CANAL AND BOATING ETIQUETTE:
I have included this page in the training section of our website - almost out of desperation for the falling standards of boating behaviour on our canals. When Irene and I moved aboard our first narrowboat, in 1994, we were newcomers and novices to the system. But that didn't matter because there were plenty of experienced boaters who were very capable of 'putting us right' when we didn't obey the norms of narrowboating behaviour.  Because we, as novices, were in the minority we soon learned from that majority of experienced boat owners, how to 'behave' in boating terms.

Now it seems that, because there are so many newcomers coming onto the canal system, the majority of boaters are relative novices.  The experienced now sadly seem to be in the minority.  This means that group pressure from a knowledgeable majority, bearing down on the minority of novices to follow the etiquettes is no longer present - in fact the reverse seems to be the case.  Of course there always were those who didn't conform, and there always will be, but they then seemed to be in the minority....

When we talk about boating etiquette we are not referring to how one positions a roof top Buckby Can or if one should hang a stern rope from the tiller pin (not traditional anyway - and you won't see it done in old archived pictures of working boats).  But instead we refer to good narrowboating practice which is both polite and generally sensible to suit all parties using the system.  I hope that when you scan down my list you will see (from the explanations given) why the particular practice is good etiquette and, equally, why ignoring the principle is bad practice and often down-right rude to others.  My list will not be exhaustive, and often reflects my own opinion - some experienced boaters might not agree with all of the opinions expressed here - but I suspect that most of the experienced will agree with most of what is listed.

If you know a bit about narrowboating and wish to correct any of my views, I won't take offence - but will welcome the discussion. I may also add to the list things I've forgotten to include.

• Before operating a lock which is set against you, do check that there is not a boat coming in the opposite direction that could use the lock first - It is  rude to the other boat to do otherwise. By pausing for a short time then helping the opposite approaching boat through saves wasted water and you are actually then setting the lock for your passage at the same time.  To reverse the lock delays the opposite direction boat by about 10-15mins.  Your passage was delayed anyway, with the lock being set against you, so such a short pause to give the other boat precedence will cause negligible delay.

• When emerging from a lock, look to see if there is another boat approaching from the other direction.  If there is, leave the gates open for them (but the paddles down).  If you are that approaching boat, but you do not wish to use the lock (perhaps you are mooring up for the night just before the lock, or going to stop at a water point), signal to the outward boater that you do not want the gates left open. The reasoning behind all of this should be patently obvious, yet there are those who do not practice these simple efforts to assist others - perhaps it's just lack of thought.  Of course traditionally working boatman emerged from locks leaving the gates open.  50% of the time it would be best for the next boat along and 100% of the time it would be quicker and easier for the emerging boat's crew.  Working boatmen had a job to do - many of the working practices and etiquettes were in fact just common sense methods to make things easier for everyone working the system. In fairness, in the old days there were really only experienced working boatmen operating the locks - and they all knew what they were doing - it's not like that today, so you can understand BW's present position.

• If there is a crew working a boat through a lock coming towards you, your crew should assist them through - after all they are in effect setting the lock for you. It irks me to spot boaters waiting for us to come through and set the lock for them whilst they partake of tea or whatever (typically, but not always,  posh marina types).  We even see them come up onto the lock side with windlass in hand to reverse the lock (then see us coming) before quickly turning back to their boat to wait for us to do their work for them.  If that approaching boat is single handed, then obviously things are different.  We would always try to assist a single hander at locks - whatever his or her direction of travel.
  But a word of warning here - things may not be as they seem.  What if one of the 'crew' on the approaching boat has not got the physical fitness to act alone - hence the other crew member needing to stay with the boat.

• If there is a queue at locks our practice is to go up onto the lock to assist no matter what the lock users direction of travel (even though there may be tea drinkers in the queue ahead of us).  This isn't a recognised etiquette but I believe that many hands make light work and the quicker we can help boats ahead of us through the locks, the quicker we'll get our turn - logical?. (But please read the next one in the list).

