Blind corners

[Scholar Gypsy]

Why are you singling out left hand bends? As you are on the outside (if keeping to the right for some bizarre reason). you get a better view. It's right hand bends that are the issue

 

Richard

 

On a RH bend, if the oncoming boat loses control then that's not really an issue. They plough into the trees on the outside of the bend and I just slide through on their inside. On a LH bend, to do that I need to pass stbd to stbd.

[bottle]

Just to give a little balance, travelling through tunnel, today, could see boat approaching the other end, thought blast the 'wood' is on his side.

 

He seemed to take a long time to get to the entrance, then realised he was waiting for me to exit, speeded up, till exiting, and on passing thanked him for waiting.

 

No problem and it makes sense, said he.

[Laurence Hogg]

I am amazed no one has mentioned using sound signals! They are in the boaters handbook and can be used to good effect, its about time some steerer's learnt the rules of the road.

[ditchcrawler]

I get peed off enough with every car sounding its horn on a bridge, let alone every boater.

[Tam & Di]

I am amazed no one has mentioned using sound signals! They are in the boaters handbook and can be used to good effect, its about time some steerer's learnt the rules of the road.

 

That goes hand in hand with learning to handle your craft. This sort of thread is so common on CWDF, but what do people think used to happen in days of yore? Working boatmen did not slow to a crawl at each turn, they were simply in the correct position in the channel. I accept that canals are mostly a lot less well maintained now, but then the boats are smaller and often have a higher engine power to weight ratio than a working narrow boat, particularly if you take a loaded vessel into account. Also it was common for boats to work as a pair with an unpowered butty in tow, and screaming to a halt was not an easy option. Obviously there were accidents then too, but no-one assumed it was perfectly OK to smash into another craft and carry on as if that was perfectly normal accepable behaviour.

 

Perhaps there should be an equivalent of the 1988 Road Traffic Act where section 170 makes it an offence to fail to stop at the scene of an accident and a second offence if yoy fail to report said accident to the police

 

Tam

[howardang]

I am amazed no one has mentioned using sound signals! They are in the boaters handbook and can be used to good effect, its about time some steerer's learnt the rules of the road.

A number of posters mention using the horn, including the OP.

 

HOWARD

[RLWP]

they were simply in the correct position in the channel

 

Tam

This is the most important part, although you are at the mercy of whoever is coming towards you. I bet working boaters used to prepare for the worst when they saw pleasure boats approaching

 

Richard

[Phil Ambrose]

I am amazed no one has mentioned using sound signals! They are in the boaters handbook and can be used to good effect, its about time some steerer's learnt the rules of the road.

I did use my horn see post 15.

Phil

[Theo]

Had a similar incident recently leaving Braunston. Chap flying through a tricky bridge, id slowed and tooted horn. Bit of a bump and when I mentioned that he could have been going a little slower, I got the all to common response of its a contact sport. The other boat is often seen on this forum...

 

Ian.

 

How irritating is the "contact Sport" claim!

 

If I hit anything I consider it a failure of judgement.

 

N

[DHutch]

Like you, I go round corners such that within reasonable circumstances I would be able to avoid, or stop before hitting, a boat that came the other way.

 

If they really tried, we might make contact, but typically even then not hard enough to make a dent.

 

I do however not boat much slower than that, and have got it wrong once or twice, if in 20 years of boat only once had to pay for another boat to be repaired due to my hitting it. £200, settled outside of the insurance.

 

A foot is a bit tight for me, although I will do it, I prefer 18-20inches between boats.

 

 

 

Daniel

[Alan Saunders]

I had a close shave recently when approaching a v. sharp bend 90 deg with the bridge cutting right across the bend. I was travelling downstream, so my bridge, one long blast on my horn, lined up, heard no horn in reply so committed for the bridge/bend.

As I entered the bridge to the right of the channel a NB shot through, cutting the corner I was left with about a foot between me and the other NB and the same between me and the bridge pier.

They went on their way with just a cheery wave.

Had they not cut the corner there would have been loads of room, had they sounded their horn I would have backed of even though travelling downstream, as it was a unnecessary squeaky bum moment for me that could have been avoided.

