No Regrets
Well-Known Member
Not a bad weekend overall, a trip down to West India Dock, accompanied by Ramage (Birchwood 33) and another non forum friend Charles (Fairline Carrera) so sadly for them, 8mph tops!
We left Bray on Thursday for an overnighter at Penton Hook, and met up with Ramage to discuss our plans for the voyage ahead.
Friday morning saw up wandering gently down to Tedders to meet Charles in the Fairline, and a further excursion to Imperial Wharf for an overnight stay.
This time, it was a peaceful and calm evening, broken only by an 11pm emergency by the PLA in their Botnia Targa, which looked like it was doing the other side of 35kts upstream, Blues and Twos activated, and most welcome it was too, as very little wash to disturb us! (They usually leave a tremendous wake, and don't care where they leave it...)
Sadly, we learnt that Colin the pier master is off back to Italy, but the new guy seems nice. He's got big boots to fill though...
The following morning involved a bit of tide punching in order to make the early lock into WI, but to ensure a good mooring, and to miss the inevitable rush on the later lock-in.
No issues at all despite it being Ramages first tidal jaunt in his new boat!
After a mediocre BBQ, a quiet night in the Dock, impressive it is, but a bit basic, certainly not St Kats!
Sunday: Early morning boat handling, and an appalling result for No Regrets, but at least we contributed to a 2nd place for Team Bray. Lots learnt at least, and despite the disappointment, I still reckon Boat handling compo's are a must to improve one's ability and knowledge.
The evening food in the Lotus floating restaurant was pretty poor too (This is Docklands FFS, how do they get away with it??) but company grand as always, and an early night for the morning departure to Bray.
Now, come Monday, and a low tide 10am lock-out (With two days to get home) we were faced with the tricky decision to either have a long cruise on Monday, or get up just to, say Hampton Court, and have a long Tuesday...
Any 'fule knose' the former makes more sense, so off we went, aiming for Penton Hook or thereabouts, which is around 40 miles from WI Dock! Things went well until Barnes bridge, where Ramage was forced into shallow water by Rowers (But I'll let him tell you all about that!) and we finally arrived at Molesey lock, where mayhem was the order of the day:-
1/ Idiots eating lunch near the lock entrance while around 20 boats held station...
2/ Selfish gits (i.e. My Lady Joan) asking to raft up, only to jump the queue in spectacular fashion when the lock gates opened (followed by a 7-8 knot rush to overtake five boats on the other side, to gain at least one locking)
3/ Rude gits (e.g. 'Gadget' who just jumped the queue in his Binliner while everybody looked on in amazement!
4/ Trip boats cutting everybody up with no remorse at all.
The last one was really insulting, because we had just had to listen to some smart alick in 'Connaught' which we have been reliably informed was the trip boat involved in the other incident that Rebellion posted last week, announcing to his passengers how foolish private Cruiser owners were paying £5 to use the Richmond lock, when we could have waited 10 minutes for the sluice, when in fact it was over 30 minutes before the barriers lifted, and we wanted to get home, not wait in a longer queue while 90 boats tried to head up at the same time!
What a rude cretin...
Still, we all made it home safely, and lived to tell the tale...
Ramage has the photo's
We left Bray on Thursday for an overnighter at Penton Hook, and met up with Ramage to discuss our plans for the voyage ahead.
Friday morning saw up wandering gently down to Tedders to meet Charles in the Fairline, and a further excursion to Imperial Wharf for an overnight stay.
This time, it was a peaceful and calm evening, broken only by an 11pm emergency by the PLA in their Botnia Targa, which looked like it was doing the other side of 35kts upstream, Blues and Twos activated, and most welcome it was too, as very little wash to disturb us! (They usually leave a tremendous wake, and don't care where they leave it...)
Sadly, we learnt that Colin the pier master is off back to Italy, but the new guy seems nice. He's got big boots to fill though...
The following morning involved a bit of tide punching in order to make the early lock into WI, but to ensure a good mooring, and to miss the inevitable rush on the later lock-in.
No issues at all despite it being Ramages first tidal jaunt in his new boat!
After a mediocre BBQ, a quiet night in the Dock, impressive it is, but a bit basic, certainly not St Kats!
Sunday: Early morning boat handling, and an appalling result for No Regrets, but at least we contributed to a 2nd place for Team Bray. Lots learnt at least, and despite the disappointment, I still reckon Boat handling compo's are a must to improve one's ability and knowledge.
The evening food in the Lotus floating restaurant was pretty poor too (This is Docklands FFS, how do they get away with it??) but company grand as always, and an early night for the morning departure to Bray.
Now, come Monday, and a low tide 10am lock-out (With two days to get home) we were faced with the tricky decision to either have a long cruise on Monday, or get up just to, say Hampton Court, and have a long Tuesday...
Any 'fule knose' the former makes more sense, so off we went, aiming for Penton Hook or thereabouts, which is around 40 miles from WI Dock! Things went well until Barnes bridge, where Ramage was forced into shallow water by Rowers (But I'll let him tell you all about that!) and we finally arrived at Molesey lock, where mayhem was the order of the day:-
1/ Idiots eating lunch near the lock entrance while around 20 boats held station...
2/ Selfish gits (i.e. My Lady Joan) asking to raft up, only to jump the queue in spectacular fashion when the lock gates opened (followed by a 7-8 knot rush to overtake five boats on the other side, to gain at least one locking)
3/ Rude gits (e.g. 'Gadget' who just jumped the queue in his Binliner while everybody looked on in amazement!
4/ Trip boats cutting everybody up with no remorse at all.
The last one was really insulting, because we had just had to listen to some smart alick in 'Connaught' which we have been reliably informed was the trip boat involved in the other incident that Rebellion posted last week, announcing to his passengers how foolish private Cruiser owners were paying £5 to use the Richmond lock, when we could have waited 10 minutes for the sluice, when in fact it was over 30 minutes before the barriers lifted, and we wanted to get home, not wait in a longer queue while 90 boats tried to head up at the same time!
What a rude cretin...
Still, we all made it home safely, and lived to tell the tale...
Ramage has the photo's
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