Jump to content

Things you've dropped in the cut...


Guest

Featured Posts

19 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

That reminds me, my carefully printed and laminated Waterway Routes guide to the Ashby, in the Ashby :D 

Flicked it off the roof with the centreline whilst coming in to moor, sank without trace.

I'd just been told to move it in case the wind had it, of course i knew better, cue several helpings of "i told you so". :( 

 

Ah yes, forgot that one too.

 

A previous boyfriend of daughter 2 grabbed my Leeds & Liverpool Nicholsons guide to fend off a wasp that was buzzing around him. Screaming like a toddler whilst he was doing it.

 

Nicholsons ended up in the lock, very nearly followed by him (with my assistance.)

 

Sucked away through a sluice before I could retrieve it. Didnt even offer to buy me a replacement.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, M_JG said:

Nighwatch's thread got me thinking about things we've dropped in the cut over our time as boaters.

 

So just for a bit of fun - My list includes.....

 

A set of four IKEA metal egg cups...brand new in box.

At least three windlasses....

A tube of 'no nails'

A tiller extension...

2 dogs (well not actually  dropped but they were on a lead at the time).

Myself - (with an iPhone in my pocket).

 

Your list?

 

Is this a ploy to sneak out with the magnet when folks detail their location.... :)

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Upper dentures (I sneezed),

glasses (the optical kind) spectacles,

a mooring pin,

a chimney,

a towel (blew off the roof),

a rubber doormat.

None of these were recovered.

 

The dog's (now deceased) been in several times, he just swam to the bank and waited for someone to grab his collar. Previous dog used to leap into the Ouse at York when we lived there but never managed to fall in off a boat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One sledge hammer, thrown down on the towpath, bounced 90 degrees sideways into the cut, ignoring the laws of motion.

One Tilley hat, recovered after a frantic reverse to the alarm of an oncoming boat, at Barbridge.  Subsequently replaced under Tilley's free-of-charge system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An entire socket set, a friend picked up the case without securing the case clips.  Everything fell out and immediately bounced into the water ... There were a many choice words aimed at him.  Some of it was recovered with a magnet, some just vanished....

Edited by Quattrodave
  • Horror 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dropped myself in a few times, dropped a purse with money in it at Evesham but my dad went in and retrieved it with his feet.  Dropped a windlass above Aston bottom lock.  Most annoying was the wooden top from our rear step which blew off the roof, I heard a splash but didn't immediately go and look, when I went to put the step back the top was nowhere to be seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dropped and retrieved

- a windlass

- the head of a sledgehammer

- my left foot (middle of summer, crystal clear river Nene)

- both feet (middle of winter, urban Manchester)

- an anchor, intentionally when I lost drive on the River Thames

 

Dropped, never to be seen again

- a windlass, just around the corner from where I bought the boat...

- a handcuff key, halfway up the Ashton flight when it was too late in the day to buy a new one.

- numerous items of cutlery when I forget to retrieve them when emptying a washing up bowl

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well  the obligatory windlass and odd bit cutlery out with the dishwater.

Most expensive was Val's prescription sunglasses moored at Whixall moss.

Most embarrassing  was the pole while attempting to refloat after running aground up river from Lechlade. My good crew member disembarked over the side and waded down in increasingly deep water to effect a retrieval. Getting her back on board mid stream required the centreline to acquire a couple of temporary bowline loops as footholds.

 

Also significant was loosing the boarding plank into the Severn whilst mooring, anchor dropped off the stern, bow into the bank, opposite the main stage at an Upton on Servern Blues festival.

Fortunately an adjacent cruiser with a dinghy effected the recovery. Mind you they owed us as the only they could get ashore was via our much lower boat and our plank. 

The plank,  then acquired a lanyard for lashing at the boat end. 

That was a great addition to the plank, as it made placing it ashore so much easier. Stand it up on deck with the bottom against your toes and then use the lanyard to drop it, drawbridge style,  exactly where you want it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apart from the odd mooring pin or piling hook, I don't think I have ever dropped anything inyo the canal that could not be retrieved, or replaced easily. However I did recover a lady's pair of spectacles which she dropped into the canal whilst walking in front of me along the towpath towards the (now defunct) Napton Bridge Inn. She was able to pinpoint fairly accurately where they entered the water, and I managed to retrieve them on second attempt with the Keb, which I always kept on the boat roof. Needless to say, I did not have to buy any beer that night!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know those folding plastic box things... when I moved onto my boat I overloaded one of them and the contents broke out and fell into the canal.  About 30 tins of food... managed to retrieve most of them but at some point they will turn up again... like everything else you ever owned...