Phil

I consider a foot between mine and an approaching boat to normally be adequate but never in in a bridge hole even if it is theoretically possible for two boats to pass. On the canal you may meet the occasional reckless helmsman just as you may meet reckless drivers on the road.

 

Alan

[Bee]

Is it only me that ends up in the shallows, slow down and usually takes ages to get going again once the other ignoramus has disappeared round the next bend at full speed?

No, I usually end up stuck in the bushes as well. There really is no excuse for tearing around the system causing damage. Rivers though can be awkward, going downstream on the Kennet can be troublesome also the Wey and other smaller rivers, big rivers usually have enough room to pick another arch or see what is coming.

[Phil Ambrose]

I consider a foot between mine and an approaching boat to normally be adequate but never in in a bridge hole even if it is theoretically possible for two boats to pass. On the canal you may meet the occasional reckless helmsman just as you may meet reckless drivers on the road.

 

Alan

Yes Alan a foot would normally be adequate but not when negotiating a very tight 90 deg bend under a bridge and the other boat is cutting the corner and is on the wrong side and you are left with very little water between boats and between the bridge pier, after all I was travelling downstream so the bridge was mine plus they gave no warning of their presence despite my use of a 125db horn.

Phil

ETA the river is some 60 feet wide at this point.

Edited July 27, 2015 by Phil Ambrose

[patty-ann]

There is a problem with sounding horns for little people....I have to stretch and almost let go of tiller so to sound more than once I sort of lose steering as there are 3 switches in row and if oncoming boat lucky he gets horn if not flashed lights or bilge pump put on...!

[TheBiscuits]

That sounds like a badly placed horn button to me.

 

You should be able to reach it quickly and easily from your steering position, even if you are little.

 

Navigation lights etc don't matter as you should not have to suddenly put them on in a blind corner when another boat appears.

[X Alan W]

This is the most important part, although you are at the mercy of whoever is coming towards you. I bet working boaters used to prepare for the worst when they saw pleasure boats approaching

 

Richard

It was not knowing how a pleasure boater was going to react on seeing the bows of a working boat emerging from a bridehole the most scary encounter I had was at the main road bridge by the pub at Braunston I Had a loaded pair, butty on a 70ft or so tow line I was going south, blew horn on approach no return "toot" so carried on through bridge to find a 30 or so foot GRP cruiser at right angles in the cut with the bow jammed in the offside bank & the crew in a state of panic I managed to slow enough to push him gently around to have him facing in the correct direction which also freed him from the bank, the outcome of me slowing meant the towline dropped into the water I opened the throttle but before the butty cleared the bridge, he for reasons best known to himself decided to go through the bridge & got part way over the tow line, with me increasing speed & him being over the line it pulled the butty in with no means of stopping just as the butty was about to crash hard into the cruiser about were it reached full beam the towline flipped out tipping the cruiser sideways & prompt steering action by my wife, the butty just caught the fore end a glancing blow & pushing it to one side A bit of black & a small scrape was the outcome. On asking why he had tried to go through the bridge it seemed it never occurred to him to look to see if there was anything else coming & in any case why had my butty not stopped to let him through the bridge.On explaining that the butty was being towed he asked if the engine was broken down on telling him it wasn't fitted with an engine his reply was "Well in that case it shouldn't be on the canal as you've got no control over it" I was so taken aback I just walked away.

[RLWP]

 

Long lining seems to have almost entirely disappeared from the cut nowadays

 

Richard

[matty40s]

I was between Tamworth and Hopwas on the way to the Soar last Saturday, and came to a bridge on a left hand bend which has a massive reed bed growing out blocking any view.

I noticed that a fisherman and his friend on the towpath kept looking at my boat coming and then through the bridge hole.

This rang alarm bells , I went full reverse and as it was quite shallow, ended up going into the reeds, just as Crane came through the bridge hole.

 

Said hello and then proceeded through the bridge making sure that I stirred up the mud by the disappointed fisherman.

