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Thames Diamond Jubilee River Pageant


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I believe that notifications don't go out until December.

 

Keith

 

Last applications end of October, I think. I wouldn't expect notifications until they have all the applications in.

 

Or did I misread the OP & they're already accepted?

 

Tim

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I applied months ago and found they seem to want the BOATS to belong to an Association (their words) who will then confirm to the organisers that the boat and skipper is suitable for the pageant. I am sure they do NOT mean the IWA. I take this to mean that this all but disqualifies narrowboats. They also do not seem to want to know about the skippers experience/qualifications, preferring to rely upon the said "Associations".

 

I raised the question of the safety of boats being in such close confined waters with the sea boats not having mandatory safety inspections (i.e. the BSS) but they have ignored this.

 

Then there is their published requirement for all boats to carry 12 passengers - it seems they have no heard of the RCD and its ramifications

 

I would like to see a goodly contingent of inland boats there, especially canal boats, but suspect we have turned out to be an unthought of embarrassment to the organisers. I very much doubt I will put my boat and family at risk from a load of probably gin soaked hooray henrys - especially in view of the extra costs this would entail.

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I applied months ago and found they seem to want the BOATS to belong to an Association (their words) who will then confirm to the organisers that the boat and skipper is suitable for the pageant. I am sure they do NOT mean the IWA. I take this to mean that this all but disqualifies narrowboats. They also do not seem to want to know about the skippers experience/qualifications, preferring to rely upon the said "Associations".

 

I raised the question of the safety of boats being in such close confined waters with the sea boats not having mandatory safety inspections (i.e. the BSS) but they have ignored this.

 

Then there is their published requirement for all boats to carry 12 passengers - it seems they have no heard of the RCD and its ramifications

 

I would like to see a goodly contingent of inland boats there, especially canal boats, but suspect we have turned out to be an unthought of embarrassment to the organisers. I very much doubt I will put my boat and family at risk from a load of probably gin soaked hooray henrys - especially in view of the extra costs this would entail.

Check this link, i think it answers some of your concerns

link

 

(post 11)

Edited by P R
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I applied months ago and found they seem to want the BOATS to belong to an Association (their words) who will then confirm to the organisers that the boat and skipper is suitable for the pageant. I am sure they do NOT mean the IWA. I take this to mean that this all but disqualifies narrowboats. They also do not seem to want to know about the skippers experience/qualifications, preferring to rely upon the said "Associations".

 

I raised the question of the safety of boats being in such close confined waters with the sea boats not having mandatory safety inspections (i.e. the BSS) but they have ignored this.

 

Then there is their published requirement for all boats to carry 12 passengers - it seems they have no heard of the RCD and its ramifications

 

I would like to see a goodly contingent of inland boats there, especially canal boats, but suspect we have turned out to be an unthought of embarrassment to the organisers. I very much doubt I will put my boat and family at risk from a load of probably gin soaked hooray henrys - especially in view of the extra costs this would entail.

 

I thought they wanted boats to carry a full complement of passengers, rather than 12?

 

They do specifically state no alcohol for crew, no idea how well that will be enforced/observed though.

 

Edit - one question in the application is about how you intend to decorate your boat, sounds as though they wnat a load of floating 'floats' like a carnival!.

They do ask questions about experience in tidal waters and on the Thames.

 

Tim

Edited by Timleech
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Last applications end of October, I think. I wouldn't expect notifications until they have all the applications in.

 

Or did I misread the OP & they're already accepted?

 

Tim

No not accepted, only just applied; deadline is the end of October, but there was apparently a rehearsal early in September.

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I applied months ago and found they seem to want the BOATS to belong to an Association (their words) who will then confirm to the organisers that the boat and skipper is suitable for the pageant. I am sure they do NOT mean the IWA. I take this to mean that this all but disqualifies narrowboats. They also do not seem to want to know about the skippers experience/qualifications, preferring to rely upon the said "Associations".

 

I raised the question of the safety of boats being in such close confined waters with the sea boats not having mandatory safety inspections (i.e. the BSS) but they have ignored this.

 

Then there is their published requirement for all boats to carry 12 passengers - it seems they have no heard of the RCD and its ramifications

 

I would like to see a goodly contingent of inland boats there, especially canal boats, but suspect we have turned out to be an unthought of embarrassment to the organisers. I very much doubt I will put my boat and family at risk from a load of probably gin soaked hooray henrys - especially in view of the extra costs this would entail.

