Someone in Sunbury is in a hurry (mind your wash)

[Captain Coochie]

Well as i had to work Saturday morning i was looking forward to getting to my boat . When i got there i thought kids had got in and smashed it up . The fridge door was open and its contents all over the cockpit as well as glass everywhere . Inside the cabin was mayhem but the lock and windows seemed fine . I asked the lockkeeper if a rescue boat had been called out to the lock as thats the only reason i can think anyone would be flying down the river so fast but he said no . So my guess is we have a new friend with a speed boat . I cant wait to meet them /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Its great fun picking up all that glass and i bet they had a great day . I know i will remember it for a while after picking up shards of glass all weekend with my hands and feet .

Before anyone starts with stowing things away , it's been fine for the last six years and four of those on the Tidal Thames .

 

[dmst]

Sorry to hear (and see) the damage caused.It seems to us, having been away from the river all last season, that people have taken their motorway manners onto the river. People seem to be travelling faster and more importantly have no comprehension of slowing down past moored craft.
I'm afraid they will have to be told................ /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Captain Coochie]

Hi Dennis , welcome to the forum . I have a feeling the EA knows who it is but i will find out next weekend if they have done anything about it .

 

[No Regrets]

We were just west of Reading yesterday, when a mong in a Rib approached us on the Starboard side, and decided to piss around with his engine when only thirty feet away, and closing fast.

Once mercifully past us on the wrong side, he wedged the throttle fully open and must have been nudging twenty knots....

Cretin /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Gavi]

On Friday we went to collect Shikara from where we'd left her at friends' on Laleham Reach (the friends were still suffering from heavy heads today after Saturday night with a forumite, but that is another story...). There we some lads speeding on a RIB who got pulled by the lady lockie from PH taking her electric outboarded little boat home. Quite amusing to watch really /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[nickcred]

Hi All

Spent the later part of the weekend on the boat and at several points sat eating lunch at the mooring we were rocked to the point of falling glasses etc. I have noticed this year a huge increase in the number of speeding boats. We were over taken by 3 boats heading down to bell weir all doing way in excess of the speed limit. Speed is one thing but these guys were creating so much wash.

Waving and asking them to slow just results in a blank forward looking stare or incredulous "What it's the stream" /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif O would that be the same stream I am in and managing to keep to the speed limit lol

 

[chuckaduck]

Down our way the worst offenders are the pleasure trib boats

 

[Captain Coochie]

I was moored at Twickenham for about four years and never had wash as bad as this . I called the EA today to report it and see if they knew who it was . I was told no reports have been made and how very odd it was so i made a few calls of my own and know who it was and where they live /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif The river has eyes everywhere /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[chuckaduck]

were they in a rib ?

if so well you know they are inflatable or should I say deflatable !!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Captain Coochie]

Nope new speed boat , they live by the river and this is thier third boat .

 

[chuckaduck]

Is the adress no 1 chav street ?

by any chance ??

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Captain Coochie]

No actually the man who was driving is involved in the Sunbury regatta . A real boater !!!!

 

[chuckaduck]

[ QUOTE ]
No actually the man who was driving is involved in the Sunbury regatta . A real boater !!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

He should know better ?

 

[Captain Coochie]

Oh yes ! Probably why no reports have been made and it all seems rather odd eh .

Edit : Best add that he has nothing to do with the MTYC .

 

[rr_123]

Hi Thames Forum,

I have been reading the posts on this forum for a week or so, having moved to the Staines reach earlier in the year (when i thought we were going to have a summer); I must admit that i was starting to think that this was the Narrow Boat Deprecation form (I first thought NB was "New Boater"!!), but I think Cuchilo's misfortune (big sympathy for your damage; know exactly how your feel) highlights a very important issue. There are some real pains in the derriere zooming up and down, the worst offenders are NOT narrow boats; I haven't had to tell a single one to slow down (c:

From what i see the worst offenders are flying on their bridges (using their twin 350hp diesels to go from Penton Hook to Windsor and back!!) and are probably unware of the size of their wash, that said the absolute absolute worst offender that i have seen this summer was a Dunkirk boat, I really thought the owner of that would know better.

