graham
regular
Reged: 16/05/2001
Posts: 6061
Loc: South Wales
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web page
found this while googling for something else. Loads of pictures of Sharpness Canal and passage down to Portishead taken from a narrow boat.
-------------------- http://banjocoronado25.blogspot.com/
All Hardwood used in Banjos restoration comes from sustainable sources. Usually the Boat Club Skip :-)
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Davido
regular
Reged: 25/08/2006
Posts: 827
Loc: Cardiff
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Enjoyed that thank you. Dont know whether id want to do it in a narrow boat though.
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chrishelen
regular
Reged: 07/01/2007
Posts: 1192
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Those photos brought back a few fond memorys of when i was a sea cadet way back,we used to spend weekends at sharpness for sailing and pulling,there used to be an old building we used as accomodation just up from the marina which was just an empty basin in those days,Also we used to dive in off the old coal loaders touch the bottom and come up with black coal sludge covered hands, One day, i`ll never forget the look on our officers face when we were pulling up the canal in our whaler and a large tanker was coming up behind us,"Sir,sir we cried,theres a big ship behind us,"dont worry he said we have priority",then he looked around,"every one out on the bank at the double"that was the fastest we moved all weekend.Happy days.
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Damo
regular
Reged: 22/02/2005
Posts: 2626
Loc: k keeper,Portishead
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N/b's do it regularly in the summer, usually with a pilot for the Sharpness-Portishead passage. Most are naturally very apprehensive - it must feel incredibly exposed for a canal boater - and conditions need to be quite benign. A pilot told me that his limit is 15kn wind, but the sea must be smooth-slight.
One gung-ho know-it-all insisted on heading for Sharpness last year: 0400, dark, 15-20kn, channel chop, no nav lights. All you could see was an occasional faint glow from his handheld gps! VTS were going ballistic, because there was a ship departing Portbury, another swinging in the Roads, and several tugs around.
I bet he had fun in the Shoots
-------------------- Never be at a loose end with the Yosemite bowline
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whisper
regular
Reged: 31/08/2002
Posts: 4067
Loc: Stratford upon Avon & S.Devon
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Thanks for that - very interesting. I've often wondered what that trip would be like. I must call in at Sharpness on one of my next trips down to Devon (by car I hasten to add).
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