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Side On Mooring Only?


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I've just read this morning on FB (So it must? be true) that the rangers at Ranworth Staithe are putting signs up stating 'Side on mooring only'

Apparently it is to encourage being anti-social or social distancing as we now refer to it.

So, two 40+ footers and the staithe will be full!  I would have thought stern on mooring with crews being sensible you could still maintain the 2m distance or 6ft in real money.

I wonder if other stern on mooring venues will be adopting the same practise or is it just Ranworth?

Of course this new directive from the Broads Authority will only be in force until social distancing is relaxed

Griff

 

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25 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

I've just read this morning on FB (So it must? be true) that the rangers at Ranworth Staithe are putting signs up stating 'Side on mooring only'

Apparently it is to encourage being anti-social or social distancing as we now refer to it.

So, two 40+ footers and the staithe will be full!  I would have thought stern on mooring with crews being sensible you could still maintain the 2m distance or 6ft in real money.

I wonder if other stern on mooring venues will be adopting the same practise or is it just Ranworth?

Of course this new directive from the Broads Authority will only be in force until social distancing is relaxed

Griff

 

Centre cockpits with roof back could put crews within very close proximity! I guess that is what it is about.

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I suppose we are going to have to put up with all sorts of new rules being made up on the hoof for the rest of this season at least. All very well at the moment but if they ever start hiring cruisers again this summer it won't be so easy!

Still, it's the BA's mooring - I guess they can do what they like with it.

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I guess local chandlers had better stock up on mud weight winches!

I can recommend the Vetus hand cranked version. Easy to operate and doesn't need batteries or hydraulics. Perhaps towed dinghies will also come back into fashion, so we can get ashore from our anchored boat.

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The average broads cruiser is 12ft wide so as long as you are not  on the side decks together I would have thought it was nicely within the guidelines.

As for open canopy's, the helm is always on the same side and the seating tends to be on the opposite so a naturally occuring strategic gap occurs.

 

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10 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

As for open canopy's, the helm is always on the same side

On Broads built boats, maybe, but foreign interlopers don't always follow local custom. I'm told that putting the wheel on the 'wrong' side is to appease Sunday drivers when they are afloat. 

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or just leave a 6 foot gap between boats when mooring and accept the fact you will lose a few mooring spaces, there would be a good business opportunity for someone as a ferry from ship to shore, perhaps they ought to tow a second boat to maintain social distance.

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3 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

On Broads built boats, maybe, but foreign interlopers don't always follow local custom. I'm told that putting the wheel on the 'wrong' side is to appease Sunday drivers when they are afloat. 

Maybe they should travel backwards then they would be safer

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Once again we see the BA doing something without thinking it through - we will be out in the open air and even stern on it would not be too difficult to stay 2m apart!!  No real justification for that in all honesty but what do you expect from the BA in the present circumstances?

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I feel rather sorry for the BA. They feel they need to be seen doing something constructive regarding the virus, yet there's not a lot that they can do. 

I agree that "side on only" mooring isn't perhaps the best option, and that blocking alternate moorings might have been a better one, but at least give the BA credit for trying to do something. Trust me, there would have been enough bricks heading their way had they done nothing!

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Griff,not sure about the common sense idea.Many at time I've seen skippers come into moor boat moving  jump off rope in hand  trying to tie up.Boat still moving,then a few heads pop up from below, what do we do.Thats in a normal year

On a serious note  until  people  are allowed to stay on the boats for any length of time. Most will be private owners and should  be more experienced. 

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1 minute ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

Griff,not sure about the common sense idea.Many at time I've seen skippers come into moor boat moving  jump off rope in hand  trying to tie up.Boat still moving,then a few heads pop up from below, what do we do.Thats in a normal year

On a serious note  until  people  are allowed to stay on the boats for any length of time. Most will be private owners and should  be more experienced. 

:default_biggrin:   :default_gbxhmm:

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There's one good thing about this, there will be no double mooring even with permission, stopping at Yarmouth should be fun.

It will if it gets busy - yes

I quite enjoy double mooring, meeting folk etc.  Strangers are just friends I haven't met yet

Griff

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2 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

As for open canopy's, the helm is always on the same side.

 

Can't think of a Broads built centre cockpit with the helm on the "wrong side".

There was at least one AF38 lowliner with a right hand helm - but they don't have a sliding canopy so I don't suppose it counts.

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14 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Strangers are just friends I haven't met yet

A poignant comment about human interaction, and why we enjoy boating on the Broads and meeting people, either on public moorings or, even better, in pubs.

But how are we now to do this when those we confront are hiding behind masks, hoods and gloves, so all we can see is a pair of terrified eyes, looking at us as though we are about to pull a gun on them?

Excuse me. Perhaps I should have said this on a different thread.

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2 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

On Broads built boats, maybe, but foreign interlopers don't always follow local custom. I'm told that putting the wheel on the 'wrong' side is to appease Sunday drivers when they are afloat.

Interesting, YBW say's it was originally Port side for UK boats, Starboard for US boats.. but Brundall built Crown is on starboard, tad strange, it certainly seems, that larger boats are to starboard or midships .. I guess it's to port on the broads as it's more close helmed and at sea it really doesn't quite matter.. I've never really thought about it..

On topic, I'm surprised public moorings are open.. all them hands and fluids on the mooring bollards.. 

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You would find it very hard, I suspect, to transmit Covid 19 from a rope on a bollard - if you really are worried, then wash your hands!! Who gobs on the ropes anyway? I can guarantee you one thing, and that is you stand far more chance of falling off the boat and dying as you moor, than catching Covid 19 in the manner suggested . Don't forget too, that not everyone who catches it, even gets ill - we have all lost our perspective of whats dangerous and whats not I am afraid!

For what its worth, bearing in mind you will be outside, I just cannot see the risk in mooring alongside unless you really want to get close to the birds on the adjacent boat! It really does not take much to realise that if you sit in the cockpit of your boat, its no real difference between sitting on a park bench or on the grass - and if you feel it is a risk, just move away!! Just tell someone who wants to help you moor though, its not necessary to help!

As Griff said, its not hard to stay that far apart, so why introduce the restriction!! ( It will upset Shrek in the shop if he decides to open!!!! )

 

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https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1282404/fresh-air-coronavirus-catching-risk-virus-sage

"Professor Penn, a member of SAGE, the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. Scientists have said the minor relaxation in lockdown rules earlier this week was allowed because there is a “low risk” of the virus spreading between people outdoors."

Once again the BA appear to be doing something for the sake of being seen to be doing something.

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11 minutes ago, marshman said:

. Don't forget too, that not everyone who catches it, even gets ill - we have all lost our perspective of whats dangerous and whats not I am afraid!

I disagree completely with that. If you're talking about perspective, we should keep in mind about what a dangerous, indiscriminate disease it is and how many people are dying every single day. Not everyone who dies is elderly and not everyone who dies has a pre-existing condition.

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