Single Handed Cruising

[Bullfrog]

Last week coming up the Buckby flight we met a single hander coming down.

 

He did nothing to help work the locks but stood on the bank holding his ropes. He stood and watched as my wife and a lady off a hire-boat who was sharing the flight with us did all the work - opening and closing the quite heavy gates and winding the paddles. "Not too fast, It's very difficult to control" he was heard to cry - (stop it Minerva!)

 

He then motored out of the lock (no word of thanks to the ladies) and proceeded to harangue the hire-boat driver for being in his way. The hire boat had been so long trying to hold station he had run aground and couldn't move anyway! We kept an eye on him out of the next lock (which we had left set for him) which he left wide open with no attempt to close gates and no, there wasn't anyone waiting to come up.

 

This guy's single-handed technique seems to be to let someone else do all the work and then abuse them.

 

So, nb Daisy, next time we meet you really are on your own.

 

David B

[charles123]

David

 

I related the same sort of story in a recent post, lady single handed hirer, we "carried" her up the Rochdale 9 and she did nothing to help. My wife and daughter did all the gates and paddles and were absolutely exhaused, wife complained of bad back all the following week. We will never do that again

 

Charles

[David Schweizer]

David

 

I related the same sort of story in a recent post, lady single handed hirer, we "carried" her up the Rochdale 9 and she did nothing to help. My wife and daughter did all the gates and paddles and were absolutely exhaused, wife complained of bad back all the following week. We will never do that again

 

Charles

I have done a lot of single handed working and always appreciate any assistance given by other boaters. Not only do I do my fair share of the work, I always make sure that I have given my thanks to everyone who has helped. When we meet another boat (sinle handed or crewed) we always assist, but if the owners concerned show no attemopt to do anything for themselves and does not offer any thanks, we disapear inside the boat at the next lock and let them get on with it.

[John Orentas]

You've all pinched my story here, I had on my list tales of a new breed of single handed boater, not the one's like we often have on here who take a pride in going through a flight 'like a dose of salts' and as quick as a well crewed boat.

 

The one's I have met lately hang about waiting for a crew to come along and do all their work for them. They do the barest minimum of work and happily sit in the lock whilst someone double their age see them on their way.

 

I hope we don't have any of the new breed on here!

[Richard Fairhurst]

I related the same sort of story in a recent post, lady single handed hirer, we "carried" her up the Rochdale 9 and she did nothing to help.

Bit surprised that a hire company would hire out a boat to a single-handed boater. Wonder if it was 'legit' or if she had turned up at the base with a fictitious crew?

[charles123]

Bit surprised that a hire company would hire out a boat to a single-handed boater. Wonder if it was 'legit' or if she had turned up at the base with a fictitious crew?

 

Aparently she was a regular hirer with Claymore usually with grandson who could not make it. When we got to the rough area of manchester and a que of boats behind her BW man phoned Claymore to say should not have been let out, they said she was OK. The hire companies wont turn down income

 

Charles

[Stephen Sugg]

You've all pinched my story here, I had on my list tales of a new breed of single handed boater, not the one's like we often have on here who take a pride in going through a flight 'like a dose of salts' and as quick as a well crewed boat.

 

The one's I have met lately hang about waiting for a crew to come along and do all their work for them. They do the barest minimum of work and happily sit in the lock whilst someone double their age see them on their way.

 

I hope we don't have any of the new breed on here!

 

I know it doesn't really count but I went from Windsor to the Wey on my own the other week and I have to say, it was hard work, even with manned locks. The insistence on the Thames lockies to use two ropes caused me a few problems but they were very helpful when I got myself all tied up (in knots). I wold like to do a canal single handed for the experience one day...huge respect to those that do.......

[David Schweizer]

I know it doesn't really count but I went from Windsor to the Wey on my own the other week and I have to say, it was hard work, even with manned locks. The insistence on the Thames lockies to use two ropes caused me a few problems but they were very helpful when I got myself all tied up (in knots). I wold like to do a canal single handed for the experience one day...huge respect to those that do.......

I have done the Thames from Oxford to Reading and Brentford to reading single handed several times, and most of the lock keepers have not insisted on applying the two ropes rule. I have become prety nifty at bringing the boat it to the side of the lock and walking up the steps with the centre rope in my hand so maybe they judged me sufficiently competent to hold the boat firmly on a bollard with just the centre rope.

