RCC Easter Cruise.

[oldgit]

Two cruises planned one to Burnham on Crouch and one to St Kats.
The forecasted weather on Friday firmly put paid to the Burnham trip. An OK location in summer but not mid winter.
However, OG and the select few who planned to go St Kats were little more resolute.
Friday morning produced a millpond from Rochester to Tower Bridge and sightings of Dolphins in Sea Reach to add a little gloss on the trip.

A couple of trophy boats shot past us around the QE11 bridge close enough to cause totaly unnecessary wash to our little fleet.
A couple of hours later we came across them again outside St Kats , where no doubt they had been pointlessly bouncing around for ages.

The biggest and most shiney mega barge was being called in by the lock staff on the radio for ages while all the rest of the boats were clogging up the river for all other passing traffic,
Think they called him on his mobile phone in the end. All the gear and no idea ?

A few brave souls from RCC had ventured round on the Friday, were all moored together on the events pontoon.
St Kats had expected a number of boats to come downriver over Easter and had puchased sufficient alcoholic beverages for quite a large group. We did our best.
As usual a very friendly welcome from staff.
Trip up to the V&A Museum proved to be a worthwhile afternoon out, the adults thought it was brilliant, the kids thought it was OK. Sort Of.
Evening meal was in IL Bordello they managed to look after 30 of us.
Monday turned out to be even better with sunshine all the way home.




By the way if anybody finds a nearly new Blue Fender ?

 

[oldgit]

"A couple of trophy boats shot past us around the QE11 bridge close enough to cause totally unnecessary wash to our little fleet."

Spoke today to a skipper who was moored on one of the commercial piers at Gravesend , conversation turned towards just how much wash from passing traffic was the norm.
He did mention a couple of ****** who came past the moorings on the plane on the same Friday we went round to St Kats, it of course was the same pair that caused problems both when passing us and again when locking into at St Kats..................

 

[Parabordi]

"A couple of trophy boats shot past us around the QE11 bridge close enough to cause totally unnecessary wash to our little fleet."

Spoke today to a skipper who was moored on one of the commercial piers at Gravesend , conversation turned towards just how much wash from passing traffic was the norm.
He did mention a couple of ****** who came past the moorings on the plane on the same Friday we went round to St Kats, it of course was the same pair that caused problems both when passing us and again when locking into at St Kats..................

Isn't it the two boats in your St Kats dinghy photo on the left?

 

[oldgit]

One might be tempted to suggest that possibility..
I could not possibly comment....

 

[Chris_d]

Interested to know what is considered acceptable down there as presumably these boats weren't actually breaking the speed limit but were being inconsiderate going too fast near other boats.
London VTS seem to jump on you on the radio if you try to cut a corner and stray over the centre of the river even a small amount, but presumably didn't try to contact these boats for excessive speed.
When going downriver I only open up when past Gravesend and rounding the corner towards sea reach, however returning up stream I've usually kept planing up to just past the QE2 bridge but well over to the starboard side of the river. Wash is a very subjective thing ones mans tidal wave is anothers ripple, seems to depend on what sort of boat makes it sometimes.

 

[oldgit]

Interested to know what is considered acceptable down there as presumably these boats weren't actually breaking the speed limit but were being inconsiderate going too fast near other boats.
London VTS seem to jump on you on the radio if you try to cut a corner and stray over the centre of the river even a small amount, but presumably didn't try to contact these boats for excessive speed.
When going downriver I only open up when past Gravesend and rounding the corner towards sea reach, however returning up stream I've usually kept planing up to just past the QE2 bridge but well over to the starboard side of the river. Wash is a very subjective thing ones mans tidal wave is anothers ripple, seems to depend on what sort of boat makes it sometimes.

This is not the first time have been affected by this type of skipper doing this sort of of speed regardless of location and circumstances .
A few years ago a very similar event occured and the vessels concerned either were obviously unaware of the fact you are supposed to monitor 68 or 14 or as I suspect did not have their radios turned on.
In both cases would suggest that those boats had set off from a certain marina on the Crouch with the intent to not close the throttles until outside St Kats.
In the first case Thames VTS were trying to call the miscreants all the way up the Thames without result and after they went through the barrier at speed VTS sent a patrol boat which finally caught up with them near StKats.
In the second case the skipper certainly was not monitoring his radio on CH80 outside St Kats marina.
All the gear and no idea.