There was an almighty crash bang earlier today. I could hear CHS yelling so I went to see what the problem was.
The part of the K&A we are on is river rather than canal and it's running really fast.
A boat had approached at speed and CHS thought they were trying to moor behind us. But they had lost power, the engine just died and they were at the mercy of the current.
We went out to help and managed to get the boat under control and got it moored in front of us.
It took all 5 of us, some time, lots of rope heaving and lots of nettle stings but the crew are now safe.
At one point they were nearly across the width of the river, I was hauling on the back rope and managed to get them abreast of our boat and then between us we got them to the bank.
There were 3 girls on the boat, one was the owner, she'd only had the boat a month and she had 2 friends with her who didn't know what to do but were doing their best.
A boater going the other way kept shouting at them to give the boat more power, which of course they couldn't do with no engine.
Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age.
4 comments:
Wow, so glad that you managed to get the boat under control and everyone was safe x
Many years ago we were moored at Yarmouth and left my mum and dad on board while we took our then young children to the fair. When we got back the place was swarming with police and ambulances. A boat had broken it's morning and got another boat causing the guy on deck to be knocked into the water. He was never seen again! My mum and dad were in shock they said it all happened very fast and just about held our boat in the mooring. Water is dangerous, the hidden currents and in experienced Norfolk broad uses didn't help.
In my whole life I have had only three boating holidays - two on the Broads and one on the Thames. I was pretty scared for the whole time on all three.
They were very lucky you were there to help! People are just too blasé about water and don't take it seriously enough.
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