Continuous Cruising/Mooring

[carlt]

I should have qualified my remark. It is not possible to cc on one canal unless you want to extract the urine

 

Tim

I'd have thought London to Birmingham and back was a reasonable cruising distance.

[Guest]

I'd have thought London to Birmingham and back was a reasonable cruising distance.

 

Leeds to Liverpool??

[mrsmelly]

Mmmmmmm, i've got to say, i don't extract the urine, and i cruise well within with current rules/guidlines, but some years I do CC a single bw/crt water.

 

Its only my take on it I may well be no where near the mark on what realy people can get away with. I think its extracting the urine by moving up and down one ditch. I beleive the two words " Continuous " and " Cruising " sort of give the game away. Last year i went ccing again leaving Thrupp on the Oxford and going over a lot of the midlands and ending up in Yorkshire where i had to stop so took on a mooring whilst i stayed in one place for a few months. I dont believe ccing is meant for people who work in one area or have kids in a school thats why we have moorings

 

Tim

[Grace and Favour]

Its only my take on it I may well be no where near the mark on what realy people can get away with. I think its extracting the urine by moving up and down one ditch. I beleive the two words " Continuous " and " Cruising " sort of give the game away. Last year i went ccing again leaving Thrupp on the Oxford and going over a lot of the midlands and ending up in Yorkshire where i had to stop so took on a mooring whilst i stayed in one place for a few months. I dont believe ccing is meant for people who work in one area or have kids in a school thats why we have moorings

 

Tim

 

It's time to 'fess-up Tim - - - - - -

 

Some of us know that most days you just do a 3hr tootle down and up the Trent!!!!!!

 

(And then have the gall to excuse it as 'work'!)

[churchward]

They cannot resist...

That's coz resistance is futile!

[GSer]

Its only my take on it I may well be no where near the mark on what realy people can get away with. I think its extracting the urine by moving up and down one ditch. I beleive the two words " Continuous " and " Cruising " sort of give the game away. Last year i went ccing again leaving Thrupp on the Oxford and going over a lot of the midlands and ending up in Yorkshire where i had to stop so took on a mooring whilst i stayed in one place for a few months. I dont believe ccing is meant for people who work in one area or have kids in a school thats why we have moorings

 

Tim

 

 

I think perhaps the problem may well be that you may be focussing on what you do and so you judge others by your standards, without perhaps realising there are other ways to live your life. There is currently no compulsion to purchase other licences or to take to sea, so as long as cart are selling CC licences to boaters who are on the K&A then yes it is possible to CC on one canal.

[ditchcrawler]

It's time to 'fess-up Tim - - - - - -

 

Some of us know that most days you just do a 3hr tootle down and up the Trent!!!!!!

 

(And then have the gall to excuse it as 'work'!)

greenie

[carlt]

I dont believe ccing is meant for people who work in one area

For over 4 years I worked full-time in Rugby and never ventured further than an hour's commute from work whilst ccing.

 

My cruising range spread from Leighton Buzzard to Long Eaton, Tipton, Oxford, Stratford on Avon and many more.

 

It probably cost far more than in fuel than a permanent mooring but it was fun and it was most definitely ccing.

[DeanS]

If someone is CC-ing...and finds a job in a town...and decides to cruise the area...but doesnt earn enough to pay a mooring fee + council tax.....what are they supposed to do...give up the job?

 

If someone is married, with kids, and goes through a divorce, and the wife settles in a certain town, and he has to pay a load of maintenance..but still wants to see his kids...and cant afford a mooring and council tax....what is he supposed to do.....give up seeing his kids on a weekly basis...by cruising to the other end of the country...

 

Sometimes people have no idea of the real reasons people might cruise in one area...

