The 'Silly Season' is here!!

[DaveS]

I'm certainly not going to tar all hirers with the same brush, as that would not be justified at all, but what I witnessed this afternoon is a frighteningly common occurrence among hire boaters.

While waiting for Mrs S to announce 'dinner is ready' , I thought I'd take a look at the HD webcams located at the Wroxham Hotel and Barnes Brinkcraft, to see if there was much river traffic, it having been a nice weekend.

I watched a large (38ft +) Barnes hire craft pass the Barnes establishment, heading upstream towards Wroxham Bridge.

Just past Barnes, he commenced an about-turn. He obviously intended to turn the boats 'nose' into the 'cut' (just past Barnes on the left, going upstream).

However, he started the turn too late, and ended up with the bow against the jetty, a few yards past the 'cut'.

Having reversed, and tried again, the boat headed into the cut, and stopped. Thinking that he was now going to reverse out, and point the stern upstream, straighten up, and then head back downstream, having completed the 180 degree turn that he had clearly set out to do.

To my amazement, he then attempts to turn the boat, who's length was almost the width of the 'cut', while inside the confines of the 'cut.

In doing so, he reverses into moored private boat, before going forward and hitting another moored private boat.

This process is repeated, before he finally makes it out of the ‘cut’, albeit not without a guy with his legs hanging over the bow, frantically pushing against one of the moored boats, to prevent it being hit again.

Bearing in mind, that he had just come past the entrance to Barnes dock, as he headed upstream to attempt his disastrous about-turn, he now turns into Barnes dock. I guess returning the boat.

As he gets inside, a guy jumps off the back with a mooring line, but the guy at the helm still has the boat in gear and moving forward, dragging the guy with the mooring line with both feet skidding along the ground, and his arm about to be wrenched from their sockets.

Eventually he sees sense and lets go of the mooring rope.

The farce doesn’t end there, but I’m getting tired of typing it up.

If it weren’t for the risk that these people pose to our boats, it would be funny, but if you happen to be on the ‘receiving end’ of one of these hapless people, it really isn’t funny at all.

Dave

[Guest]

Oh my gosh, now makes sense to stay where I am on the Gt Ouse only fighting coffin dodgers on there lol but nothing like the traffic either even in rush hour hire craft coming by

[RedRover]

I'm certainly not going to tar all hirers with the same brush, as that would not be justified at all, but what I witnessed this afternoon is a frighteningly common occurrence among hire boaters.

While waiting for Mrs S to announce 'dinner is ready' , I thought I'd take a look at the HD webcams located at the Wroxham Hotel and Barnes Brinkcraft, to see if there was much river traffic, it having been a nice weekend.

I watched a large (38ft +) Barnes hire craft pass the Barnes establishment, heading upstream towards Wroxham Bridge.

Just past Barnes, he commenced an about-turn. He obviously intended to turn the boats 'nose' into the 'cut' (just past Barnes on the left, going upstream).

However, he started the turn too late, and ended up with the bow against the jetty, a few yards past the 'cut'.

Having reversed, and tried again, the boat headed into the cut, and stopped. Thinking that he was now going to reverse out, and point the stern upstream, straighten up, and then head back downstream, having completed the 180 degree turn that he had clearly set out to do.

To my amazement, he then attempts to turn the boat, who's length was almost the width of the 'cut', while inside the confines of the 'cut.

In doing so, he reverses into moored private boat, before going forward and hitting another moored private boat.

This process is repeated, before he finally makes it out of the ‘cut’, albeit not without a guy with his legs hanging over the bow, frantically pushing against one of the moored boats, to prevent it being hit again.

Bearing in mind, that he had just come past the entrance to Barnes dock, as he headed upstream to attempt his disastrous about-turn, he now turns into Barnes dock. I guess returning the boat.

As he gets inside, a guy jumps off the back with a mooring line, but the guy at the helm still has the boat in gear and moving forward, dragging the guy with the mooring line with both feet skidding along the ground, and his arm about to be wrenched from their sockets.

Eventually he sees sense and lets go of the mooring rope.

The farce doesn’t end there, but I’m getting tired of typing it up.

If it weren’t for the risk that these people pose to our boats, it would be funny, but if you happen to be on the ‘receiving end’ of one of these hapless people, it really isn’t funny at all.

