Closest to disaster....

[nina]

it's nina, she doesn't like kids........

 

must be the third time she has said they must be locked in the gas locker whilst out cruising.....

 

I believe I said previously that young children need supervising at locks Matty. They are too heavy and dangerous for younger children to operate. I believe you said your daughter is 12? If you've trained her how to operate the locks properly that's fine. But a lot of younger children haven't had such training and it's their safety to which I was referring.

[Ally]

I didn't say it was a staircase although we went down up and down two lots of staircase locks on the same cruise, one being Watford without any problems. It was two separate locks but close together. As I walked to the second (bottom) a girl came up the hill and started opening the top lock. Seen it happen several times before when people are in a hurry to get into a lock before the boat inside the lock has exited.

I must be having a blond day, that still doesn't make sense to me...do you mean as you were emptying to go down the bottom lock, she opened the top paddles in your lock, not noticing you were in the same lock?

[Offcumden]

I must be having a blond day, that still doesn't make sense to me...do you mean as you were emptying to go down the bottom lock, she opened the top paddles in your lock, not noticing you were in the same lock?

The only way I can figure it is Nina's boat sitting in the closed empty? lock waiting for Nina to open the gates.

Dad, on boat behind, tells kids to open the paddles which presumably Nina's husband didn't notice as they were behind him

water rushes in hits the bottom gates Nina's Boats surges back hits skeg on cill

Edited December 19, 2011 by Offcumden

[NickF]

Knowle locks on a windy day. Going down the bow was blown against the left wall and my son on the helm had a rope round the bollard at the stern on the right just to reduce forward and backward movement, so the boat was diagonal. As we went down the bow got hooked onto the left wall by the rather larger rubbing strake on that particular boat. Fortunately we were at least watching and the paddles were being dropped (not easy to do that quickly at Knowle!) and my son gave a swift blast of astern and the bow dropped down into the water again. All the drawers in the galley were open when we went back into the boat so we obviously bounced about a bit. I am always wary of being diagonal in a wide lock now even if i am well away from both gates.

[nina]

The only way I can figure it is Nina's boat sitting in the closed empty? lock waiting for Nina to open the gates.

Dad, on boat behind, tells kids to open the paddles which presumably Nina's husband didn't notice as they were behind him

water rushes in hits the bottom gates Nina's Boats surges back hits skeg on cill

 

Well done. :-) That is pretty much it. I'm on a mobile signal and it drops in an out hence brief way of writing. We were on a hill going down to second lock (not staircase). Father behind either presumed (or didn't think to check) lock was empty.

[Offcumden]

Well done. :-) That is pretty much it. I'm on a mobile signal and it drops in an out hence brief way of writing. We were on a hill going down to second lock (not staircase). Father behind either presumed (or didn't think to check) lock was empty.

OK What was your Hubby doing wasn't he aware of the kids behind him?

[nina]

OK What was your Hubby doing wasn't he aware of the kids behind him?

 

How can you see what's going on behind you when you're at the bottom of a lock? The boat behind was moored. And still was moored when the father sent the girl up to open the top paddles. He was very drunk which was really the problem.

[nina]

To explain in more detail, we came past a moored boat to enter a set of locks, several locks going downhill but not a staircase. Done it plenty of times before without a problem. On this occasion, the other boat, which was moored well away from the locks and not in a queue, (there was just our boat and a second boat involved, no other boats). We entered the lock and as it was almost empty, I heard my husband shout and when I looked back, a small girl, (about 8 or 9) was opening up the paddles and letting water back in on the instruction of her father who appeared to be drunk. Their boat was still moored although he explained at the time that he was preparing to follow us through however these intentions were not obvious.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, I hope this makes sense now. I have to go to work:-)

[Jo_]

I was stepping onto the stern of our boat - moored up on our jetty in the marina - glanced up and saw a pal. Waved and the next thing I knew I was chest deep in the water, elbows supporting me on the jetty behind and feet dangling in the water. I'd someone managed to step into that one foot gap between jetty and boat and gone straight down. But no-one about, friend had gone into her boat. After initial shocked immobility, I wriggled and twisted and lifted myself up.

