Who are the real boaters

[Jon]

Regarding gate paddles - when you mean baffles, is that the thing which channels water downwards, sort of like a cover?

[Liam]

Jon, yup, got it in one.

[Jon]

Ah, thanks!

[roger]

Especially with some of the loose ones!  (seriously, i once nearly pulled a ballard down onto my self!)

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Thanks for initiating a useful phrase for the Hereford & Gloucs once it has been restored - any problems boating on that waterway and we could say 'Ballard pulled me down!'

 

A thought for everyone - the REAL boaters are those who built the canals in the first place (without them there would be no canals to boat on - or even speed on!)

 

Remember everything is relative!

Cheers

[Bernie]

A thought for everyone - the REAL boaters are those who built the canals in the first place (without them there would be no canals to boat on - or even speed on!)

 

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I always thought they were the navvies, they are the ones who dug out the 'ditches' following the design by the engineers.

[roger]

Navvies yes of course - but what about the canal engineers & planners? Surely dear old James Brindley was a closet canal boater? Didnt he try to cover the country with these lovely waterways for us to boat along!!

 

Whats a real boater anyway? One with roses and castles and buckby cans on a nice spick and span narrowboat that doesnt break a wash and upset the moored boats? I think its impossible to define, even quantify, the essence of what a real boater could be.

[nbtafelberg]

At the end of the day you are a real boater if it is inside you.

 

If you FEEL like a real boater 24/7 you are one.

 

Bingo.

[roger]

At the end of the day you are a real boater if it is inside you.

 

If you FEEL like a real boater 24/7 you are one.

 

Bingo.

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Thats deep subjectivity- a matter of what one personally feels. But its not related to any sort of 'real' about being a boater. I think really the question should have been about dedicated boaters or someting of that sort - but nevertheless its an interesting topic!

[maffi mushkila]

A thought for everyone - the REAL boaters are those who built the canals in the first place (without them there would be no canals to boat on - or even speed on!)

 

I don't believe you said that. What absolute tosh!

 

At the time when the canals were built few people had the luxury of choosing a career they liked or wanted to do for the rest of their lives. At that time a job was a job and digging ditches was all that was available for some.

 

People build aeroplanes and don't fly you would hardly call them aviators.

People build cars and don't drive you would hardly call them motorist.

 

So why would you assume that Navvy's are real boaters just because they dug a ditch. Not logical.

 

Most of the people at NASA never go into space, but we should call them astronauts, I don't think so.

 

Many Navvy's may have came to boating after they dug the ditch, then they would have been boaters. To assume that Navvy's are real boaters because they dug the ditch is as preposterous as to assume as that Princess Di was some kind of saint.

Edited May 13, 2005 by maffi mushkila

[John Orentas]

I think Roger was referring to the people who initiated the canals and took the considerable commercial risks.

The Duke of Bridgewater must take the credit for being the first of them. Having seen canals on the continent he had the foresight to build one of his own. Though a very wealthy man in his own right the financing of his project came close to bankrupting him.

It was he and his engineer James Brindley that set the pattern for others to follow. (it's a pity those softy southerners started the trend of poncy narrow ones though)

[maffi mushkila]

I think Roger was referring to the people who initiated the canals and took the considerable commercial risks.

The Duke of Bridgewater must take the credit for being the first of them.  Having seen canals on the continent he had the foresight to build one of his own. Though a very wealthy man in his own right the financing of his project came close to bankrupting him.

It was he and his engineer James Brindley that set the pattern for others to follow.[edit offencive remark]

That doesn't make them boaters.

 

Compact Oxford English Dictionary

 

navvy

 

• noun (pl. navvies) Brit. dated a labourer employed in the excavation and construction of a road or railway.

 

— ORIGIN abbreviation of NAVIGATOR in the former sense builder of a navigation (a dialect word for a canal).

Now please excuse me if I am wrong but I don't think it says boater.

 

Somehow I can't see the Duke of Bridgewater or JB for that matter brewing up a cuppa or emptying out the sh*t bucket, can you?

[John Orentas]

Maffi.

 

It takes more than a bunch of navvies to build a canal, you need someone who will tell them were to dig. I don't think anyone denied that Mr. Brunel 'built' the S S Great Britain because he didn't wield a riveters hammer.

Edited May 14, 2005 by John Orentas

[nichimyo]

Oh do stop squabbling. Everyone knows that a boater is a flattish hat made outa straw.

[maffi mushkila]

Maffi.

 

It takes more than a bunch of navvies to build a canal, you need someone who will tell them were to dig.  I don't think anyone denied that Mr. Brunel 'built' the S S Great Britain because he didn't wield a riveters hammer.

 

Now you are talking project management, and task supervision.

