Cruising when the water is frozen

[nicknorman]

On the subject of coal, a heads-up, Fazeley Mill are out of coal. Delivery expected early next week.

[Midnight]

5 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Dora you are wonderfully right as always. 

 

Have a big wet greenie. 

 

 

 

 

That's the worst chat up line in the world 😝

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Midnight said:

That's the worst chat up line in the world 😝

 

And spectacularly creepy to boot...

[MtB]

6 hours ago, Midnight said:

That's the worst chat up line in the world 😝

 

I have far worse!

 

 

[Victor Vectis]

Sometimes circumstances dictate that you have to move your boat. Last Thursday was one of those days.

 

I was creeping past a boat, breaking the ice when the side hatch was flung open and a head popped out.

"You know that damages your boat don't you?"  the head shouted.

"Yes, thank you. I know that" I replied.

"And slow down!"

Slow down? I was in tickover, pushing through ice. I don't think I could have gone any slower.

We exchanged further words.

I crept away, saying "Have a nice day"

His reply was "I hope you don't"

Nasty man.

 

A few miles further on I passed another boat. A young bloke climbed out onto the stern and asked

"How's it going?"

"Bloody awful" I replied

"Well sometimes you've just got to move" he said.

Nice man.

 

What a contrast in attitudes.

 

I'm currently mooored in Leamington Spa. There are 7 or 8 boats here too. That and the factory opposite have kept 200yds or so of the canal ice free but the forecast was for -6 last night. This morning even this stretch is frozen.

[doratheexplorer]

15 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Dora you are wonderfully right as always. 

 

Have a big wet greenie. 

 

 

 

 

Does it have to be wet?

[roland elsdon]

I used to boat as fast as possible when it was frozen.

sounds counter intuitive i know but it used to lift the bow out .

I also reckon it moved the ice further in front of the boat so the hits to the boat were less forceful.

 

 

Talking of snowflakes it snowed last night 20 kms from here.
Its december, its a week to the longest day. Im supposed to do 2 summers a year. Global warming ? 

[doratheexplorer]

3 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I have far worse!

 

 

Go on then...

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Victor Vectis said:

Sometimes circumstances dictate that you have to move your boat. Last Thursday was one of those days.

 

I was creeping past a boat, breaking the ice when the side hatch was flung open and a head popped out.

"You know that damages your boat don't you?"  the head shouted.

"Yes, thank you. I know that" I replied.

"And slow down!"

Slow down? I was in tickover, pushing through ice. I don't think I could have gone any slower.

We exchanged further words.

I crept away, saying "Have a nice day"

His reply was "I hope you don't"

Nasty man.

 

A few miles further on I passed another boat. A young bloke climbed out onto the stern and asked

"How's it going?"

"Bloody awful" I replied

"Well sometimes you've just got to move" he said.

Nice man.

 

What a contrast in attitudes.

 

I'm currently mooored in Leamington Spa. There are 7 or 8 boats here too. That and the factory opposite have kept 200yds or so of the canal ice free but the forecast was for -6 last night. This morning even this stretch is frozen.

Well I am not young but I like to think I am like the second one

[Alway Swilby]

On 12/12/2022 at 17:42, ditchcrawler said:

Here is another Tam  

 

Great video. We're moored next to her at the moment. I wish she'd go ice breaking now then we could escape!

[ditchcrawler]

14 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

Great video. We're moored next to her at the moment. I wish she'd go ice breaking now then we could escape!

We hope to be there when it thaws, so please keep us posted. I am guessing about Wednesday at the moment.

[matty40s]

Ryan is going to make a run through from Dodford to Gayton on Southern Cross on Saturday, unfortunately I wont be around to take footage.

It is between 1 and 2" thick locally now.

[haggis]

26 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

We hope to be there when it thaws, so please keep us posted. I am guessing about Wednesday at the moment.

We have everything crossed for a thaw in Englandshire . Up here our temperatures have been minus 6 - 13 for several days and I think our canals will take a long time to thaw. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Victor Vectis said:

Sometimes circumstances dictate that you have to move your boat. Last Thursday was one of those days.

 

Indeed. We once had to do some ice breaking to get a hire boat back to base on time.

 

I must admit though it was good fun and the noise it makes as you break the ice is very satisfying.

 

From memory we didn't get shouted at by anybody despite both being on a hire boat and ice breaking, we just kept the speed to a level to make progress. We did find we had to give it some some revs on some bits especially where it was thick and on a bend when the ice rather than the tiller direction was dictating which direction the boat was pointing in.

