Diglis Basin, Worcester and River Severn

[Ace 01]

Broad locks between River Severn and Diglis Basin Worcester and Birmingham Canal currently padlocked shut due to high river levels and flow and expected to stay that way for several days. The local CaRT guy tried to dissuade two boat crews on hire boats (from the same hire company) who independently locked down into the river Sunday. Neither listened to him and one is now on the weir boom at Diglis, the elderly gent on board being rescued by the local Fire and Rescue boats ( 3 crews). Cheers. David.

[nicknorman]

Broad locks between River Severn and Diglis Basin Worcester and Birmingham Canal currently padlocked shut due to high river levels and flow and expected to stay that way for several days. The local CaRT guy tried to dissuade two boat crews on hire boats (from the same hire company) who independently locked down into the river Sunday. Neither listened to him and one is now on the weir boom at Diglis, the elderly gent on board being rescued by the local Fire and Rescue boats ( 3 crews). Cheers. David.

Not totally accurate for the second bit. The hire boat went onto the river when it was open but in the amber. He had comprehensive instructions from the hire base to turn left (the lock entrance onto the river is markedly angled) and then wind in the still waters near the entrance to the river lock. However he decided to pick up his wife by turning sharp left onto the pontoon and put nose into a 6' gap between moored boats. Some chap on a wooden boat on the pontoon took exception to this and waved him away angrily, saying "go and turn over there" gesticulating towards the large area of water in front of the weir. So the boater foolishly started to turn the other way, making the turn towards the weir. Chickened out 1/2 way round and hit reverse but needless to say couldn't reverse faster than the current so ended up on the weir. He'd had charge of the boat for an hour.

 

Moral: never turn towards a weir. Always turn away from a weir. But we knew that!

 

This was all on Sunday but the boat remains on the weir because CRT say there is too much current, something that wouldn't have happened under BW apparently. Boat is listing from the undertow, front doors are open, river is rising so it may or may not sink.

 

I did ask the hire base lady if they'd given him another boat but she gave me THAT look which I think meant "no". Apparently they are staying in a local hotel because all their stuff is still in the boat. Apparently the fire brigade don't allow you packing time when rescuing you from a weir.

 

Yes he made a critical mistake but let's not ridicule him for it. There but for the grace of God...

Edited April 12, 2016 by nicknorman

[fergyguy]

There does seem to be lessons to be learned from this and as a newbie to the boating world may I just remind you seasoned boaters like us you started out with little or no boating knowledge and your wealth of experience has come about through some study a lot of on the job learning guidance from others and no doubt lots of foolish mistakes lol....I for one will be seeking guidence once we are on the water and expect to make my share of errors and mistakes . Maybe the poor chap would have been better boating on a slow and steady canal as his learning patch.

[Richard Fairhurst]

However he decided to pick up his wife by turning sharp left onto the pontoon and put nose into a 6' gap between moored boats. Some chap on a wooden boat on the pontoon took exception to this and waved him away angrily, saying "go and turn over there" gesticulating towards the large area of water in front of the weir.

 

Presumably the pontoon in question was the visitor moorings rather than the lock landing?

[nicknorman]

Presumably the pontoon in question was the visitor moorings rather than the lock landing?

I think they are one and the same. Possibly a section is designated as lock landing but if it is I didn't notice.

Edited April 13, 2016 by nicknorman

[PaulG]

 

Presumably the pontoon in question was the visitor moorings rather than the lock landing?

Yes, there's one down by the entrance to the lock cut by Diglis Park

There's a large basin there as well that I think is a disused oil terminal, and I think this is where the hire company had told him to wind.

Edited April 13, 2016 by PaulG

[john6767]

I think they are one and the same. Possibly a section is designated as lock landing but if it is I didn't notice.

Unless it has change in the last year of so there are 2 pontoons, one by the canal lock which is the lock landing, and then a larger one nearer to the river lock which is visitor moorings.

[nicknorman]

No the basin is blocked off. But plenty of room to wind in the slack waters of the lock cut.

Unless it has change in the last year of so there are 2 pontoons, one by the canal lock which is the lock landing, and then a larger one nearer to the river lock which is visitor moorings.

There are 2 pontoons as you say, but the one by the canal lock is a long one and visitor morning is allowed for at least some of it. The one by the river lock is also a water point mooring.

[BMC problems]

Some chap on a wooden boat on the pontoon took exception to this and waved him away angrily, saying "go and turn over there" gesticulating towards the large area of water in front of the weir.

 

Am I the only one who finds this disturbing?

