Narrow boat rescue at Shiplake weir

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Thamesmariner

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Came through Shiplake lock this morning and lockkeeper told us about a dramatic rescue last night, around 10pm, a narrow boat was trapped against the weir and at severe risk of going over. Helicopter, Police, river rescue team - managed to get the two occupants off and their boat dragged off the weir, now tied up at the pump-out station at Shiplake.

What was a narrow boat doing at that time of night with red boards out ?
 
Thamesmariner said:
Came through Shiplake lock this morning and lockkeeper told us about a dramatic rescue last night, around 10pm, a narrow boat was trapped against the weir and at severe risk of going over. Helicopter, Police, river rescue team - managed to get the two occupants off and their boat dragged off the weir, now tied up at the pump-out station at Shiplake.

What was a narrow boat doing at that time of night with red boards out ?
Click to expand...

Which weir?
Main
or
House

If the latter, attempting to go alongside to do a pump out?
Seems a bit daft, as it's easy to avoid the weir (or in the summer we have to wait so tie up to the safety posts; not of course, if the river is running)

Onew wonders why doing so late at night - but then there are a cluster of liveaboards upstream and that was the only time they coudl pump out....

If it's the main weir, then that's a bit more difficult to understand.
 
TrueBlue said:
Which weir?
Main
or
House

If the latter, attempting to go alongside to do a pump out?
Seems a bit daft, as it's easy to avoid the weir (or in the summer we have to wait so tie up to the safety posts; not of course, if the river is running)

Onew wonders why doing so late at night - but then there are a cluster of liveaboards upstream and that was the only time they coudl pump out....

If it's the main weir, then that's a bit more difficult to understand.
Click to expand...

A narrowboat out with the river flow we have at present is to me bordering on reckless and at night highly irresponsible. As for a liveaboard using a pumpout, we are getting into the realms of fantasy !!!
 
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dash300 said:
A narrowboat out with the river flow we have at present is to me bordering on reckless and at night highly irresponsible. As for a liveaboard using a pumpout, we are getting into the realms of fantasy !!!
Click to expand...

Yes, probably. I was trying to be PC.
Some of them do try to be civilised.
OTOH they do seem to be clustered around locks with facilities and back in the brief summer I noted one with an ancient dinghy full above the gunnels with rubbish bags making his way down to Shiplake.

He was propelled by an ancient 'gull so must have been an OK chap.....
 
The Facts... as reported first-hand

The following account was forwarded to me to clear up the facts.

... and this is what really happened - boat was actually on the move! It hadn't been cast adrift, or come loose from it's moorings. It had been past Sonning but couldn't find a mooring so was heading towards the couple of places by pump-out when they were pulled into the big main weir stream and dragged and pinned against the guard piles. Luckily another boat was on the mooring and heard the screams for help, and he came down to the house at about 9.45 to get us. The boat was listing and taking on water and If it hadn't been for Andy getting the weir shut in quickly, taking off the pressure off the boat, then the outcome to this could have been so different. The emergency services arrived, rescue boat came down from Sonning and took off the two occupants - very shaken up. While I was administering tea and coffee, police taking notes on what happened etc. the rescue boat managed to drag the boat off the piles while the weir was partally shut.



If you have a link into ybw perhaps you can put them straight. I tried to register last night, but struggled!



Jan (Wife of Shiplake Lockkeeper)
 
SOMEBODY has to say it -

What would have happened if there was no resident lockie to come and help?

It needed someone trained and on hand to shut the weir else the boat was very likely to have sunk (was said to be taking on water). OK a third party was needed to complete the rescue, but the instant action may well have saved lives.

All thanks to Andy, Jan and the boat on the mooring for their prompt action.

The Thames is what it is, folks will do daft things and being a public navigation EA can't stop (idiots) using the River even if they shouldn't.
 
Moxon said:
"It needed someone trained and on hand to shut the weir"

I could not agree more!
Click to expand...

+1. The River is a navigation and a a massively powerful land drain. This is another example why we need lock keepers on hand to save lives and property.
The public don't want driverless trains for the same reason.
 
TrueBlue said:
What would have happened if there was no resident lockie to come and help?

It needed someone trained and on hand to shut the weir else the boat was very likely to have sunk (was said to be taking on water). OK a third party was needed to complete the rescue, but the instant action may well have saved lives.

All thanks to Andy, Jan and the boat on the mooring for their prompt action.

The Thames is what it is, folks will do daft things and being a public navigation EA can't stop (idiots) using the River even if they shouldn't.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. It is no good having to phone an EA helpline where the operative does not know the names of Thames locks, and calling 999 is ok, but sometimes the emergency services are unsure of how to get to river locations and access points.

Yet again, lives have almost certainly been saved by the prompt actions of a resident lock-keeper who is familiar with his weir.

Well done!!
 
My boat is at Lechlade. So it's rural and not many people are in to boats. The idea of calling 999 here about a boat going over a weir, (or any other river related disaster), and expecting effective help without a lock keeper being on hand to :

a. Know what to do immediately

and

b. Be able to do something about it


Is very concerning indeed.
 
It's very difficult all round - I'm trying to be even handed here -

  • There are very few major incidents, that is where there has bee or likely to have been injuries or worse
  • Folks are ignorant about the danger of the River
  • Fools rush in
  • Other folks are bullish about their experience boating with Red boards up
  • The EA have no duty of care if folks ignore their warnings and conditions.
  • AFAIK (please tell me otherwise) there is no joined up plan between the emergency services and EA local staff - whether or not they are on duty.
  • EA said earlier in the year that if boaters have difficulty they must call the emergency services. There is no longer any out of hours service

I'm not having a go at EA, their job is to run the River in all aspects and there is no remit for rescues (??). With budgets being continually squeezed what would you do? I'd do some form of risk analysis and from the business point of view I'd be justified in making minimum provision.

Perhaps government funds should be made as an additional amount to cover specific EA waters safety measures.

Also when the plans (if any) for CART to take over "something to do with the River" what duty will it have? At best it's another layer of management / staff to go through.
 
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