 

I think some leniency is needed....as long as a boater is being SENSIBLE and not blocking a visitor mooring....he should be able to go where he likes...and moor anywhere on the towpath...without any worries....which is probably what most do anyway. So what if you see them going to the mooring near Tesco once a week

 

If you have a widebeam in Manchester, and dont have a marina mooring, I'd say you are quite limited to where you could travel...and still hold down a job, or get your kids to a school, unless you stayed along a restricted part of the network. You have the Ashton (too narrow), the Bridgewater (limited to 7day licence), the Rochdale (up the Pennines?), the ship canal (£££), and one other which heads off to nowhere. There's only 1 marina in the area for widebeams, so you'd have no choice but to move around the area and try not hog any popular spots.

 

So the CC-ing rules are quite impractical in some respects......of course many will disagree but that's fine too.

[bowten]

I was speaking to a boater tonight who seems to be in the area all the time,informed me that he considered himself a continious cruiser as he had been informed officially that if he had five moorings half hour towpath walk apart and spent 14 days on each mooring on the 14th day on the fifth mooring he returned to mooring one he could start the process again.

Is this continious cruising?

 

Regards

 

Andy

Do you work for CaRT?

 

If someone is CC-ing...and finds a job in a town...and decides to cruise the area...but doesnt earn enough to pay a mooring fee + council tax.....what are they supposed to do...give up the job?

 

If someone is married, with kids, and goes through a divorce, and the wife settles in a certain town, and he has to pay a load of maintenance..but still wants to see his kids...and cant afford a mooring and council tax....what is he supposed to do.....give up seeing his kids on a weekly basis...by cruising to the other end of the country...

 

Sometimes people have no idea of the real reasons people might cruise in one area...

 

I think some leniency is needed....as long as a boater is being SENSIBLE and not blocking a visitor mooring....he should be able to go where he likes...and moor anywhere on the towpath...without any worries....which is probably what most do anyway. So what if you see them going to the mooring near Tesco once a week

 

If you have a widebeam in Manchester, and dont have a marina mooring, I'd say you are quite limited to where you could travel...and still hold down a job, or get your kids to a school, unless you stayed along a restricted part of the network. You have the Ashton (too narrow), the Bridgewater (limited to 7day licence), the Rochdale (up the Pennines?), the ship canal (£££), and one other which heads off to nowhere. There's only 1 marina in the area for widebeams, so you'd have no choice but to move around the area and try not hog any popular spots.

 

So the CC-ing rules are quite impractical in some respects......of course many will disagree but that's fine too.

Yer right lad!

[MtB]

If someone is CC-ing...and finds a job in a town...and decides to cruise the area...but doesnt earn enough to pay a mooring fee + council tax.....what are they supposed to do...give up the job?

 

If someone is married, with kids, and goes through a divorce, and the wife settles in a certain town, and he has to pay a load of maintenance..but still wants to see his kids...and cant afford a mooring and council tax....what is he supposed to do.....give up seeing his kids on a weekly basis...by cruising to the other end of the country...

 

Sometimes people have no idea of the real reasons people might cruise in one area...

 

I think some leniency is needed....as long as a boater is being SENSIBLE and not blocking a visitor mooring....he should be able to go where he likes...and moor anywhere on the towpath...without any worries....which is probably what most do anyway. So what if you see them going to the mooring near Tesco once a week

 

If you have a widebeam in Manchester, and dont have a marina mooring, I'd say you are quite limited to where you could travel...and still hold down a job, or get your kids to a school, unless you stayed along a restricted part of the network. You have the Ashton (too narrow), the Bridgewater (limited to 7day licence), the Rochdale (up the Pennines?), the ship canal (£££), and one other which heads off to nowhere. There's only 1 marina in the area for widebeams, so you'd have no choice but to move around the area and try not hog any popular spots.

 

So the CC-ing rules are quite impractical in some respects......of course many will disagree but that's fine too.

 

Dean I think you have it backwards. A lot of peeps have life circumstances (e.g. a job in a fixed location, kids in a school, whatever) which prevent them from CCing.

 

We all have to comply with the rules we agreed to when we applied for our licence. These broadly say if you can't arrange your life so you can CC, you must get a home mooring. So if you can't afford the home mooring, you can't afford the luxury of living on a boat.