 

I got a HUGELY bruised bum, great scrape down the back and side of one thigh and muscles that ached and shrieked for days.

 

But in terms of what could have been I was unbelievably and extraordinarily lucky! Didn't knock myself out, didn't break anything, didn't get wedged and squashed by the boat ..... etc. etc.

 

Safe to say that, two years on, I now NEVER EVER EVER step onto the boat without one hand on the boat and eyes down watching where my feet go ....

[Chris Pink]

 

 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, I hope this makes sense now. I have to go to work:-)

 

And the moral of the story children?

 

Make sure your stern fenders are in order and up to the job.

[journeyperson]

I believe I said previously that young children need supervising at locks Matty. They are too heavy and dangerous for younger children to operate. I believe you said your daughter is 12? If you've trained her how to operate the locks properly that's fine. But a lot of younger children haven't had such training and it's their safety to which I was referring.

 

I agree that kids need training to use locks and the younger they start the better. This is my baby brother, already directing operations at the age of three. I'm not sure why they were pulling the boat into the lock though; probably the outboard had packed in, it often did. Photo taken in 1963.

 

[AlanH]

Going up a lock near Chester I entred the lock and the boss started to fill it. After a while I noticed that the stern was down on one side and had a look round the boat to see where it was hung up - nothing. By now the stern was well down and I was really puzzled. She shut the paddles and we had a good look. It turned out that I had entered the the lock with a stern rope trailing in the water. This rope had got jammed between the bottom gates and was holding the stern downm.

 

Haven't done that again.

[Scribbler]

How can you see what's going on behind you when you're at the bottom of a lock? The boat behind was moored. And still was moored when the father sent the girl up to open the top paddles. He was very drunk which was really the problem.

 

Er, turn around and look up, maybe? (just kidding).

 

Now that I know that mention of top locks, bottom locks and other locks is just a distraction to this, (I'm hoping my understanding is correct now, and that only one lock is relevant to this story) I find this mishap to be quite instructive. Clearly, the bottom paddles were fully open (lock emptying and nearly empty) yet opening the top paddles behind Nina's boat caused it to surge ~against~ the stream with sufficient force to cause significant damage. I'm not doubting the story for an instant but (in my inexperience) I would have guessed that the boat would move forwards into the bottom gate in this instance.

 

I know my boat sometimes surges forwards in a lock (going uphill) when the top paddles are opened but that's when the bottom paddles are closed and the water can't flow out of the lock.

 

Has anyone else had a similar unfortunate experience? I will post my own misfortune - which was my own crass stupidity - later.

[nina]

Er, turn around and look up, maybe? (just kidding).

 

Now that I know that mention of top locks, bottom locks and other locks is just a distraction to this, (I'm hoping my understanding is correct now, and that only one lock is relevant to this story) I find this mishap to be quite instructive. Clearly, the bottom paddles were fully open (lock emptying and nearly empty) yet opening the top paddles behind Nina's boat caused it to surge ~against~ the stream with sufficient force to cause significant damage. I'm not doubting the story for an instant but (in my inexperience) I would have guessed that the boat would move forwards into the bottom gate in this instance.

 

I know my boat sometimes surges forwards in a lock (going uphill) when the top paddles are opened but that's when the bottom paddles are closed and the water can't flow out of the lock.

 

Has anyone else had a similar unfortunate experience? I will post my own misfortune - which was my own crass stupidity - later.

 

 

That is pretty much it. The sudden surge of water rocked the boat upwards and then backwards, not forwards onto the cill, before we knew what was happening. Plus our boat isn't standard. The previous owner had it built to his own specs and it wasn't until it was out of the water in dry dock that we saw the skeg was much bigger than the standard hence the reason for getting caught up. Husband is an Australian with a skippers licence in sea faring craft and is is more than used to handling a narrowboat:-) but maybe he wasn't as switched on that day.

