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And in third place....


mayalld

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And the winner of third prize in the "Mayall Inland Waterways hall of shame" goes to;

 

"The Narrowboat Trust" in recognition of their complete ineptness in navigating their vessels.

 

Accompanied by a special mention in dispatches for being the authors of their own hillarious downfall so soon after their boorish behaviour had caused irritation to so many.

 

I will also state up-front that both this entry and the first placed entry share a common theme, and the distinction of being members of the only group of boaters where we can honestly say that membership of that group was a factor in their behaviour.

 

Yes, I can also anounce this years winner of the group prize as "pretend working boatmen"

 

Our first encounter with this bunch (and I say bunch advisedly, as it apparently takes no less than 12 individuals to work a loaded pair) came as we were moored on the visitor moorings at Rugby, and they passed through with a pair loaded with bagged coal, making not even a token attempt to ease off the throttle, making a breaking wash that would have been out of order even on a stretch with no moored boats along a stretch of canal lined with moored boats on both sides.

 

Inevitably, just about every boat that was moored with pins found itself adrift, and as a chorus of people protested about the excessive speed, they were shouted at by the steerer of the butty that as they didn't steer a loaded pair, they didn't understand that it was really a rather tricky thing to do, and absolutely necessary for them to pass through at top speed.

 

Well, pardon me guys, but this particular peasant has actually towed heavy stuff in his time, and knows damn well that it can be done without behaving like this.

 

Anyway, duly provisioned courtesy of Messrs Tesco, we continued south.

 

Ah but what scene was to greet us at Hillmorton. At the bottom pair, the crew of 12 were rushing around in a wholly unnecessary fashion to work the pair up, and eventually they set off for the middle locks, as we worked up the bottom lock.

 

We rounded the corner to the middle locks, and found a scene of complete disarray...

 

The motor was sat in the jaws of the towpath side lock, and the crew were instructing the crew of the hire boat coming down not to empty the lock. The butty was across the cut, fouling the entrance to the empty off-side lock.

 

After 15 minutes waiting for them to sort themselves out, it transpired that they had been going too fast between the locks, and that the motor steerer had pulled up, letting the tow rope slack and got it round his prop, ending up ramming the lower jaws of the towpath side lock, whilst in all the confusion, the butty steerer had forgotten to steer for the open off-side lock and run hard aground.

 

It took a further 15 minutes for them to haul the butty away, and concede the off-side lock to us, and to get the motor away from the towpath side lock, to allow the clearly frightened lady steering the hire boat to scrape out of the lock, and judging by the time they later passed us, about 3 hours to fix the problem.

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And the winner of third prize in the "Mayall Inland Waterways hall of shame" goes to;

 

"The Narrowboat Trust" in recognition of their complete ineptness in navigating their vessels.

 

Accompanied by a special mention in dispatches for being the authors of their own hillarious downfall so soon after their boorish behaviour had caused irritation to so many.

 

I will also state up-front that both this entry and the first placed entry share a common theme, and the distinction of being members of the only group of boaters where we can honestly say that membership of that group was a factor in their behaviour.

 

Yes, I can also anounce this years winner of the group prize as "pretend working boatmen"

 

Our first encounter with this bunch (and I say bunch advisedly, as it apparently takes no less than 12 individuals to work a loaded pair) came as we were moored on the visitor moorings at Rugby, and they passed through with a pair loaded with bagged coal, making not even a token attempt to ease off the throttle, making a breaking wash that would have been out of order even on a stretch with no moored boats along a stretch of canal lined with moored boats on both sides.

 

Inevitably, just about every boat that was moored with pins found itself adrift, and as a chorus of people protested about the excessive speed, they were shouted at by the steerer of the butty that as they didn't steer a loaded pair, they didn't understand that it was really a rather tricky thing to do, and absolutely necessary for them to pass through at top speed.

 

Well, pardon me guys, but this particular peasant has actually towed heavy stuff in his time, and knows damn well that it can be done without behaving like this.

 

Anyway, duly provisioned courtesy of Messrs Tesco, we continued south.

 

Ah but what scene was to greet us at Hillmorton. At the bottom pair, the crew of 12 were rushing around in a wholly unnecessary fashion to work the pair up, and eventually they set off for the middle locks, as we worked up the bottom lock.

