Not too much to ask

IN AGREEMENT with Ralph Freeman who single handedly, has averaged 88.1 lock miles per month including winter months over the last three years, I too did a similar figure, that is not too much to ask a true continuous cruiser to do, writes Keith Gudgin.

In 2012 I did 608.37 statute miles and 356 locks making 964.37 lock miles resulting in an average for the year of 80.4 lock miles per month.

Actual figures

2012 = 608.37 + 356 = 964.37/12 = 80.4
2013 = 482.29 + 742 = 1224.3/12 = 102.0
2014 = 588.49 + 396 = 984.5/012 = 82.0

As can be seen, I have averaged 88.1 lock miles at 1.12 miles per lock over the last three years.

These figures are actual logged distances travelled and locks done and are not estimates.
I therefore think that an average of 20 statute miles per month over a period of a year is not too much to ask a true  continuous cruiser to do. After all, I have averaged 46.6 statue miles over three years, summer and winter all alone and I'm no teenager either.

Heavily locked canals will be offset by lightly locked canals and rivers over the period in question so 20 miles on average is not in my opinion out of order. There may be times when you are unable to move and these times can be taken into account as they occur.

Not unreasonable

I do not think it unreasonable to ask someone who has signed up to cruise continuously to actually do so and travel a reasonable distance when so doing. Nobody has, so far as I know, asked those with home moorings to do these mileages so this does not apply to them only to 'those boaters who sign to say they will cruise continuously'.

In my opinion if you are not prepared to travel an average of 20 odd miles per month on a continuous journey then get a home mooring and leave the visitor moorings for visitors to use. After all the 1995 act does say (17: (3) (c) (ii):

'The applicant for the relevant consent satisfies the Board that the vessel to which the application relates will be used bona fide for navigation throughout the period for which the consent is valid without remaining continuously in any one place for more than 14 days or such longer period as is reasonable in the circumstances'. (My italics.)

Always have best moorings

The surreptitious swapping of moorings at midnight shows that the perpetrators are trying to circumvent not only the rules but the spirit of continuous cruising by ensuring that they always have the best moorings and deny those moorings to true visitors at all times.

If you have to stay in one place for work, schools etc. then I fail to see how you can class yourself as a continuous cruiser in any interpretation of the term.

It's not very often I support CaRT but on this issue I do. I cruise the canals and see these boats and the mess that many of their owners make. I pass the same spots with same boats moored time after time and it is obvious that they have not moved for months.

Rubbish and junk

The destruction of the local trees for wood to burn, the rubbish and junk on the towpath and mile after mile of moored boats with owners that moan every time you pass them that you are going too fast etc. because they have not learned or can't be bothered to tie their boats up properly.

I also see the many near empty marinas on the system so it appears that there is space available in them for these boats to moor all year.

They don't want to use marinas because they will not be able to live their filthy lives spitting out stinking smoke and littering the area around their boats with all manner of rubbish and junk, nor run generators/engines/chainsaws etc. at all hours of the day and night.

Not one of the shiny brigade

Do not get the impression that I am one of the shiny boat brigade, my boat could do with some painting, but then it is used all year continuously. On the other hand you will not see me covering its roof or the towpath with rubbish, wood-piles or other unsightly junk. You will not hear me start any type of engine at night except in an emergency and I only burn smokeless fuel in my stove.

I support CaRT in it's efforts to clear the canals of continuous moorers and the mess those people make. After all it will make the canal environment a cleaner better place for all of us and give us a chance to stop for a while and enjoy the area.

Prevented from stopping

This winter I have been prevented from stopping on a visitor mooring because a boat with a winter mooring permit is moored right in the middle of the mooring space and a continuous moorer is moored next to him and therefore they have blocked the mooring all winter. (I have had this confirmed by one of the coal boat owners who passed them regularly all winter as he was unable to stop there as well.)

I expect some flak for this article but I am a continuous cruiser and see continuous mooring getting worse and worse every year that I feel it is time a halt was called.

I am also fed up with being lumped together and treated as a continuous moorer just because I have a continuous cruiser licence. Some of us not only obey the law but also the spirit of the term continuous cruiser and this means cruising a reasonable distance over a reasonable time period on a genuine cruise around the network.