Crinan Canal, no free assisted passage this year

[Quandary]

The word is that this service which operated intermittently during the summer for the last couple of seasons will not be available this year. Financial cut backs, so they will not be recruiting as many of the cheery girls in shorts or the morose youths who hid in the hut until the boats passed. It was very hit and miss and not everyone who needed the help was offered it, but a lot of boats that have got used to assistance will be disappointed. However unless you are single handed the job is not too onerous as long as you think out the ergonomics of preparing, transitting and closing up without using too much energy, my wife and I can do it and I have a new knee and she has a metal hip joint but prefers to do the shore work. Hopefully it will revert to the old system with advice and help offered by some of the bridge or lock keepers when they have time.
The good news is that Hugh and Jim have survived the competition from the youth and are raring to go with local back up (inc. me) so if you are coming this way shorthanded and need a hand just ask for us at the sea loch or phone Hugh on 07717396755 however this service while much more efficent is not free.

 

[dunedin]

Thanks for the update. We will be in touch with Hugh and Jim again in the summer, after three very smooth and fast trips with their assistance

 

[wully1]

A canal pilot is a very good investment if you want a fast transit but a leisurely DIY cruise is just fine as well as being a decent work out..

 

[oldbilbo]

Crinan Canal, no free assisted passage this year

Odd. That was described to me, in a yottie gathering recently, as 'assisted showers'....

P'rhaps it was the rip-roaring background 'music'.... or then again my hearing is not what it was.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Odd. That was described to me, in a yottie gathering recently, as 'assisted showers'....

If that was with the young ladies in shorts, British Waterways could put their prices up. A lot.

 

[wully1]

If that was with the young ladies in shorts, British Waterways could put their prices up. A lot.

Easy tiger.....

 

[SAWDOC]

A canal pilot is a very good investment if you want a fast transit but a leisurely DIY cruise is just fine as well as being a decent work out..

Agreed as long as one puts some thought and preparation into how one's boat is going to get through the bigger locks. Some folks are completely lackadasical and can be quite a danger to themselves and others if they are not prepared for conditions inside the lock. In which case the pilot service referred to by Quandary is well worthwhile and informative.

 

[typhooncaro]

"The word is that this service which operated intermittently during the summer for the last couple of seasons will not be available this year. Financial cut backs, so they will not be recruiting as many of the cheery girls in shorts or the morose youths who hid in the hut until the boats passed. It was very hit and miss and not everyone who needed the help was offered it....."

What a shame that the service is to not going to be operating. We must have been one of the lucky boats last year. All the helpers, young and old were great, pleasant and keen to help. It was good to have an extra pair of hands as the locks were busy.

 

[Quandary]

It was a bit labour intensive, while Hugh deals with one or two boats at a time right through 2-13 using his car, he can manage two transits in a day, as long as he is not held back behind a free assistance boat. On the free passage scheme they had about 6 - 8 people in small teams of up to three at each of the three main flights of locks, if you were first there you got attention, though even with all the extra hands it was slower than a pilot, if you turned up later you were left to your own devices, even if you had the yellow deodorant burgee. The exception was at Ardrishaig where Archie kept his assistants at it all day. Not much grass got cut the last couple of years and the bramble covered banks have lost much of their charm.

 

[ianj99]

"The word is that this service which operated intermittently during the summer for the last couple of seasons will not be available this year. Financial cut backs, so they will not be recruiting as many of the cheery girls in shorts or the morose youths who hid in the hut until the boats passed. It was very hit and miss and not everyone who needed the help was offered it....."

What a shame that the service is to not going to be operating. We must have been one of the lucky boats last year. All the helpers, young and old were great, pleasant and keen to help. It was good to have an extra pair of hands as the locks were busy.

I came through in early October last year (heading north) and despite having the assisted passage flag flying, didn't get any help, but fortunately I had two helpers. To be fair to the few staff on duty then, the saturday (of a summer-like but windy weekend) was very busy - we passed 14 vessels heading south so they had their hands full. (sorry you all had to wait for us!)

Paying the £50 for a canal pilot would have been worth it had I not had any helpers.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I came through in early October last year (heading north) and despite having the assisted passage flag flying, didn't get any help, but fortunately I had two helpers.

The terms of the scheme make it pretty clear that you only get help if you need it, and if you had two helpers they maybe decided that you didn't.