 

The main problem in the end was handling the situation with the drunk father. There were other children on his boat and the girl who opened the lock look very worried and frightened meaning we had to just walk away. It really wasn't fair on the child. We got our boat fixed and the upshot was that we'd not seen the state of the hull before so it was good to see it in excellent condition. That was a bonus.

[Scribbler]

what is the closest YOU have come to disaster?

 

I was moored in the wilds on the Thames one summer. I'd had a few beers(just enough to be mellow) and I stepped off my boat on to what looked, in the dusk, to be the river bank. It wasn't - it was undergrowth that filled the gap between the hull and the bank. I slipped down, got squashed and broke two ribs. I couldn't touch the bottom and had to carefully pull myself out by my arms, once the boat had moved away a bit.

 

Very stupid, and I was extremely lucky to get away with it.

[Keeping Up]

Not sure the page is big enough to contain our full list of disasters. Here are just two:

 

In a wooden sailing boat on the Norfolk Broads (many yeras ago) on a very windy day, after poling our way under a bridge we turned back head-to-wind to hoist the sails.. The plan was to untie the bow rope, leaving the stern tied on, and let the wind turn us through 180 degrees before untying the stern and setting off again with the wind behind us. The boat had turned through just 90 degrees when the crew member in charge of the stern rope decided to untie it. The boat sailed straight across the river and struck some disused piling on the opposite bank, making a large hole below the waterline. We stuffed a pillow into the hole andmade the guilty crew member sit on it while we sailed to the nearest boatyard, where they screwed a patch over the hole and had us on our way again within a couple of hours.

 

Back to narrow-boats, after attempting to travel from Cromwell to Keadby in one hop, on a very hot day, our aged SR3 decided it had had enough and when I throttled back as we approached Keadby lock it siezed up and we hit the lock's wing-wall very hard indeed; hard enough to dislodge our entire cabin-top. That was easily fixed that afternoon by buying a packet of new screws, but what couodn't be repaired was my newly-received china cask full of single malt whisky which fell off the table and smashed. There was so much whisky in the carpet that we had to disconnect the gas alarm for 2 weeks and the dogs were permanently pi$$ed. Now that's what I call a disaster.

[AJLintern]

...my newly-received china cask full of single malt whisky which fell off the table and smashed.

The horror! I'll have nightmares!

[Ray T]

Not had any close to disaster experiences on a narrow boat - yet!

 

Some years ago after a rough channel crossing and 6 hours on the helm, (the majority of the crew were sea sick) I was somewhat knackered and asked a fellow crew member if he was OK to take the boat up the Needles Channel. After several reassurances that he knew the channel, as he lived in Fareham and had sailed the Solent many times, I let him take the helm. For some reason I have never been able to fathom he took the boat right across The Shingles Bank, in a force 6. Having gone below to get a few moments shut eye, I was disturbed by the sound of the keel scraping the bottom. Just as I was thinking of life raft procedures a huge wave lifted the boat and took it back into safe water.

 

Never made the same mistake again - always took the yacht up the Needles Channel my self.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Ray T

[jami dodgers]

Many years ago (in the 1950's), my in-laws (with my wife as a five year old) were on a hire-boat (Water Vole out of Gas Street Basin - a converted working boat)and on entering a lock, the mother-in-law who was steering, held back too close to the bottom gates and the blade of the rudder was trapped between them as they were closed.

 

The bow went up in the air as the lock filled and the water lapped over the stern. They only just sorted it out in time!

 

Just read this out to the wife and she says it goes no-where close to describing the pandimonium that occurred as her father, opening the paddles, couldn't hear her mother shouting over the sound of the rushing water.

 

"Rodney, Rodney, get the children off the boat, we're sinking!"

