Yet another cilling, this time in Chester

[Kessy]

I had a rather bizarre event last year on the Stort.

 

I had just taken a few friends on a short trip to Roydon Mill and on the way back there was 3-4 boats waiting for the lock leading

to the Lea.

Behind me was a guy, 60'ish, in a new Cruiser.

Having entered my Boat in the lock ( going down ), the above idiot decided to help speed things up.

He proceeded to tie my Stern and Bow lines to the Bollards...i have a widebeam so there was no need for this.

 

The thing that really concerned me was when i asked him what was going to occur when the front paddles were opened

and the water level dropped leaving my Boat hanging.

Try as i may he just could not grasp what i was trying to convey.

 

He also could not accept that i could control the position of my Boat in the lock using the gears !

 

Ended up with me telling him to go hither.....immediately

 

 

I am amazed people like this can even manage to tie their shoelaces, let alone Boats.

[Guest wanted]

Indeed - but we have never ballsed up to that extent.

 

 

So do you have a system of when one of your balls ups become stupidity or is it just double standards?

 

Sorry Martin but as you, someone who has so fortrightly championed the plight of the hirer I find your comment a little at odds.

 

The factors that may cause such a thing could include all manor faults but I personaly would find it hard to suggest I am above any of them.

Edited August 4, 2012 by wanted

[bizzard]

I had a rather bizarre event last year on the Stort.

 

I had just taken a few friends on a short trip to Roydon Mill and on the way back there was 3-4 boats waiting for the lock leading

to the Lea.

Behind me was a guy, 60'ish, in a new Cruiser.

Having entered my Boat in the lock ( going down ), the above idiot decided to help speed things up.

He proceeded to tie my Stern and Bow lines to the Bollards...i have a widebeam so there was no need for this.

 

The thing that really concerned me was when i asked him what was going to occur when the front paddles were opened

and the water level dropped leaving my Boat hanging.

Try as i may he just could not grasp what i was trying to convey.

 

He also could not accept that i could control the position of my Boat in the lock using the gears !

 

Ended up with me telling him to go hither.....immediately

 

 

I am amazed people like this can even manage to tie their shoelaces, let alone Boats.

Now you've mentioned it i have noticed that those characters usually wear white socks and elasticated slip on shoes.

[Kessy]

Now you've mentioned it i have noticed that those characters usually wear white socks and elasticated slip on shoes.

 

Hehe, now thats makes a lot of sense !

 

Forgot to add that 2 weeks after this, said boater went past Lea Valley Marina creating a wash that Beckham would of been proud of.

 

Probably the kind of guy who parks in disabled bays at supermarkets without a blue badge....that is my number 1 pet hate in the world ever !

[Robbo]

Like me also i think most people are fed up with all the silly warning signs and painted lines dotted about now, i think people are so too used them now that they just think umm more bloomin warning signs and don't bother to read them anymore, its such a wilderness of them, almost the same as on the roads, and also spoiling the lanscape. Most of these signs are now easily stuck on by the authorities cheap and easy to apply, i think they all just take peoples inituitive away and are certainly no help to people to think and figure things out for themselves. What about people who can't read on boats and driving on the roads, do they have more accidents than people who can, i don't think so, because of their inability to read they are generally much more observant and sharper witted.

 

I agree, if there's too many warning signs that's the same warning that every lock has and every boater should be aware off then the one warning sign for that slightly different lock on the system will be missed.

[bizzard]

Most holiday boat hirers that turn up at the boatyards to take over their boats are usually in an excited and exuberant holiday mood and won't be taking in and absorbing much instruction given to them, which is only quite natural of course. You can tell this by their body language and far away looks of anticipation. bless em.

Edited August 4, 2012 by bizzard

[koukouvagia]

A couple of weeks ago, whilst my girl friend and I sat enjoying our lunch at a marina on the T&M, the following drama unfolded before us.

 

A gentleman arrived at the pump out facility in a 50m narrowboat.

 

His arrival, at what we considered excessive speed, would, nevertheless, have been uneventful had he stopped or even made some attempt to stop.

 

Instead, he ploughed on past the pump-out and hit the pontoon with not only sufficient force to send all the planks of the pontoon into the air, like so many piano keys, but also to catapult him back across the marina from whence he came, this progress was considerably assisted when the captain decided to select reverse gear.

 

Passage was halted only when the boat struck, with some force, the marina embankment opposite the pontoon.

 

Again the captain moved the levers and this time found forward gear just in time to accelerate the boats already rapid acceleration back across the marina where it unhappily struck the pontoon a second time, taking out what planks remained.

 

Incredibly, the boat now 'bounced' once more back across the marina and the captain once more helped it on its way when another wiggle of the controls found the reverse gear.

