solo cruising

Welcome to the Madhouse!

You shouldn't have and problems singlehanding. My first boat was a Buckingham 25 which is very like a Viking. After a few hours with some friends (including a certain wood-butcher hereabouts) I was better solo than with crew.

The main thing is to keep it slow but with control. Pick a quiet time and good river conditions and practice mooring and setting off. I don't know where you are based but I used the Barmy Arms, Twickenham for river wall experience and the Anglers, Teddington for pontoon experience. I got so good that I had to keep rewarding myself with beers in the respective pubs. :rolleyes:
 
A good tip for locking singlehanded:

Pull into lock, hook up rear end, and carry line to centre cleat via another bollard.

You are now temporarily secure.

Now go forward and hook up the front end, then, holding the line, go back to the centre cleat and undo the temporary centre fastening.

Voila! You are hooked up at both ends, without a crew.
 
I'm single handed 99% of the time on Cuchilo 25ft cruiser . when i do have crew i prefer them to sit back and enjoy the ride but they do like to help and play with the ropes :rolleyes:
Its all about practice and getting to know what your boat wants to do . Once you have sussed that you can put her anywhere you like with ease .............. untill the wind blows and messes it all up :D
 
poppetman said:
Hi All,
My first post so here goes.Just bought my first boat---a viking22---and a relative novice. There will be times when I will be on my own on the river.
Is this advisable and what tips does anyone have?
Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi, welcome to the forum. We used to have a Viking 22 and I found it a good boat for singlehanded cruising. The hull configuration is better than a sportscruiser, I found (although I loved my sportscruisers - before I get myself into hot water with the fast set!!).

I think No Regrets post is super advice; I'd like to think that I did that, but being a newbie to boating myself at the time it was probably more like a sketch from Little Britain, or worse!! The advice regarding speed, or lack of it, is the best there is. Give yourself thinking time and don't worry about other people. Lockies prefer you to approach carefully and slowly. There was another hire boat in trouble on Sunday; he went into the lock too fast and at the wrong angle and his good lady took a fall into the water. Luckily none the worse for wear. She got straight back on the boat and took the bow line.

Regards,

Mike
 
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