[cereal tiller]

Going up a lock near Chester I entred the lock and the boss started to fill it. After a while I noticed that the stern was down on one side and had a look round the boat to see where it was hung up - nothing. By now the stern was well down and I was really puzzled. She shut the paddles and we had a good look. It turned out that I had entered the the lock with a stern rope trailing in the water. This rope had got jammed between the bottom gates and was holding the stern downm.

 

Haven't done that again.

Maybe you should have coiled the stern line on the tiller?

 

 

COAT?

[mattlad]

When I was a kid I had a competitive younger sister who just had to be better than me. Fortunately we both mellowed as we grew up and Li'l Sis is a good mate nowadays. She does not go boating very often, it is usually me and Dad, Mum quite often comes along too and between us we make a really good boating team.

 

However a few years ago Sister came along for a boating trip (Sis & I were probably 30 something by then) and it was just like the "Good old days" family boating trips again. Dad and I were doing our really good, ultra efficient crewing team bit as usual while we were travelling down the Shroppie approaching Audlem. Sis decides that she wants a piece of the action and join the team. To be fair she did a pretty competent job and was almost as quick as me when winding gear and pushing gates. However a little bit of the old competitiveness rears its head and she wants to do it bigger better and faster than big brother......... Lifting the bottom paddles on a lock the windlass comes off the lock gear......... swings round and SMACK! Straight in the middle of the forehead and all of a sudden I have a very sick Sister on my hands...........

 

Fortunately we knew the (then) gaffer of the Lord Combermere in Audlem so Mum legged it down there and told him what had happened. He gave us a bag of frozen peas to put on Sis's head and when we had moored up in Audlem he gave us a lift to the local A&E. Eventually Sis comes back with some butterfly stitches on her head and a bump the size of an egg.

 

Fortunately all was well and she suffered no ill after effects.

Edited December 20, 2011 by mattlad

[Boatyman]

The canal outside the waterways museum at Stoke Bruerne is 52 feet wide. I know this because I winded a 55 foot boat there in the late 1970's! One of the larger chunks out of the concrete coping is mine. As you can imagine, I had quite an audience who thought it hugely more entertaining than I did.

[Nose Miner]

I once had the rudder caught between the mitre gates in a lock going up. Somehow the rudder didn't become truly stuck until the lock was half full - it must have been sliding up until the pressure of the gates was enough to jam it. I realised that the stern was being pushed under and was able to stop filling the lock. However, when I tried draining it to release the rudder, nothing happened as the rudder stayed well and truly stuck, lifting the stern out of the water. I couldn't go up and I couldn't go down. Even application of full forward power couldn't shift it. Whilst I sat on a bench by the lock with my head in my hands wondering what the heck to do next, a loud noise from the lock announced that the leaky bottom gate had drained the lock to the point where the boat had fallen out of the gate - a distance of about three feet! Amazingly no damage was done, apart from to my nerves.

 

On another occasion I was distracted by my, then little, children and failed to notice that the protruding bottom plate at the bow had caught on the concrete sill going up. Water had started to wash over the front deck. The wife stuck her head out to see why water was starting to come down the step and shut the front doors in alarm. I perfected my emergency release of paddles method at that point, and saved the day!

[bizzard]

The only bit of a disaster i've had on narrowboats was once going up the GU solo on Lady O,when i was going up through the lock at Hunton Bridge.----Boat in the lock and gone up to fill it,well the bottom gates hadn't come too and my boat had drifted back,the gates whammed shut trapping my tillers swan neck which sticks out quite a bit, and by the time i'd dropped the top paddles and run,yes run back to reopen a bottom one to release my sandwiched tiller the gates had bent it so's the tiller handle stuck right up in the air. Mmmm. So i carried on with it sticking up meaning to stop and straighten it for i carry propane torch equipment.Stopped at a pub for lunch,came out,and with Dutch courage didn't bother heating it but just brutally bent it back cold by hand,it being tubular this wasn't that difficult,and i carried on my merry way pub crawling to Leighton-Bizzard.. Bizzard. Its the Fullers that does it.

[bigcol]

Nothing like a few fullers to sort things out