 

On returning the boat I apologised for any damage to the blacking but they were not remotely concerned just saying they were glad we had got the boat back on time.

[Alway Swilby]

37 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

We hope to be there when it thaws, so please keep us posted. I am guessing about Wednesday at the moment.

I'm hoping for Tuesday but you might be right. We were hoping to get to Alrewas for Christmas. Got a (paid for already) duck ordered from the butcher there. Will keep you updated.

[IanD]

1 minute ago, Alway Swilby said:

I'm hoping for Tuesday but you might be right. We were hoping to get to Alrewas for Christmas. Got a (paid for already) duck ordered from the butcher there. Will keep you updated.

 

We've similarly got a goose ordered, but avian flu means there's a huge shortage of all birds for Xmas (and big price rises, up to 45% reported) -- so let's hope we're both amongst the lucky ones... 😉

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Alway Swilby said:

I'm hoping for Tuesday but you might be right. We were hoping to get to Alrewas for Christmas. Got a (paid for already) duck ordered from the butcher there. Will keep you updated.

 

Fantastic butcher - if its still the same one as when we were last there. It was compulsory to moor, and walk into the village to get stuff for the BBQ from him.

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, M_JG said:

 

Fantastic butcher - if its still the same one as when we were last there. It was compulsory to moor, and walk into the village to get stuff for the BBQ from him.

Going by when we called there specially, his meat was good to excellent but his sausages were disappointing... 😞

[sigsegv]

18 hours ago, PD1964 said:

I did from Redhill to Stensen T&M today, broke ice all the way from Sawley, thicker ice the nearer you get to Stensen,  every other boat moored up, no one shouted, everyone I spoke to friendly, mind you I was going as slow as poss past all the boats. So thanks to everyone I passed for not getting irate👍

Think I might've heard you just as the sun was starting to set, did you moor on the off side just by the cafe at Stensen lock?

[Paul C]

22 degrees at Barbridge; and 25 degrees passing Stoak earlier this evening.

[MtB]

13 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

Does it have to be wet?

 

Nope. 

 

Have a nice thick sticky greenie then. 

 

(Is that better?)

[PD1964]

On 15/12/2022 at 12:39, sigsegv said:

Think I might've heard you just as the sun was starting to set, did you moor on the off side just by the cafe at Stensen lock?

Yes, had to leave it next to the widebeams, it’s the new grey boat. A guy came to have a look at it just as I moored up and bought it straight away. 
 That was the thickest ice along that stretch, so had to break it up a bit to get into the pontoon. 
 Stayed on the boat for the night and had to smile when I saw this boat in the morning, as it was “Billy Baltic” on board through the night -8. As I said it’s the new grey Semi-Trad about 4 boats to the right of this one. I would rather have this one though, it’s a nice looking boat👍

Edited December 16, 2022 by PD1964

[agg221]

On 13/12/2022 at 19:00, ditchcrawler said:

Why haven't CRT got the ice breakers out like BWB did in the 60s

Just catching up with the forum - last Saturday, we did take one of the boats BWB used in the 60s out. Oates having been built for the purpose c.1850 for the BCN and latterly worked for BWB, it seemed fitting to find out how it behaved, and we needed to wind anyway, and to test the newly repaired engine. The main challenge was getting up to speed. At low speeds we got big cracks, formed huge sheets which we pushed out of the way and had very little choice over direction as it tended to follow the cracks. Rocking helped break the ice faster, into smaller pieces so we weren't pushing sheets about and were able to get up speed. Once underway we could cruise quite happily and normal speeds through ice just over an inch thick.

 

We had to pass two moored boats. One commented that it was interesting to see a boat breaking ice and good that our boat was still fulfilling its original purpose. The other shouted something about 'one day I'll do that to you' but since that would require him moving at all which he doesn't seem capable of, I am not too worried on that score.

 

Having made something of a study of ice boats, including collecting copies of the photographs, records and articles relating to the subject, including records of the various boats, I can say with some confidence that this is still pretty mild compared with what they originally got used for in the days of trade. Until you have 22 horses dragging the boat so hard that it gets pulled clean up out of the water and sits on the ice, I don't think you are rivalling some of the winters of the 1920s and 1940s.

 

Alec

Edited December 16, 2022 by agg221

[agg221]

Oops!

[MtB]

21 minutes ago, agg221 said:

Oops!

 

 

Lol. 

 

Thing is, this is an excellent business opportunity, had they managed to do the same with the working boats following they were breaking the ice for. 

 

Can you imagine 40 tons of loaded boat skidding along on top of the ice pulled along by its horse at a lively canter? How quick would they get to their destination? Kerching!!!!