Trees in River and boats wrong side

[Outinthedinghy]

There seem to be more fallen trees not getting tidied up lately.

Once the big Ash trees start going due to the dieback disease it will get quite interesting.

I've done some fairly intensive patrolling including Windsor to Lechlade and back to Henley and it seems to be a bit of a nuisance.

In some instances it blocks the sight lines.


Another thing is there seem to be people who don't know which side to pass on.

The worst one was a reasonably small maybe 23ft GRP sport cruiser in Cookham lock cut. I was going away from the lock. My boat is not big at 30ft X 10ft6 but quite heavy at 16 tons and deep at 3ft4 and one sixteenth inches.

Anyway this GRP decided they would do the car driver thing and drive on the left. So I just stopped in the middle. They carried on and glared at me as if I was on the wrong side.

Idiots.

It's a bit of a basic thing to know which side to pass other vessels !!

 

[Outinthedinghy]

There are also several instances of trees on the weirs. A large one at Hurley, one at Whitchurch etc.

It seems no vegetation management happening at all lately.

 

[Portland Billy]

Approaching Cookham lock the layby is on the port side going downstream. So it's quite normal to pass stbd to stbd with boats exiting the lock.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

Approaching Cookham lock the layby is on the port side going downstream. So it's quite normal to pass stbd to stbd with boats exiting the lock.

I agree however it was upstream of the bridge out of sight of the lock.

Edit to remove additional waffle.



About where the red marker is.

 

[Pump-Out]

It seems no vegetation management happening at all lately.

You have to remember that The Environment Agency have a different set of priorities.

Flora and fauna are a much greater focus than navigation. Even a fallen tree provides a habitat for something, the fact that a fallen tree is an impediment to safe navigation is irrelevant to a Waterways Manager. In the past, when we had a Harbour Master, and Assistant Harbour Masters, the maintenance of safe navigation was a priority.

The EA no longer have dredgers, nor - as can be seen from the Bovney Lock Gate thread - any tree maintenance plan. The number of fallen trees at the upper limits of navigation prevents even a kayak having a great day. A tree across a weir should be removed within hours, as that is a risk to flood management. But hey, its only a house, right?

Humans - your day is done. The river is for bugs and ducks.

 

[nfluester]

This is the river at Clifton hambden not sure what would happen If there was a boat coming the other way

 

[Outinthedinghy]

The upper reaches were ok the EA have done some tree works there.

It's further down where there are more large trees and as the EA is responsible for flood management it seems odd not to clear trees from weirs. If we get a proper flood and trees start piling up it could get a bit dodgy.

I actually quite like it being a bit overgrown but the weir thing is curious or do the EA actually have some vested interests who want flooding to occur in order to release government funding for large scale flood relief projects.


Apparently the big flood alleviation scheme down around Staines is going to be started soon.

 

[Outinthedinghy]

This is the river at Clifton hambden not sure what would happen If there was a boat coming the other way

Handy place to meet a Salters steamer !

 

[Caraway]

There seem to be more fallen trees not getting tidied up lately.
Once the big Ash trees start going due to the dieback disease it will get quite interesting.
I've done some fairly intensive patrolling including Windsor to Lechlade and back to Henley and it seems to be a bit of a nuisance.
In some instances it blocks the sight lines.Another thing is there seem to be people who don't know which side to pass on.
The worst one was a reasonably small maybe 23ft GRP sport cruiser in Cookham lock cut. I was going away from the lock. My boat is not big at 30ft X 10ft6 but quite heavy at 16 tons and deep at 3ft4 and one sixteenth inches.
Anyway this GRP decided they would do the car driver thing and drive on the left. So I just stopped in the middle. They carried on and glared at me as if I was on the wrong side.
Idiots.
It's a bit of a basic thing to know which side to pass other vessels !!

Are you being ironic?