 

I give my maid a list of things I want her to do, it doesn't make me a house cleaner.

[John Orentas]

It is not just a question of project management though that would be no minor task with a largely illiterate workforce who did not know what a canal even looks like and typically was spread over a hundred miles or so.

 

To design and build a canal in the eighteen century was no small task, it required an exceptional engineer to accomplish such a task, building and aircraft in the twentieth century is child's play by comparison to driving a two mile tunnel through a hillside in the days before even a decent theodolite had been developed and no rock cutting machines or even reliable explosives were available.

 

It is so easy to look back at these things with the advantage of hindsight and say, " that was easy" and "I could have done that".

[maffi mushkila]

It is not just a question of project management though that would be no minor task with a largely illiterate workforce who did not know what a canal even looks like and typically was spread over a hundred miles or so.

 

To design and build a canal in the eighteen century was no small task, it required an exceptional engineer to accomplish such a task, building and aircraft in the twentieth century is child's play by comparison to driving a two mile tunnel through a hillside in the days before even a decent theodolite had been developed and no rock cutting machines or even reliable explosives were available.

 

It is so easy to look back at these things with the advantage of hindsight and say, " that was easy" and "I could have done that".

 

Absolutely John.

 

Couldn't agree with you more, but boater? No.

 

I know the trouble I had digging a pond in my back garden (7x5x3.5) that was hard enough, so no I couldn't have done that and I take my hat off to the guys.

[roger]

To design and build a canal in the eighteen century was no small task.

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I cant see where Maffi is coming from! I imagine that although you didnt clean the house you do like a clean house? We could put the canal builders in the same context!

 

Its probably a bit like the chicken and egg thing trying to define if Brindley and Egerton were real boaters ror not. But they (and others) built the canals with the sole aim of proving a way for boats to carry goods from one side of the country to the other, which is why I came up with the suggestion that Brindley was a real boater.

 

May I ask doesnt anyone ever feel a sense of awe when they are out boating along the canals? The canals might look simple, beautiful and full of wildlife, but dont we always think about those who built them, what it must have been like building those dark damp tunnels or lofty aqueducts that we take so much for granted today? In that sense I would suggest that people who appreciates the work, the hard graft creating them and the precious nature of our waterways and their history - is a real boater too (and not neccesarily one who has a boat!)

 

PS I had often thought about those boaters too! When we see a straw boater floating along the canal we can then at last say 'there's a real boater!!'

[Big COL]

I cant see where Maffi is coming from! I imagine that although you didnt clean the house you do like a clean house? We could put the canal builders in the same context!

 

Its probably a bit like the chicken and egg thing trying to define if Brindley and Egerton were real boaters ror not. But they (and others) built the canals with the sole aim of proving a way for boats to carry goods from one side of the country to the other, which is why I came up with the suggestion that Brindley was a real boater.

 

May I ask doesnt anyone ever feel a sense of awe when they are out boating along the canals? The canals might look simple, beautiful and full of wildlife, but dont we always think about those who built them, what it must have been like building those dark damp tunnels or lofty aqueducts that we take so much for granted today? In that sense I would suggest that people who appreciates the work, the hard graft creating them and the precious nature of our waterways and their history - is a real boater too (and not neccesarily one who has a boat!)

 

PS I had often thought about those boaters too! When we see a straw boater floating along the canal we can then at last say 'there's a real boater!!' 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

This is broad spectrum terminology. Why not call Otters, Mink, Floating Dustbins, and anything else found on the cut, real boaters.

[maffi mushkila]

I cant see where Maffi is coming from!

Few people can.

I imagine that although you didnt clean the house you do like a clean house?

Still doesn't make me a cleaner/maid/domestic technician

But they (and others) built the canals with the sole aim of proving a way for boats to carry goods from one side of the country to the other, which is why I came up with the suggestion that Brindley was a real boater.

I would suggest that is a bit simplistic. I would think the idea was to make a lot of money.

May I ask doesn't anyone ever feel a sense of awe when they are out boating along the canals?

Absolutely!

I would suggest that people who appreciates the work, the hard graft creating them and the precious nature of our waterways and their history - is a real boater too (and not necessarily one who has a boat!)

A spade is a spade it ain't a shovel. Similar but not the same.

Edited May 17, 2005 by maffi mushkila

[nichimyo]

Bored now off to have a pint

[maffi mushkila]

Bored now    off to have a pint

Well said, but don't take your boat you will never get a spot.

[roger]

Ceci n'est pas une canal!

[maffi mushkila]

Ceci n'est pas une canal!

 

It may have escaped your notice this is an english forum!

[roger]

It may have escaped your notice this is an english forum!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Didnt notice!

[Jon]

OK, another thread ran its course I think, going !

 

 

Thanks to all for your contributions.

 

Jon