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River Avon,no anchor?


Dave Payne

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2 hours ago, blackrose said:

I agree. I lived on the Avon for 3 years. It's treacherous in flood, but when the river is low you really wouldn't have a problem without an anchor even if your engine cut out above a weir. Just make sure you get a weather forecast first.

I disagree, I live in Evesham and regularly cruise the Avon. On Friday 12/5 the river was below the green on the level boards as we'd had little rain for several weeks; the next day after overnight thunder storms in the midlands it was on amber and remained so for a few days. Even with "a little fresh", it is not a scary river and OK to navigate with a goodish engine and an anchor just in case.

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11 hours ago, blackrose said:

I agree. I lived on the Avon for 3 years. It's treacherous in flood, but when the river is low you really wouldn't have a problem without an anchor even if your engine cut out above a weir. Just make sure you get a weather forecast first.

Blackrose - would you post some of your pictures for the doubters ?

 

Cruising a river in 'good' conditions doesn't go anywhere near preparing you for when the 'fresh' that fell a couple of days before, and a 100 miles away hits the waterway.

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9 hours ago, nikvah said:

I disagree, I live in Evesham and regularly cruise the Avon. On Friday 12/5 the river was below the green on the level boards as we'd had little rain for several weeks; the next day after overnight thunder storms in the midlands it was on amber and remained so for a few days. Even with "a little fresh", it is not a scary river and OK to navigate with a goodish engine and an anchor just in case.

That's why I said to check the weather forecast. Obviously you would also need to know if there had been any rainfall in the catchment area in the past few days as well.

Edited by blackrose
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Blackrose - would you post some of your pictures for the doubters ?

 

Cruising a river in 'good' conditions doesn't go anywhere near preparing you for when the 'fresh' that fell a couple of days before, and a 100 miles away hits the waterway.

The Avon in flood and low water conditions. I did rotate those flood pictures so I'm not sure why they're still upside down - sorry. 

CAM00045.jpg

CAM00047.jpg

CAM00033(1).jpg

CAM00195 - Copy.jpg

Edited by blackrose
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I can't remember where it is but just last year just before one of the locks there was a narrowboat that looked as though it had been pile driven into the river bed. Someone told us it happened during a flood and at the time several attempts had been made to remove it without success.  i wonder if it is still there.  It was a useful illustration of what the river can do.  

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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

The Avon in flood and low water conditions. I did rotate those flood pictures so I'm not sure why they're still upside down - sorry. 

CAM00045.jpg

CAM00047.jpg

CAM00033(1).jpg

CAM00195 - Copy.jpg

 

As these pictures show, when the Avon is in flood you need to deploy the anchor to stop the extra water tipping the world updside down.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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I would not venture onto the Avon without an anchor. I have one but have never had to use it. I thought they were required on rivers and tidal waters, but looking in the CRT  Boaters Guide      ....there is next to nothing said about anchors, at least not resulting from a search for 'Anchor' and 'Anchors'.

Considering the amount of trivia about boating, enough to fill 60 pages, you would think the importance of an anchor and it's use and the safety aspect on rivers and tidal waters, would justify at least a couple of pages of details of types, weights, chains, ropes, length, deployment, etc. 

 

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It's up to each individual boater to decide what how they move their boat and what equipment they carry on board. In general, yes you should carry an anchor and warp for any river - and perhaps that should include canalised rivers and canals with "live" pounds too. I used to live in Brentford on the River Brent which can be quite nasty when the river is in flood, but how many canal boats carry anchors ready to deploy on their way up to the Fox at Hanwell? Not that many I suspect (unless they've just come off the Thames of course).

I was once moored at the Fox at Hanwell (which is below the flight of locks) for a week and I got caught out when the river flooded. I had an anchor but I was moored and the river started coming over the towpath. I was advised by a BW worker who was also moored there to untie and get into the pound above the first lock and above the river. Getting into the lock against the flood coming in from the R Brent wasn't easy. 

So there is an element of common sense in all this. If the weather has been dry and the river is low, then the Avon is like a series of mill ponds which just trickles over the weirs. As WJM said, you'd be hard pressed to get a kayak or canoe over the weirs in those conditions. Bearing in mind it takes about 24 hours for any rain in the catchment area to affect river levels; if the forecast does not show any rain and you're only going to be on the (45 mile) river for a couple of days, then going onto the Avon without an anchor is not an issue, just as it is not an issue on some canalised river sections of the southern GU.

Edited by blackrose
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On 26/05/2017 at 20:30, mrsmelly said:

The question I would ask myself is IF the boat was damaged or heaven forbid a total loss after any sort of engine failure or prop problems etc etc would my insurance company pay out if they could prove or if it was evident use of an anchor would have mitigated such damage/loss.?

Life is full of ifs and buts. A valid serious consideration in my view. 

Obviously up to the individual to assess the risk.

Having said that,we went into the Yorkshire Ouse without life jackets, but we did have an anchor.

We have now decided to 'do' the rivers Severn and Avon to Stratford. Forgotten the idea of Birmingham for now.

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1 minute ago, Dave Payne said:

maybe...

 

Another question, my boat appears to be dragging along the bottom, any ideas?

 

 

 

Yes I've got this BRILLIANT idea. Nothing to do with your boat I'm afraid though. I'm gonna buy loads of cheap narrowboats, take them to London, rent them out on Air BnB and make LOADSAMUNNY. I do hope no-one else has thought of this before me...

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Yes I've got this BRILLIANT idea. Nothing to do with your boat I'm afraid though. I'm gonna buy loads of cheap narrowboats, take them to London, rent them out on Air BnB and make LOADSAMUNNY. I do hope no-one else has thought of this before me...

Can we join forces? Instead of cheap narrowboats I aim to use recycled skips.

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3 hours ago, Dave Payne said:

Right ive got an anchor sorted!

WP_20160825_11_50_38_Pro.jpg

There is a narrowboat visible in the background, so they should be suitable. You only need the one though....

Cue several pages of posts about why all sensible boaters carry at least two anchors, chains, lines etc in case they can't recover the first anchor and run in to a new problem requiring one.

Jenny

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1 minute ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Cue several pages of posts about why all sensible boaters carry at least two anchors, chains, lines etc in case they can't recover the first anchor and run in to a new problem requiring one.

You only need three compasses (or is it compi)? 

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16 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Cue several pages of posts about why all sensible boaters carry at least two anchors, chains, lines etc in case they can't recover the first anchor and run in to a new problem requiring one.

Well - it is the 'norm' to carry both a bower and a kedge, the bower and kedge warps are laid in opposing directions, usually with the bower towards the stronger flow.

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