Dave

Know what you mean Dave,seen it many many times every year,

i got hit 3 times by hireboats last year on the northern broads and the people on them were in there late fifties so its not just daft youngsters its daft older ones whos should know better but i am afraid they do not..

[Guest]

Hi Dave

i also was watching this at the time.... they need to pay more attention to the demonstration or do some dummy runs where there are no places to hit other boaters so you get use to mooring & handling the boat...

Jonny

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

They`re the sort of morrons that just turn round and say "who cares, it`s not my boat, and besides, it`s insured". I wonder how many other boats he`s hit during the week/weekend?. I`ve always said that a first timer should always hire on the northern rivers where the tides are much easier, imagine what carnage could prevail if they were to do that on a fast flowing spring tide on the Yare or Waveney?.

[Stranger]

you know what hire boats need dont you bump sensors fitting to them that can be checked when they get back to the hirer just plug in the computer type and charge them apropriately

[mbird]

They`re the sort of morrons that just turn round and say "who cares, it`s not my boat, and besides, it`s insured".

That's a bit harsh, and a bit of a generalisation I think Neil.... There are a very, very small minority who do have that attitude, that same as they would if driving a car, but by far the vast majority are simply inexperienced and don't have much idea of the size of the boat or how it reacts to helm inputs. Couple that with being unsure how a boat reacts or can be manoevered, and you have a recipe for altercation. Wilfully ramming other boats is another matter, but simply "getting in a pickle" is understandable.

I couldn't successfully manoever an articulated lorry with just half an hour instruction I'm sure.

[teadaemon]

you know what hire boats need dont you bump sensors fitting to them that can be checked when they get back to the hirer just plug in the computer type and charge them apropriately

How would bump sensors be able to tell the difference between nudging a quayheading and bumping into another boat? Where will I (and others doing my job) find the time to go around plugging every boat into a computer, downloading and interpreting all of that data, in addition to all of the other jobs that need doing to get the boats ready to go out again? Given that most hirers are perfectly capable of taking a boat out for a week or two without causing any damage to anyone or anything, is this really a sensible and proportionate response, or just a solution in need of a problem?

[Hockham Admiral]

I couldn't successfully manoeuvre an articulated lorry with just half an hour instruction I'm sure.

They get as much as that, Mark???

More like 10 mins!

[DaveS]

I couldn't successfully manoever an articulated lorry with just half an hour instruction I'm sure.

That is why you wouldn't be allowed to drive one on the road, until you had proved that you could, and the same goes for any motor vehicle.

Yet, a person who has perhaps never driven a boat in his or her life, can hire a large hire boat, perhaps weighing several tonnes, and drive it around on busy waterways.

I agree that the majority of resulting accidents are down to inexperience and not moronic behaviour, but the end result is the same. Damage to both the hired boat and others.

What I witnessed yesterday is all to frequently seen on the Broads, and the scars and scuffs displayed by pretty much every hire boat, is testament to this.

Unfortunately, its a 'catch 22' situation, as the hire boat industry is an important source of income for the Broads, in terms of waterways maintenance, and income for local business.

The Broads infrastructure could not survive without the Tolls income from both the Hire Boat industry, and Private Craft. The income from either sector alone, would not be enough to sustain this, so both the hire and private sector are needed.

What the answer to the ‘bump and bash’ boating displayed by hire boats driven by inexperienced people is, I honestly don’t know.

I guess to the hire boat industry, having their boats knocked about, is an acceptable part of ‘the game’, but to the private owner who’s moored ‘pride and joy’ is left scuffed or damaged, it most certainly isn’t.

I think it would be very safe to draw the conclusion, that the guy I saw hit two moored private boats yesterday, didn’t report the fact to Barnes Brinkcraft, saying:

“Oh by the way, I just hit two moored boats just across the river from here, but I don’t know if I caused any damage, because I didn’t bother to lookâ€.

Now in fairness, I have seen some less than competent boat handling among the private boating fraternity, but just not on the same scale as among the hiring community.

When you are with your boat, you can take action to avoid situation, even to fending off another boat making a ‘cock-up’ of trying to moor next to you. Its when you boats is moored and unattended (just like the two boats hit yesterday), that’s the worry.

