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Bumper Boats...?


catcouk

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My apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

I've read this forum for quite a while, years before I joined. There's always seemed to be a tone from some members that hire boats are the devil incarnate!

I totally get this - any numpty can turn up and take out a boat. But we're not all numpties - I treat each hire boat I have as my own personal pride and joy (whenever I see Contessa, I always call her 'my' boat and get very excited - like today on the lower Bure!). Having said that, I'm falling out of love with our current hire - see my holiday post.

So today, imagine my surprise, as I sat moored up (on my hire boat) as a private boat swapped roles. They came screaming into the mooring, collided quite loudly with the quay heading, and helped themselves to our fenders and bow to stabilise themselves. The current was quite strong and the weather was very wet.

Now, I'm not trying to stir up some sort of rivalry, but I do want to defend us 'mere' hirers. We ALL make the occasional mistake (which today's bumper boats may well have been) - particularly when the weather is particularly rough. I totally understand why private owners feel defensive over their very expensive boats - at the end of the week, I hand my boat back, and don't have to worry about repairs if someone did hit me. But I'm just asking for some patience and understanding - not to mention not being tarred with the same brush.

And I hand over the floor...

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Dear Cat, the point that you are making has a history of support on this and the 'other' forum.  Personally I despair at the lack of ability shown by far too many privateers. You would think that as a matter of pride that they would make some effort to master this boating lark, if only to protect their investment.

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Yes, I was quite bemused. As you say, I'm not sure I could treat my investment like that. But, as I also said, maybe this was just their bad day. I remember an incident involving a very senior and long serving sailing instructor (not to mention ex-Royal Navy).

He was always happy to point out our various mistakes - in a friendly and helpful way of couse. So imagine our great surprise when we saw him land his dinghy ON TOP of the pontoon. He had completely misjudged the wind and just couldn't stop. He was lucky not to cause damage! Fortunately, the pontoon was empty.

I'm not sure I've seen anything funnier. We all have bad days. Needless to say, he was a tad less critical after this one - we ALL had some words of advice for him (well, after we'd finished laughing...).

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22 minutes ago, catcouk said:

I remember an incident involving a very senior and long serving sailing instructor (not to mention ex-Royal Navy).

Ex Naval officers on small boats are often thought of as being as useless as billiard tables, spirit levels, lawn mowers and numerous other similarly useless on small boat thingumabobs. 

The gentleman to which you refer, not a resident of Cantley by any chance?

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Just now, JennyMorgan said:

The gentleman to which you refer, not a resident of Cantley by any chance?

Your comment did make me chuckle.  My Dad is ex-RN and I would have to agree...

No, we're southerners I'm afraid. He's been in Portsmouth his whole life (when he's not been at sea).

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1 minute ago, YnysMon said:

Did they forget to approach the mooring against the tide perchance?

No, I meant to say that - they'd come in against tide correctly. I suspect they rushed their approach or misjudged the strength of tide. They hadn't aimed far enough up tide from us and got pushed onto us. They tried to correct this with speed rather than go around.

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It should never be about privateers v hirers, we're all in it together as they say. I've seen some brilliant helms in both camps but also terrible ones too. 

We can all make mistakes, even me :default_norty: It's how you put those mistakes right that matters I guess

Oh I have pulled off the perfect mooring too and not one person to witness it. I pulled into the Pilots station at Wroxham once, made a right hash of it and guess what, loads of people sat outside having a drink :facepalm:

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8 hours ago, floydraser said:

Good point. We private owners never have a hand over.

No we don't need to introduce tests; we have them for cars some people can't "moor" their cars properly either.:facepalm:

 

I have to disagree with you on that point. Paul at Swancraft spent ages showing me as much as he could. Floor hatches were lifted, he showed me the fuses, trips, explained the inverter and showed me where it and the batteries were, he even pulled the gas cooker out and checked the connections etc. etc. Then he took me out onto the river and showed me how to moor up. Perhaps it would have been different if we had bought from one of the larger boatyards, I can only tell you how it was for me.

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As has been said, privateers don't generally get a handover when they pick up their new boat. Granted that many are ex-hirers and if so they should have an advantage, In the old days we had the 'thupenny bit' test. I'm told that it also applied to chauffeurs driving Rollers. A three penny bit was stood on its edge, and a boat should be moored, or the Roller parked, without the coin falling over! This is a thrupenny bit:  

three penny bit.jpg

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50 minutes ago, Sam said:

I have to disagree with you on that point. Paul at Swancraft spent ages showing me as much as he could. Floor hatches were lifted, he showed me the fuses, trips, explained the inverter and showed me where it and the batteries were, he even pulled the gas cooker out and checked the connections etc. etc. Then he took me out onto the river and showed me how to moor up. Perhaps it would have been different if we had bought from one of the larger boatyards, I can only tell you how it was for me.

Quite right Sam, I didn't put it very well. I guess I was trying to point out that it's very easy for anyone to buy any size boat and take to the water without previous experience.

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50 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

As has been said, privateers don't generally get a handover when they pick up their new boat. Granted that many are ex-hirers and if so they should have an advantage, In the old days we had the 'thupenny bit' test. I'm told that it also applied to chauffeurs driving Rollers. A three penny bit was stood on its edge, and a boat should be moored, or the Roller parked, without the coin falling over! This is a thrupenny bit:  

three penny bit.jpg

And where did you get that much money from?:default_smiley-char054:

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Point of order

Sixty years on the Broads, hirer, owner.  Twenty Four years RN, fast boat coxswain, RYA level 5 etc etc

When I’m on the helm I never make a mistake. That is until we cast off and are underway of course

The infamous Ludham Bridge episode February this year being a fine example :default_blush:

Griff

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