• No matter how good one might be at locking, it is up to the boat crew of the boat in the lock as to how quickly paddles are opened. That is, it's their lock and it's up to them how it's operated.  This one is difficult because I admit that I do tend to give fairly firm advice if I see, say, a novice hirer doing something dangerous. We train boaters to position their boats in the best way to allow speedy filling of the chamber, without  crashing the boat onto the cill.

• When operating your boat through a flight of locks, there is no point in queuing boats up in the short pounds between locks.  Efficiency of travel through a flight is largely dependent on not causing hold-ups to others, so if by putting several boats in a congested queue you block things up for boats coming in the opposite direction you are actually slowing things up for everyone, including yourself.  Remember you cannot progress any quicker through than the boat ahead of you - so why cram yourself up his/her stern (pardon the expression).

• Leave paddle pawls in place on the ratchets - it's bad and dangerous practice to lift them off whilst winding paddles up (you should be able to hear them clicking).  When putting paddles down you obviously need to lift the pawl, but only by an inch or so above the ratchet so that in an emergency merely dropping the pawl will stop the paddles from falling uncontrollably.  When we find pawls left off the ratchet and hanging it means that we have to replace them in their correct position and it just proves to us that the previous user didn't know how the job should be done. 

• If setting locks ahead on a flight (as most experienced boaters do), don't go so far ahead with the process that you end up reversing locks on those coming in the opposite direction.

• If in a suitably sized boat be prepared to share locks, up to the capacity of that lock, to save water and reduce the effect of lock queues.  You have no right to refuse to share a lock with another queuing boat of suitable size.  If you are not prepared to share you should go to the end of the queue.

• When passing moored boats you should slow the hull speed of your boat right up to, say, 2mph. This is something that very many private boaters fail to do, merely reducing a token amount of revs.  The actual speed is hard to gauge and any adverse effect will be dependent on the depth and width of the channel. So be guided by the effect your boat causes.   Note the reference to hull speed.  Folk often say come to tick over - if they mean bring the hull speed down to the speed at which tickover would maintain that speed then - good - fair enough.  But approaching at, say, 4mph to within 10 feet of the moored boat - then reducing revs to tickover has little effect as the hull will continue at (virtually) 4mph until well past the moored boat. If you don't slow the hull speed down the draw of water caused by the movement of your hull through the water will drag on the moored boat perhaps causing it to pull it's mooring pins (or just generally cause disruption) . Remember it is the water being displaced as the boat moves through the water that causes the problem, and most importantly the speed at which that drawn water is travelling - the heavier the boat the faster it's hull is moving through the water the more of a problem caused. Some people refer to this as 'draw' - no matter we are talking about the same thing.  Engine Revs actually have no real bearing on the issue. 

• But if you are the moored boat, you do have a responsibility to moor your boat up properly.  If you rely on attaching mooring ropes at, say, 90 degrees, to mooring pins ineffectually tapped 3ins into wet ground, your boat will be thrown around by passing boats - you are also likely to end up adrift (it will be your own fault so don't blame the passing boats).  So moor up properly with either your ropes set at approx 45 degrees, or other provision to properly secure your boat if 45 degrees isn't possible.  (Do use proper rope, BW, it works better than binder twine).

• When following behind another boat at cruising speed don't get too close. Water will be drawn in behind the lead boat to the extent that it will pull the bows of a boat coming the opposite way in behind that lead boat as it passes.  If the following boat is too close the boat coming the opposite way will be put into an adverse position, perhaps unable to avoid a collision - so leave enough room to allow such an opposing boat to recover its normal position. The faster the lead boat is travelling the bigger pull of water in behind it and the bigger the gap required.  Being too close also has the effect of slowing the lead boat - so you will be actually slowing your own progress.

• When meeting a boat coming towards you (when both boats are at cruising speed), particularly if the channel is a bit shallow on one side or the other, slacken the revs off a bit until both boats have passed each other. This lessens the likelihood of the water being 'stolen' from one boat or the other - remember that a narrowboat sucks water in behind it and along side it (and that water has to come from somewhere - perhaps from under the other boat).  It is also why you shouldn't move too far into the shallow sides as you are likely to go aground.