 

However during the summer some of the temporary assistants apply the rules rigidly, a couple of years ago one particularly pompous assistant (almost young enough to be my grandson) insisted that I hold the boat with two ropes. I pointed out that I was on my own and that to climb back onto the boat and retrieve a second rope would require me to leave the centre line unattended, but he continued to insist. So I tied off the centre line and climbed back onto the boat and retrieved the bow rope, I untied the centre line and held it as before on the bollard, I also held the bow rope but allowed it to lie loosely on the ground. this clearly annoyed the assistant, but as I was now technicaly obeying the rules, he proceeded to fill the lock. All this was observed at a distance by the permanent Lock Keeper who gave me a wry smile as I motored out of the lock.

[Guest]

. . . this clearly annoyed the assistant, but as I was now technicaly obeying the rules, he proceeded to fill the lock. .

David

Strikes me as a perfect example of how to deal with beaurocratic pomposity.

Seems like a good way to deal with any kind of verbal aggression or unhelpfullness - Zinedine Zidane take note; smile quietly, put the ball in the back of the net and walk away with the trophy.

[matt]

I go single handed a fair bit, either on my own or my partner is with the kids inside.

 

If I'm doing a flight I'll start just before sunrise so I'm not being stressed by other boaters.

 

However with single locks, especially at this time of year, I'm usually lucky to get some help. When going down it's very handy as it stops you from getting slimed on the ladder.

 

However when on my own I don't always close gates, especially when going down, it's only recently that people have started treating this as a crime, but I think we've been here before in another thread.

 

There is no excuse for not saying thank you.

[John Orentas]

I go single handed a fair bit, either on my own or my partner is with the kids inside.

 

However when on my own I don't always close gates, especially when going down, it's only recently that people have started treating this as a crime, but I think we've been here before in another thread.

 

There is no excuse for not saying thank you.

 

 

When I started boating 25 years ago it was a disembowelling offence not to close all the gates, still is I think. But why all this clambering up and down lock ladders, it is unnecessary and can be dangerous.

 

As I haven't done much single handed stuff in recent years I thought it must be me when reading about it the way others do it but I was left on my own for an hour with a lock in front of me. It took hardly longer than with having a crew.

 

No use of the ladder or ropes, (going uphill, gates open) I chugged slowly into the chamber and stepped off at the same time selecting neutral. The boat came to a halt before reaching the far gates, I shut the bottom gates and the began opening the top paddles, very slowly at first, one click at a time. That I was told many years ago is how the working boatmen did it.

 

At no time did the boat come close to either gate and the process did not take long at all. Going down is just as easy, just pull the boat out with the centre line. So no hauling on ropes, no scrambling up and down ladders it's easy. Remember 'one click at a time'.

 

How can you go single handed with partner and kids inside? The number of times I have helped people through a lock because they were short handed, only to see as the boat pulls away, spouse and teenage off-springs watching TV inside. Really warms your heart that.

[matt]

How can you go single handed with partner and kids inside? The number of times I have helped people through a lock because they were short handed, only to see as the boat pulls away, spouse and teenage off-springs watching TV inside. Really warms your heart that.

 

 

Lol, it's not often - we have them 3yrs and 18mths - sometimes it's just too much getting the buggy out, strapping them in etc. The 3yr old is not old enough to be running around but old enough to want to help. Most of the time she's onboard and we travel we get friends to help.

 

I agree on it being just as fast, especially going up, but going down can be harder especially with if there are sluices which is when I usually choose to go down the ladder - otherwise I'm hauling it out of the weeds.

 

When doing a flight early in the morning I open the paddles a little then bike ahead and start setting the one or two (or bike back and close the previous ones).

[David Schweizer]

......But why all this clambering up and down lock ladders, it is unnecessary and can be dangerous.

As someone who has done some pretty hairy things in the past John, I find your comments about climbing a fixed ladder somewhat amusing. I think sometime in the past you mentioned that you have a minor disability which may hamper your activities, but that doesn't mean it is dangerous for others who are fully fit. Quite frankly a ten foot solid ladder fixed against a wall is a piece of cake compared with a 200 ft wire ladder suspended through a waterfall in a pot hole. (now that might be considerd dangerous by some, but I never fell off one of those either)

 

I think you must be getting old.