 

That all sounds a bit bitter, Tony.

 

Would you expect a load of "gin-soaked Hooray Henries" in large plastic boats to attend a canal festival? The Thames isn't really an ideal waterway for narrow-boats, and it is not entirely surprising that the organisers overlooked the possibility that canal-boaters might wish to attend.

 

Their preference that boats belong to an association is no doubt because that way they can delegate a lot of the detailed organisation to the associations, rather than having to deal with a thousand boats themselves.

 

I'm not the sort of person to take offence, but I might be attending this thing myself, and I am not sure that the "gin-soaked Hooray Henry" label is an accurate reflection of the person I am. Furthermore, there are many other owners of boats, great and small, from all walks of life, gin-drinkers and teetotallers alike, who may also be attending, and I am not sure that your label fits most of them, either.

 

Why not form an association of NBers who might wish to attend? With determination and focus, and using this forum as a recruiting ground, I am sure you could muster a number of brave souls with anchors and nylon ropes within the space of a week. Bizzard could design a suitable pennant, and you could take your place proudly amidst the armada of watermen who will be celebrating the jubilee.

 

And you'd be very welcome aboard my old tub for a drink. Gin if you like.

 

:cheers:

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Send some-of the working boats fill them up with passengers will look like the normandy beaches on D-Day or we could send a contingent of hire boats to run amok :closedeyes:

Personally l will be cruising as far away as possible.

Not to say l won,t sink a few bevies to Liz wherever l am. :cheers:

14 Skipper

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That all sounds a bit bitter, Tony.

 

Would you expect a load of "gin-soaked Hooray Henries" in large plastic boats to attend a canal festival? The Thames isn't really an ideal waterway for narrow-boats, and it is not entirely surprising that the organisers overlooked the possibility that canal-boaters might wish to attend.

 

Their preference that boats belong to an association is no doubt because that way they can delegate a lot of the detailed organisation to the associations, rather than having to deal with a thousand boats themselves.

 

I'm not the sort of person to take offence, but I might be attending this thing myself, and I am not sure that the "gin-soaked Hooray Henry" label is an accurate reflection of the person I am. Furthermore, there are many other owners of boats, great and small, from all walks of life, gin-drinkers and teetotallers alike, who may also be attending, and I am not sure that your label fits most of them, either.

 

Why not form an association of NBers who might wish to attend? With determination and focus, and using this forum as a recruiting ground, I am sure you could muster a number of brave souls with anchors and nylon ropes within the space of a week. Bizzard could design a suitable pennant, and you could take your place proudly amidst the armada of watermen who will be celebrating the jubilee.

 

And you'd be very welcome aboard my old tub for a drink. Gin if you like.

 

:cheers:

 

 

I think it is more extremely p***** off.

 

I applied very soon after they first out their website up and I was sent the application form absolutely months ago. At that time ALL they seemed intersted in was that the boat belonged to an association. From some of the posts on here I think the application form must have been altered.

 

The whole tenor of the form indicated to me that those entitled to fly a defaced blue etc were the target "ordinary" boater. There was no mention of checking the safety of the boat. I have handled boats in flood streams on the non-tidal Thames so have some knowledge of reading the water and I have experience of the tidal Thames in a narrowboat. No questions were asked about this.

 

I found the difference in tone between the original website and the application form concerning. Add to that the "knots per hour" press release and I think it is reasonable to question the organisers abilities and motives.

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You don't expect anyone on here to read a "Blog" do you.

I knew I had read about it, I just couldn't remember who it was. It sounds like a recipe for a disaster, probably the organisers think like film crews and directors, "can you just go back and do that flight again please"

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Dead right Morat. Contrary to some of the tone of this thread, I think that the Pageant is good news.

 

Here is what I know:

 

If you have applied you should have had an acknowledgement together with a reference number. If you have not had that then something has gone wrong.

 

At the briefing for the September rehearsals the PLA explained that it is likely that they may not be able to advise if your application was successful by December 2011, they are going to be oversubscribed and it is going to take time to process the applications. Note over-subscriptions means that there will be loads of rejections.