• When following another slower boat it is for them to decide whether or not an overtake is acceptable - not the following boat. If you understand the 'draw' we've been discussing you will understand why.  If the overtaken boat is travelling much slower than the overtaking boat the bow of the first boat will be pulled into the overtaking boat as it passes.  The effect is even worse if the overtaking boat fully 'steals' the water of the overtaken boat, because he (with his stern aground) cannot steer and his shallower drafted bow will slew over and hit the overtaking boat.  To overtake without collision on a narrow canal requires a long visible straight to allow the overtaking boat to go by at a speed only slightly greater than the overtaken boat - both parties need to understand what's involved.  With a novice hirer it is probably better if they temporarily go into the towpath on a centre rope whilst the overtaking boat proceeds by.  It might be  better if the overtake doesn't happen at all.

• Because of the difficulty with overtaking, it is very rude to pull out from a moored position, directly in front of another narrowboat.  Whilst cruising as much as we do, we frequently have boats pull out immediately in front of us only to have that boat cruise ahead of us at a mere 2mph.  That really will annoy any working skipper with a schedule and a job to do - it is why in the old days working boats had 'right of way' over pleasure boaters.  It is said that any cruise should be a leisurely affair - I agree to the right to do so, but if time isn't an issue such a relaxed cruise can still be done after we working boaters have been courteously waved by.  Sometimes the only time that the boat ahead is travelling faster than us, is when we have slowed Willow to pass moored boats - grrrr!. 

• Do not moor up where you shouldn't, in a manner that disrupts the navigation of others - move on from water points etc once you have finished with the facilities.  Do not moor up on moorings provided for the use of locks, moveable bridges, tunnels, etc, unless you are using those moorings for the purpose they were intended. Do not obstruct winding holes (remember some boats need the full width to turn). This general mooring gripe applies to ALL boats - including, YES Hotel boats and BW maintenance boats.

• These days it is politically correct to wrap bits of white poly bag around mooring pins - I've never been too politically correct and I think it looks terrible, it is no different to poly bag litter - just as unsightly.  And I believe the practice to be unnecessary - folk should know that canals were made for boats and that towpaths were part of the infrastructure of canals.  If they notice a moored boat common sense should tell them that there is a likelihood that the boat is going to be tied up with ropes.  It's a bit like the idea that bollards should be removed from lock sides in case someone trips over them ........."**xx!!??"

• Breaking washes are a bit of a contentious issue - some say they cause bank erosion, whereas some say that dredging is the only way to stop that.  We certainly agree with the dredging bit, but we also comment that a breaking wash may be an indication that the trim of your boat is not appropriate to the volume of water around you in the channel (say it's gone shallow or narrow).  In such conditions too many revs will cause the stern to dig it in and spoil the trim of the boat as it progresses through the water.  If that trim can be effectively corrected by reducing the engine revs to suit the conditions - the speed of the boat will actual slightly increase, because of it's improved trim (we actually proved this phenomena using the speed calculator on an American client's hand held GPS thingy). At the same time we have reduced the wash from it's 'breaking' state. We also comment that you should aim to have your boat properly positioned in the centre of the channel (unless avoiding other boats etc) so that there is a balance of water volume on either side of the boat - this also makes for better progress through the water.  A breaking wash on one side may merely indicate the need to re-position the boat in the channel - speeding you up and stopping the breaking nature of the wash.  

• Here's a modern politeness thing.  The agreed rule when approaching fishermen seems to be - maintain a centre channel position and reduce speed to prevent any wash (that might otherwise disrupt keep-nets etc) but otherwise maintain a moderate pace.  If I see signs of an obviously large fish being played I do stop - that only seems fair and, actually, quite interesting. But generally it is for the fisherman to remove any obstruction to your passage from rods etc.  It is for them to avoid fishing where boaters need to use the towpath - eg lock moorings, water points, winding holes, etc.  

So, with this list I've perhaps revealed myself to be getting a bit grumpy in my old age, and certainly not very politically correct - but I wager there's like minded boaters out there who will just nod in quiet agreement.