Boats don't run on rails!

CRICKEY! So narrowboating isn't a contact sport then. I would definitely agree that it should not be thought of as such but in practice it really is, writes Orph Mable.

Boats do not run on rails, wind, currents and the person ‘in control' affect them. The boat doesn't always go where the steerer expects or intends and bumps and scrapes happen. These bumps are not limited to hire boats, or the effect of hire boats, and can happen to anyone.

 

Battle scars

We get to see an awful lot of private and syndicate boats over the average year. New and old boats alike, it doesn't take long for ‘battle scars' to appear on them after a fresh blacking or painting, unless they stay inside a marina for all their life. Getting ‘up close and personal' with the steel work as we do, makes you realise how much contact is made with immovable objects during the average cruise.

Seasoned and experienced boaters are always having minor bumps (and not so minor). I hear lots of reasons (excuses?) for this. 'The wind!'—'I only looked away for a second'—'I forgot about the bye-wash'. These are just are few that we hear very often.

Equality for all

I am afraid that if we start to consider legislating that hire boaters have to have some sort of permit then all boaters will have to have it. (Equality for all?) As I've written many times, you cannot legislate against stupidity, and there are always going to be those that don't know the rules or ignore them. There are many ‘private' boats every year that are taken out by novices who do not get the detailed briefing, demonstrations and written information that the hire boat operators give their clients. How is that to be policed?

Just an observation from someone that lives in a boatyard at the junction of three busy canals—by far the majority of speeding and inconsiderate boats passing our working boatyard are private and syndicate ones but rarely a hire boat.