 

Thankfully, when the boat hit the embankment for the second time, the captain was catapulted into the cut and out of harms way, well potentially.

 

There followed some heart stopping moments as he tried to clamber back on board, his legs thrashing about around the churning prop, but once again and very fortunately, he had managed to find time, before being thrown off board, to engage forward gear and the boat now sped off once again (the third time in case you are loosing count) and mercifully out of his reach.

 

An enterprising engineer, who was standing close by, now leaped aboard the crewless boat and brought it under control before it hit the pontoon again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your story reminds me of Gerard Hoffnung's "Barrel of Bricks"

[carlt]

Is it only me that's old enough to think about Hoffnung's barrel story when reading this?

Evidently not

[bizzard]

Hehe, now thats makes a lot of sense !

 

Forgot to add that 2 weeks after this, said boater went past Lea Valley Marina creating a wash that Beckham would of been proud of.

 

Probably the kind of guy who parks in disabled bays at supermarkets without a blue badge....that is my number 1 pet hate in the world ever !

I'm afraid to say but i've noticed that its mainly lazy women that do that in huge great 4X4's.

[Radiomariner]

The signs can be ambiguous. I recall a couple of years back while locking up a lock swarming with gongoozlers, a mother gongoozler carefully placed her two young children (between 8 and 10 years old) "forward of the Cill" where they would be knocked into the lock by the balance beam when the gates opened. When she saw her error she exclaimed "I didn't know the signs were for boats"

Edited August 4, 2012 by Radiomariner

[BruceinSanity]

Is it only me that's old enough to think about Hoffnung's barrel story when reading this?

 

I knew it reminded me of something…

[Hairy-Neil]

An animated video showing various accidents might be the most effective way of getting through to people, in fact I think it should be compulsory viewing for hirers , not just ciling but the consequences of falling off the back when in reverse.

 

Does anyone know what percentage of these recent sinkings have been hire boats....

[Guest]

So do you have a system of when one of your balls ups become stupidity or is it just double standards?

 

Sorry Martin but as you, someone who has so fortrightly championed the plight of the hirer I find your comment a little at odds.

 

The factors that may cause such a thing could include all manor faults but I personaly would find it hard to suggest I am above any of them.

 

Yes possibly at odds with previous comments agreed but...

 

I honestly don't know how hard it is to keep ahead of the cill though I see it as one of the most basic things you need to remember about going down in a lock - as hireres it was drilled and re-drilled into us as being one of the most important things we had to remember and it has stuck with me ever since - obviously if it was down to a failure of the boats engine or even a lack of instruction then fair enough, I can even understand inexperienced boaters panicking and not knowing they had to stop the lock emptying to prevent a disaster but I do not think a boat should be in that position due to not knowing all you have to do is keep ahead of the white line while you go down and adhering to it... it's fundamental.

[Hairy-Neil]

Only one of these four recent sinkings was a hirer.

 

I can't speak for the other accidents, but Northgate locks are really poorly maintained, while also being incredibly deep; I can quite easily see how an accident could happen there, as they can be real gushers.

 

 

N

 

Rubbish! I pass through them regularly, as recently as last tuesday, and they are no different to elsewhere on the system. My only complaint would be the duck shit on the non towpath side making the slope a hazard, but as a natural phenomenon, little that could be done to improve it in any case....

 

BW have taken much of the paddle gear out of use, just one paddle on the top and two intermediate gates, making them quite slow to operate these days....

[grahame r]

Not always possible in locks with hydraulic paddle gear.

 

To paraphrase Dennis Thatcher, it's better to attempt to avert disaster and appear stupid than to do nothing and remove all doubt.

[dor]

Agree that Northgate is no worse than plenty of other places.

 

coming down through Bunbury staircase the locky told us to keep the stern under the bridge as there is a bit of iron sticking out of the cill. When the water had dropped it was clear that the bit of iron only extended about three inches in front of the cill. The locky explained that he had to tell people, as some boaters like to stay as near to the cill as they can and one had caught his rudder on it a couple of days ago..

 

Is there anyone out there that does this? If so, can you tell me why?

[Circe]

It was brought home to me the other day just how suddenly things can happen - although it's not cill related, it was definitely lock related and the scariest moment I've had whilst boating.

 

Narrow lock. The 3 kids and me on board, hubby operating the lock for us to ascend. So he winds the ground paddle partly up. Next thing I know, a small girl has used a windlass we didn't even see her holding to open the gate paddle full on the other side. I yelled. Boat was sucked hard, despite full reverse (and a centre line holding her) and bounced off the front gates under the full flow of the water.

