Passing Boats

[Chertsey]

So Martin, what do you suggest boat owners (and as I say draught is not relevant) do to educate someone coming towards them on the canal?

Set a good example? i.e. by staying in the centre until it is time to move and thus demonstrating that this is the easiest and safest way of doing it.

 

As a regular steerer of an unconverted (and unloaded) big Woolwich, meeting near a bridge or similar obstruction is one of the more difficult situations to be encountered. If I come around a bend to find an oncoming boat in a bridgehole, or approaching so that he will clearly get there first, I want him to KEEP GOING, so that we can pass safely on my side of the bridge.

 

But all too often the inexperienced or unthinking steerer of the other boat slows right down (or worse, throws the boat into reverse gear), forcing me to do the same as I have nowhere to go, and I can end up aground and/or with the bows swinging across in front of the other boat. I had this happen to me on the BCN Challenge a few years ago when the oncoming boat was emblazoned with the name of one of the better known boat training organisations. If the boat trainers don't know how to cope when meeting a big boat, how can we expect their trainees to understand?

 

David

Yes this is the worst thing. 'We've got a panicker!!'

 

Anyone with a bit of experience and a bit of intelligence should be able to judge in any particular situation (position of obstacles, passing places etc) whether it's better to slow down or speed up to meet an oncoming boat at the best point. But again it's car thinking - if I stop, then whatever happens it won't be my fault. Wrong though I'm afraid, when you're stationary slewed across the cut.

 

Yes that might have been an option but bearing in mind I was inside and not driving, I did not see how the situation developed. Telemachus does stop straight on a sixpence and does not yaw across the canal like so many boats with insufficiently submerged props, so at the point of impact we were still pointing in exactly the correct direction, just stationary.

 

Jeff was pretty shaken (our boat was about 2 months old from brand new at the time) but I did "debrief" him that use of the horn would have been appropriate. It hadn't occurred to him, since the guy was visibly moving a bit on the back (so not dead!) and seemed to be looking in generally the right direction. I think Jeff just could not believe what was unfolding. I mentioned to him that there are no medical standards for boat driving and perhaps he was partially sighted etc. Just as in car driving, sometimes people are reluctant to use the horn because it can seem agressive, but of course its proper use, just as on the roads, is to warn of approach and not to "tick off". As it was, it was me shouting that brought the guy to his senses, sounding the horn a little earlier would perhaps have had the desired effect in time to avoid a collision.

It's often better, albeit counterintuitive, to keep some power on and steer out of trouble, rather than try to stop.

Edited April 25, 2012 by Chertsey

[Keeping Up]

Set a good example? i.e. by staying in the centre until it is time to move and thus demonstrating that this is the easiest and safest way of doing it.

 

 

Yes this is the worst thing. 'We've got a panicker!!'

 

Anyone with a bit of experience and a bit of intelligence should be able to judge in any particular situation (position of obstacles, passing places etc) whether it's better to slow down or speed up to meet an oncoming boat at the best point. But again it's car thinking - if I stop, then whatever happens it won't be my fault. Wrong though I'm afraid, when you're stationary slewed across the cut.

 

 

It's often better, albeit counterintuitive, to keep some power on and steer out of trouble, rather than try to stop.