On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 3:48 PM, David Cragg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Mind you - even if a boat leaves and the gates are shut immediately we > often find that this is to allow some (unseen by us) person to wind the top > paddles to fill the lock - in which case ramming is counter productive to > gates and boat. > > This - winding without looking (or caring as they are in a hurry) - seems > to occur more and more often on busy canals and any comment made about it by > us normally seems to end in an argument.
When I was single handing at Berkhamsted either someone passing closed what they thought was a left gate or it swung shut on it's own. This was rather annoying because I had intentionally walked up to the next lock to get it ready while waiting for the first one to empty. I did try to push it gently open again with the boat, but unfortunately the top gates leak badly (which is why they may have closed the gate) so it had already built up to much head. This also happened on another trip down the Braunston flight - so please check before shutting gates even if there isn't a boat at the lock! Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