[ditchcrawler]

I had a feeling there was a notice telling you to go down to the mouth of the lock to wind

[nicknorman]

I had a feeling there was a notice telling you to go down to the mouth of the lock to wind

There may well be, but in any case that was the clear written and verbal instruction from the hire company

[PaulG]

 

Am I the only one who finds this disturbing?

Depends on the curcumstances.

If you are on a relatively fragile wooden boat and you see 20 tonnes of steel narrowboat bearing down on you with the current (and therefore is very unlikely to stop), you might just invite the steerer to "Foxtrot Oscar".

On the other hand, if he really did direct the steerer in the direction of the weir, I hope that he didn't appreciate what the result was going to be.

If he did, then it is disturbing, as you say.

[Ace 01]

Update. The hire boat was moved backwards about 70ft yesterday and it's stern is now near the bank and securely fixed. Apparently CaRT are waiting for the water level to drop sufficiently to a safe level to recover it. The second hire boaters argued with the CaRT employee who suggested that as the river was in the red that they didn't proceed onto the river. They replied that the hire company had said it was OK to go onto the river and they were experienced hirers, so experienced that they managed to hang up their boat on the cill of the bottom lock and tried poling it off. The only reason they didn't sink in the lock was the higher Water level in the river. They also didn't know how to get off the cill (we had to help them). They turned down by the old oil terminal and picked the rest of their crew up on the way back up river and were last seen heading very slowly upstream fighting the flow.

 

The water level then on the gauge was about 2ft, it is now 5ft 3inches.

 

Cheers

 

David.

[john6767]

It seems nuts that this hire company is sending people out onto the river in these conditions.

 

No the basin is blocked off. But plenty of room to wind in the slack waters of the lock cut.

There are 2 pontoons as you say, but the one by the canal lock is a long one and visitor morning is allowed for at least some of it. The one by the river lock is also a water point mooring.

It must have changed then, that is not how I remember it and checking google maps that shows it how I remember it. So is the lock pontoon now the longer of the 2, before it was really only big enough for one boat as shown here.

[nicknorman]

I'm a bit confused by what you're saying. In your pic is the long pontoon which is the combined VM and canal lock landing. There is no other pontoon in shot is there? But there is also the river lock pontoon 100 yds or so to the right of shot.

 

Edit: do you mean the tiny thing near the lock mouth? If so it either wasn't there any more, or it was submerged.

Edited April 13, 2016 by nicknorman

[john6767]

I'm a bit confused by what you're saying. In your pic is the long pontoon which is the combined VM and canal lock landing. There is no other pontoon in shot is there? But there is also the river lock pontoon 100 yds or so to the right of shot.

 

Edit: do you mean the tiny thing near the lock mouth? If so it either wasn't there any more, or it was submerged.

The long one was the visitor mooring and the short one the lock mooring. So I think the confusion is that the lock mooring pontoon is no longer there, and there is just the one pontoon, which has part of it designated a lock mooring and part visitor.

[nicknorman]

The long one was the visitor mooring and the short one the lock mooring. So I think the confusion is that the lock mooring pontoon is no longer there, and there is just the one pontoon, which has part of it designated a lock mooring and part visitor.

Having ignored the stern advice from the lock keeper and braved the wild and tumultuous flow of at least 2mph I miraculously <sarcasm smiley> did have time to notice a couple of metal poles / columns near the lock entrance which I guess used to have a small pontoon attached. Presumably not structurally rated beyond CRT's estimate of the most extreme and terrible boat destroying current of 3 mph and therefore washed away at the first sign of drizzle.

[Richard Fairhurst]

There are two pontoons. Both are floating pontoons so shouldn't in theory be submerged. If the lock landing were submerged I'd personally take that as a pretty clear sign not to go out onto the river (though YMMV).

 

The small one immediately south (downstream) of the entrance to the canal locks is a lock landing only, and not available for visitor mooring. It's still there, or at least it was when I used it last week!

 

The long one closer to the weir is a genuine bona fide visitor mooring.

 

If the hire-boater was trying to pick up his wife then he should have done it on the lock landing rather than trying to nose into the visitor mooring. It doesn't excuse angry gesticulation from the wooden boat-owner, but pointing your bows into a 6ft space, facing downstream, while the river is up doesn't sound the safest of strategies to me.

I had a feeling there was a notice telling you to go down to the mouth of the lock to wind

 

Yes, there is (new last year, I think).

Edited April 13, 2016 by Richard Fairhurst

[Flyboy]

The long one was the visitor mooring and the short one the lock mooring. So I think the confusion is that the lock mooring pontoon is no longer there, and there is just the one pontoon, which has part of it designated a lock mooring and part visitor.

