Winter moorings dilemma
I NOTICED the following statement attached to the CaRT emails about winter mooring, writes Keith Gudgin.
'If there is available space at a winter mooring site, visitors may use the mooring for the relevant stay time. If a permit-holder arrives at the site they will have priority, and those not in possession of a winter mooring permit must be prepared to move off the site'.
Canal frozen
So imagine the situation where we have a visitor that has already spent 10 days on a normal 14 day moorings that is been designated as a winter mooring and mean-time the canal has frozen around him.
A 'permit-holder' comes along smashing through the ice and decides to moor up at 4pm in the afternoon when it's already dark. Does this mean that the visitor already there has to move off in the dark, and smash his way through the ice to find another mooring?
Potentially dangerous
What a potentially dangerous situation CaRT have put some boaters in by making this statement.
I can say that I will certainly not move under any circumstances that I would consider potentially dangerous. I am single crewed and I would deem it to be very dangerous for me to move off alone in the dark along an ice covered waterway and operate frozen locks etc.
I have a rule that I will not crash through ice for any reason, it damages the boat, nor will I cruise in the dark unless it is necessary for reasons of safety to me or my boat. CaRT's own handbook also make a similar point and warns about the dangers of cruising through ice.
Priority
Does this statement also mean that the so called 'permit-holder' can make a boat that is already moored up move along the mooring so the 'permit-holder' can have priority over a spot that is already occupied?
You could even have the situation that a visitor may be moved off moorings up and down the waterways at the whim of a 'permit-holder' who does not like the other boater etc.
The statement appears to be ill-thought out in that it potentially puts boaters in danger and a recipe for confrontation between boaters and/or CaRT personnel.
No unfettered right
If a 'permit-holder' wants a particular place for the winter then they should be there early. I do not see that they should have an unfettered right to move other boaters on just because they want to moor in a particular place or turn up late in the day etc. The visitor will not be there for long after all.
All the winter mooring permit should give the 'permit-holder' is a right to stay in one designated place for the duration of the permit without being moved on. They should also have to state where they will be moored for the duration of that permit and then CaRT could reserve that spot which means that this situation should not then arise. If they do not wish to stay in one place all the time then there is not much point in purchasing a permit is there?
Should not give priority
A winter mooring permit should not give any boater the right to move any other boater on at any time, nor give them priority over other boaters at any mooring spot for any reason.
Also, visiting boats should not be prevented from mooring on empty winter mooring spots as long as they do not over-stay the normal stay-time without good reason.
Why do CaRT not designate all the empty long term linear moorings as winter moorings instead of taking over visitor mooring sites and causing potential confrontation and/or dangerous situations for boaters?