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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2019 16:02:38 GMT
You have to speak as you find, so no argument with you for sending the e mail.
Last year we arrived at the bottom lock to discover them locked up. Phoned C&RT and volunteers quickly arrived to unlock and let us through.
They briefed me and listed four issues on the flight for me to be aware of ... one of which was a particular lock where we should avoid using a gate because it sticks and is a major headache. I made notes and found the advice very useful.
My guess is that this is the lock where your volunteer 'went off alarming'.
My behaviour reflects your behaviour, reflects my behaviour etc. etc.
We worked up alone, with volunteers occasionally assisting when we passed by.
Based on our experience in both directions, I have nothing but praise for the team ... but of course it's your experience on which you're commenting.
Rog
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Post by JohnV on Jul 27, 2019 16:04:26 GMT
I have been fortunate in that over the last couple of years I have only come in contact with either proper Lock Keepers or Volunteer Lockies on the big mechanised locks of the Trent, which they operate in a very professional way.
Travelling with a large boat the presence of manned locks speeds up things tremendously (when they are operated efficiently)
To see the lights turn green as you approach and the gates opening is great, no fannying round trying to get a boat twice as long as the lock operations berth close enough so that someone can jump down and go and open the gates. Just straight in .... a quick chat while it cycles and off again ...... Top men the proper Lockies
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Post by Trina on Jul 27, 2019 16:11:01 GMT
Have you been a naughty boy again Nick? Most people don't respond well to pompous idiots who are full of their self importance. I rather think the pompous idiot was the volocky !
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Post by TonyDunkley on Jul 27, 2019 16:19:01 GMT
Dear CRT Northwest, I would be grateful if you could pass this on to the CRT member of staff responsible for volunteering. ........................................................................... ............................................................................................... It transpired that he felt taking two boats into the lock simultaneously was a bad idea (even though it is in fact best practice) because one of the gates tended to stick a bit when fully open........................................................................... Until CRT gets this right, experienced boaters will continue to come into conflict with volunteer lock keepers and such boaters will be increasingly resentful of them. Kind Regards Nick Norman Next time you find yourself in a similar situation try taking 'best practice' to it's ultimate conclusion by tying the two boats together with breast ropes forard and aft. That way you won't be open to any interference or influence from any of the volunteer wankers, . . and having a few gates stuck in their recesses and difficult to close might even encourage the useless bleeders to rake out all the brick-ends and junk that's causing the problem. If they want to 'play' at being lock keepers, . . why not educate them into doing it properly, . . the oufit they're volunteering for neither know nor care how to !
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Post by kris on Jul 27, 2019 16:19:14 GMT
Have you been a naughty boy again Nick? Most people don't respond well to pompous idiots who are full of their self importance. I rather think the pompous idiot was the volocky ! I don't know I wasn't there. There is always two sides to a story, we've only heard one side of it.
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Post by thebfg on Jul 27, 2019 16:20:18 GMT
You have to speak as you find, so no argument with you for sending the e mail. Last year we arrived at the bottom lock to discover them locked up. Phoned C&RT and volunteers quickly arrived to unlock and let us through. They briefed me and listed four issues on the flight for me to be aware of ... one of which was a particular lock where we should avoid using a gate because it sticks and is a major headache. I made notes and found the advice very useful. My guess is that this is the lock where your volunteer 'went off alarming'. My behaviour reflects your behaviour, reflects my behaviour etc. etc. We worked up alone, with volunteers occasionally assisting when we passed by. Based on our experience in both directions, I have nothing but praise for the team ... but of course it's your experience on which you're commenting. Rog Your right, i always say behaviour breeds behaviour.
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Post by Trina on Jul 27, 2019 16:21:02 GMT
Therefore,neither of us really knows who the pompous idiot was !
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Post by Telemachus on Jul 27, 2019 16:21:20 GMT
You have to speak as you find, so no argument with you for sending the e mail. Last year we arrived at the bottom lock to discover them locked up. Phoned C&RT and volunteers quickly arrived to unlock and let us through. They briefed me and listed four issues on the flight for me to be aware of ... one of which was a particular lock where we should avoid using a gate because it sticks and is a major headache. I made notes and found the advice very useful. My guess is that this is the lock where your volunteer 'went off alarming'. My behaviour reflects your behaviour, reflects my behaviour etc. etc. We worked up alone, with volunteers occasionally assisting when we passed by. Based on our experience in both directions, I have nothing but praise for the team ... but of course it's your experience on which you're commenting. Rog To be honest part of the fun is working out what is ahead and acting accordingly, I therefore don’t particularly want some major briefing on the minor peculiarities of a flight of locks. Later the “nice” volockie was heard telling folk that a specific paddle on the lock ahead was the stiffest of the flight. So What? I just see that as grand standing. Anyway regarding your point about “my behaviour reflects your behaviour” etc, I totally agree. The problem was that my first encounter with this chap was him commanding “STOP” for not a good reason. Had he said “best to come in one at a time because that gate sticks” - well fine. But not issuing shouted orders at first contact. Bear in mind that you and I might well have encountered different people, there will be numerous volockies on the roster I would imagine.