When I went past there last September I seem to recall that the lock landing & visitor moorings were combined into one long pontoon. The Google image must be way out of date.

[nicknorman]

Well I drove into the canal lock at close quarters to the long pontoon. I'm 99% certain that there were just 2 long poles of the sort a smal pontoon might have been attached to near the lock mouth. I remember wondering what they were for and increasing my seperation slightly in case there was an underwater obstruction. The level was in the red but not by much, certainly a long way from flooding. I guess only a site visit will clear this up!

Edited April 13, 2016 by nicknorman

[Richard Fairhurst]

I'll try to remember to take a pic next time I'm at the boat (we moor in Diglis Basin).

 

As well as the poles, and the pontoon, there is of course a ramp leading between the towpath and the pontoon. "Ramp has floated off downstream" really would be an indicator to me to leave the river well alone.

[Captain Pegg]

As others have said there certainly were two pontoons. The one immediately below the junction of the W&B for use as a lock landing and a larger one below it for visitor moorings. Although distinct from one another they are (or were) both set against the same wall downstream of the W&B junction as distinct from being immediately upstream of Diglis lock. I think that both are actually captured in the aerial view posted above but the lock landing is mostly in shadow and not easily visible.

 

Looking at the picture in the Worcester News article it appears to be a blue coloured boat so not an Alvechurch or Viking boat from Lowesmoor. It is more likely either a Canal Boat Club boat or possibly one of Diamond Resorts share boats. If the latter it might explain why it was allowed on to the river on amber.

 

The advice Lowesmoor marina give is to turn in the slack water above Diglis lock but it is possible at times of low flow to turn below the junction but by heading out to the far side of the river and turning back across the flow to the lock landing heading up stream. The only sign I am aware of is fixed to the northern side of the wall above the W&B junction and is therefore only visible to craft heading downstream. It says it is dangerous to turn immediately below the junction and directs craft to turn immediately above Diglis lock.

 

JP

[nicknorman]

As others have said there certainly were two pontoons. The one immediately below the junction of the W&B for use as a lock landing and a larger one below it for visitor moorings. Although distinct from one another they are (or were) both set against the same wall downstream of the W&B junction as distinct from being immediately upstream of Diglis lock. I think that both are actually captured in the aerial view posted above but the lock landing is mostly in shadow and not easily visible.

Looking at the picture in the Worcester News article it appears to be a blue coloured boat so not an Alvechurch or Viking boat from Lowesmoor. It is more likely either a Canal Boat Club boat or possibly one of Diamond Resorts share boats. If the latter it might explain why it was allowed on to the river on amber.

The advice Lowesmoor marina give is to turn in the slack water above Diglis lock but it is possible at times of low flow to turn below the junction but by heading out to the far side of the river and turning back across the flow to the lock landing heading up stream. The only sign I am aware of is fixed to the northern side of the wall above the W&B junction and is therefore only visible to craft heading downstream. It says it is dangerous to turn immediately below the junction and directs craft to turn immediately above Diglis lock.

JP

It was out from Lowesmoor which is how I got the "inside story" - we stopped there for diesel.

I'll try to remember to take a pic next time I'm at the boat (we moor in Diglis Basin).

 

As well as the poles, and the pontoon, there is of course a ramp leading between the towpath and the pontoon. "Ramp has floated off downstream" really would be an indicator to me to leave the river well alone.

I'd be interested to see a current picture. It's starting to sound as though I've mis-remembered it.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I think there's an additional "where to turn" sign on the swing-bridge as you leave the canal, but not 100% sure.

 

Pic certainly looks like a Diamond Resorts (ABC-administered) boat.

[john6767]

Just to prove that I am not nuts, here is an image from google that shows the lock mooring pontoon by the canal lock.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.182248,-2.22428,3a,75y/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s50315777!2e1!3e10!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2FGEsGZUwyQeSJfjmoWiBj51BsHMVgWMUGSg4yndSi_sur4p6UgIEgxrZw9_-yFVll_URoNuZUFpWVMTpgB3nkoSv_uQ3XdA%3Dw203-h152!7i3648!8i2736

 

and another that just shows the ramp

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.182188,-2.223797,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1s62362620!2e1!3e10!6s%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2F0Ybz8fSq1hShAqpeCDmrfITNP2cogg7zVWp2qgm3mwBPyw2GaaKXlnfCg3kY2-P4XtF7wpj96dpJ_LcWmcBnvL3Ayxq2HA%3Dw203-h135!7i3872!8i2592