What's the motive?

WHAT is the motive behind the recent survey to assist boaters to use the tidal Trent? Asks Pam Pickett.

Though for Canal & River Trust it seems cycling is the way forward, but it is not the only way forward that is causing concern; it is the Trust's encouragement for boaters to use the Trent, inclusive I'm now told of the tidal Ouse.

When the Trust came up with it's recent survey asking what would assist boaters to use the Trent I was puzzled as to its reason for doing so. On reflection however the only motive I can see for boaters to be encouraged to navigate these particular river waters has to be to relieve strain on the canal system it is failing to maintain, ignoring as it does its first duty under the Articles of Association, the navigations.

A lesson to be learned?

For any choosing to navigate the tidal Trent and Ouse therefore, the story of the boater who recently became grounded on the Ouse by Boothferry Bridge may be of assistance in deciding whether this is to be a good choice, or otherwise. It will I hope if nothing else, point to the best, and worst, times to cruise for any boaters inexperienced in cruising on tidal river waters, plus serve to highlight another possible problem for those skippers who do, and that the Trust maintains they must then take personal responsibility in deciding when it is safe to go.

The image below shows another problem with the tidal Trent—its bore, the Aegir, seen here passing through Gainsborough, and the Nemesis of no few unprepared boats.

Totally unprepared

With this in mind, the recent grounding of this narrowboat on the Ouse has raised several issues, and make no mistake, here we could have been reading not of a grounding, but of a fatality. The boater concerned told me he was totally unprepared for the conditions he was about to meet when he left Naburn Lock to head for Selby, and ultimately Skipton.

With the friend he'd cruised with from Selby to Naburn having had to be taken off the boat as a result of ill health, he was now single-manning as he left for what for him turned out to be a terrifying return journey.

A lucky escape

With neither anchor ready, nor VHF and in the absence of a phone number to contact the bridge-keeper at Cawood Bridge this boater was swept along on a reasonably strong tide, swollen by more than three feet of fresh water as a result of earlier rains. As he approached the bridge he told me he saw the bridge keeper frantically trying to flag him down. He said he tried to stop but engaging reverse only turned him broadside, resulting in him going under the bridge in this position and in him clipping the wooden fendering of the bridge as he did so. (It was later established that the air draft under the bridge was 2.3 metres, and that without doubt he'd had a lucky escape!)

'Safe to go'

Major issues therefore arise here should boaters inexperienced in cruising the Trent and Ouse, inclusive of those tidal waters, elect to do so as a result of encouragement by the Trust. Particularly so given the Trust's stance on 'personal responsibility' and on the skipper being the one to decide when it is 'safe to go'. One of those major issues in fact relates to why this particular boater travelled on a reasonably strong tide and not on a later neap tide.

The above picture shows the tidal Trent, heading towards Keadby in its more tranquil mood on a neap tide.

Time-expired on a 14 days mooring in York he felt he had little choice to decide when it was 'safe to go' as he wished to avoid a possible enforcement notice.

Totally unprepared

Issue number two has to be the total un-preparedness of this boater given the conditions he was about to face. Personal responsibility is one thing, but so too is the cost to Humber Rescue when a boat, or indeed boats seen to be unsuitably equipped, or purely unsuitable for the task apparently cannot be turned back by the Trust?

Bearing in mind that this boater was known not to have VHF issue number three has to relate to the lack of a phone number to have enabled him to contact the bridge-keeper at Cawood. A number I'm told that strangely has never been asked for by the Trust and which, though now given, remains absent on the relevant North East Waterways notice board.

Rail takes preference

Issue number four sadly has to point to why having the relevant phone number would have been academic in the case of the boater who grounded. He didn't know how to round up to stop, probably the most important issue of all, and yes, speaking to one at CaRT recently, I do think a modicum of training would not only be be appropriate, but also very necessary.

This especially as boaters are now to be asked to use 'abort points' to avoid the railway bridge needing to be opened between certain times and inconveniencing rail travellers who complain it seems if the train is late in reaching Kings Cross! I haven't cruised the tidal Trent or Ouse but looking at those shown 'abort points' it seems to me that some are dangerously close to the bridges and probably more suitable for tying up a ship, than for mooring a narrowboat. I will be happy to stand corrected should I be wrong!

Not an 'Outdoor Gym'

Finally, I have recently been in contact with a boater who cruising from Keadby yesterday in a strong southerly wind, much as our grounded boater met, experienced three foot waves and with another I'm told of cruising even between Beeston and Sawley on the non-tidal Trent, meeting waves a foot high and causing problems for a boat's engine, with the boat coming out of the water.  Neither the Trent nor the Ouse are the 'Outdoor Gym' the Trust is so happy to promote, they can be serious boating issues, and unless the Trust is prepared to take steps to improve safety for the uninitiated, and amend its tick-box enforcement, to my mind it will be guilty of negligence in encouraging their use!