 

Arguing the rules are senseless or are unfair does not cut it. We are lumbered with them and have to comply with them or risk the consequences. Time to grow up and accept reality.

 

MtB

[Jeanie920]

If someone is CC-ing...and finds a job in a town...and decides to cruise the area...but doesnt earn enough to pay a mooring fee + council tax.....what are they supposed to do...give up the job?

 

 

If they really arent earning enough then they could claim housing benefit for their mooring and licence.

 

I they werent any rules regarding CCing and everyone who needed to was allowed to stay on the same stretch of canal, I think there would be a mass exodus out of Marinas and on to the towpath. The reason we stay in a Marina is that my partner works in the area so we couldnt comply with the terms of a CC licence.I know others in Marinas for the same reason

[Starcoaster]

We all know the rules laid out for us when we get into boating. We all know the guidelines and limitations that we have to work within.

We must pay a licence; have a BSS; have insurance; not overstay on public moorings; not hog the water point; not pollute the cut; and either have a mooring or be able to comply with the CC guidelines.

If there are no moorings in the area in which we wish to moor/ live, and if we cannot genuinely CC in that area and keep our work/ family life intact, then it is wrong to say that we are entitled to flout the rules due to lack of service provision.

 

Unless you have a designated mooring that is taken from you suddenly, I don't see that anyone can claim it's unfair that they want to be in one place that might already be saturated with boats and ergo because you cannot find a place, it's ok to just pitch up and ignore the CC rules and add to the problem because if there happened to be a mooring to be had, you'd take it.

The resources as they are are finite, and just as with everything else in life, not everyone can have what they want all of the time, or they may have to wait some time to be able to get all of their ducks in a row.

 

I don't agree with all of the CART/BW rules and their philosophies by any means; I think that there is a lot of scope for updating the current rules to become more up to date and inclusive of boaters with real-life issues, the year on year increase in liveaboards and the general progression of the lifestyles that people lead today that is very different to how it was historically. The change year on year in the usage of the waterways is real and should not be ignored by the people in power; and I think the rules in place need to reflect this. But ignoring the current rules is not the way to get this done.

 

I believe that we all have a right to lobby for change, if we feel it is relevant and that we want it, and to speak out if we feel that the rules currently in place don't genuinely reflect the reality of owning a boat for the majority of owners, living on the water, or the usage of the canals. If many voices agree, and speak in unison, change will have to come.

 

But the point is, the rules as they stand are clear, and something that we all, as boaters from all walks of life and using the canals in many different ways, knew about beforehand and signed up for.

Bending or flouting the rules to suit our own circumstances or saying that things are unfair if our own situations change or that the rules don't suit us, is counter-productive and does the majority of other boaters a disservice. Flouting the CC rules will ultimately cause harm to all of the many CC'ers who are totally compliant with the letter and spirit or the rules, and this can only be a bad thing.

 

If the rules suddenly changed and deviated greatly from the guidelines and protocols that I signed up for when I got my boat, so causing the life that I chose on the basis of those rules to suddenly became significantly harder or genuinely un-viable, I'd be the first to stand up and yell about it, and I think everyone else should do the same.

 

But the rules have not changed significantly within the last x amount of time that most of us have been boaters. Our own situations might have changed, often through no fault of our own, but that doesn't mean that it's right or fair to expect the rules to bend to suit our own circumstances.

 

If we show that we as a group cannot play nicely with the toys we have, and live within the rules set for us, those toys will be taken away, those rules will change, and those choices will be lost. For everyone.

I wish that everyone would look at things objectively and with the view that if they cannot comply with the set rules, then they go another route. Even if that means making hard choices, and then stepping back and lobbying for change in the right ways.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Starcoaster

[blodger]

I am not disagreeing but qualifying a little

 

But the rules have not changed significantly within the last x amount of time that most of us have been boaters. Our own situations might have changed, often through no fault of our own, but that doesn't mean that it's right or fair to expect the rules to bend to suit our own circumstances.