I don't NB, in fact i do think they are rather silly (except on the cut, I was living on the K and A for the last two years, and they are perfect there), but on the whole i think they are fairly competently crewed by people who care about the waterways.

Maybe we should start a name and shame forum?

We all like to blast the cobwebs out, but there are some reachs where the banks are sheet piled on both sides, no moored craft, no nesting birds ... or there's the tidal bit if you need <SUCH> a big boat!

R

 

[Captain Coochie]

Hi rr and welcome to the forum , i passed All Gold last weekend . Nice to see her still on the Thames .
As for your other comments , i'll let you take the rap for that /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
On a serious note , do you like beer and BBQ's ? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rr_123]

Hi Cuchilo, and thanks for your welcome.

Welcome the rap; that's what a forum is for, surely (c:

As for Beer and BBQ's; in my blood - and beer, bbq, boats and blood alliterate; perfick (c;

RR

 

[boatone]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe we should start a name and shame forum?

[/ QUOTE ]

And a fat lot of good that will probably (NOT) do /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The real problem here is in two parts:
1. Peeps who, either in ignorance or deliberate contravention do not observe reasonable behaviour and

2. River Inspectors who are virtually non existent and who fail to take action. In the four days over this last weekend we saw only one EA launch between Chertsey and Bray with the river at the busiest it has been all summer.

Being ignored by peeps you ask to slow down is bad enough but receiving insults and two finger salutes in reply suggests that reasonableness is an unlikely solution?

Incidentally, the steel cruiser that hogged the EA 24 hour mooring just below Windsor Bridge for the whole weekend was lucky not to be named and shamed. I had my camera ready yesterday morning but he had finally gone, replaced by a single boat which had moored dead centre in a two space mooring /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Oh, and welcome, know just where you are and saw All Gold yesterday.
Thats a very strange 'smiley' you have /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[No Regrets]

We were new to the Thames in March this year with an Inflatable, and neither Speed or Wash were a problem (Mind you, this was unlicenced at the time)

We then bought Fufu, a Shetland 570 which was capable of exceeding 5mph easily enough, but even at around that would barely leave a ripple.

The Rio is ten times more powerful, and is barely above idle speed at 5mph, yet leaves a terrible wake at anything above the limit, and even at a most acceptable speed isn't great, to the point I have seen 3mph on GPS and had moored boaters waving at me.

Now the thing has to be moving to actually steer, and frankly 3mph is a fair concession don't you think?

I have seen those fake paddle boats overtaking me, yet leaving no wake, so i'm convinced some boats are just not suited to River use.

That said, I never knowingly cause problems, never rebuke suggestions that I may be causing excess wake with abuse, and do slow down to a crawl if condtions require such action.

I usually ignore the wake if it's a quiet stretch of river and my wave doesn't reach the bank, as I figure it's not doing any damage, but even then 5mph is all it takes.

In hindsight, possibly a different boat next time then? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[boatone]

You've hit the nail on the head /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

The EA in their wisdom have set a maximum speed of 8 kilometres per hour which is 5mph but only 4.3nautical mph. Then theres the question about whether its speed over the ground or through the water! But the over-riding rule is to watch your wash and different boat shapes and engine configurations can easily create a wash problem at much lower speeds or little wash at higher speeds.

The wash itself is not just a cause of riverbank erosion or causing discomfort to moored boats. In the shallow waters of many mooring areas it can also cause boats to hit the bottom as well as just rocking and rolling. I have seen boats pull their mooring pins and at Hampton Court on one occasion a delinquent trip boat going too fast caused several boats to rock violently and a couple of them had cleats ripped out of the deck.

Its a general problem. Most people do at least try to keep some sort of cap on it but theres always that temptation to go just a little bit faster. Even when I push it a bit (my boat is a low wash variety) theres always somebody itching tio get past me !

What I cant tolerate is the prats who just ignore you even when they are being shouted at to slow down.

And yes, in the nicest possible way, you need to get a boat more suited to the river /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif