Narrowboats at sea

Terry Darlington, "Narrowdog to Carcassonne" it's a good book in its own right & he crosses the channel in a traditional narrowboat without problems. It was done by someone else as well but I can't remember who. "Leontyne" is another barge that crossed the channel & is subject of an excellent book, but not sure if actually a narrowboat. Do a search on Amazon, won't be that dear.
 
It's been done, across the channel and in the Menai Straights, at least.

Preparation is the key word, I gather, and choosing the right weather as well an escort boat. Being a bit mad helps as well!
 
Basic precautions should include, covers for bow, sealing of doors, decent bilge pump, VHF, flares, liferaft, anchor (& hope you never need to use the last 3!) Terry also used a suitable escort boat & skipper. AFAIK they did not tie two boats together or capsize. He worked his way round to Dover & then across in a suitable weather window.

It is a fairly stressfull situation, but get used to estuary sailing & pick the weather carefully it is possible. The Caernarfon to Mersey trip was similar, but the distance is about double.
 
Searush said:
The guy that went thro the Menai Straits went as far as Liverpool.
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And took it over to Ireland,went in through Dublin Port, in through sealock at Ringsend basin onto the Grand Canal,stopped for a while at Sallins,Co.Kildare,then on up the canal to Robertstown and then down the Grand Canal to Tullamore harbour and only last week went out lock 36 at Shannonharbour to the river Shannon. He said that the crossing of the Irish sea was h-a-i-r-y and took 12 hours.Next time he said that he'd pay to have it transported so that he could relax and have a cold beer on the ferry.
 
Many narroboaters do "go to sea"

As above they have crossed the channel etc.

Also they have travelled up the Bristol channel to get from the Avon to the Severn, crossed the Wash to get to various eastern rivers, and part way up the Humber.

There's even a narrowboat about that was designed specifically to be seaworthy that has been round a lot of the coast and through the Calley Canal out into the Moray Firth.

Most that make these passages do so with the cover of a seaworthy safety boat, and one of the biggest precautions is boarding up the windows and sealing the doors.

There are also a few recognised passages that take in tidal river estuaries, like the Ribble Link to the Lancaster canal.
 
Searush said:
Terry Darlington, "Narrowdog to Carcassonne" it's a good book in its own right & he crosses the channel in a traditional narrowboat without problems.
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Brilliant book. He then followed it up with "Narrow Dog to Indian River", about taking his NB down the Intracoastal Waterway in the States. If that sounds like a doddle, some of the sounds they crossed were thirty miles wide and exposed to the Atlantic. He and his wife are both in their seventies, I think, and I salute them.

Website is here; apparently we'll get "Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier" next year - I can't wait. :cool:
 
The Narrow Dog books are indeed excellent, wonderful sense of humour and a surprising amount of info'.I worked on a 38 metre Hotel barge in Burgundy ( a 'spit', pronounced Speet bluff bowed type ) which I wouldn't dream of taking coastal, let alone offshore, even though it did have a lot of ballast - flat bottom and 3' draught, 68hp slow revving torquey engine & prop', the helm wheel was 33 turns side to side, to give mechanical advantage if the rudder was in silt.

I did see a couple of British narrow boats out there, from the Narrow Dog books I gather shipping out rather than motoring across the Channel is the usual way to go.

Met a young harum scarum type who'd taken a Dutch Luxemotor 38 metre barge across the Channel, even in calm conditions it rolled a true 45 degrees side to side - they kept the scuff marks on the bulkhead, where pictures etc had swung, preserved as momentos.

He said he'd never been so frightened in his life !
 
maxcampbell said:
It is indeed - that's where I heard about the "cat" idea. Just wondered if anyone had experienced it, what sort of weather they'd lived through (or capsized / broke up in).

How feasible would it be to coast-hop from the Thames round to, say, Chichester harbour.
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There is a story from back in the days of working boats.

One of the last runs was grain from Brentford to Wellingborough. The story goes that a pair of boats were trapped at Wellingborough due to closures on the Grand Union.

The skipper phoned his office, and said he would get some telegraph poles, lash the boats together and head out to the Wash and down down the east coast.

'When I get to the Thames, I knows me road, then,'

The office replied, 'yes you do that, when you get to Brentford your cards will be waiting for you!'

Good story.
 
Channel crossing tied to ferry

I seem to recall seeing a photograph of a narrowboat tied to the side of a cross channel ferry to make the crossing of the Channel - does anyone else recall this? And does anyone know where I can get a copy of said picture? It's the subject of a small wager with a good lunch at stake!

I have in mind that the ferry was red or orange - wasn't that the colour for Townsend Thoresen?
 
I've heard first hand of a narrowboat sighted off the north Devon coast in a force 7 still motoring gamely in the direction of the Lizard.

While probably not to be recommended I think they take a lot more effort to sink than many would realise and like most boats, the crew will probably break before the boat does.
 
Chris Coburn of Lee sanitation has completed lots of sea passages in his Narrow boat 'Progress' and has a wealth of knowledge, using a narrow boat is not an issue, planning and a good sea state is paramount and a support vessel is a very good idea.
 
ProDave said:
Here's the one I was thinking of, that was specifically designed and built to be a sea going boat:

http://www.canalholidays.co.uk/oceanprincess.php
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James Griffin, skipper and MD of Wyvern Shipping, gave his slide show at my local club; we staggered out exclaming "What a bloody fool!"

Ocean Princess was NOT designed and built for seagoing voyages at all. Stormbound in Dover the authorities impounded the vessel until improvements were made - new foredeck, sealed doors, window covers etcet - and a whole stack of safety equipment, added. Even then his 'adventures' showed that he was no mariner, making Tim Spall look like a Yachtmaster.

But if you want a good larf, book him now!
 
Re; Narrow boat to Carcassone,I am fairly certain it was taken across by Dover Sea School.Probably Mike Oram or his son. Mike used to sell, and deliver across the sea, Pedro boats for delivery to the UK.I rang his wife one day and said is Mike there and she said no he,s somewhere in the Channel but you might get him on his mobile.I rang and said "what you doing" he said" I,m accompanying a Japanese guy thats trying to swim the Channel but he,s got no chance now as the tide has turned!A very interesting guy with a lot of experience.
 
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