You can't win with rowers

[blackrose]

I just turned my boat around in front of a lock as I wasn't going through. Three single rowers were coming down the river towards the lock and when I started my manoeuvre they were probably a good 80 yards away, but by the time I had turned the boat around they were only 20 yards from my bow. Two of them saw me and got out of the way but the third just sat in the middle of the river. By this time he was about 5 yards from my bow. I wasn't moving forward, just holding my position, so I just waited patiently until his friends told him I was there at which point he panicked and rowed as fast as he could straight into my boat! 🤣 

 

I didn't really care as the boat, oar ends and tip of the aluminium rowlock are all plastic. As he came past he looked a bit peeved and said, "Sorry I didn't hear you!" and he gestured with his hand that I should have sounded my horn implying it was my fault. I just replied "No problem".

 

I hadn't sounded my horn because I wasn't moving so he was in no danger, and with him being so close I though it would be a bit rude to blast the horn - I didn't want to give the guy a heart attack! I was trying to be as polite as possible, just waiting for him to move, but you can't win with rowers, they're always in the right.

[MtB]

 

 

One LONG BLAST would have been the correct sound signal to use, rather than "nothing" out of politeness.

 

 

[blackrose]

4 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

One LONG BLAST would have been the correct sound signal to use, rather than "nothing" out of politeness.

 

 

 

Yes I do know the sound signals, but as I said I didn't want to blast the horn because I wasn't moving so he was in no danger and also because he was so close my horn could have given him quite a shock. I think it was more polite not to blast the horn in this case. I really don't think a long blast of the horn would have gone down well or was necessary when his friends had already told him about my presence.

Edited May 15, 2022 by blackrose

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I just turned my boat around in front of a lock as I wasn't going through. Three single rowers were coming down the river towards the lock and when I started my manoeuvre they were probably a good 80 yards away, but by the time I had turned the boat around they were only 20 yards from my bow. Two of them saw me and got out of the way but the third just sat in the middle of the river. By this time he was about 5 yards from my bow. I wasn't moving forward, just holding my position, so I just waited patiently until his friends told him I was there at which point he panicked and rowed as fast as he could straight into my boat! 🤣 

 

I didn't really care as the boat, oar ends and tip of the aluminium rowlock are all plastic. As he came past he looked a bit peeved and said, "Sorry I didn't hear you!" and he gestured with his hand that I should have sounded my horn implying it was my fault. I just replied "No problem".

 

I hadn't sounded my horn because I wasn't moving so he was in no danger, and with him being so close I though it would be a bit rude to blast the horn - I didn't want to give the guy a heart attack! I was trying to be as polite as possible, just waiting for him to move, but you can't win with rowers, they're always in the right.

 

I think I would have given him a blast of the horn anyway and risked me being accused of being impolite. At the end of the day he was always potentially going to come off worse in a collision with a big heavy boat so really most sensible folk would see you were taking account of his safety.

[blackrose]

1 minute ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

I think I would have given him a blast of the horn anyway and risked me being accused of being impolite. At the end of the day he was always potentially going to come off worse in a collision with a big heavy boat so really most sensible folk would see you were taking account of his safety.

 

Well, perhaps next time I will.

[Guest]

Just now, blackrose said:

 

Well, perhaps next time I will.

 

But as you say - you can't win. If you do you will likely get a torrent of abuse along the lines of 

 

'what's your ....... problem, I'd ....... seen you....."

[Guest]

 

Lots of people are the same even off the water.

 

If I see a car reversing towards me in a car park I will always bip my horn to 'alert them to my presence' (as per the Highway Code).

 

Very occasionally some meat head will extract himself from the drivers seat on their knuckles to remonstrate with me because

 

'what was that for, I'd ....... seen you'

 

Yes well I didn't know that did I.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by The Happy Nomad

[OldGoat]

Come on BR - you've been (in a previous existence maybe) on the Thames, so you well know how whatever knowledge of water-craft rowers have (or not).  Thus it should be no surprise to you.

I suspect thee and I are the only folks that use sound signals. Methinks the best  is five blasts which to me says  - as once shouted to me by the late Duke of Edinburgh - "Get out of the bloody way" (but that was in a carriage driving event and I was a marshall).

 

Happy days..

