Attacked by an Angler

[canals are us?]

Sorry to hear of this awful atack on you Cotswoldsman. It makes you think of your own personal safety while out single handed cruising. I'm sure as you say very rare to happen but a scary experiance if it does. You feel more vunerable as you can't outrun them in your narrowboat.

 

I think I would of tried to push the assailant into the water, off my boat with my boat hook and call the police. I hopefully will never have to experiance what you have and so don't know what I would do in a similar situation.

 

All the best. James.

Edited May 14, 2013 by canals are us?

[Troyboy]

Thanks for everyone's comments. I would firstly like to say for anyone reading this that is considering getting a boat that incidents such as these are very very rare. I am now in my 8th year of Continuous Cruising and this is the first incident that I have had and I still consider myself a very lucky person to live this lifestyle.

Not sure if I've missed anything but was this reported to the police ? If not he has got away with it and will do it again .Recorded crime figures will continue to go down and less police officers will be needed .

[Capt Col]

Bloody hell John, may be throwing the tiller over to one side could have thrown him off?

 

I agree with Little duck, sure the Middlewich Gaurdian would be interested...

 

http://www.middlewichguardian.co.uk/

[ditchcrawler]

Bloody hell John, may be throwing the tiller over to one side could have thrown him off?

 

I agree with Little duck, sure the Middlewich Gaurdian would be interested...

 

http://www.middlewichguardian.co.uk/

Well if someone attacks me it wont be the local paper I report it to.

[DeanS]

Glad you're ok John.

When I first joined the forum I questioned whether I should carry an airgun etc, and was hounded for having such a thought, and rightfully so. After 2yrs on the boat, I think the worst experience was someone throwing a fizzy 2litre Coke bottle off a high rise block of flats that landed near the tiller area. I have always thought to myself that the tiller pin, the mooring pins, the tiller bar, the windlasses, the boat pole, etc, do make good weapons of defence, but hope I will never have to use any....but truly, what do you do if you're in Johns position where someone is on your boat, coming towards you with malicious intent. Frightening (although, as John has mentioned, not common.)

[Chris Pink]

I think John got it exactly right as is evidenced by the result.

[PaddingtonBear]

A keb is the thing to have in these circumstances, nail the little fucker to the ground through his foot, he would not do it again.

[Tony Wonfor]

I have a lot of Police friends and they all say that if ever trouble arises, say you spotted a knife (whether you did or you didn't!) this then gets made priority and you will be pushed to the top of the list and response will be very quick.

[luctor et emergo]

Use the boat hook. Aim for the fingers that are holding onto the rail.

[the grinch]

I too have had verbal from fishers on this section of canal but nothing like this and I was ice breaking at the time!!

[Starcoaster]

A friend of mine is one of the higher level wardens in Middlewich/Northwich, I have messaged him to ask him to have a look at the pics and see if this guy is known to them.

[blackrose]

Blimey that's scary.

 

Sounds to me as though they weren't so much anglers as wasters looking for trouble hassling boaters, and fishing whilst waiting for the next boat to come along.

 

I agree. Perhaps this thread would more accurately be entitled "Attacked by a chav (who just happened to be fishing)".

 

But then according to some people's hug a hoodie philosophy, it was all the fault of Cotswoldsman for not inviting him onboard and getting him interested in boats.

Edited May 15, 2013 by blackrose

[stickleback]

I agree. Perhaps this thread would more accurately be entitled "Attacked by a chav (who just happened to be fishing)".

 

But then according to some people's hug a hoodie philosophy, it was all the fault of Cotswoldsman for not inviting him onboard and getting him interested in boats.

!!!!!

[Guest]

I agree. Perhaps this thread would more accurately be entitled "Attacked by a chav (who just happened to be fishing)".

 

But then according to some people's hug a hoodie philosophy, it was all the fault of Cotswoldsman for not inviting him onboard and getting him interested in boats.

 

Isn't the difference though that some boaters would have still treated him as a 'threat' even if his behaviour had been completely different just by virtue of his dress and his age??.

 

One problem is that the behaviour of this moron is that he ends up tarring the image of all similarly dressed and similarly aged people, clearly the 'hug a hoody strategy' was not appropriate in this case, unless it was to 'hug' him with a very tight headlock and then drop him in the cut.....

[bizzard]

I was once attacked by an Anglia 105E. It ran over my foot.

Someone else had brought it into the workshop for valve clearance adjustment, ''they always needed that'' and left it in gear with the brake off. To jog the engine round I pressed the button on the starter solenoid under the bonnet which stuck in and it started chugging forward over my Daisy-roots, luckily they had steel toecaps.

[Pen n Ink]

I was once attacked by an Anglia 105E. It ran over my foot.

Someone else had brought it into the workshop for valve clearance adjustment, ''they always needed that'' and left it in gear with the brake off. To jog the engine round I pressed the button on the starter solenoid under the bonnet which stuck in and it started chugging forward over my Daisy-roots, luckily they had steel toecaps.

