Dingy on the Thames

[Wotan Foss]

Hello,

I'm just wondering if I need a licence to take a dingy on the Thames. A few friends and I plan to paddle from Hammersmith Bridge to Richmond. I know that I have to watch out for the tide, which is why we would do it on a day that the tide is rising.

Would I need to get a licence or anything like that?

Thanks

 

[Captain Coochie]

No you wont need a licence for that part of the river . A few life jackets wouldnt go amiss though .

 

[Wotan Foss]

Hey thanks for the feed back, nice to know we wont be pulled over and fined!

Safety is our number one concern so armbands will be purchased!

 

[Captain Coochie]

You wont get fined but you may get pulled over and asked what you are doing . Its not the safest of trips to be taking in a dingy . Although i have done putney bridge to Twickenham in one

 

[Wotan Foss]

Oh cool, so you've done it? How long did it take you to complete?

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

Its not a short trip, and there's dinghies and dinghies. How fit are you (sensible question) because most folk are not used to rowing very far, an afternoon in the local boating lake is a very different prospect to the Tideway, even with the tide with you there can be a chop making strokes more difficult.

 

[Captain Coochie]

We dropped a boat off at Chas Newings so that would have been 5 0 clock or before . We got back to Twickenham at about 1 AM
we had an outboard not oars . We had fish and chips aswell , it was great fun

 

[Wotan Foss]

@ Andrew - I won't say I'm crazy fit and spend my days in the gym but I'm fit enough I think! I did a two week canoe trip on the Zambezi river from Kariba dam wall to Caborra Bassa which is about 300 miles. Not quite the same but I sure I should manage

@ Cuchilo - Haa! No fair using outboards!!

 

[JKay]

@ Andrew - I won't say I'm crazy fit and spend my days in the gym but I'm fit enough I think! I did a two week canoe trip on the Zambezi river from Kariba dam wall to Caborra Bassa which is about 300 miles. Not quite the same but I sure I should manage

You won't have the crocs and hippos to motivate you on the Thames

 

[Wotan Foss]

You won't have the crocs and hippos to motivate you on the Thames

we certainly learnt how to paddle swiftly and silently when we needed too!

 

[Vern]

We dropped a boat off at Chas Newings so that would have been 5 0 clock or before . We got back to Twickenham at about 1 AM
we had an outboard not oars . We had fish and chips aswell , it was great fun

When a pal and I were 15 we put a plastic inflatable and oars in at Barnes, smallprofits dock and were up by the bridge in far too a short time, partly because when the oars went in they promptly snapped.
Can't recall how we got out of the situation, but we did

 

[JKay]

We did the Duzi in Sa and paddled with crocs and hippos in the Zambezi at Kasane(5 Borders)
The hippos scared the whatevers out of me

 

[teddington_lock]

Does anyone remember the Carlsberg Round London Inflatable Boat Marathon ?

I did that at age 15 with YBW's very own Richard Shead in a 6ft ( yes , really ) Maestral 2.

Started off at Putney in a snowstorm , went under the chains of HMS Belfast ( terrifying ) and when we got to Limehouse , i went up the ladder with the ropes to haul the boat up as it was low water ( part of the challenge was that you weren't allowed to use the locks , you had to portage ) ...

Anyway , RS followed me up and we hauled the boat up ( 15ft ish ), but forgot to attach the gear that was in the boat , which promptly tumbled out into the river , all our food and drink , spare clothes , everything ....

I then nearly broke my ankle at London Zoo at a checkpoint , and RS jumped off the quay at Brentford into waist deep mud ( very funny ) .... all in all an excellent time was had by all. Such a shame it doesn't exist any more !