The Waverly

TimBennet said:
Nope - big barn door with end plates.

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Not a very big barn door unfortunately, which is why she has some rather entertaining manouvres when getting alongside or setting off. She basically has no steering until she is doing about 6 knots and has a huge turning circle then. I watched her a Tighnabruach (spelling?) sail past the pier, basically perform a three point turn using most of the available water to get her pointed back Northwards so that she could dock portside to ready for the return voyage. I have also stood on Kilcreggan pier as she came alongside, battering a paddlebox off the pier so hard that she left a huge chunk of the rubbing strake wedged in between two of the pier legs. The whole pier flexed as she hit it.
Also, it must be a challenge handling her when full of passengers, when she got stuck on the Gantocks rock it was because the passengers all crossed to one side of the ship to watch a band perform, so the ship listed and one paddlewheel was much shallower than the other, the boat would not steer and just turned into the rock, no matter what the helmsman tried to do.
Sounds like great fun!
 
I remember the paddlers in the Severn Estuary and Bristol Channel. We normally boarded from Penarth Pier. Trips down to Lundy Island and Ilfracombe. First time I was seasick was on the Bristol Queen, or was it the Cardiff Queen ? Both had two funnels, then the Glen Usk, single funnel. White Funnel Line ? Must look them up on the interweb.

j
 
She's a national treasure. Always lifts the spirits to see her thundering through the Kyles.
Also a national disgrace to see her constantly under threat because of running costs ,beurocracy,elfin safety, boiler replacement etc.
The Scottish government will spend squilions on translating the feasibility study for her retention into Urdu while she rusts away.
She encapsulates the history and culture of Glasgow and the West Coast like no dull exhibit could ever hope to match. Shipbuilding, marine engineering,history of social leasure, going doon the watter, links to the wild west etc etc.
She is a reminder of a time, not so long ago when ships , the sea, sailors and seamen were part of the fabric of life.
The average person on the street is now completely unaware of our maritime traditions and ships are a distant feature on the horizon. Even most yachties think our maritime history is about a few leasured gents messing about sailing around the world for fun. They think that because there are thousands of gin palaces in the solent we are still a maritime nation. Pah!
We can't even raise a crew for the Waverly these days, the deck crowd are all Eastern Europeans . Our inshore fishing boats are manned by Filipinos and we have Bahamas registered ferries with Russian crews serving our home trades.
Long may she sail.
 
I have to agree with everything you say. She is truly a magnificent vessel, I can hear her chuffing away as she comes around the corner at the top of the kyles and rush out to the front door to see her tying up at the peir.

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What I cant understand is the money shortage. Every time the boat stops at tighnabruaich she is stoked to the gunnels with passengers and that's after they have stopped at Rothesay to let off the booze crowd and its not cheap to sail on her.
 
Homer Simpson's Lovechild said:
She's a national treasure. Always lifts the spirits to see her thundering through the Kyles.
Also a national disgrace to see her constantly under threat because of running costs ,beurocracy,elfin safety, boiler replacement etc.
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I agree completely about her worth, but I also think she has been extraordinarily ill-served by her operators for the past ten or twenty years. I generally do a couple of trips per year on the Clyde, and it seems to me that the passengers are almost entirely paddle steamer enthusiasts and people of more advanced years. There are practically no families with children on board any more. Why? Well, the press adverts, which haven't changed in style for 20 or 30 years, plug the standard and OAP fares, but say nothing about families and children. It just doesn't look as if they want younger or new customers. It's the same when you get on board: almost everywhere inside is a bar so if you don't want to be outside (it rains, occasionally, in Scotland) or drink there is very little room and what space there is isn't very pleasant. They have what could be the best dining room on the whole Clyde but the food is stodgy, greasy and hasn't changed for thirty years.

Basically, you get the charm and ambience of a 1970 Calmac ferry. Life has moved on since then. If you just want to travel on a boat and aren't already a paddle steamer enthusiast, the Bute or Arran boats offer a far more pleasant environment and experience, at a fraction of the price.

Some things about the Waverley are excellent, of course. The condition above decks is better than I can ever remember it and, of course, the engines never fail to impress. However, I really think they need to work on attracting new generations to paddle steamer travel and at the moment, the overall package for anyone but an enthusiast is expensive and unattractive.
 
spycatcher said:
What I cant understand is the money shortage. Every time the boat stops at tighnabruaich she is stoked to the gunnels with passengers and that's after they have stopped at Rothesay to let off the booze crowd and its not cheap to sail on her.
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She may look busy, but that's probably only passengers coming onto the landward side of the deck to see where they're arriving. She has an official passenger capacity of close on a thousand, but I don't think I've been on her with more than a third of that for years.

Largs to Rothesay is £17 return by Waverley. Wemyss Bay to Rothesay is £8.35 on the Argyll and the Bute. For Mum, Dad and two kids, that's £25.95 extra to take the Waverley.
 
I was working on my boat in the cruiser park last year when I took a break and popped my head over the sea wall and there was the Waverley! Not often you see a craft like that on the Blackwater! A beautiful sight.
 
Tam Lin said:
I was working on my boat in the cruiser park last year when I took a break and popped my head over the sea wall and there was the Waverley! Not often you see a craft like that on the Blackwater! A beautiful sight.
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I saw the new Medway Queen under construction in Bristol a couple of weeks ago. She looks stunning; you should have a more local paddle steamer to ogle quite soon.
 
lenseman said:
The "WAVERLEY" has been in and out of Portsmouth Harbour over the past week and is currently moored in Southampton Water where the cruise liners and 'The Queens' berth..
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Yep - passed her coming up the Solent as we were going down to Hurst on Thursday night ready for Scuttlebutt Cherbourg.

Pete
 
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