> Why are you biased in favour of
>> those behind you?
>
> posed Adrian
>
>
> Becase perhaps there is more chance of those behind, catching you
> up and duffing you one for rule breaking than, those passing in the
> opposite direction rushing back, duffing you one for rule
> obedience.
>
> Pete
> www.thecanalshop.com
>
I think there is a serious health and safety issue here. The rule makes
good sense for modern shallow-draft boats with a crew of at least two,
where one of the crew can shut the gate while the other brings the boat
alongside the bank at the lock bollards to pick them up. However it does
cause problems for deeper-draught boats, especially if single-handed.
Not all lock bollard stagings are deep enough for deep boats, which need
to stay in the channel into or out of the lock. While some locks have
safe boarding points in a parallel section of lock mouth, many do not
(the wing walls diverge so boarding, if possible at all, has to be onto
the roof) presumably because they retain a design which dates from the
'leave gates open' era. The Oxford and Stratford are two examples which
come to mind.
While I follow the 'shut the gates' rule, over the years I have
frightened myself badly several times in doing so on steamers and
butties, most recently trying to get off a lock staging on the S. Oxford
this summer (in fact we were hard aground because there had been a queue
for the lock). We spent 5-10 minutes trying to rock the boat off the
bottom with the engine running at full power and the boiler steaming
hard; what was going through my mind was that if I lost my grip (a) it
was going to make a nasty mess (b) it was likely that none of the
numerous spectators would be able to bring the plant under control.
Finally we got her into the lock with nobody hurt, but it is only a
matter of time before someone miscalculates.
Sean
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