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Acknowledging passing boaters


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3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

You didnt like Thrupp then? 🤣

Pretty much from there southwards, gets progressively worse the further south you go.

I do have do have some sympathy with those that find themselves in a housing predicament,certainly not a problem I can fix, my real beef is with those few self appointed individuals who think they control the areas. I pay my licence to CRT and as far as I'm concerned its CRT rules that apply everywhere.

 

 

Edited by reg
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9 minutes ago, Idle Days said:

We left Crick about ten days ago and are now on the Ashby. Nothing but smiles, nods and warm words exchanged with moorers, walkers  and boaters alike with but one exception. 

Probably because I'm not there yet... 

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My father drove a little Reliant Robin for a while. On each family occasion we went out motoring in it, my mother remarked how friendly the other Reliant drivers seemed. And it was true; each little three wheeler's occupant you passed coming the other way would be enthusiastically waving their hand at you through the windscreen by the time you intersected. Without fail, it seemed.

 

Of course, those days are gone now and it has to be a leap for road safety that they have. Yet I've found that the more Reliant-esque a boat is, the more often you are likely to get a friendly response to your greeting. By Reliant-esque I don't mean a boat with three propellers, but one which is different from a slick Crick-show-winner, perhaps tending towards how Robbie Cumming describes his boat, 'Rustic, with the emphasis on rust'.

 

From the other perspective to the one Arthur describes, I wave or smile at occupants inside boats as I pass them, should I catch their eyes, though don't always get anknowledged in return. I've even had "Ferck..." mouthed at me, presumably in reaction to my speed, when in fact I was passing at tickover. So of course it's a two-way street. Unless it's the Armitage Tunnel.

 

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39 minutes ago, Idle Days said:

We left Crick about ten days ago and are now on the Ashby. Nothing but smiles, nods and warm words exchanged with moorers, walkers  and boaters alike with but one exception. 

 

Exactly the same as my experience over the six long days I've just completed. Just one steerer who remained aloof. Personally I find the vast majority of anglers will exchange a greeting. To me it's got a lot to do with the way you present yourself to people.

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9 minutes ago, Puffling said:

My father drove a little Reliant Robin for a while. On each family occasion we went out motoring in it, my mother remarked how friendly the other Reliant drivers seemed. And it was true; each little three wheeler's occupant you passed coming the other way would be enthusiastically waving their hand at you through the windscreen by the time you intersected. Without fail, it seemed

It was the same when I drove a Land Rover.

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15 minutes ago, David Mack said:

It was the same when I drove a Land Rover.

Still is. If I'm in the old Series 2 then anything land rover shaped invariably waves, presumably acknowledging I must be insane to be driving a 63 year old cart sprung, slow, noisy bag of rivets and aluminium held together with layers of dried mud.

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47 minutes ago, Puffling said:

My father drove a little Reliant Robin for a while

I had on off these for a very short time I thought the wave was to indicate that both they and you, by the grace of god , had survived the last corner.

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5 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

On our recent (brief!) excursion on the Broads we noticed everybody bar a few were willing to exchange a wave. 

 

 

Yes in my experience 95% of boaters in the south exchange a wave. Perhaps contrary to the OP's theory it's actually miserable northern boaters who don't?

 

On the odd occasion someone doesn't wave back it's not going to ruin my day, perhaps they've just had enough of waving at strangers which is fair enough. It is a bit odd that when boaters are moored up they ignore each other, but as soon as their're on the move they start waving at everyone! 🤣

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I'm a new boater, a southerner but on the grand union, and the only people I've noticed reluctant to acknowledge my presence have been the older gentlemen with mid engines. Which is a little sad considering I have a mid engine and want to talk to people about it! To me saying hi is the same etiquette as being anywhere in the countryside. And being friendly with people was something I was keen for - for the first time I feel like I know my neighbours.

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4 hours ago, Tony1 said:

 

My impression is that people behave slightly differently when passing a moored boat than when passing a moving boat. 

The moving boats I pass almost all seem to follow the convention of giving some form of greeting, but the moored boats don't always give a greeting, and those passing a moored boat sometimes fail to give a greeting. 

 


It all comes back to the land culture of your yoof. When you drove past Mrs  Bloggs house in your Ford Anglia, it would never occur to you to wave because you were a motorist and she was householder, and vice versa. You would only wave at other passing Ford Anglia drivers, and she would only wave at other passing houses, which was rarely. ‘Tis the same on the water, moored boats are not boats they are houses, and boats passing one’s moorings are not houses, they are vehicles. We are subconsciously still very tribal.

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13 minutes ago, davathehut said:

im new to boating but i think saying hello to fello boaters is all part of it it costs nothing to be pleasant if i ever pass you i will say hi and pass you a beer

Where will you be passing in the next 6 months?

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On our trips back ‘home’ I always greet other boaters (and sometime towpath occupants) but I have to confess that my greetings to moored boaters is more akin to the nod greeting than a full blow wave etc, simply because it feels more of a potential invasion of privacy.  I might wave at people through their gardens in our street because I know them but I wouldn’t be so inclinded to wave at people a few miles up the road say

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11 minutes ago, Loddon said:

I'm just glad we don't get many passing boaters on the river 🤭

 

On a related note, I remember having significantly more pedestrians greet me when I went up the more rural sections of the Nene, than I usually see on the canals. 

Parents with younger children always seemed to point out the boat and encourage them to wave, which I was more than happy to reciprocate. 

Canal pedestrians do often greet me, but not as many as I seem to remember on the Nene. 

That said, it was end of August 2020, just after a major lockdown, and people were genuinely glad to be out and about, so maybe that was it.

 

I don't remember seeing many fishermen on the Nene, but I'm sure they would be just as black-hearted as their counterparts on the canals.

In fact, when I pass anglers I always wonder whether they are thinking like Al Capone in this film:

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Tony1 said:

 

On a related note, I remember having significantly more pedestrians greet me when I went up the more rural sections of the Nene, than I usually see on the canals. 

Parents with younger children always seemed to point out the boat and encourage them to wave, which I was more than happy to reciprocate. 

Canal pedestrians do often greet me, but not as many as I seem to remember on the Nene. 

That said, it was end of August 2020, just after a major lockdown, and people were genuinely glad to be out and about, so maybe that was it.

 

I don't remember seeing many fishermen on the Nene, but I'm sure they would be just as black-hearted as their counterparts on the canals.

In fact, when I pass anglers I always wonder whether they are thinking like Al Capone in this film:

 

 

 

 

Fishists seem to be a better breed on the river, they don't resent the boats the way they do on the canal. Probably because the river is deeper and wider than the ditches😉

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