 

We rounded the corner to the middle locks, and found a scene of complete disarray...

 

The motor was sat in the jaws of the towpath side lock, and the crew were instructing the crew of the hire boat coming down not to empty the lock. The butty was across the cut, fouling the entrance to the empty off-side lock.

 

After 15 minutes waiting for them to sort themselves out, it transpired that they had been going too fast between the locks, and that the motor steerer had pulled up, letting the tow rope slack and got it round his prop, ending up ramming the lower jaws of the towpath side lock, whilst in all the confusion, the butty steerer had forgotten to steer for the open off-side lock and run hard aground.

 

It took a further 15 minutes for them to haul the butty away, and concede the off-side lock to us, and to get the motor away from the towpath side lock, to allow the clearly frightened lady steering the hire boat to scrape out of the lock, and judging by the time they later passed us, about 3 hours to fix the problem.

 

Why not send them an email drawing their attention to your post?

There are plenty of contacts given on the NBT website.

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:lol:

 

Richard

 

(although I'm a bit worried to know if I'm 2nd or 1st place)

 

Well, you already know that one of the top two places goes to another fake working boat.

 

I can also reveal that both the top two places were sporting beards if that sets your mind at rest.

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Well, you already know that one of the top two places goes to another fake working boat.

 

I can also reveal that both the top two places were sporting beards if that sets your mind at rest.

 

Phew, I'm OK.

 

Phylis's partner?

 

DSC00454.jpg

 

Richard

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Phew, I'm OK.

 

Phylis's partner?

 

DSC00454.jpg

 

Richard

 

Nah,

 

both were sporting white beards.

 

That might narrow it down a bit, but it does seem that the owners of white beards are over-represented in the faux-working-boat fraternity.

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I am suprised that none of the boaters who,s boats were set adrift when the pins were pulled out have been on any of the various canal site /newsgroups advertising and shaming the working boats and the twelve good men who are causing such havoc.

If they are behaving in this way along whole canals or just long sections of a canal why are they not on top with bw .

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don't think it matter what the boats are called, the real issue is 12 people can't run 2 boats without causing mayhem. i have run with 2 boats single handed on several occasions and had no real problems as im sure several others have done in the past.

an incompetent crew will be an incompetent crew no matter what you try to teach them.

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Was it windy???

 

I ask because I've once needed to run hell for leather on a butty to get back to meet a deadline, and in the wind that was blowing, and bear in mind it was gale force, the only way of keeping the butty anywhere near under control was to floor it.

 

If it wasn't I'm stood right behind you.

 

Where's Hairy Neil when you need him?

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You seem to have forgotten to mention the names of the boats, Dave.

 

Brighton and Nuneaton

 

I have a nominee for a particular "working" boat who's practices leave much to be desired - it will be interesting if you name it.

 

Oh, do nominate!

 

I wouldn't wish to spoil the surprise for a future installment.

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don't think it matter what the boats are called, the real issue is 12 people can't run 2 boats without causing mayhem. i have run with 2 boats single handed on several occasions and had no real problems as im sure several others have done in the past.

an incompetent crew will be an incompetent crew no matter what you try to teach them.

Part of their problem is that they think they know it all. They pick up ideas for 'old' techniques from old boatmen and better boaters without fully understanding what's involved.

Pass that on to amateurs and a disaster looms.

And what about the 'professionals' who are running around the midlands 'running the blocks'. Fine for them but causing problems for folk who dont know what is going on.

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Brighton and Nuneaton

If they were in that order, you may have uncovered the flaw in their strategy for boating with a pair!

 

I'll leave my main annoying fake working boat out of it, but have to say when I have seen the NBT boats moving, they are seldom worked with anything like the skill of those owned by individuals, (in my experience).

 

Ditto, Nutfield and Raymond, unfortunately.

 

President & Kildare, despite a crew of "many" usually seem to do better, but I'm sure that my occasional observations are not a fair judgement on all of these "trust owned" working boats.

 

Lately I have been more concerned about silly goings on with community boats - we really have seen some pretty dangerous happenings, and if I were a parent, would be very unhappy to have my kids on some of the boats involved. A serious accident, I'm afraid, will happen, eventually.

 

 

Oh, do nominate!

 

I wouldn't wish to spoil the surprise for a future installment.