 

I have only been canal boating for eleven years or so but the lassey faire that used to exist no longer does. I bought a Springer out of a local marina that had no BW Licence and did several rings whilst bringing it up to boat safety standard, the BSS having just been implemented, before licensing it.

 

But the point is, the rules as they stand are clear, and something that we all, as boaters from all walks of life and using the canals in many different ways, knew about beforehand and signed up for.

That clarity is only arising now, with the various court cases, based on what BW dreamt up over the years that some swallowed as gospel but others argued they had no right to implement.

 

I was advised, by the last of a local canal carrying family, that end of garden moorings used to be free of a BW charge. Times have changed. I am reluctant to see further change in the same direction as I can see the end of my boating days coming.

 

If we show that we as a group cannot play nicely with the toys we have, and live within the rules set for us, those toys will be taken away, those rules will change, and those choices will be lost. For everyone.

 

There seems to be an attitude progression towards an acceptable 'one size fits all' type of boating with no room for the past variety with villification of those who do not fit the perfect pattern.

 

I wish that everyone would look at things objectively and with the view that if they cannot comply with the set rules, then they go another route. Even if that means making hard choices, and then stepping back and lobbying for change in the right ways.

 

Change is inevitable and everything gets improved to its detriment with hindsight. Be careful what you wish for. Whatever lobbying gets done will likely upset another minority. Its not usually the majority that rule (probably as well contradictarily) but those who shout loudest. The status quo has much to commend it IMHO.

Edited December 4, 2012 by blodger

[Tam & Di]

I was speaking to a boater tonight who seems to be in the area all the time,informed me that he considered himself a continious cruiser as he had been informed officially that if he had five moorings half hour towpath walk apart and spent 14 days on each mooring on the 14th day on the fifth mooring he returned to mooring one he could start the process again.

Is this continious cruising?

 

I think it makes him a continuous mooron .

[Chris Pink]

Ah bless, did you enjoy that dears?

 

Why don't you do gays tomorrow? Or don't you have the balls?

[mayalld]

Ah bless, did you enjoy that dears?

 

Why don't you do gays tomorrow? Or don't you have the balls?

 

Interesting that you should suggest that we should "do" people who aren't breaking any rules as a follow on to discussing people who are.

[Rusty Shackleford]

If people are skimming round the edges of a blatantly obvious rule and using 'excuses' or special reasons, we all lose because everybody will try it on if it suits their circumstance. You could say that is the case already and the genuine boaters are getting the stick. Maybe some tightening up of the rules, an illustrated explanation with pictures a 6 year old could understand and GPS fitted for those who tell little porkies.

[cotswoldsman]

I was speaking to a boater tonight who seems to be in the area all the time,informed me that he considered himself a continious cruiser as he had been informed officially that if he had five moorings half hour towpath walk apart and spent 14 days on each mooring on the 14th day on the fifth mooring he returned to mooring one he could start the process again.

Is this continious cruising?

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

Andy does it matter? Is it causing you a problem?

[Chris Pink]

Interesting that you should suggest that we should "do" people who aren't breaking any rules as a follow on to discussing people who are.

 

enjoy.

[alan_fincher]

We all know the rules laid out for us when we get into boating.

Except that we clearly do not, as yet again there are people in this thread preaching what they think the rules should be, not what they actually are....

 

But the point is, the rules as they stand are clear,

See above.

 

But the rules have not changed significantly within the last x amount of time that most of us have been boaters.

Actually, whilst the underlying acts of parliament have remained unaltered, BW have been progressively forced to change their interpretation of that act when issuing their guidelines.

 

The underlying act does not mention "continuous" and "cruising" as two words ever connected together, and even BW/CRT are careful now to refer to "Guidance to boaters without a home mooring", rather than call them "continuous cruiser guidelines" any more.

 

Despite what many still wish, they no longer talk about needs to move around very large parts of the system, because BW/CRT, (unlike many on here) now accept that they have no basis in law to force people to do that.

