Email: The attitude

The attitude that prevents some private boat owners from observing simple courtesies is based on the fact that:

"I am successful in life and you never got anywhere just pussyfooting around. I have been boating for xx years and know what I am doing, if you don't like it then you clearly don't recognise a superior being when you see one.

"That being the case, why should I bother if I inconvenience you as you are a nothing in my eyes. I worked hard to pay for this boat and I will jolly well drive it how I wish, I don't have to listen to riff-raff who have no respect for their betters. If you have the temerity to complain about anything I do, I shall either treat you with the disdain that you clearly deserve, or depending on who I am trying to impress at the time, treat you to the dressing down you should have had from your parents, who are clearly of such low class as to not appear on my radar (I do have one fitted by the way).

"You and your namby-pamby friends who clutter up the waterway and get in my way are nothing but hindrances who should clearly make way for me at locks and should not complain when I moor at the water point to visit the local pub (who are lucky to get my business)."

On the other hand, not all boaters are like that, just some.  There is the type of boater who realises that hirers may not be experienced and might make mistakes, and remembers that they were once learners. They treat other boaters with the courtesy that they would wish to receive, and no matter whether the boat is a craggy old thing liable to sink, or the latest six figure sum super boat, all get the same treatment. Remembering that some hirers are more experienced that themselves.

Tony Collins