Edited July 19, 2006 by David Schweizer

[John Orentas]

As someone who has done some pretty hairy things in the past John, I find your comments about climbing a fixed ladder somewhat amusing. I think sometime in the past you mentioned that you have a minor disability which may hamper your activities, but that doesn't mean it is dangerous for others who are fully fit. Quite frankly a ten foot solid ladder fixed against a wall is a piece of cake compared with a 200 ft wire ladder suspended through a waterfall in a pot hole. (now that might be considerd dangerous by some, but I never fell off one of those either)

 

I think you must be getting old.

 

 

In industrial situations vertical ladders above a certain quite low height must be fitted with safety hoops. But surely the practise climbing slimy vertical ladders is one of those things that done once or twice is perfectly safe, do it a hundred or a thousand times and you are overdue for an accident. Add to all this the fact that by definition you are alone and out of the reach of assistance if it is required the situation is a bit dodgy.

 

Don't get me wrong I am not some sort of whimp, in my younger days I work on concrete and other types of plant and would regularly carry equipment up them, at weekends I would put myself at great risk by zooming around motor racing circuits at silly speeds though my number did eventually come up. In both these cases there was assistance and emergency services on hand.

 

Nothing wrong with taking risks but we must work out what is acceptable especially when they can be virtually eliminated altogether.

[David Schweizer]

In industrial situations vertical ladders above a certain quite low height must be fitted with safety hoops. But surely the practise climbing slimy vertical ladders is one of those things that done once or twice is perfectly safe, do it a hundred or a thousand times and you are overdue for an accident. Add to all this the fact that by definition you are alone and out of the reach of assistance if it is required the situation is a bit dodgy.

 

Don't get me wrong I am not some sort of whimp, in my younger days I work on concrete and other types of plant and would regularly carry equipment up them, at weekends I would put myself at great risk by zooming around motor racing circuits at silly speeds though my number did eventually come up. In both these cases there was assistance and emergency services on hand.

 

Nothing wrong with taking risks but we must work out what is acceptable especially when they can be virtually eliminated altogether.

My time must be well overdue then John, I must have climbed up or down over 500 lock ladders in the past ten years. But I do not take uneccesary risks, I always wear good strong boots and always adhere to the old mountain climbing rule of three points of contact at all times.

 

However I am reluctant to use the ladders in very heavy rain, when I am wearing a bulky waterproof jacket and trousers as these could compromise safety. On those occassions I bow haul the boat in (or out) of the lock, but that is very heavy work and on some locks more hazardous than climbing the ladder.

Edited July 20, 2006 by David Schweizer

[Bones]

On the last boat I had it had a central line, and I never had any trouble holding it in place with that rope on the Thames. I did however hear of the troubles my male boater companions had - there were a couple of notorious locks. I had no trouble - but I think that may have been because I was a girl!

 

I don't particularly like those ladders in locks either and tend to try other techniques in order to avoid them, but that isn't always possible, so I just do everything slowly and also maintain the 3 contact rule.

 

When you're a single handed boater I think you adopt stratergies that aid a smooth passage through the locks which is just as quick as a crewed boat, but it certainly quite pleasurable having a crew and watching them all scurry around!

[Hairy-Neil]

In industrial situations vertical ladders above a certain quite low height must be fitted with safety hoops.

 

 

Not just vertical ladders, it includes any fixed ladder over the height.

 

 

 

Lock ladders are a safety feature, a means of escape for persons that fall into an empty lock with the gate closed. They were never intended for navigational purposes.

[David Schweizer]

Lock ladders are a safety feature, a means of escape for persons that fall into an empty lock with the gate closed. They were never intended for navigational purposes.

I know that Hairy, I have been boating for long enough to remember when locks did not have ladders. But if they are safe enough to use from water level by someone who has fallen into the lock, why are they not safe to use from gunwhale level? the truth is that most people don't like using them because they covers your hands and clothes with green muck.

 

As for Health and Safety issues, most rules are introduced to protect the idiot from doing things that they are incapable of doing safely. My house painter tells me he is no longer allowed to climb a ladder to paint my windows for more than 30 minutes, and then has to take a 30 minute break. He has been painting houses for thirty years and hasn't fallen off yet. What is even more ridiculous is that if he was not self employed he would be require to erect scaffolding to paint the upstairs windows. he world has gome mad.

 

In industrial situations vertical ladders above a certain quite low height must be fitted with safety hoops. But

If that became the rule it would be quite easy to rig up a belt harness with two carabinas on lines to act as safety hoops. Exactlty the same proceedure as used by rock climbers.

[alan_fincher]

My brother works for an engineering firm in Lincoilnshire that gets huge amounts of work in the aircraft hangers and maintenance sheds in the large RAF airfields up there.

