Hazards for boaters are numerous. This is the first time, but probably not the last, that I have come across this situation. The boat in question was loose at the stern and had drifted across the cut, blocking it completely. For folks in the know, this was in Banbury, between Samuelson Bridge (168, the one by Morrisons) and Albion Bridge (166), on the Oxford Canal.
The bowline was still attached, but simply tied round the piling; no mooring hooks or chains. After reversing and mooring I began to rescue the boat. I managed to flag down a hire boat and the skipper and crew helped out, so that the stray boat was moored, perhaps securely. When we had wrestled her alongside, we found that the stern line was attached to a mooring peg – I don’t like using pegs as too many boats go by fast enough to dislodge them. My thanks to the hire boaters. Another 4,000 heartbeats I won’t get back!
My advice to the owners of Syncopation No. 1 is to get some mooring hooks and/or chains, so they don’t make such a pig’s ear of it in future.
Thank goodness for boaters being helpful types, eh?!
So, if you find this, next time you find Whiskey Mac you might show some gratitude in keeping with the name.
Andrew's Kindred 