How slow is too slow?

[NigelMoore]

It's always amazed me that there's no set etiquette for overtaking on the canals.

 

The General Canal Byelaws 1965, 17; 18, and 19 cover the rules on overtaking fairly comprehensively.

 

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/foi/legal/BW_General_Canal_Bye-laws.pdf

[MHS]

 

The General Canal Byelaws 1965, 17; 18, and 19 cover the rules on overtaking fairly comprehensively.

 

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/foi/legal/BW_General_Canal_Bye-laws.pdf

What happened to the campaign for plain English? It doesn't seem to cover what actually happens in the real world.

 

It's very rare we have had to overtake, but what is the etiquette if the steerer in front resolutely stares straight ahead?

[NB Lola]

What happened to the campaign for plain English? It doesn't seem to cover what actually happens in the real world.

 

It's very rare we have had to overtake, but what is the etiquette if the steerer in front resolutely stares straight ahead?

A rare event. I would stop for a beer if the steerer makes no attempt to contact, I prefer non contact to annoyance or irritation, even if I am in the right. The only time I overtook another boat it was with the other steerer suggesting it

[RLWP]

What happened to the campaign for plain English? It doesn't seem to cover what actually happens in the real world.

 

 

What are you talking about - it's from 1965 so it must be good! Standards are slipping, apparently

 

Richard

[Pie Eater]

How can I gain experience in overtaking when I never catch anyone up?

 

Steve

[MHS]

How can I gain experience in overtaking when I never catch anyone up?

 

Steve

You could add a turbo to your diesel!!

[patty-ann]

Overtaking sounds very stressful I'll settle for following "im in front" Bit like I do when i drive a car.

[mango]

Medium speed boats get my goat..

I agree. But all speed boats are a nuisance, irrespective of size.

[Arthur Marshall]

My old Lister is fine at tickovwer and also fine at 2 1/2 or 3mph. Much less than that and it tries to shake the boat to bits, so I have overtaken a few of the crawlers in my time. If it looks like there's no option to do so I now tend to stop and make a cup of tea (I'm on my own most of the time so there's no-one else to make it), keeping a vague eye behind to make sure someone else isn't catching me up. Then when I catch the slow boat up again i have another cup of tea...

[n.b.Goldie]

If only there were more like you!

 

Another trip that springs to mind was 2011 on the GU,it was the week of the Royal wedding. We caught up with the Lionhearts cruising club at Yardley Gobion, complete with CB radios, run leader and tail end charlie.

we had 16' and 20' cruisers, what a faff getting by this unfeasible long and slow convoy of self appointed canal police, we had the eTrex so were confident we were not exceeding the speed limit.

A couple of the group were decent enough and understood why we didn't want to join their procession, others were frankly rude and obnoxious, but hey ho it makes for memories and tales to tell.

Thank you so much for acknowledging that we cruise on the slow side, we are often accused of being throttle happy. Much appreciated!

 

Regards

Ditchdabbler

Commodore

Lionhearts Cruising Club

[gazza]

No probs ditchdabbler.

 

Been nice if the smartarse yoghurt pot comments hadn't been blasted thru your CB equipment....

 

Gazza,

An average boater

MNCC - Not that it makes any difference!

[DHutch]

Ive not read the thread, but if someone in front is going slower, do you now just overtake? Ditto if someone is coming up behind you, you just get overtaken?

 

Sometimes if its narrow and twisty it can take 1/4mile or whatever, but no long, then you pass each other.

 

If they are not moving over, bit of a suggestion they do so, if only to ensure they have seen you. Done.

 

 

 

Daniel

[tommytelford]

I followed a hire boat down the Coventry a couple of years back who was doing no more than 1 mph. When we eventually reached Hawkesbury we had five boats behind us. The steerer of the boat never once looked behind. At the junction he pulled over so I pulled alongside and very politely said to him that he had a right to travel at whatever speed he chose but that he he ought to keep a lookout behind especially as he was going so slowly.

 

Much to my surprise he apologised profusley and said that he had only been on the boat for a day and had no idea what was the right speed to travel, the hire company had told him to keep his revs at around 500rpm which he had done, he commented that it did seem to be taking a long while to get between places and they were wondering if the had overestimated the distance they could cover in two weeks.

 

Sometimes as experienced boaters it is too easy to forget that we all were novices once and it is not always intentional when somebody less experienced cocks up

[n.b.Goldie]

No probs ditchdabbler.

 

Been nice if the smartarse yoghurt pot comments hadn't been blasted thru your CB equipment....

 

Gazza,

An average boater

MNCC - Not that it makes any difference!

I apologise for any comments that might have been broadcast, it is not the ethos of the club.. BTW I do not like cb radio on the cut and I do not use it. I will mention unacceptable behaviour at our next general meeting.

 

Regards

Ditchdabbler

[gazza]

I apologise for any comments that might have been broadcast, it is not the ethos of the club.. BTW I do not like cb radio on the cut and I do not use it. I will mention unacceptable behaviour at our next general meeting.

 

Regards

Ditchdabbler

No need to apologies for others failings. It was a good while ago, and as I said earlier it gives for a good tale.

We have to have a thick skin with our choice of craft.

 

Sadly, that trip onto the GU confirmed that after years of canal cruising with my parents from gayton on a NB - it's not for us anymore. We came off the GU around '92, its changed so much.