[alan_fincher]

 

Long lining seems to have almost entirely disappeared from the cut nowadays

 

Richard

 

Well actually......

 

Apart from the much publicised escapades of Aquarius and Ilford last year with Glyn Phillips and Roger and Theresa Fuller, they are not the only people using the skill.

 

Julia and Richard can often be seen working Towcester with Bideford on a pretty long line as well - they just don't make such a big thing of it.

 

Fairly brave, frankly on the Southern GU, and I feel sure some idiots coming the other way must on occasions try to enter a bridge after the motor has passed it, but with the (loaded and brake-less) butty still approaching it! I bet there is a story or two in their recent archive!

 

Watching Towcester and Bideford is a pleasure to watch, and few people know how to do things as slickly a Julia. It's the ones that just quietly get on with it that are the most impressive boat handlers, IMO. Perhaps even Julia gets it wrong occasionally, but if she does, I have yet to witness it!

 

 

[Sabcat]

I did look up the name of the boat on the members section and contacted the forum member . Again apologies to said member , as they sold this boat 3 years ago. The hull damage, luckily is covered by the cratch curtains and the cratch curtain can be stitched . It was a lovely looking trad with a highish bow , glad I was so far over otherwise it would have done serious damage . As for the sexism , no I won't stand for it generally ( husband walks wisely away , shaking head sagely ) . I find that driving more efficiently and better than the flat cap brigade and NOT using the girly button makes more of a point . Bunny

 

Not strictly boat related although it happened at the moorings here. Someone once reversed into our shed on the mooring. The OH asked the person driving, who clearly didn't know he'd been seen, if he was going to check if he'd damaged the shed. A bizarre argument ensued in which first, he'd not hit the shed, and then the it was somehow someone else's fault he'd hit the shed and then progressed to him saying to me "keep control of your woman". I was then in the strange situation of thinking I'd somehow found myself in 1973 and also wondering if he was going to get stabbed in the face. I think he realised what he'd said as soon as he'd said it because he sort of skipped away.

[rrt2]

Long lining - by this I guess you mean towing the butty on a snubber which can be over 100 ft long.

 

My take on the term long lining is where you are coming up a flight of locks and you have a boat in each lock with a "long line " between them so that as both locks fill the pair rise roughly together. You then take both boats out and turn the lock the motor was in as quickly as you can so the butty can go in. Once the butty is in the motor can then go in the next lock or may well be in it already. By doing it this way you only take one lock full of water out of each pound rather then two if the motor waited for the butty to tow it to the next lock.

You need to be very aware of where the long line is in relation to anything it may snag on, in places it will also be across the towpath so can catch out a unobservant cyclist or pedestrian.

We now have a towing sign on the forend of the motor so that the observant ones have been warned.

Edited July 28, 2015 by barry adams

[Athy]

Long lining - by this I guess you mean towing the butter on a snubber which can be over 100 ft long.

 

.

Whilst I realise that many of these old working boats don't have a fridge, surely there are easier ways of keeping dairy products cool and fresh?

[Nightwatch]

I get peed off enough with every car sounding its horn on a bridge, let alone every boater.

My pet hate. If I'm approaching a bridge,on the boat, and hear a car horn I immediately sound the boats horn, hopefully it will hack off the driver of the car when he sees there's nothing coming the other way.

 

Martyn

[Boat&Bikes]

My pet hate. If I'm approaching a bridge,on the boat, and hear a car horn I immediately sound the boats horn, hopefully it will hack off the driver of the car when he sees there's nothing coming the other way.

 

Martyn

I usually sound my car/motorbike horn crossing blind bridges. Why does it bother you/

 

Ian.

[Dave Payne]

Is it only me that ends up in the shallows, slow down and usually takes ages to get going again once the other ignoramus has disappeared round the next bend at full speed?

 

This is me, i always slow and move over, most do the same, but we have gone past a few boats that see this as an invite to keep going down the center at full speed, like you say, takes a while get back out the shallow and up to speed if you go too far over.

 

When we hired the man showing us round the boat suggested we never slow down and keep going as the other boat will more than likely do the same.