The Boater's Handbook
BW / EA booklet
Ken Wright reviews this booklet.:
Not sure about the apostrophe but that's where the publishers have put it! This A5, 40 page booklet is produced by British Waterways and the Environment Agency, the two largest members of AINA, the Association of Inland Navigation Authorities and is fully endorsed by that Association. It replaces, as far as BW are concerned, The Waterways Code and The Waterways Code for Boaters and is sub-titled "Basic Boat-Handling and Safety". It goes further, though, and includes the Waterways Code, bits about environment and litter and consideration of other canal users, etc.
The publication has been assisted "by the many boating experts who gave their time generously to help us make sure that this handbook is useful, relevant and easy to understand". The "dozen or so boaters who gave the proof copies a thorough test-drive" are also acknowledged so I can't really dare to criticise the content!
The layout is smart and modern and the diagrams are very clear and well captioned. Safety messages in each section are highlighted by six separate diagrams covering falls, collisions, crushing, operating injuries, fire/explosion/fumes and vandalism/aggression.
There are numerous "boxes" in pink and various shades of grey containing helpful snippets and "true stories", warning of hazards and pitfalls in a very chatty way.
Example 1- Tools that bite back.
Take a lesson from this hire boat crew, coming across their first lock. One of the helpers left the windlass on the spindle and then let go. The ratchet slipped and spun the handle round, breaking her nose and teeth.
Example 2 - Thugs with too much bottle.
A gang of teenagers, fooling around on the canal towpath, asked a passing boater to give them a ride. When the skipper turned them down, they turned nasty. Ten minutes later, they were back - this time waiting on a bridge, armed with bricks and bottles. The crafty boater scared them off by taking photos of them from a safe distance. (Pretending to use a mobile 'phone can have the same effect!)
There are six parts to the booklet, under the headings Introduction, Boat Handling, Boating Safety, Rules of the Road, Good boating behaviour and Further Information. The back cover has a "fold-in" page, which can be removed and given to boat passengers, entitled "Passenger Safety Checklist". It starts with the following – "As a passenger, you don't need to know how to steer a boat, operate a lock or tie a rope - you can just sit back and enjoy the trip, To avoid accidents, though, you should know the safety basics. And if there are children on your boat, check that they understand them too".
All in all, a jolly good read! Omissions are always difficult to spot (impossible, one might say!) but two that I noticed were that there is no guidance anywhere about boating in a strong cross wind, nor is there any indication of where one can obtain copies of the booklet. Oh, and you have to assume that it's free!
by Ken Wright
Available from British Waterways National Office, tel 01923 226422.