 

Apparently the MOD decided that the long ladders up the walls could not continue to be single runs from top to bottom, and it all had to be re-engineered to limit the length of any vertical climb, before you do a sideways shuffle across newly introduced intermediate platforms, to get onto the next vertical bit.

 

To be involved in the modification work at all, those doing it have to attend courses in ladder climbing, before they can be certified to work on site. (In think it was a 2 day course!).

 

Whilst I'm all for sensible health and safety, the world does seem to have gone slightly OTT on such matters.

 

The MOD will be filing the "pointy ends" off bayonets next, in case they end up stabbing someone with them.... Or putting nice foam filled bumpers around all their tanks and armoured cars?.....................

 

 

Like David and Neil, I was boating long before the ladders were introduced into any of the locks around here. HGowever now, not being as young or as agile as I was then, I'm very prepared to use one to get on or off the boat if the situation is appropriate. I'll live with a bit of green slime on my hands, if it happens. I think if you are cautious, it's probably no more dangerous than crossing a wet lock gate, (and certainly much less so than crossing a frosted or icy one!....)

[William Martin]

I think it may be apparent why these lone boaters are indeed alone!

 

I had my first attempt at a solo run through a flight of locks at the weekend (Middlewich) - the first few I was on my own, which was a challenge, but then I met some crewed boats who were very helpful - and yes I was both helpful and appreciative towards them, they made the job much easier for me.

 

A question - I left my engine ticking over and the drive engaged, which had the effect of holding the empty boat against the gate and away from the cill and saved me from wrestling with the centre line. It seems to work well - is this a 'correct' thing to do?

[matt]

A question - I left my engine ticking over and the drive engaged, which had the effect of holding the empty boat against the gate and away from the cill and saved me from wrestling with the centre line. It seems to work well - is this a 'correct' thing to do?

 

I do it all the time - as do most(all?) solo boaters I know.

 

Going up - I open one paddle half way and check the front doesn't snag on cill - once it's clear I let them both up.

 

I damaged a front fender the other day snagged on a cill, as did a friend on the same day. If you have heavy chain on the front fender it's worth putting a weak D coupling in place in case you snag badly.

 

When solo and going up using the ladder - be watchful of other boaters appearing from nowhere and cranking both paddles up when you're walking on the roof - I've had a couple of WTF moments like that.

[DHutch]

When im working emilyanne though we my grandad, semisolo, with him opening the gate for the boat to go in, but the walking on to ready the next lock, i dont use the engine i use the centerwarp.

- Firstly, she has vertical stem, so going up she must also be held of the cill.

- And secondly when going up, depending on the lock, the surge is often well more than the engine could hold, where as the centerwarp round the bottom lockgate is.

- And ofcause when going down, its needs little or no need to do anything, just open the paddles and let the water out, which holds the boat towards the bottom gate anyway!

 

 

 

Daniel

 

 

Also,

Good point about fititng weak linkes to the fenderchains too.

- You can get split aluminum links for the job, well worth the few quid they cost.

 

[Breals]

It's not just single handers who sometimes let you do all the work and take your help for granted - I've had the tables turned on me when i was single handed and the couple on board another boat have let me struggle to open all the paddles etc. One couple watched casually as I panicked to save both of our boats in a lock on the Avon - we had forgotted to swing the footbridge over the lock out of the way and it would have sunk us if I hadn't wound down the paddles, including the one on their side of the lock, in time. They never seemed to clock what was happening in front of their eyes.

[Carrie]

Ok, now seems the right moment to admit I'm scared stiff of the moment I go solo!

At the moment I have my daughter with me, but when she starts Uni in September - gulp - that's the moment of reckoning.

 

I've got the 'Going Solo' booklet and am of course, a very polite person, grateful for any help but if you happen to meet me on the water and I'm not doing everything you think I ought to be, well it's just lack of experience and not laziness! People are welcome to point out constructive things to me, or ways around the problem - much more helpful than having a rant

 

By the way, if you have the engine in tickover against the front gate, won't she wander off without you as you open the gate?! (told you I was learning)

[William Martin]

first off Carrie; dont worry - it was much easier than I thought - you just need to be organised and clear in your thinking.

 

As for the running engine - the beauty of it is - when the lock is full, the boat pushes the gate open and by the time you you wind down the paddle, it is ready for you to hop onto the stern as it passes and sail off - well that bit works in narrow locks where there is a downward boat waiting for the open gate!