.

 

Which begs another question: Why do so many countries in the World drive on the right?

[magnetman]

In the UK the left side is the right side. 

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, haggis said:

Because the drivers seat and steering wheel are on the right 🙂 

Good answer

[Ronaldo47]

I think driving in the right was imposed by Napoleon on the countries he  conquered and they never bothered changing back. Austria drove on the left until the Anschluss of 1938. I think Norway was the last to change circa 1960. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Ronaldo47
typos

[cuthound]

34 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I think driving in the right was imposed by Napoleon on the countries he  conquered and they never bothered changing back. Austria drove on the left until the Anschluss of 1938. I think Norway was the last to change circa 1960. 

 

Sweden changed from driving on the left to the right on the 3rd of September 1967.

[David Mack]

A century ago half the world's countries were left hand traffic and half right hand.

Sweden switched to right hand traffic in 1967, and Iceland the following year. But Okinawa switched to left hand traffic in 1978 ( having been right hand traffic under US control following WW2) and Samoa in 2009.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic

[doratheexplorer]

1 minute ago, David Mack said:

A century ago half the world's countries were left hand traffic and half right hand.

Sweden switched to right hand traffic in 1967, and Iceland the following year. But Okinawa switched to left hand traffic in 1978 ( having been right hand traffic under US control following WW2) and Samoa in 2009.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic

Namibia are just weirdos!

[Ronaldo47]

Thanks  for the correction, I knew it was one of the Scandinavian  countries. 

 

I recall reading that the Channel Islands switched to driving on the right during  the Nazi occupation. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Ronaldo47
channel islands comment added

[Scholar Gypsy]

There was a long row about this in Vanuatu in the south pacific, which for about 80 years was a joint Anglo-French condominium...