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Monday 19 March 2018

Observations,5. Navigation.

I am now talking just the moving of vessels up and down the waterways.  I suppose the first thing I should mention is the speed of travel. There is a speed limit of 4MPH on the canal, and this maybe a little easier to actually see what speed you are actually doing as phones have GPS's on them so in theory you can see. However this does not mean that everybody should travel at 4MPH as the disturbance made can be better judged by the wash behind the boat. If there is a wash/wave this will inpact on the banks and eroded them more quickly, some wildlife may also be disturbed, and it is this displacement of water by the moving of the hull that also causes problems to moored vessels, if not correctly secured alongside. Observe your wake and slow down if you see one. If the canal is shallow, which many of them are, and the bottom of the boat is closer to the bottom a wash will be made at a slower speed so you may well have to slow down further. Actually going faster 'sucks' you down towards the bottom, so may cause you to touch the bottom!

approaching a toll island on the Birmingham New Main Line. There is no point in increasing revs as you go through the narrows as it is shallow and you will go no faster.

Now the antithesis of going too fast is those that go too slowly. By that I mean too slowly for those that are stuck behind you in 'tick over' when they may have reason to 'crack on'. If you want to travel slowly, go right ahead and do it, the canals are not for speeding along. However do not impose your speed on anybody else, let them pass. If I am stuck behind a slower boat my procedure is to sit off for a while to give them chance to notice me. After a period if they haven't checked aft and seen me, or have done and then continued to ignore me, I carefully close up with their stern and shout across to ask if it is okay for me to pass. It is then a matter of waiting for a suitable place. If I am the boat to be overtaken if a passing place does not seem obvious I will pull over to the tow path, jump off with the centre line and let them pass. If there is a straight section and room to pass I will reduce speed to tick over or stop the engine and just continue with way on and steerage, until their bow is closing my stern and then will go to tick over again. The object is to go as slowly as possible so that the speed of the passing is quickest. This means that if I am the overtaking vessel I will increase speed so that the relative speed between the boats is greater. If there is room the boat being overtaken should pull over towards one side or the other to give more room for the overtaking vessel. bear in mind though that the interaction of the overtaking vessel will draw water from underneath your boat and the bow and stern waves may make it difficult to keep a straight line. If a lock is coming up you could ask if you took the lock first so as to do the overtaking there. And don't forget to say thank you too.

Timing movements of the boats ina pound between locks helps with keeping the flow of boats going just dodging round each other as you pass to line up for locks/bridge holes.

Not a place to start your first lesson in boat handling! The trip boats run in and out of Bancroft basin at the bottom of the Stratford Canal taking now prisoners and there isn't much room for chucking the boat about to get stern to, alongside the pontoons. It can be windy and to add insult to injury there are always loads of sight seers there to watch you do your worst. I always think that none of them would be able to do any better, so why worry!

There are many bling bends and bridge holes on the canals and I know that some people seem to toot their horn every time. Personally I don't do this, I like peace and quiet. My way of approaching them is to have a suitable speed on, not too slow and not too fast. As I close the point I make sure my bow is visible through the bridge hole from the other direction, even if I can't see myself. I will start the bow swinging just as we get to the obstacle so that when there the bow is just on the st'bd side of the channel, if a wide canal/bridge hole, or just in the centre if a narrow canal/bridge hole. If there is another boat coming at speed it gives you some chance to move the bow either way to avoid an head on collision. The moderate speed is also such that an emergency full astern will take the way off the boat. As frequently happens there is a bit of a Mexican stand off at a\pinch point. Neither helmsman is sure who is going. This is normally followed by a lot of indistinct arm waving. Please do large and simple actions to indicate what you are trying to convey.

The Swans Neck on the River Avon is not really the place to meet another boat, but was unavoidable. Just make sure you are well positioned when entering the almost 180deg turn. Is there any deep water on the inside of the bend?

Even when you can see along way you can still do much to reduce problems. If you see you are going to meet another boat approaching a pinch point, why not just slow down in good time to allow the situation to resolve itself. The further away you are the less you actually have to slow down

On the River Avon between Stratford Lock and Colin Whitter Lock we could see one boat heading for the lock, (eventually it winded), and two trip boats just coming to wind above the lock so we hung back and out of the way to let it all go on ahead of us then advanced to take the lock.

Usually there is deep water gully in the canal, and where there is much silting up of the canal it may be that you are not able to go much off the line without touching the bottom. If both boats hold the line until quite close and then each just turn to st'bd a little so the bows miss the interaction of the two boats will mean that th sterns miss too. There is actually no need to be miles apart, just inches is fine. Easy to say, not so easy to do though.

Just treading water waiting for Helen to get the bridge wound up. I like to try to hold my place in the canal, and it is a good way to get a proper feel for how the boat handles, but in a wind don't be embarrassed to get alongside and hold the mid line.

It is difficult to say much about actually maneuvering boats as some have a flair for it and some don't, some have a bow thruster, and some don't. All I would say is, that in my experience, that if you want the boat to turn in a short distance it is always best to start from stopped, or very slow, as that way your travel forward is little.  It is not always necessary to use high revs to achieve the best results. Also please don't think when moving round marinas, pontoons and other boats etc, that you need to do everything by the engine. It is perfectly acceptable to tow the bow or stern round with a line, or walk down the side of another vessel. It is less easy to do on the canals than in open water but I would also advocate letting the wind assist you in your objectives, rather than fighting it. This may mean holding the bow or stern close to the bank and letting the wind blow the other end round after a bit of a shove, or it could be that you go past where you want to be knowing that when you take the way of the boat and start the maneuvre the wind will bring you back to where you really want to be. One of the joys of being on the canals is just sucking it and see, so have a mess about, when you are not upsetting, delaying anybody, and the worst that will probably happen is a bit of a scratched paint.

Banbury, on the Oxford Canal, is another place where it is always busy and plenty of spectators, bridges and locks to test the helmsman.

A bit of a srum to get in the lock at Teddington for the tide down to Brentford or Limehouse. We just let them get on with it and were still in the same pen as the last few.

When venturing on the rivers of the network don't be too worried about the current try to use it to assist you in turns etc. Just like the wind the current can make things much easier for you. An example would be that you can maintain the boats position head to the current with out moving ahead or astern just by using the current. Let the current do the work when turning off the berth etc. Don't forget that 'practice makes perfect'.

This vessel is using both the wind and the current, luckily for us. Had he been going the other way he would have been tacking backwards and forwards across the River Avon, using the wind to make progress against the current.

On the upper Thames there are some wicked bends and bling corners along with the current to contend with. As many of the boats using the river are small cruisers you don't really want to be having an argument with them as it may cost your insurance!

One last thing, please don't listen to Timothy West on the TV programme when we just tells people he has just crashed into that it is a contact sport. It isn't, but these things happen so make sure that if you do make contact make sure your speed is very low and then all your bumps will be little ones!

When navigating on rivers take care not to over estimate your skills. be very aware of the power of moving water and take heed of river levels and current warnings, as it may not be your skill that is found wanting but the engine may not want to play just when you need it.









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