From ricka@global-remove-net.co.uk Sat May 1 11:27:13 1999 Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 03:47:39 GMT From: Rick Ansell Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: One man in a boat: A Trip report - LONG On Sat, 29 Aug 1998 20:26:56 +0100, David Long wrote: >In message <35e849ef.0@newsread1.dircon.co.uk>, Jackie Lewis > writes >>Crikey, I've been out all day, come back to just four new messages on the >>ng. Hmph. Bit like an addiction this, isn't it, and four new posts is not >>much of a fix. > >Just how I was feeling. After spending this morning scrolling through >the thousands which accumulated whilst I was on holiday, I log on this >evening and there's nary a dozen to read. Doubtless everyone's off >boating, or at the National... or not got work tomorrow. I've been boating... For all my interest in things waterway I realised this is the first bit of boating, bar ferries and a trip boat, I've done since I was a kid. Having booked a camping skiff for a couple of weeks time I decided to get some practice in... It was hot, damn hot, I tell you! (And what is more I had forgotten my solar tope and the punka-wallah had gone missing!) I stopped off to get some bottled water and a set of clip-on sunglasses for 'me specs. My, what a lot of attractive girlies^W persons of the female persuasion there are in Richmond! :-> So I got to Richmond Boat Hire and looked at a camping skiff - bit small 'init! (On the other hand I've got to propel that thing myself...) So I paid me deposit and asked for a skiff rather than an ordinary rowing boat. The boat I got was 'Meg'. "She's a bit tippy" said the bloke. Damn right! - This was a very narrow skiff and I was almost in 't cut before I began. The boat rolled like it was a ball bearing! So now the rules... Don't go below the railway bridge. Keep to the right - and away you go. :-) It wasn' t the greatest display or oarsmanship ever seen. - The last time I rowed I was about 11 and someone else steered. So I crossed the river and experimented for a bit. I was nearly in a few times ('Tippy, I'll give 'im 'tippy'!!) before I felt confident enough to head upstream. Butter! Who moored those skiffs there! - Quick bit of backing, away we went. 'OOPS!!! - Six inches from ramming the bridge pier! More backwards rowing and I was away. It was zig and zag, zag and 'ARRRGH! Nearly hit that boat!' before I suddenly realised my arms ached. OK, so now we adjust the footboard and row with our back. Luckily nothing was moving on the river until... An inflatable with an outboard zipped past. This was _really_ dodgy, the boat rolled and rolled. Eventually I would learn to use the oars to stabilise the boat but this was genuinely frightening. By the time I reached Glovers Ait I was in better shape, but still doing zigs n' zags and turning 'on the spot' rather than while under way. I nearly hit the boats moored at the tail of the island before heading round the 'back', out of the way of others... I thought! Whoops! - Where did that cruiser come from. Luckily it didn't create much wash so on I went. Out in the main river again the trip boat 'Merrie Thames' zoomed past with a butter of a wash. Bob, roll, bob, roll... The reflected wash from the other bank was the worst for some reason. Tucked in behind it was a guy in a canoe who seemed to be 'slipstreaming' in the wake with only the occasional course correction. Well I steadily got better and more confident in my handling of the boat and the few cruisers that passed created hardly any wash. I passed the boats moored in the stream on the approach to Hammertons ferry. I nearly rammed some floating duck-houses. I then realised that they belonged to the extraordinary raft I was passing. A 'bender' afloat it seemed to be made up of pallets on drums of all descriptions. There was a mast of sorts, and a metal chimney and a bloke with a beard who ignored my greeting before pulling a plastic crate on a rope from the depths, inspecting it and returning it whence it came. Just beyond the ferry I stopped and experimented with techniques for coming alongside the wall. This triggered howls of derision from some small boys across the water. Even more howls as I removed my T-shirt. (Did I say it was hot?) I checked the map for any unexpected weirs, drank a third of a bottle of water and set off. I was really getting the hang of it now and I breezed through the Middlesex side of Eel-pie Island. That's a cheap boat, ukp 450. - You could afford that. - No you couldn't, remember: Surveys, mooring, licenses... STOP!!! - That'l be the bridge pier then! Memo: look behind / ahead of you. Assuming a nonchalant air I backed and proceeded past at more than the foot or so of my first attempt. Then, just when I though it was safe... The 'Merrie Thames' came into the channel. It was big, it was fast, it had a hell of a wash. Someone aboard the trip boat was amused by my bobbing in its wake. I was not! By this time I had been caught up with by a couple in another skiff. He didn't have to steer himself and so made better time than my rather erratic course allowed. He went 'round the island' and I went ahead. By this time I was pretty knac*ed in need of a quick trip behind a bush and I knew Teddington lock was a bit further on so by Swan Island Harbour I crossed over and beached the boat in a small shingle bay. Then 'that boat' appeared and almost swamped the stern of the boat, which was still water-borne. I'm glad I was alert for this one otherwise the skiff would have gone without me! I had the devils own job getting off due to submerged obstacles but I made it after much shoving with oars. - Eventually I found just the right technique and I was away. Returning downstream there were many more skiffs around, initially out of Hammertons. By this time wakes didn't trouble me quite as much and I had a pleasant and uneventful time until I reached Glovers Ait again, apart from: a) The two BIG trip boats following me past Eel-pie Island - They did throttle back however and I wasn't troubled by their wake all that much. b) Still zig-zagging slightly. c) coming close to grounding a few times. d) Disturbing various fishermen. e) Two camping skiffs with four or five aboard each making there way upstream. Just above the Ait it was 'Merrie Thames' again, closely followed by a cruiser bashing along making the worst wake yet. I was turned broadside to this - more rolling. This was followed by an even worse wake off an open fiberglass 'tub'. Dealing with the washes and hesitating about taking a loop 'round the island' meant the family in a row-boat that I had overtaken at the other end of the Ait passed me - Dad was now rowing rather than the rather pretty daughter. It was now a straight blast for 'home', passing on the way another skiff. The 'fit n' sporty' couple in it were having a blazing row - Apparently she wasn't rowing correctly and he was steering them into things! I slotted the skiff in amongst the others on the stage with no trouble at all and was secured by the bow-rope. Getting off was another matter. (Did I tell you the boat was 'tippy'?!) A bit of basic physics (Equal and opposite reactions off other mooted boats.) allowed me to eventually get parallel with the stage and out of the boat. Discussing things with the 'bloke on the stage' he said that Meg was particularly 'tippy' and assured me that camping skiffs were more stable - they better be! I was exhausted. A lot of this was nervous - the boat wasn't that stable, practically a canoe in fact. Almost everything was new to me. It was also very hot and I suspect that I should have set the footboard closer to me. My backside was numb and my neck ached from checking round to see where I was heading. I was sunburnt and a bit lightheaded. Was it fun... Yes, I suppose so, in a 'challenging' sort of way. Would I do it again... yes, I've coughed up for the holiday and I can see it growing on me. I'm still very much a 'newbie' and it'l be a while before I relax.. Lessons learnt: Remember sun-cream and a hat. Get some more practice in. Acquire some wing mirrors! (I'm serious about the mirrors, the type sold for bikes would probably do. Rowing alone it would be nice to reduce the amount of twisting round you have to do. It may not be terribly trad, or 'cool' but my eyesight doesn't give me much vision sideways so I have to twist further than most people. I'm not really into ramming things and I had a couple of close calls!) Sorry it this was over-long, but I have tried to give a flavour of what it was like to be very nervous a 'newbie' out on the river for the first time. Rick -- Still no boat... But been boating!