 

[ditchcrawler]

20 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Yes I do know the sound signals, but as I said I didn't want to blast the horn because I wasn't moving so he was in no danger and also because he was so close my horn could have given him quite a shock. I think it was more polite not to blast the horn in this case. I really don't think a long blast of the horn would have gone down well or was necessary when his friends had already told him about my presence.

I'm with you on this one

9 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

 

I suspect thee and I are the only folks that use sound signals. Methinks the best  is five blasts which to me says  - as once shouted to me by the late Duke of Edinburgh - "Get out of the bloody way" (but that was in a carriage driving event and I was a marshall).

 

Happy days..

 

You got off lightly, one of the Officers who covered the Bacton gas terminal while I was there was given the pleasure of looking after him at a driving trial, most colourful was his description.

[Athy]

1 hour ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

 

'what's your ....... problem, I'd ....... seen you....."

But isn't that the crux of the problem? Rowers will persist in looking the opposite way from the one in which they are travelling, so there's a likelihood of them not seeing you.

 

I wonder if they use a similar technique when driving along a road, and if so, with what results.

[Ronaldo47]

A few years ago, didn't one of the boatrace crews run into a moored barge at the end of a practice run, I think because they went through the wrong arch of a bridge? 

[Thames Bhaji]

1 hour ago, The Happy Nomad said:

If I see a car reversing towards me in a car park I will always bip my horn to 'alert them to my presence' (as per the Highway Code).

Me too, and I didn’t know that the river version of the ‘polite bip’ was ‘one long blast’. I think that might be lost in translation for the average river user who would actually hear ‘get out of the bleeding way’. I may stick to intuition on that one!

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo47 said:

A few years ago, didn't one of the boatrace crews run into a moored barge at the end of a practice run, I think because they went through the wrong arch of a bridge? 

 

Given that the cox faces the direction of travel that must take some doing.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Thames Bhaji said:

Me too, and I didn’t know that the river version of the ‘polite bip’ was ‘one long blast’. I think that might be lost in translation for the average river user who would actually hear ‘get out of the bleeding way’. I may stick to intuition on that one!

 

I once did this recently with a motorhome at a petrol forecourt. He was moving quite fast backwards towards me as if he had no clue I was there. I gave him a blast of the horn and he got really angry with me, jumped out and started with a torrent of expletives, followed by:-

 

'Do you think I am stupid?? I can see you in my reversing camera' pointing towards the tiniest reversing camera I've ever seen.

 

"Well I didn't notice it, better to be safe than sorry eh??? Too late when you've ran into me."

 

Some people.

 

 

[RichM]

It does not help that most of the time they are not even looking where they're going. It's just crazy when you have other craft weighing in excess of 15 tonnes sharing the same space. - Imagine having bicycles where cyclists are not forward facing, surely not much different!

[Ronaldo47]

45 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

A few years ago, didn't one of the boatrace crews run into a moored barge at the end of a practice run, I think because they went through the wrong arch of a bridge? 

Google tells me it was 1984. The barge hadn't been there earlier in the week.  Doesn't time fly?

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Ronaldo47

[Athy]

15 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Given that the cox faces the direction of travel that must take some doing.

My thought entirely.

[pearley]

Yesterday was a bloody awful one on the Great Ouse. Followed 2 paddle boarders up to St Ives Lock for about a mile. They knew we were there but even if they had pulled over the river was too bendy to overtake. Then above the lock 2 day boats set off in front of us but then turned back upstream before chasing each other past us to turn again and come back. Throw in the a few more day boats, wild swimmers, the inflatable canoes on the wrong side or, sometimes both sides, and it was a bit fraught.

However, my own bloody fault. I knew it was Saturday, I knew it was going to be hot, so I should have stayed on the lovely mooring we had.

Edited May 15, 2022 by pearley

[GUMPY]

13 minutes ago, pearley said:

However, my own bloody fault. I knew it was Saturday, I knew it was going to be hot, so I should have stayed on the lovely mooring we had.

