Although there has been much discussion in the past about new private boaters and hirers and the lack of knowledge and experience in both boat handling and lock operation I would like to pass on my experience in the last week whilst moving a boat from Middlewich to Barnoldswick.
On one particular day and in the Wigan area we met 5 boats of which 3 were new boaters. Boat 1 - We had seen this boat at Lymm and chatted and they said 'Were new to this game, if you see us later will you look after us'. Little was thought of this comment until we went through Poolstock Locks with them. When both boats were in the lock I was on the lockside and brought both boats up. The new boat steerer then asked if I could show his wife how to operate a lock (now I knew what he meant by 'looking after them') - as I was closing paddles, closing gates and locking the handcuff locks I talked the lady through what I was doing and why. On the walk to the next lock I talked her through how a lock operated and the sequence of events for going up and then the sequence for going down. Whilst at the second lock I watched her carefully and again talked her through what she was doing - all seemed to go reasonably well other than her being unable to get the handcuff unlocked - it operated but was stuck and just needed a little push with a finger to open fully and allow the paddle to be operated. The steerer went into this lock first and had bow in one corner and stern in diagonally opposite corner and said 'what do I do now'. I gave him instruction how to get his boat straight - which he did very easily -and then allowed the other boat into the lock. As we were going up the Wigan 21 and they were going towards Rufford we left them in hopes that they would remember the instructions and would have no problems in getting to their Marina destination. Boat 2 - We met this boat just under half way up the Wigan 21, they were coming down. They roped on round two bollards with rope back to steerer. They had to be prompted to close the top paddles prior to opening the bottom paddles (we thought they must have known this as they had bought the boat some miles away and had done quite a few locks since buying the boat). When the lock was empty the steerer had to be prompted twice to pull the boat back to allow the gate to be opened. The boat crew and the steerer had to be prompted to remove the rope from the bollards to allow the boat to come out of the lock. Boat 3 - This boat had gone up the 21 at some time earlier in the day and had obviously passed Boat 2 at some point. About 4 locks up from where we saw Boat 2 we started encountering open top gates and sometimes 1 and sometime 2 paddles open, and we experienced a combination of open gates and open paddles all the rest of the way up. They were moored at the top but we did not really get a chance to have a word. It is apparent there are many new boaters of the private boat type that go out and buy a boat without even attempting to get any experience or even reading what you should or should not do. If this is going to be the norm then I feel that the day will come when all purchasers of boats will be obliged to have some form of competency certification prior to taking the boat away from the boatyard. My views are that all these potential owners should hire a boat for a week (where at least they will get some instruction - level dependant on the individual hire company), or to do the RYA Helmsmans Course, if they have done neither then the Boatyard should give instruction until he feels they are competent to take the boat away (and to charge them for that privilege). This obviously would not apply to any person who can give assurance they have a reasonable level of experience on the inland waterways. Terry Waldron
