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Canal Cruising Skills - General Crusing
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Tue Nov 6, 2012 at 12:21pm
We have collated a few general points about canals, rivers and cruising them!
  • Most canals are shaped like a saucepan, being shallow at the bank and deeper in the middle.
  • Most canals are no deeper than 3-4ft.
  • Keep to the centre of the channel except on bends(the deepest water is on the outside in a bend).
  • Keep the the right of the canal when passing another boat.
  • Slow down when you pass another narrow boat.
  • If you pass a commercial boat do not assume that you shoud pass on the right hand side.
  • When you over take keep the boat you are overtaking on the right hand side.
  • The speed limit is 4mph - although you cannot generally measure how fast you are going as a general rule of thumb if the wash is breaking against the bank or causing large waves it is time to slowdown!
  • Make sure a tunnel is clear before you enter, and use your headlights.  Sometimes there are other instructions at the entrance of a tunnel so keep an eye out for these.
  • When passing under a bridge make sure that everyone is inside of the boat, slow down and move away from the towpath side (if the towpath goes under the bridge) so as to make sure that the narrow boat does not get damaged.
  • Canal and River Trust have a large number of facilities you can use.  Most of them are accessible by a CRT Key.
  • You can also purchase a CRT pumpout card which will enable you to get a pumpout at any CRT pumpout facility (this does not include private companies who offer pumpouts) and also use the shower facilities that the CRT have.

 Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

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