A Frightening Dangerous Situation!

Mon 23rd Oct - Goole to Newark

What a difference a day makes after the weekends antics of storm ‘Brian’.
We received excellent service transiting Ocean Lock this morning. With a very light breeze we headed off into the sunrise at displacement speed and planed from Swinefleet, slowing down passing Keadby Lock and planed again to Owston Ferry where we again traveled at displacement speed so as not to beat the tide.

Having made very good progress with very little floating debris, we caught a thick barge mooring rope around the starboard propellers stalling its engine just outside West Stockwith Lock. Peter tried to turn Moonshine into the tide as we had now lost power steering to enable us to make the lock wall approach to tie up, however this manoeuvre resulted in said rope fouling the port propellers and disabling that engine also. We had to think very quick and deploy the anchor as we were fast approaching Stockwith bend on a very strong flood tide. The anchor bit just as we had rounded the bend fortunately mid stream, it was a frightening dangerous situation until Moonshine was under control. It took an hour of sawing at a blind arms length to release the rope. The West Stockwith Lock Keeper was very good and had arranged for a boat on standby to tow us in if necessary. We would most certainly have been in a pickle had we not had outdrives which lift up to work on. This has now taught us to practice regular anchor deployment drills, more for my benefit as I don’t handle stressful situations well at all, especially when boats and water are thrown into the mix. 

Now the rope was free, both engines were tested forward and astern before heaving the anchor in. Despite this delay we were now safe and still with plenty of time to make Cromwell we headed off towards Torksey where the dogs received a well deserved toilet break, before continuing on to Cromwell. We eventually arrived at Newark mid afternoon and was fortunate to moor on the Kiln moorings, and hook up to the electric on the pontoon. 

Tues 24th Oct - Newark
We spent two nice evenings on the Kiln pontoon in Newark, with plenty of dog walks and a bit of shopping thrown in for good measure (although I did have to restock up on whisky to steady my nerves...well that’s my excuse anyway!).

On a serious note we have also familiarised ourselves with the anchor winch operation, to ensure we are a bit more au fait with its rapid deployment should the need ever arise again in an emergency situation.

Wed 25th Oct - Newark to Gunthorpe 

We departed the moorings in Newark as soon as the lock keeper came on duty and headed upstream to Gunthorpe. Whilst transiting Gunthorpe Lock we advised the lock keeper of our intention to test our anchor and winch deployment, just in case he thought we were in trouble mid stream. 

The deployment test was successful mid stream and also I as crew have a good understanding now of how to manually deploy the anchor, which can be down in seconds should the need arise.  However, we need to ensure that we do periodic anchor drills to keep familiar with it. We would also urge others to ensure their crew can act quickly in an emergency.

Thurs 26th Oct - Gunthorpe to Torksey

This morning we departed Gunthorpe at 9.30 am just as the lock keeper came on duty. We had a nice steady run back downstream stopping on a very quiet Kiln Moorings in Newark once again for a little bit of shopping, before heading down towards Cromwell and heading back onto the tidal River Trent on the ebb arriving at Torksey cut around 4pm. Fortunately this part of the trip was uneventful, but fingers crossed for tomorrow mornings return trip back to Goole. 

Fri 27th Oct - Torksey to Goole Boathouse

After departing Torksey at 7.30am we had a very steady 6 knot run back down river on the ebb meeting the flood at Keadby, from where we then had enough water to plane back to Goole. The river being on neap tides wasn’t full of floating debris today and upon arriving at Goole we enjoyed excellent service from Ocean Lock penning Moonshine in quickly, and she was safely back in her berth at 11.48am. 

We have logged 141.1 nautical miles this week. 

Overall we have had a nice week away and the warm weather has certainly helped. 

Ensnaring a rope as we did is a rare occurrence. We try to use Moonshine as much as we can and this is the second time Peter has been in a situation like that (the first being a long time ago on his dad’s boat). But what this has taught us is that a good working anchor set up is essential when going tidal, when we had no engine power in a fast flowing spring tide you have very little time to react and you are at the rivers mercy. Hopefully we will never be in a situation like that again, but if we are we will ensure we are both quicker to react in future.