 

Tim Lewis posted a link to the Queens Diamond Jubilee page ages back. The form we filled in does ask if you are a member of an association but really majors on experience. You can view the application form here. The form is lengthy but we did not feel pre-judged.

 

If you subscribe to the PLA's Notices to Mariners you will have noticed how supportive the PLA have been of narrowboats. Ok it is wishful thinking that loads of narrowboats will get in but we have a chance.

 

The detailed plan just for the Lord Mayor's rehearsal went to 15 pages, this event is going to be well planned by people who know what they are doing but of necessity have to be reasonably demanding. The PLA do everything in knots, we have to adapt to that.

 

If you assume that you won't get in and don't apply then that gives us more of a chance, thank you.

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The PLA do everything in knots, we have to adapt to that.

 

 

Knots is not the problem. It's just a funny nautical way of measuring speed: 20 knots is 20 nautical miles per hour . A nautical mile is roughly 2000 yards so x knots is a bit more than x+10% mph. Four and a half to five miles an hour is OK for most canal craft. The organisers though have asked for boats to be able to do 4 knots per hour. That either displays ignorance that should not be part of organising something like this, because if they are that cr@p at basics what else have they missed or, if they really mean it, says that after one hour the carnival will be doing 4 knots, after two hours it will be doing 8 knots and after 4 hours 16 knots. There are not many narrowboats which will be able to keep up in that company.

 

N

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Knots is not the problem. It's just a funny nautical way of measuring speed: 20 knots is 20 nautical miles per hour . A nautical mile is roughly 2000 yards so x knots is a bit more than x+10% mph. Four and a half to five miles an hour is OK for most canal craft. The organisers though have asked for boats to be able to do 4 knots per hour. That either displays ignorance that should not be part of organising something like this, because if they are that cr@p at basics what else have they missed or, if they really mean it, says that after one hour the carnival will be doing 4 knots, after two hours it will be doing 8 knots and after 4 hours 16 knots. There are not many narrowboats which will be able to keep up in that company.

 

N

The form asks a specific question "Are you certain that the vessel will be capable of maintaining a minimum steady speed of 4 knots over a distance of 10 miles". Seems like the right terminology to me.

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The form asks a specific question "Are you certain that the vessel will be capable of maintaining a minimum steady speed of 4 knots over a distance of 10 miles". Seems like the right terminology to me.

 

But are they nautical miles? ;)

 

Tim

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But are they nautical miles? ;)

 

Tim

 

Well it took us about 1 hour 25 minutes to get to Tower Bridge which is about a little short of the dispersal point. Where's my calculator? Apart from serious revs to form up and when we changed from 2 abreast[1] to 4 abreast the only thing I can say for certain about our speed was that my rev counter was at around 1200 rpm, though people with little ones were doing over 2000 rpm at times.

 

[1] 2 abreast was referred to as single file in one of the briefings. There is a sort of logic there.

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.............. the only thing I can say for certain about our speed was that my rev counter was at around 1200 rpm, though people with little ones were doing over 2000 rpm at times.

 

No point in me applying then....

 

I can't get up to above 1000 rpm and even then I have no real way of tell unless I get me Tacho out of the box and put it on the end of the fuel pump and then multiply it by 2 and then go back up top to find that everyone's gone with out me :(

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I applied months ago and found they seem to want the BOATS to belong to an Association (their words) who will then confirm to the organisers that the boat and skipper is suitable for the pageant. I am sure they do NOT mean the IWA. I take this to mean that this all but disqualifies narrowboats. They also do not seem to want to know about the skippers experience/qualifications, preferring to rely upon the said "Associations".

 

 

You may be right about invitations being sent out via organisations. I've been invited to apply, but that's because my narrowboats are on the National Register of Historic Vessels. Mind you, I don't think I'd be accepted because as the “master” of the vessels I hold none of the listed relevant qualifications.

 

I think I'll just watch the pageant go past from our flat!

 

 

 

 

 

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You may be right about invitations being sent out via organisations. I've been invited to apply, but that's because my narrowboats are on the National Register of Historic Vessels. Mind you, I don't think I'd be accepted because as the “master” of the vessels I hold none of the listed relevant qualifications.

 

I think I'll just watch the pageant go past from our flat!

 

You do not need to belong to an organisation to take part, anybody can apply.

 

Tim

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