Dave

[senator]

I started as a hirer and made a point of only hitting other hire boats

Seriously though I admit to hitting a few things, A quay heading, a Boat, a tree (long story) but did not report them because no one sank so I didn't think I had too. You only need to look at Blakes website under the heading Accidents to see the current attitude to them.

From Blakes website under the heading Accidents

"They do happen! Boating is an inexact science and so no-one gets it right all the time. But nobody worries and the boat is built to withstand all sorts of indiscretions".

Being honest I do not think I actually caused any damage apart from a broken plastic air vent on the boat we were on but if there was an. 'every collision with another boat must be recorded and reported regardless of damage' situation and owners/hirers alike were encouraged to report anything they saw, then at least there would be some sort of record if an owner returned to his boat to find the bow hanging off.

I would say most of the accidents are a result of inexperience rather than recklessness, it would still be nice if you knew who had hit your boat though.

[Guest]

Yet, a person who has perhaps never driven a boat in his or her life, can hire a large hire boat, perhaps weighing several tonnes, and drive it around on busy waterways.

The Broads has always been fairly unique in that respect.

I believe hiring narrow boats on Canals doesn't require anything other than a few minutes instruction either, but in all other areas of the UK where you wish to hire "or charter" a habitable boat for a few days, some form of experience is requested. (Scottish & Irish Lochs & Loughs etc.), and anything coastal required RYA certification usually.

It's quite true that damage to private boats is usually non-culpable, but there are many instances of the inconsiderate minority seeming to enjoy it, as can be seen by the exploits on YouTube.

[pks1702]

How about reversing sensors

[quo vadis]

How about some of these

[Guest]

isn't there a slight danger in misinterpreting what you see on a web cam ?

while your estimation of what was happening was in all likelyhood correct it is possible there was maybe a problem ?

i say this cos we once had a similar situation that was misinterpreted by all around us.

A few years ago while hiring majestic gem from ridchardsons the steering pin fell out mid river resulting in the loss of the steering (obviously ) we proceeded to struggle to get the boat into the bank on a very busy river eventually we managed to nose in to the trees and with a lot of messing around get safely moored up on a private mooring between ranworth and horning. due to our location richardsons had to come out by boat so it took a little while. Being polite people we went up to the house to inform them of our problem and assure them we would be gone as soon as possible. We then did what comes natural put the kettle on and sat out the back in the sun with a cup of tea. countless boats passed us and several shouted abuse at us, one actually crossing over to shout about are ability to read etc. In the end we put up a red flag (something we read in the manual about distress signals.) another hire boat offered assistance but no body else did and we still got horns blown at us and some truly amazing gesturing . don't get me wrong the majority of people just ignored us but we did feel intimidated by some

So you see wat you see might not be what you think, i wonder what comments we would have got if we had been on a webcam

its 47 days to my next broads fix and i can't wait but i think i will be avoiding web cams lol

mandy

[DaveS]

isn't there a slight danger in misinterpreting what you see on a web cam ?

Indeed that can be the case Mandy, albeit the fact that he was able proceed back down river, turn the boat into Barnes dock, and then make several back and forth shunts would indicate exactly where the problem lay, ten minutes earlier.

Mechanical problems can strike any of us, privateer or hirer, and as you experienced, the less well informed can completely misinterpret the situation, and mock rather than offer assistance.

This does not help an already difficult situation, and enforces the old saying "there's nowt as ***** as folk".

Here's hoping that you have a problem free, and enjoyable time on your forthcoming Broads holiday.

Dave

[BuffaloBill]

Myself and Jenny were sat by the bridge eating a pizza and saw what was

happening. He got it wrong with the turn big time, and we first thought he

was heading for the Shed! The boat he hit with the bow was a Calypso

and belongs to a friend of ours who hadn't been long left it to go into town

in the car to get chips for the journey home. I did check it for him later and

there was no damage except a scuff mark so lucky really!

When we first bought our boat, we were moored on the riverside where the

Barnes boat is now and we were "Keen" to get a propper mooring after nearly

being hit several times.

There proberbly isn't an answer to this as learning helming cannot be done in

a few hours even, let alone the time allocated for each boat.