Rupert Holmes explains waterway and river boating skills
Skills needed for boating inland are similar to those required for coastal sailing, but some situations can catch out even experienced seafarers. Perhaps the biggest of these is common to almost all single screw motor vessels, which handle very differently to a yacht under power. The combination of amuch smaller rudder, and the lack of a keel for the boat to easily pivot around, means steering is only effective when the engine is in gear and the propeller is therefore pushing water past the rudder.
This effect is particularly pronounced on narrowboats, which by their very nature are also very heavy and have a huge amount of inertia. Note that when they turn the stern still moves in the opposite direction to the bow. Therefore when turning to starboard, for instance, you still need to allow space for the stern to swing to port.
Steerage
There are situations in which speed needs to be limited, so sometimes it may not be possible to leave the engine in gear, even at idling speed. The trick is to slip it into neutral when travelling in a straight line, then back into gear when you need more steering response.
If you need to use a lot of reverse power to slow down, prop-walk may swing the stern markedly in one direction or the other. If necessary, short bursts of forward power, with the helm hard over, can get the boat back on track.
Fortunately, many locations are relatively sheltered, so the effect of wind on the hull and superstructure is, generally, not great. But it’s important to keep an eye open for more exposed places such as at the end of an embankment, a line of trees or when crossing an aqueduct.
On the canal network especially there’s a strong expectation that you’ll not leave enough wash to even minimally rock moored boats. This often involves slowing down considerably from the already low 4mph speed limit.
Narrowboats are generally too long to turn around on most stretches of canal. Still, periodically you should find so-called winding holes, where there’s enough space to steer the bows into the bank then use engine power, with the helm held right over to drive the stern arou