Or stopped at The Old Ferryboat,  assuming of course there is room on the moorings 

 

[Midnight]

Last year as we were passing Caversham weir, staying mid river as there was a fair bit of fresh, I noticed a rower approaching at speed diagonally towards the starboard side. I gave one long blast but as he was wearing a headset apparantly listening to something, it was obvious he hadn't heard. I took avoiding action by turning starboard as he passed close to the bows but he then turned back and rowed into our port side. There followed a tirade of abuse to which I responded "There's two more boats behind". He rowed off shouting further abuse straight into the side of the following boat. Not content with two scrapes with bigger boats, now hurling abuse at the second boat, he rowed straight towards the third boat.

[pearley]

43 minutes ago, Loddon said:

Or stopped at The Old Ferryboat,  assuming of course there is room on the moorings 

 

The only mooring with space for a 60ft was the GOBA one immediately after the Pike and Eel but it would have meant jumping onto 2 foot high grass which Jeannette was loathe to do.

Eventually moored at Hemingford on the village moorings. Not my favourite place. 

Of course, if boaters didn't leave such big gaps there would be a lot more spaces.

[Mad Harold]

3 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

But as you say - you can't win. If you do you will likely get a torrent of abuse along the lines of 

 

'what's your ....... problem, I'd ....... seen you....."

Not boating, but I used to ride my motorbike along a 50mph limit road with several residental side roads joining it. 

What used to piss me off the most,was cars coming up to the main road too fast and braking hard at the last minute.

I didn't know if they had seen me and were going to stop, so I fitted a very loud air horn and if aproaching a side road with a car either waiting or coming up to the main road, I would give a long blast of the horn.

It cetainly drew attention to my presence, but there was one occasion when a car was creeping slowly out of a side road, with the driver's head looking the other way,I gave a blast and came to a halt. (Luckily I was going slowly at the time)

I was then treated to a barrage of verbal abuse  " Don't blow your F- ing horn at me.I F-ing saw you"

So no, you can't win whatever you do.

However,I have survived to draw my pension, so I would rather have verbal abuse than slamming into the side of a car.

 

[Jon57]

5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Yes I do know the sound signals, but as I said I didn't want to blast the horn because I wasn't moving so he was in no danger and also because he was so close my horn could have given him quite a shock. I think it was more polite not to blast the horn in this case. I really don't think a long blast of the horn would have gone down well or was necessary when his friends had already told him about my presence.

Should have just rung your bell he would automatically jumped out of the way. 😁

[Naughty Cal]

4 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

I once did this recently with a motorhome at a petrol forecourt. He was moving quite fast backwards towards me as if he had no clue I was there. I gave him a blast of the horn and he got really angry with me, jumped out and started with a torrent of expletives, followed by:-

 

'Do you think I am stupid?? I can see you in my reversing camera' pointing towards the tiniest reversing camera I've ever seen.

 

"Well I didn't notice it, better to be safe than sorry eh??? Too late when you've ran into me."

 

Some people.

 

 

We had the same on the Applecross Pass last year. 

 

A motorbike passed a passing place, on their side, and made us reverse up to the next one on our side which was already occupied by a small car. 

 

We could see it in our reversing camera but we don't have windows in the back of the van so the car driver didn't know that.

 

We got several beeps of their horn until we were parked in the passing place with them 🤣🤣🤣

 

Motorbike rider was still a knob when they rode by. 

 

Epic road. Shame motorhomes are not allowed anymore due to idiots.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Naughty Cal

[Wanderer Vagabond]

5 hours ago, RichM said:

It does not help that most of the time they are not even looking where they're going. It's just crazy when you have other craft weighing in excess of 15 tonnes sharing the same space. - Imagine having bicycles where cyclists are not forward facing, surely not much different!

Yes, I also never really understand why they don't look where they are going, and that is speaking as someone who has rowed dinghies (not competitively, just to get to shore). It is everyone's responsibility to avoid collisions so if a rower collides with another boat without taking any evasive action they carry at least 50% (if not more) of the blame. There is no reason not to look around once you've pulled the oars, the boat isn't going to suddenly do anything unexpected until the next time you pull on the oars and since one of the reasons for rowing is exercise, turning around a bit more often gives you a little bit more exercise.

 

I have had similar experiences to the OP on The Cam where a rowing boat was coming up fast behind me and sounding the horn (at the front of the boat, obviously) would have achieved very little, all I could really do was stage a coughing bout as the boat approached and fortunately the bow oarsman heard me, but if they aren't going to look where they are going, they will take the consequences.