| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Navigation impediment | |
| Posted by: | Nigel Moore | |
| Date/Time: | 09/03/10 14:30:00 |
| Some of my best friends are rowers, and at a pinch I could conceivably even let one of my sisters marry one, but that is not to say that I find it anything other than preposterous for any of them to claim that their use of the river should be paramount and other users should be discouraged as ‘incompatible’. Have you read the above postings carefully enough? Increased freight use of the waterways is not “my” dream; it is the aspiration of governmental bodies here and abroad as reflected in the planning law and available grants. I simply support that aim, for a plethora of my own reasons. And I do not, as no river user possibly could, overlook the steady increase in rowing activity over the past years. Navigational concerns over rowers in the Thames are not one-sided. There is concern for their safety and there is concern for the safety problems they present to others. As a result of the past tendency for so many rowers both in teams and solo to act on the presumption that they “own” the river, on 6th October 2006 the PLA launched a new Code of Practice for Rowing on the Tideway. The PLA, in conjunction with the Thames Regional Rowing Council produced the code in booklet form and a detailed map in A0 size, and delivered one copy of each to each club in the Thames Region. I presume that you are a rower yourself and will be [certainly ought to be] fully familiar with the new buoyed channels that were set in place for the use of rowers. All rowers are expected to keep to these channels and obey, in common with all other boaters, the obligations of maintaining all reasonable care for others when navigating these public waters. The central channel [the "fairway"] up to and past Syon reach remains clear for all other classes of boat whether private pleasure craft or commercial, and there need never be any conflict whatsoever between those and rowers. Safety issues would only arise through disobedience of the rules by either class of user, same as has always applied. A short version of the new code is published at: http://www.thames-rrc.org/fileadmin/documents/safety_docs/Pocket_guide_colour_A4_spread.pdf Rowing opportunities would not become restricted with increased commercial traffic – the need to obey the rules would simply become more obvious. Any responsible club will already have attempted to drum those into their members even before the new regime of marker buoys along the outside margins. Outside of Rules, tolerance and happy fellowship is what ought to be the order of the day amongst river users – mostly, it is. |