Boat Owners Action

I have just got my National Association of Boat Owners News.  A worthwhile group of people actively representing us boaters by attending meetings with the Canal and River Trust.

Many complaints poured in last year, including my own, regarding the lack of vegetation management on the South Oxford Canal.  NABO and its members now report that action has taken place during the winter and much improvements have been made.

Problems on the Basingstoke Canal are not going away when Hampshire and Surrey Councils want  CRT to take it on.  But the councils are concerned that not enough funding is available!

Much concern involves boaters in London.  Apparently many of the boats are being rented by people who have no idea what is required to live on board.  When a boat is rented without proper insurance and or safety certificate they cannot legally have a licence!  Some boats cannot be moved due to mechanical problems.  CRT is considering a licence for boats for hire that would have to meet the trade conditions.  (Why not just insist the hired boats have a trade licence?)

Can you believe it, EA are prepared to close some navigation's in Anglia on health n safety grounds and lack of funds? That includes the River Nene and Great Ouse!

CRT is to review licencing for all craft on its waterways.  NABO are considering their response.  Home moorings or not, should there be a price difference?  Licence duration, twelve, six or one month?  Prompt payment discount?  Length and width used to calculate the charge?

 These are only a few issues being worked on by NABO.  Please consider being a member to give them even more encouragement and power.

HMS Warrior

We took the boys to see the Warrior in Portsmouth.  Despite the windy day the Gosport ferry got us across the harbour.  The day before a wartime bomb had been dredged up in the harbour and blown up safely out at sea.

The Warrior was a deterrent and never fired a shot in anger.  That ship was the most advanced of its day back in the 1860's.   The harbour is being dredged to enable the latest deterrent to arrive.  One of the biggest aircraft carrier ever built.

After a lunch of fish n chips we got on board and went below decks where Ben became a 'Powder Monkey'.

Formula - E

Last Saturday on Channel 5 at 6:30 pm I watched racing with electric cars in Argentina.  For me it was just as exciting as F 1 racing if a bit quieter!

Each driver had two fully charged cars to race for about 50 minutes on a 37 lap street circuit.  The first car did about 20 laps before the batteries got down to about a 4% charge.  Then the driver went into the pit to swap cars.  At this time most drivers were doing the same.  Obviously the leaders had used more power and were swapping earlier.  No tyres were changed, unless punctured during the race.

The second car had to do the other 17 laps without running out of power!  The leaders had got down to about 1% as they crossed the finish line.  The unlucky ones just slowed down and stopped before finishing!  Sam Bird won.

Technical:-
Each car is rated at about 250 Horse Power equivalent to 190 kW and capable of reaching 200 MPH.  The battery capacity is about 54 kW hours.

California

The Winter blues need some sunshine.

It was back in 1993 that we went to California.

 and went to Disney land.

San Diego

It was a lifetime ago, before we knew anything about boats and canals.