River Thames closed today

bumperdump

bumperdump

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I was travelling downstream today, in the rain and wind, when I came under the railway bridge, I was met with a full blown regatta taking place.
Many rowers waiting in there crafts ready to race.
I was soon joined by a safety boat who informed me that the river was closed and could I Moor on the bank.
To be fair having no prior warning of the shenanigans at any of the locks or any signage ,prior to arriving in the regatta.
I carried on through soon leaving the sitting craft behind, there were one or two coming back up a vaguely marked lane. There was a few nice men waving from the river bank at me,I did not recognise them though.
The wind was cutting across the top of the river, and the rain falling well my wash was minimal and certainly not reaching the bank.
May I suggest a few more signs to the organisers, and possibly a marked channel for boaters to use. The only channel in place had rowers coming back up the river.
I reached my destination in time thankfully, just glad the river was not closed. Did the safety boat occupant retrieve his white cap that blew into the water ? The wind snapped that chinstrap like it was not there.
 
Was it this one?
When: Saturday 7 November 2015 – 10.30 to 15.30
Where: Whitchurch Reach, Gatehampton Railway Bridge to 1km upstream of Whitchurch Lock
What’s happening: Pangbourne Junior Sculls
The navigation channel shall be established on the Hartslock Wood, east side of the river.

If so it is plainly not a closure.....
 
It can be a real Pita - when you come across a badly laid out course - mebe no course laid at all. However, it's not unusual.
The organisers - if you can call them that - (sometimes) present a plan to EA and it gets rubber stamped. Methinks the plan is not always followed...

OTOH

At this time of year with so few boats cruising - it it really worth the organisers going to a great effort to put siggns up at the locks??
Thinks: Perhaps the budget for the new barely-readable-from-a-distance-signs didn't run to a slot in 'regatta ahead' panel.....

Now if it was encumbent upon the event club itself to provide proper marshalling for the very few other boats using the river that day - then there wouldn't be a problem.

Whenever I've come across a regatta both crews, safety boats and marshalls completely ignore me and make no effort to keep out of my way, even though I'm in the marked channel....
 
Surely the river is closed to all navigation or it's not. If the rowers have been wrongly claiming it's closed, what punishment is the EA going to impose?
 
ianc1200 said:
Surely the river is closed to all navigation or it's not. If the rowers have been wrongly claiming it's closed, what punishment is the EA going to impose?
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I think the miscreants should be chained to a post at Wapping Stairs and left there until 3 tides have washed over them. Alternatively they could be sent here to wash and polish my Launch as I have decided to sell it.
 
Oh dear, we do tend to get ourselves in a bit of a tiz about these issues, don't we ? :D
If this event was the one referred to in the Harbourmasters Notice - and it would appear to be - then clearly the EA approved a restriction and required a navigable channel to be maintained. If this was not the case then anyone who feels aggrieved should complain to the EA giving reasonable details.
As this stretch is in the area covered by RUG 4/5 It would also make sense to contact the chairman and make him/her aware so that it can be raised at their next meeting of river users. Details here: http://www.riverusergroups.org.uk/the-groups.php
Please don't expect EA presence and control - no staff/money etc etc.

I do try to ensure that all such restrictions are publicised here so that boaters can be aware of both the events and the arrangements for navigation channels. In this case I did so on 30th October - http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?443503-Harbourmasters-Notices&p=5496458#post5496458

Information about all such restrictions is published on the EA website:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/river-t...lock-closures#river-closures-and-restrictions

[TABLE="width: 704"]
[TR]
[TD]Saturday 7 November 2015, 10:30am to 3:30pm[/TD]
[TD]Whitchurch Reach[/TD]
[TD]Pangbourne Junior Sculls: the navigation channel will be on the Hartslock Wood (east) side of the river. Find more detail on Pangbourne Junior Sculls.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
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bumperdump said:
I will make sure I read and log all this in the future. :cool:
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Bet you don't ! :D If you had been aware you would at least have been able to quote chapter and verse to the rowers at the time.
Seriously, do report that you were told by the safety boat that the river was closed. Every rowing and support craft carries a 6 character identifier - 3 letters that identify the club followed by 3 digits that identify the boat. If you make a note of that it helps !
As far as the marked channel is concerned even when there is one it is usually reserved for the actual races and rowers will make their way up to the start in the "navigation" channel.
 
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boatone said:
Bet you don't ! :D If you had been aware you would at least have been able to quote chapter and verse to the rowers at the time.
Seriously, do report that you were told by the safety boat that the river was closed. Every rowing and support craft carries a 6 character identifier - 3 letters that identify the club followed by 3 digits that identify the boat. If you make a note of that it helps !
As far as the marked channel is concerned even when there is one it is usually reserved for the actual races and rowers will make their way up to the start in the "navigation" channel.
Click to expand...

The channel had one or two rowers coming back upstream, no point reporting to the EA my word against his.
 
The River was closed on Sunday (8th) on the Tidal Thames between Kew Railway bridge and beyond (I'm not sure where the closure ended). I was caught up in it and stopped by the RNLI, PLA and safety boats. We had to moor up on the PLA pontoon near Kew bridge in the middle of the river with no way off for around an hour. Ended up missing our lock time and having to spend the night on Chiswick Pier.

I have to say everyone tried to get me back to the lock (at Chiswick Quay Marina) in time and we missed it by literally 5 mins. The worse part of it was the pontoon in the middle of the river has about an inch of duck muck on it and somehow I'm going to have to blast it off my boat. Probably using a jet wash.

Other thing was everyone in our Marina was completely out of the picture. It's worth deciphering the PLA stuff at the same time as the EA site. It's not easy to find and its all on PDF's which are a bit of a nightmare to search through.
 
I get most of the Notams to mariners from PLA and Medway ports,recently been deluged with them.
Guilty of not reading them all and have been caught out a couple of times,the last being a barge race in the middle of London.More interest in barrier closures etc.
Not sure if the up river stuff is distributed quite as widely as tidal information.
Maybe only a warning on lock noticeboard and very likely to be missed ?
 
oldgit said:
Not sure if the up river stuff is distributed quite as widely as tidal information.
Maybe only a warning on lock noticeboard and very likely to be missed ?
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EA Thames notices are posted on website - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/river-th...d-restrictions
They are also emailed directly to anyone who has registered to receive them:
The Environment Agency sends email updates on River Thames closure and restrictions. To subscribe to this service, email riverthames@environment-agency.gov.uk with ‘subscribe to harbourmaster’s notices’ in the subject line.
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