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Disabled boating


ditchcrawler

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Following from another post I have just replied to I thought I would start this new thread in Waterways Holidays for disabled boaters. This boat is with Willow Wren at Hillmorton on the Grand Union Canal.http://www.willowwren.co.uk/boats.htmA friend of mine has hired it and was very impressed, it gives you Independence.

 

 

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  • Greenie 1
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I admired the ingenuity of an elderly lady with whom we shared a lock flight recently. She was severely disabled and not able to stand on her cruiser deck and steer.

So she sat by the rail on a box at the side of the deck - well out of the arc of the tiller - and held a three foot pole with a loop on the end. By hooking this round the tiller she was able to push and pull the tiller and hence steer the boat. Very impressive, I thought.

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With regards day boating for local groups, there's the Crusader Community boat which is based at Blisworth Marina - embarking/disembarking from Gayton Junction.

 

Funded by voluntary donations it offers free trips for disabled, disadvantaged and those in care homes: http://www.crusadercommunityboating.org.uk/our-boat.html

 

LCx

Edited by Lady Cassandra
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I once took a number of elderly infirm on a boat designed for disabled somewhere near leicester. The activities manager organised the outing..it stays with me as it poured with rain, they all wanted the toilets and we had sing song. Getting them on and off hard work but bless them they had a great day.

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  • 5 months later...

So pleased to read all this...

boating for allclapping.gif

 

Yes, I'm pleased too but my only qualm is that anyone, able bodied or otherwise, should be able to get off a boat very quickly should the worst happen - cilling in a lock, sinking or a fire for example.

 

When I was on the River Avon which sometimes flooded quite badly, I worried about an elderly woman and her partner living on a broads cruiser. She suffered from hip and knee problems and she struggled to get on and off the boat at the best of times even when river levels were normal. There was no way she'd have been able to get off the boat in a hurry, and not at all in a flood.

 

I know that's an extreme example but I think safety is at risk of being overlooked in favour of "inclusive" boating and I'm afraid the priority always has to be safety and common sense rather than inclusivity and political correctness.

 

Here's an example of when it did go wrong. I remember this one. Of course it could have happended (and has happened) to plently of able bodied boaters too, but disabled people will obviously have less chance of getting out. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/four-disabled-people-die-in-canal-sinking-1172796.html

Edited by blackrose
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