Thinking about it, I doubt the boat I'm thinking of would have made it to anywhere you were boating, but then you never know.

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I couldn't agree more about the dangerous practices on some community boats. We severed our connection with the Community Boats Association when their emphasis changed from running boats to running courses on what they saw as gender and race issues affecting access to the waterways. To teach good boating skills you need experienced steerers not PC apparatchiks. Regards, HughC.

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I couldn't agree more about the dangerous practices on some community boats. We severed our connection with the Community Boats Association when their emphasis changed from running boats to running courses on what they saw as gender and race issues affecting access to the waterways. To teach good boating skills you need experienced steerers not PC apparatchiks. Regards, HughC.

 

Hmm,

 

once I've done the top 3, I may well do a brief article for those that didn't quite make the top 3!

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I think when you saw it, it had just come off the Thames

 

Nope.

 

The only boat that we saw that had just come off the Thames was a trip boat, and they caused us no particular problems.

 

Were you on it?

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Part of their problem is that they think they know it all. They pick up ideas for 'old' techniques from old boatmen and better boaters without fully understanding what's involved.

Charlie Atkins told me that in his youth he used to be a wild boater, but that after one escapade he was called into the Midland & Coast office. There, the incident book was brought out. He was shown his page, which was full, and then an older boater's, which was empty. He was then told he would be out of a job unless he changed. One problem with the way traditional boating is considered today is that this process was not 'copied' many of the younger boatmen in the '50s and '60s, with the result that, to some extent, the careful boating of older generations was lost.

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best example of complete incompetence for me was hotel boats Dawn & Dusk coming up Tardebigge as we went down with Snipe & Taurus.

 

imagine the scene as the 2 motors met the lass on Dawn trying to tell us all about how they were bringing a butty up, going into such intricate detail a lot of which was wrong, well we let her go on for a good 5 minutes before telling her we had Taurus a lock behind us!

haven't laughed so much for a long time :lol::lol:

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best example of complete incompetence for me was hotel boats Dawn & Dusk coming up Tardebigge as we went down with Snipe & Taurus.

 

imagine the scene as the 2 motors met the lass on Dawn trying to tell us all about how they were bringing a butty up, going into such intricate detail a lot of which was wrong, well we let her go on for a good 5 minutes before telling her we had Taurus a lock behind us!

haven't laughed so much for a long time :lol::lol:

 

 

Having had a full performance from Snipe and Taurus a few years back as we all had to moor to let them work through the bottom two at Hurleston (or rather screw up working through) while the motor boats captain hurled insults at all us amateurs what can I say.

 

My favourites for semi pro working was Jupiter and Saturn - in 1978 operating down heartbreak going round those coming up and still sliding into a double chamber each. Compare their smooth operation to President and Kildare coming down Hatton (with some chap forceably telling us steering boats coming up what to do to get out of their way (and blow us) while noting he had no clue about how the water moves in these pounds and how it effects boats below when you draw the paddles above.)

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Charlie Atkins told me that in his youth he used to be a wild boater, but that after one escapade he was called into the Midland & Coast office. There, the incident book was brought out. He was shown his page, which was full, and then an older boater's, which was empty. He was then told he would be out of a job unless he changed. One problem with the way traditional boating is considered today is that this process was not 'copied' many of the younger boatmen in the '50s and '60s, with the result that, to some extent, the careful boating of older generations was lost.

Its a bit like learning to drive. The more practice/experience you have the better you get, even if you never stop learning.

Most of the 'exhibition boats', community boats and the like are operated by amateurs who only get to play every few weeks/months. Many have no other contact with boats, yet they think they know more than folk who boat everyday for years. And Charlie must have realised that there are advantages to being a bit more 'cautious'.

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Its a bit like learning to drive. The more practice/experience you have the better you get, even if you never stop learning.

Most of the 'exhibition boats', community boats and the like are operated by amateurs who only get to play every few weeks/months. Many have no other contact with boats, yet they think they know more than folk who boat everyday for years. And Charlie must have realised that there are advantages to being a bit more 'cautious'.

Shouldn't knock volunters, I'm one myself (Scouting) but we came across a community boat a couple of months ago that had gone aground and needed a bit of a tug, but it soon became obvious that no-one on their boat knew how to tie the rope onto their boat.

 

Barry F

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