 

Hubby, meanwhile, dropped the ground paddle and virtually leapt over the lock to drop the gate paddle on the other side. Small girl with adults still on that side of the lock, completely oblivious.

 

Took me a fair bit of wine to stop shaking after that one. But it does show you just how quickly things can go awry - or it did me anyway.

[Guest]

Is there anyone out there that does this? If so, can you tell me why?

 

We have a couple of short locks up our way where we get much closer to the cill than we normally like because the walkway is quite wide on the bottom gates and if we don't keep the front away we risk stuffing the walkway into cratch board (we failed once at Bramwith!).

 

BUT we still stay well away normally and can't see why anybody would routinely stay close to the cill - it's just asking for trouble if you ask me.

[bizzard]

It was brought home to me the other day just how suddenly things can happen - although it's not cill related, it was definitely lock related and the scariest moment I've had whilst boating.

 

Narrow lock. The 3 kids and me on board, hubby operating the lock for us to ascend. So he winds the ground paddle partly up. Next thing I know, a small girl has used a windlass we didn't even see her holding to open the gate paddle full on the other side. I yelled. Boat was sucked hard, despite full reverse (and a centre line holding her) and bounced off the front gates under the full flow of the water.

 

Hubby, meanwhile, dropped the ground paddle and virtually leapt over the lock to drop the gate paddle on the other side. Small girl with adults still on that side of the lock, completely oblivious.

 

Took me a fair bit of wine to stop shaking after that one. But it does show you just how quickly things can go awry - or it did me anyway.

Its your lock whilst in it, no one should interfere or try to help without being invited to, and told what you require them to do.

[Circe]

Its your lock whilst in it, no one should interfere or try to help without being invited to, and told what you require them to do.

 

That's what normally happens. Thankfully. I'm still a bit jittery a couple of days later about it, but thankfully no harm done to us.

 

Much as I approve of children learning to do locks (under supervision and safely) I'm having to resist the urge to frisk any nearby children for hidden windlasses.

[Guest]

That's what normally happens. Thankfully. I'm still a bit jittery a couple of days later about it, but thankfully no harm done to us.

 

Much as I approve of children learning to do locks (under supervision and safely) I'm having to resist the urge to frisk any nearby children for hidden windlasses.

 

You've also made me realise another benefit of the BW key operated locks as it puts you in sole charge of the lock - I don't think the pedestal at the other end can be operated while you have your key in at the other, unless anyone knows different...

[DeanS]

I put chuntering up and down a narrow, shallow, currentless channel of water, relatively low on my personal list, lower than say driving a car or climbing a ladder.

 

A car is test driven by test dummies, and smashed against a wall at 60mph to make sure the inhabitants are safe.

I havent seen them throw a test dummy in a lock while the gates are open, and there's a boat smashing around...

 

It was brought home to me the other day just how suddenly things can happen - although it's not cill related, it was definitely lock related and the scariest moment I've had whilst boating.

 

Narrow lock. The 3 kids and me on board, hubby operating the lock for us to ascend. So he winds the ground paddle partly up. Next thing I know, a small girl has used a windlass we didn't even see her holding to open the gate paddle full on the other side. I yelled. Boat was sucked hard, despite full reverse (and a centre line holding her) and bounced off the front gates under the full flow of the water.

 

Hubby, meanwhile, dropped the ground paddle and virtually leapt over the lock to drop the gate paddle on the other side. Small girl with adults still on that side of the lock, completely oblivious.

 

Took me a fair bit of wine to stop shaking after that one. But it does show you just how quickly things can go awry - or it did me anyway.

 

is that in the south somewhere? I have never yet found a lock in the north with gate paddles that a little girl could operate...

[MartinClark]

Does anyone know what percentage of these recent sinkings have been hire boats....

 

In one case the owner had bought the boat only the previous day. I don't think many people selling a boat give much in the way of tuition to purchasers. There has often been a bit of criticism of hirers here (and elsewhere) but at least the majority of hirers have had some sort of tuition. It is possible that there are a fair number of private boaters out there who have never had any form of tuition whatsoever!

[Circe]

is that in the south somewhere? I have never yet found a lock in the north with gate paddles that a little girl could operate...

 

Midlands. She still looked primary age (although upper end of it)

 

My 9 year-old son did some locks that day with his dad, so they can't have been too bad (says she who always does the steering )

[Joshua]

A car is test driven by test dummies, and smashed against a wall at 60mph to make sure the inhabitants are safe.

I havent seen them throw a test dummy in a lock while the gates are open, and there's a boat smashing around...

 

 

 

is that in the south somewhere? I have never yet found a lock in the north with gate paddles that a little girl could operate...

 

Your selective use of smilies suggests your being serious, are you?

 

 

 

 

Joshua