 

I buy quality so a future generation can thank me now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first Nicholson guide in 1976,   picked up by a strong gust of wind and dropped into the GU near Bliswirth. I got it out but the pages are still crumpled.

 

My daughter when moored up near Llangollen. Narrow but deep there, so she went right under, but we pulled her out and gave her a hot shower.  At least the water in the Langollen is clean!

Edited by Ronaldo47
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most memorable one on river thames hurtling along with another boat. The plan was the sober one  on our boat to jump off at the bridge for a car shuffle.

Realised keys for the ( company car) were with the owner on the other boat.

Quick 10 /4 on the CB radio and the keys were found.

It was at this point that the effects of lunchtime drinking took control  and an attempt was made to exchange the keys by air despatch between the boats.

 

Somewhere between henley and marlow are the keys for a charcoal grey peugeot 1.9 gti.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have dropped a swivel chair trying to lift it into the boat but successfully retrieved before sinking. Reading glasses have gone in on two separate occasions 2nd time due to me falling in as well. On both occasions I found them by feeling around the muddy canal bed with my bare feet and also picking them up with the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Before he went into care Magpie the Elder was a regular on the canal towpath in Marple, driving up and down on his mobility scooter - one day at the aqueduct he moved aside for a pedestrian and steered the scooter, and himself, into the canal....

 

The scooter was a write-off, but he bought another one immediately - dad reckoned that avoiding risk by staying at home would make life dull. We did suggest that in future he let the other guy move aside :o 

 

It's amazing he lived as long as he did really! :D 

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not me, but by my boat.  A couple of dubious-looking characters engaged in some not immediately obvious activity by the stern of my boat.  When challenged they claimed they had dropped a mobile phone in the canal between my boat and the bank.  They did not explain why they might have held a phone out over the water, and after some perfunctory fiddling about, moved off.  There was no sign of an attempt at forced entry but they may have checked that the door was locked.  I did some fishing and found nothing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Come July I will have been canallng for 50 years. In that time I have dropped:

 

A Kiss Me Quick bowler hat near Spaghetti Junction on my first canal holiday in 1973. Retrieved but looked more like a beanie hat after drying out.

 

The lump hammer, at Macclesfield when I threw it back on board after mooring and it slid across the stern deck and went through the lump hammer head sized gap in the cant!

 

A couple of mooring pins/piling hooks, never retrieved as my magnet kept sticking to the piling.

 

Chinamans hat in high winds near All Oaks Wood.

 

First rescue dog, when she missed her braking point and slid into an empty Atherstone Top Lock. She swam to the cill and sat on it whilst being showered by a leaking gate.  I climbed down the gate (very slippery) and lifted her up so that she was level with the lockside, but she refused to get onto the lockside. Eventually another boater took her from me and placed her safely on the lockside, whilst I climbed back up the gate. The dog thanked him by nipping him after he had put her back on the ground...  :)

 

My Tilley hat in the Shropshire Union, but safely recovered it with the boathook.

 

I nearly lost my spectacles once at Great Haywood when I knocked them off on the swan neck when standing back up after tying the stern mooring line, but somehow managed to catch them just before they entered the water. Being very reliant on them I now keep a spare pair on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 03/02/2023 at 09:29, George and Dragon said:

Upper dentures (I sneezed),

glasses (the optical kind) spectacles,

a mooring pin,

a chimney,

a towel (blew off the roof),

a rubber doormat.

None of these were recovered.

 

 

Mrs Midnight is the world's leading expert at steering under willows and bridges and knocking chimneys and coolie caps into the cut. One or two were retrieved but several manged to swim for cover and remain submerged. Her unbeaten world record is 4 folding chairs.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since 1994 when I moved onto my first boat I have lost 

 

My sanity.

A fortune.

A second fortune. 

The fabergé egg. 

Stainless chimney Osney lock lower layby (trees)

Steel windlass Northampton arm top lock.

Dunton double windlass at Clit Heroes lock on GU near Brentford.

Pair of pliers in Rickmansworth. 

Screwdriver. 

Bag of coal. 

Shoes. 

5 mobile phones. 

Laptop computer x 3.

Desktop computer x 1 (don't use these out on the deck).

Batteries x several (don't carry the lead batteries around too much). 

 

And a pair of FCUK sunglasses. 

 

It's always the splash which makes you think "what was that" than later you realise. 

 

I mostly regret the fortunes and the Fabergé egg but have learned to live with it. 

 

 

 

Edited by magnetman
Typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.