 

A reliable ray of light in a gloomy world for when we all take ourselves too seriously. Greenie awarded.

 

NOT to take away anything from the seriousness of the OP - before anyone starts!

[blackrose]

Isn't the difference though that some boaters would have still treated him as a 'threat' even if his behaviour had been completely different just by virtue of his dress and his age??.

 

One problem is that the behaviour of this moron is that he ends up tarring the image of all similarly dressed and similarly aged people, clearly the 'hug a hoody strategy' was not appropriate in this case, unless it was to 'hug' him with a very tight headlock and then drop him in the cut.....

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "the difference", but yes I do agree. We all treat people in certain ways depending on how they look and their overall demeanour - anyone who says they don't is either dishonest or deluded.

 

I came into a Severn lock single-handed a couple of weeks ago (can’t remember which one), and there were a group of 5 or 6 youths, at the other end with one fishing rod between them. They were messing about chucking things into the other end of the lock, throwing things into the river, smoking dope and generally acting like they didn't care what anyone else thought. I asked the only other bloke there who was watching me go through the lock if he wouldn't mind waiting around until I had exited and I nodded towards the youths. He knew exactly what I was talking about. I said to him, I don't like pre-judging people but they don't really help themselves by looking and acting the way they do.

 

If I dress up as a vicar and stand around a church, it’s likely I will be treated as vicar by passersby who may ask me about the history of the building, etc. If I dress up as a policeman and walk down the road I wouldn't be surprised if members of the public responded to me as if I were a policeman - be that positive or negative. I could wear a white coat and carry a stethoscope through a hospital and someone would probably treat me as if I were a doctor. My point is that I wouldn’t blame those who were fooled by my attire for making those mistakes.

 

Likewise if people dress up as a chavs or a gangstas it’s generally because that’s the way they wish to be perceived. They may not be overtly seeking violence, but I’m afraid the idea is often to intimidate others. If people don't want to be judged negatively then perhaps they should think about how they look and the way they behave, rather than blaming others for what are perfectly natural perceptions and reactions.

Edited May 15, 2013 by blackrose

[carlt]

Likewise if people dress up as a chavs or a gangstas it’s generally because that’s the way they wish to be perceived.

Yes I recall people judging me when I was a young punk and reminding my Dad how he was judged, as a rocker in the 60s.

 

Now I'm approaching 50 I am glad that I recall those days and can be less judgemental about the youth of today's unfortunate (in my eyes) choice of attire and thank the fashion gods that I wasn't a teenager in the early 70s.

 

Edited to add: It might be worth mentioning that the thug who attacked me was a pensioner...I wonder if I was lulled into a false sense of security by his Val Doonican cardy and cord trousers.

Edited May 15, 2013 by carlt

[Rusty Shackleford]

What a horrible experience to go through. I always worry about events like that, fishermen, kids on bridges etc. Now, for special occasions I mount a cheap video cam on a suction pad. Its amazing how differently they react. Most of the time its switched off and only really used for some nice pictures. Of course, nobody else knows that so they usually think before they do something stupid. Have had a lot less anglers dangling a hook inches from my head for one.

[mango]

If someone had a go at me for going too fast I would apologise because there is no point in getting into conflict with someone you may never see again. If I was going faster than normal to control the boat in the wind I might try to explain this if I thought that they would listen. Using a camera can be a deterrent but like retaliation, it can be provocative.

 

Being a wimp might not help if someone has a mental problem or is under the influence of drugs, but it has always worked for me - even in some dodgy areas.

[Starcoaster]

I don't fecking believe it, two young guys fishing (with a toddler in a pushchair ffs!) just started yelling, arm waving, maggot flinging and finally squared up to me and the guy who owns the mooring I'm on, for asking them to leave the (private!) land several times over the course of an hour. Again I am not that convinced they were actually interested in catching anything other than some excitement.

[Ex- Member]

The great thing on a boat is there's many items that make good weapons, you can also legitimately have things like machete's axes knives as you would use these items legitimately especially a cc'r.

 

When we're on the water certain items will be easily accessible from both cratch & stern without having to enter the boat. Also your lock key is handy weapon although a bit awkward, when off the boat.

[bizzard]

With a bucket of soapy water and the lock windlass you could blow streams of square bubbles at the enemy which would pop in their face and make their eyes smart.

[andywatson]

I think you handled the situation well considering it came on you quickly.

 

We can all say what we would have done from secure surroundings and in hindsight but you got the bugger off your boat.

 

Subsequently, and just in case of a police follow up, I would not have admitted here (or anywhere else in public) getting the knife out.

 

Thanks though for giving some food for thought.

I will make sure in future that I have some usefull boating and domestic implements to hand.

[Angela C]

Hi all,

 

But they shouldn't be fishing yet ; fishing season hasn't started.