 

We have just been told (by head of boating at CRT) that you can stay just on the 28 miles of the River Lee, and provided you otherwise follow the guidance CRT are not going to be coming after you.

 

So anybody who still wants Mr Smelly's version of the interpretation to be true, can IMO, carry on wishing, but those who control the waterways, and actually do the enforcement, are no longer anything like as prescriptive as they once were.

 

(And I thought I'd stay out of this thread!)

[lesrollins]

Different themed topic, results the same cc ers same people moaning. Keep paying your mooring fees and shut up or sell the boat and take a more theraputic hobby to help you relax and chill out

[mayalld]

Different themed topic, results the same cc ers same people moaning. Keep paying your mooring fees and shut up

 

Did I miss the announcement?

 

I was unaware that you were in charge of telling people what they can talk about.

[BruceinSanity]

We all know the rules laid out for us when we get into boating. We all know the guidelines and limitations that we have to work within.

We must pay a licence; have a BSS; have insurance; not overstay on public moorings; not hog the water point; not pollute the cut; and either have a mooring or be able to comply with the CC guidelines.

If there are no moorings in the area in which we wish to moor/ live, and if we cannot genuinely CC in that area and keep our work/ family life intact, then it is wrong to say that we are entitled to flout the rules due to lack of service provision.

 

Unless you have a designated mooring that is taken from you suddenly, I don't see that anyone can claim it's unfair that they want to be in one place that might already be saturated with boats and ergo because you cannot find a place, it's ok to just pitch up and ignore the CC rules and add to the problem because if there happened to be a mooring to be had, you'd take it.

The resources as they are are finite, and just as with everything else in life, not everyone can have what they want all of the time, or they may have to wait some time to be able to get all of their ducks in a row.

 

I don't agree with all of the CART/BW rules and their philosophies by any means; I think that there is a lot of scope for updating the current rules to become more up to date and inclusive of boaters with real-life issues, the year on year increase in liveaboards and the general progression of the lifestyles that people lead today that is very different to how it was historically. The change year on year in the usage of the waterways is real and should not be ignored by the people in power; and I think the rules in place need to reflect this. But ignoring the current rules is not the way to get this done.

 

I believe that we all have a right to lobby for change, if we feel it is relevant and that we want it, and to speak out if we feel that the rules currently in place don't genuinely reflect the reality of owning a boat for the majority of owners, living on the water, or the usage of the canals. If many voices agree, and speak in unison, change will have to come.

 

But the point is, the rules as they stand are clear, and something that we all, as boaters from all walks of life and using the canals in many different ways, knew about beforehand and signed up for.

Bending or flouting the rules to suit our own circumstances or saying that things are unfair if our own situations change or that the rules don't suit us, is counter-productive and does the majority of other boaters a disservice. Flouting the CC rules will ultimately cause harm to all of the many CC'ers who are totally compliant with the letter and spirit or the rules, and this can only be a bad thing.

 

If the rules suddenly changed and deviated greatly from the guidelines and protocols that I signed up for when I got my boat, so causing the life that I chose on the basis of those rules to suddenly became significantly harder or genuinely un-viable, I'd be the first to stand up and yell about it, and I think everyone else should do the same.

 

But the rules have not changed significantly within the last x amount of time that most of us have been boaters. Our own situations might have changed, often through no fault of our own, but that doesn't mean that it's right or fair to expect the rules to bend to suit our own circumstances.

 

If we show that we as a group cannot play nicely with the toys we have, and live within the rules set for us, those toys will be taken away, those rules will change, and those choices will be lost. For everyone.

I wish that everyone would look at things objectively and with the view that if they cannot comply with the set rules, then they go another route. Even if that means making hard choices, and then stepping back and lobbying for change in the right ways.

 

Spot on for me. I'd give you greenie if I had any left.

[Chris Pink]

Different themed topic, results the same cc ers same people moaning. Keep paying your mooring fees and shut up or sell the boat and take a more theraputic hobby to help you relax and chill out

 

Let them have their little bit of fun. I don't think they have much else to talk about in their lives.