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Post by Telemachus on Jul 27, 2019 16:25:16 GMT
Dear CRT Northwest, I would be grateful if you could pass this on to the CRT member of staff responsible for volunteering. ........................................................................... ............................................................................................... It transpired that he felt taking two boats into the lock simultaneously was a bad idea (even though it is in fact best practice) because one of the gates tended to stick a bit when fully open........................................................................... Until CRT gets this right, experienced boaters will continue to come into conflict with volunteer lock keepers and such boaters will be increasingly resentful of them. Kind Regards Nick Norman Next time you find yourself in a similar situation try taking 'best practice' to it's ultimate conclusion by tying the two boats together with breast ropes forard and aft. That way you won't be open to any interference or influence from any of the volunteer wankers, . . and having a few gates stuck in their recesses and difficult to close might even encourage the useless bleeders to rake out all the brick-ends and junk that's causing the problem. If they want to 'play' at being lock keepers, . . why not educate them into doing it properly, . . the oufit they're volunteering for neither know nor care how to ! Funny you should say that! We are 59’ and the other boat was 30’ so my initial thoughts were that it would be difficult to tie them together. And also the guy needed the practice at driving! The other boat was raw water cooled /wet exhaust and my god there was a hell of a lot of duck weed near the top. About 5 locks from the top I noticed that water had stopped coming out of their exhaust, only steam. Which is bad! So we managed to tie them to us, sterns together and our centre rope to their bow. It worked great! Plus it released another person to work the locks.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2019 16:37:02 GMT
As I said ... we can only comment on our own experiences.
I encountered nothing negative and was very impressed with what support we received.
The Wigan 21 can be a bugger if and when things go wrong ... personally I was pleased to know C&RT staff were on the flight as we travelled up and down ... but thankfully we did not encounter any problems.
I'm sorry your trip was marred by over officiousness by one volunteer.
Rog
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Post by JohnV on Jul 27, 2019 16:53:07 GMT
As I said ... we can only comment on our own experiences. I encountered nothing negative and was very impressed with what support we received. The Wigan 21 can be a bugger if and when things go wrong ... personally I was pleased to know C&RT staff were on the flight as we travelled up and down ... but thankfully we did not encounter any problems. I'm sorry your trip was marred by over officiousness by one volunteer. Rog there were no volockies when I did the Wigan flight ..... and it was tough going. My sister at that time in her 70's had hurt her wrist and was helming and I was late 60's and doing the locks There were no other boats going the same way as us (in fact from memory I think there was only one going the other way) Very heavy paddles/gates, lots of leaks, lots of proper spouts of water from a couple of the lock walls. It took us nearly all day because I needed a break halfway Bloody hard work .... but also very satisfying I don't think I would have anything like the same sense of achievement If I had had assistance
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2019 17:07:33 GMT
Of course it is a first world problem (even setting aside the fact that third world countries generally don’t have canals for leisure use!). But a lot of the fun of canals is the locks. We like to work them efficiently etc. We don’t like being told what to do by some numpty with 5 mins experience of the canals who has never owned a boat. Unfortunately we have had several cases of volunteers forcing their will on us recently. If we don’t fight back by complaining, it isn’t going to get any better. I can tolerate the patronising advice such as “Oooh best not to get too close to the front of the lock / best not to open the paddles too quickly because the bat might get sucked forwards” etc. But when commands are given that disrupt our progress, I will resist. I hate other boaters getting involved in our locking - leave alone a person with too much time on their hands and no bloody boat! Exactly my thoughts.
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Post by pearley on Jul 27, 2019 17:19:11 GMT
Was this volunteer named Joe with a prominent moustache? If so, we encountered him at the halfway point too 3 weeks ago. Didn't let him bother us too much but Jeannette reckoned he was a bit of a misogynist, or maybe he just didn't like woman with opinions.
However, we were very happy to have help up the flight and all the other volunteers were very pleasant and helpful.
No volunteers at Johnson's Hillock when we came up but very happy to have them at Blackburn, especially so as being on our own. We did initially upset one of them when he started to open the ground paddle on the wrong side and got shouted at but he was OK when Jeannette explained why.
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Post by Telemachus on Jul 27, 2019 17:42:41 GMT
Was this volunteer named Joe with a prominent moustache? If so, we encountered him at the halfway point too 3 weeks ago. Didn't let him bother us too much but Jeannette reckoned he was a bit of a misogynist, or maybe he just didn't like woman with opinions. However, we were very happy to have help up the flight and all the other volunteers were very pleasant and helpful. No volunteers at Johnson's Hillock when we came up but very happy to have them at Blackburn, especially so as being on our own. We did initially upset one of them when he started to open the ground paddle on the wrong side and got shouted at but he was OK when Jeannette explained why. This was the guy. The other boat (brand new to the owners) was very happy to have our assistance and they were a great couple, made more interesting because she was profoundly deaf. But a fantastic lip reader! She wanted a memorial photo of “Team Wigan” but when it came to it, her phone battery was dead. So I obliged. I look a bit scowly but it was pissing with rain! We had lovely hugs and then went our happy ways!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2019 17:50:59 GMT
Was this volunteer named Joe with a prominent moustache? If so, we encountered him at the halfway point too 3 weeks ago. Didn't let him bother us too much but Jeannette reckoned he was a bit of a misogynist, or maybe he just didn't like woman with opinions. However, we were very happy to have help up the flight and all the other volunteers were very pleasant and helpful. No volunteers at Johnson's Hillock when we came up but very happy to have them at Blackburn, especially so as being on our own. We did initially upset one of them when he started to open the ground paddle on the wrong side and got shouted at but he was OK when Jeannette explained why. This was the guy. The other boat (brand new to the owners) was very happy to have our assistance and they were a great couple, made more interesting because she was profoundly deaf. But a fantastic lip reader! She wanted a memorial photo of “Team Wigan” but when it came to it, her phone battery was dead. So I obliged. I look a bit scowly but it was pissing with rain! We had lovely hugs and then went our happy ways! C&RT training is shite - they don’t cover PPE correctly - no crotch straps mean those automatic life jacket are next to useless. Tell the volunteers to dress correctly next time you encounter them - the old fella at the back looks as though he has one but has not even bothered to buckle his life jacket up 🤦🏼♂️ Good on you all for enjoying a wet old day - bar for one silly old git 👍
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