 

The incident with your club was a humorous byline in what on the whole wasn't a bad week, it just wasnt as enjoyable as I hoped, fair bit of rose tints might have clouded my judgment too.

We do all our cruising on the fenland waterways, the fact the boat we now use is 9'6" wide means we can't cave in for a return visit, not until the GU Ouse link is complete...

 

I agree the CB setup is very naff,PMR is very discrete and useful at the short ranges and clear line of sight you have on a contour canal :-)

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Ive not read the thread, but if someone in front is going slower, do you now just overtake? Ditto if someone is coming up behind you, you just get overtaken?

 

Sometimes if its narrow and twisty it can take 1/4mile or whatever, but no long, then you pass each other.

 

If they are not moving over, bit of a suggestion they do so, if only to ensure they have seen you. Done.

 

 

 

Daniel

The mechanics of overtaking on the canal make the suggestion of '..just overtaking...' a bit difficult. To begin with if it is narrow and twisty I wouldn't consider overtaking whatever the speed of the 'slow' boat was. Sod's law would guarantee that halfway past a widebeam would appear around the corner and as soon as you try to stop/reverse the odds are that your bows would swing one way or the other, either into the boat you are overtaking or into the path of the oncoming boat,so not really worth the risk. Once the canal widens out the odds are that the depth will be reduced so when you try to pass, even if you use a lot of throttle all you will do is move a lot of water without moving the boat much faster. Ultimately if you are going to overtake you need some co-operation from the crew of the overtaken boat.

 

Interesting follow-up to yesterdays story was that today we passed through Stoke Bruerne and on towards Blisworth Tunnel. As we passed the Stoke moorings our 'slow' boat was just pulling pins to leave, fortunately we made it to the tunnel before him. Upon reaching Blisworth we moored up for the night and about an hour and a half later the said 'slow' boat arrived and once again moored up behind us. Whilst tidying things up on the roof of my boat I saw that he'd left his tunnel light on so to save him flattening his battery overnight I walked back to tell him. He briefly thanked me but then went on to complain about a '...bunch of hirers...' who had given him a load of abuse telling him he was incompetent and a danger because he had just travelled through Blisworth at what was clearly his regular speed. I had noticed that whilst he was mooring three hire boats had come past but didn't hear the abuse since it must have taken place further back up the canal. He seemed so angry at the abuse that he had taken that I didn't feel that it was the moment to question his speed since there was every possibility he would have turned that anger towards me if he thought I was sympathising with the hirers (even though my sympathy would have been with them!!). I have to say that the last thing I would wish to do is to go through Blisworth constantly engaging and disengaging drive because the boat in front was going so slowly.In some ways I felt a bit sorry for him because travelling the waterways is generally a sociable and friendly environment but I would think that the abuse he complained of probably wasn't a one-off.

[John V]

greeny

[DHutch]

The mechanics of overtaking on the canal make the suggestion of '..just overtaking...' a bit difficult. To begin with if it is narrow and twisty I wouldn't consider overtaking whatever the speed of the 'slow' boat was. Sod's law would guarantee that halfway past a widebeam would appear around the corner and as soon as you try to stop/reverse the odds are that your bows would swing one way or the other, either into the boat you are overtaking or into the path of the oncoming boat,so not really worth the risk. Once the canal widens out the odds are that the depth will be reduced so when you try to pass, even if you use a lot of throttle all you will do is move a lot of water without moving the boat much faster. Ultimately if you are going to overtake you need some co-operation from the crew of the overtaken boat.

We dont move that fast, the boat fairly deep drafted and the steam plant happier ar a speed of around 2.5mph than 3-3.5mph faster past. However I overtake a boat maybe 3-4 times a year and find that the normally notice when you are near and move over and or slow down further to aid an overtake without request, or if you get a little close, maybe within 10ft, it becomes quite clear without needing to raise attention any further, and that with a boat that makes no outwardly perceptable engine noise. If need be, if would sound the whistle, few would fail to notice that.

 

Then overtake...

 

Daniel

[Wanderer Vagabond]

We dont move that fast, the boat fairly deep drafted and the steam plant happier ar a speed of around 2.5mph than 3-3.5mph faster past. However I overtake a boat maybe 3-4 times a year and find that the normally notice when you are near and move over and or slow down further to aid an overtake without request, or if you get a little close, maybe within 10ft, it becomes quite clear without needing to raise attention any further, and that with a boat that makes no outwardly perceptable engine noise. If need be, if would sound the whistle, few would fail to notice that.

 

Then overtake...

 

Daniel

I think that you have sort of verified my earlier suggestion that '....you need some co-operation from the crew of the overtaken boat....' which I wasn't getting on this occasion and resulted in the overtaken boat being dragged by my stern wave towards the left side of the canal as I passed him, which seemed to upset him a bit. I am surprised by the the amount of overtaking that you do, other than boats with obvious problems (engine/gearbox problems or being towed) I can't think of the last time I overtook any boat on the canal. If they are travelling at a reasonable speed that I can equal I'm happy to follow behind. Usually if they have a problem they will pull over and wave you past making the overtake as easy as they can, again it didn't happen on this occasion.

[DHutch]

I guess it depends where you boat, the T&M and Llangollen, Shroppy are all local canals to us and I guess fairly busy.

 

We/I also crack in something like about 30 days boating moat years, so its only an overtake ever 10 days!

 

 

Daniel