Getting cast adrift by idiots

Captain Coochie

Captain Coochie

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Not wanting to spoil a great thread i thought it best to start a new one on how we stop these idiots letting our lines go /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
I hear more and more stories about people getting cast adrift by fools that think it's funny .
How would the police look at letting a boats lines go with someone on board ?
 
I don't know what the answer is. Firstly they don't appreciate the implications of what they are doing and what could happen. Secondly Teenagers by their very nature are up for devilment.
 
This is a problem I remember from my inland boating days 25 years ago. That's why I always try to remember to put an anchor down, that way, hopefully, you don't drift too far. Of course, the one night I foreget the law of Mr. Murphy comes into play (Mr Sod, if you like!). I recall ending up on Teddington wier one night /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif , lost a bit of paint, but that was all.

A couple of other things I've have realised, since last Saturday, that you can do to protect yourself.

Loop bow line back onto fore cleat and make off with a figure of 8 hitch. That way the 'nice' people will have climb on the deck to undo it. They may refrain from this, or wake you if they try.

Make lines difficult to undo. Another boat was attacked on Saturday, but whilst the bow line was undone, the stern line was looped back and forth about 4 times, with 3 or 4 hitches each time. The 'nice' people obviously thought 'bother that', and moved on to me.

The other thing was, they left narrow boats alone. Suppose they thought they were too big. So get a narrow boat????

I'll be more diligent in future. It was just good that the wiers at Osney are well protected, thank you EA, for that.
 
Yes, use the kind of mooring stakes with loops to pass the rope through and tie off on the boat.

Years ago, after another boat had warned me, I slept in the back and put the rope through my sleeping bag. Sure enough at just passed midnight I was woken by a twitching rope and so leapt up with an air horn and scared the kids sh1tless... everyone else moored along the tow-path too!

Sadly, in April during the strong stream, a narrow boat was cast off just above Pharaohs Island and a resident saw it approaching the Island and tried to fend it off his boat. I understand this chap sustained a broken leg and a heart attack for his efforts, and fell onto the narrow boat. An ambulance, two fire crews and the fire crews inflatable were deployed to get the gent off the NB that had now washed up against the weir posts at Shepperton. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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Yes, use the kind of mooring stakes with loops to pass the rope through and tie off on the boat.

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Whilst I do this when using stakes, the stakes themselves are so easy to pull out in many places. That's why I feel so strongly that any 'official moorings' should have proper mooring rings or bollards (rings much better IMHO).

Of course, if they've got a knife you're b*gg*r*d anyway ......
 
I drop the anchor in a couple of feet away from the boat so if my lines do get cut i will just drift out a couple of feet . I remember waking up one morning to see a brand new sports boat had arrived in the night and its prop was inches away from my anchor chain /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
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I'll be more diligent in future. It was just good that the weirs at Osney are well protected, thank you EA, for that.

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If not all, nearly all weirs have been upgraded with new steel posts, ropes and very nice bump fenders. Probably good enough to stop a boat going over in normal stream conditions.

Even so it's quite frightening when it happens to you.
 
knife?? - I know someone who had his ropes burnt at Teddington though with a cigarette lighter .....
I have seen two mooring pins (with a loop) driven in at 45 degrees to horizontal so that the loops meet and are then padlocked together. ropes go through loops and back onboard
With pins at 90 degrees to each other and locked together you cant pull them out.
But you still cant beat the scroat wit the lighter.
 
When you say Teddington you mean upstream of Teddington Lock that is classed as Ham which is why you get that sort of folk with lighters and knives...

I have seen fishing alarms used before that make a noise of there is movement etc
 
Hi Paul!

Personal preference is a big chain and padlock along with usual mooring lines.. I can usually find somewhere to fit it ( tree, lamppost, railings etc..) I've never had to use it in anger, guessing the simple sight of chain and lock is enough to put off those 'having a laugh' and move on to an easier target..
 
We have not had the problem yet.. the only times we have overnighted on the boat have been at Longridge with the Scouts, and the Thames Valley Rally at Remenham.

The rest of the time the boat is in the marina or just out for the day. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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