Bruce said: > It would be really useful to have some hard, unbiased data about the > proportions of CCers who > > *continuously moor (ie the three or four stop system or less) > *take a paid for winter mooring and genuinely CC in the summer > *CC all year - our current stop at Alrewas will last ten days, then > we are off to Braunston to buy some more fender rope. > > that way the discussion could at least be based on hard numbers. I > believe IWAC has funded a research project running at the moment - do > we have any idea of its design?
I suspect that it will be near impossible to establish hard facts about these numbers. None of the continuous moorers are likely to admit to that fact. Many, if not most, of those who shuffle (move slightly but not strictly adhering to the rules) will claim to be continuous cruisers. Those, such as yourself, that do genuinely CC will rightly claim to be so and so the results of any customer survey are likely to be meaningless. The only sure way to do this research would be to observe the boats on the ground, as it were, and this would require a massive survey with feet on the ground (such as BW conduct on licences every November). Now, seeing as BW do the licence survey and yet seem incapable of dealing with non-licensed boats, it is very unlikely that they have the will to deal with overstayers/continuous moorers. That being the case, what other organisation has the will and the manpower to do such a survey? I'm not optimistic of a solution to the problem of unlicensed or bridge hopping boats. You only have to look at a recent illustration here in Skipton of a licensed live-aboard narrow boat towing an unlicensed bucket of a plastic cruiser (flapping plastic tarpaulins tied on with string etc, etc) that took up residence for over a month in the centre of Skipton on 3 day moorings, chained to the rings, with mats out on the grass at the entrance to the boat, fire ash emptied at the edge of the towpath etc and yet nothing was done. They disappeared just before the licence survey was about to be done (coincidence maybe?). If nothing is done by BW about this blatant abuse what hope is there for a cure for bridge hoppers who are a little more discreet and moor on the edges of towns or near bridges with road access? Sad in a way, but I'm rather glad I'm getting out of UK boating now, to be honest. Roger