 

[ianj99]

The terms of the scheme make it pretty clear that you only get help if you need it, and if you had two helpers they maybe decided that you didn't.

I had pre booked an assisted passage but there were no 'assistants' waiting for me at Ardrishaig so it was as well that my helpers turned up.

I think they were just short staffed - the student volunteers would have gone back to uni/college by then and they weren't expecting the mad rush south by all manner of vessels at this time of year.

The canal was closed on the sunday so I spent a very pleasant warm but breezy day at Ballanoch bridge.
It was blowing half a gale on the monday and I had to wait for the Bellanoch bridge keeper to drive round to Crinan to help me (by now singlehanded) and then wait for another 2 yachts to lock up out of the basin before the sea lock operator could let me out.
I don't mind the delays but I advise making your own arrangements if single handed to avoid holding up others.
You'd think there would be no shortage of volunteers ready to help out at weekends, although the HSE and their insurers will probably make that next to impossible these days.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I don't mind the delays but I advise making your own arrangements if single handed to avoid holding up others.

I used to keep my boat at Crinan but winter her occasionally on the Clyde, so I did a fair number of single-handed passages through the canal, often in October. The only real option then was to wait for another boat and trade my warm and pleasant personality for assistance through the locks, and I sometimes had to wait several days for someone else going through. I did once go through a few locks completely single handed - even though I could get away with one gate open, it involved a knackering amount of shinning up and down ladders.

You'd think there would be no shortage of volunteers ready to help out at weekends, although the HSE and their insurers will probably make that next to impossible these days.

When galebound at Ardrishaig last summer I spent a pleasant day working lock 2 - a procession of boats were arriving from the south and didn't have a clue how to work the locks. Normally I'd let 'em learn, but I'ma nice person, I wanted something to do, and the basic was getting rather full. That experience gave me a lot of sympathy for lockkeepers ...

 

[Quandary]

The canal operates seasonally and the much reduced permanent staff are encouraged to take their holidays in winter.
Most of the traffic in September/ October is West to East as yachts return to the Clyde, similarly in April/May it is westward.
The canal is usually open but almost dormant in winter, the ocassional lifeboat or workboat but no yachts.
As Jumbleduck says the assisted passage scheme was intended to help those who needed it most, a boat with two helpers even if 'pre-booked' snould not have priority over the short handed or disabled even in high season.
The scheme caused quite a bit of grief for the staff as some boats hid crew below when starting out to get a yellow flag while elderly duffers like us never got help, this caused rows when hiden crew turned out to sit on deck.
However the pilots are available all year round and know how the canal works, casual bystanders do get involved but someone ashore needs to know what they are doing if you do not want to risk damage to your boat, I am not sure about liability if you accepted help and some one was injured. The state of some of the gates means thar back and leg injuries are quite frequent. I destroyed the cartilage on my left knee when rushing to assist a woman who was having trouble with the notorious lock 5 and we took another yachty through whose wife had sustained permanent back injury there. Someday there will be a big claim and with Scottish Canals H&S hysteria they will probably close the whole thing down. Locals know which gates are risky but sometimes being macho when helping a damsel in distress can cause some pain.
Having said all that, with moderate fitness and intelligence, a modicum of common sense and a wee read at the skippers guide, (co-operation with other boats is key if you have only two aboard) the whole experience can be an enjoyable work out.

BTW The long awaited yachties showers and toilets at Crinan Basin, funded like Mallaig and Loch Aline by Malin Waters should be available this year, in response to their provision the council have decide to shut the public toilet there.

 

[pagoda]

Thanks for the update. We will be in touch with Hugh and Jim again in the summer, after three very smooth and fast trips with their assistance

Hugh & Jim get another vote. They worked us through last week with another boat. Smooth and well done. We were just two on board, the other crew were tripping over ropes and dropping them all over the place, so having effective help ashore was well worth the cash. The Dorus Mor was quite lumpy, past Fladda flat as a pancake and Corran Narrows turned out to be a non event. Cuan is always interesting by comparison...!
After going through to Inverness a couple of days later, through almost empty canal and lochs, concluded it's easier than Crinan! Interesting dodging the dive / workboats coming South in the narrow bits of Loch Oich....!

Inverness to Peterhead then Norway next..

Graeme