New boats in the summer... piers closed for upgrade in October.

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-informatio...-ferry-upgrade

Will the "high-tech mooring system" just involve some sort of radar for
quicker and more accurate berthing?

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour. It made me think that what the crew REALLY must look forward to is massively inclement weather, to really liven things up. I suppose the heaving aislefuls of puke would be annoying, but seeing the passengers' 45° fizzogs bowking barel-loads of rich brown vomit would be a memory to treasure forever.

And so it must be for the Woolwich Ferrymen, but the hope of a Day After Tomorrow scenario in that quiet area of the Thames is pretty forlorn.

Offramp wrote:
I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a
dull job it was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every
half an hour. It made me think that what the crew REALLY must look
forward to is massively inclement weather, to really liven things up. I
suppose the heaving aislefuls of puke would be annoying, but seeing the
passengers' 45° fizzogs bowking barel-loads of rich brown vomit would be
a memory to treasure forever.

The Isle of Wight boats cross a major shipping channel which very large
vessels are proceeding along and then when spring comes along the WAFI s
arrive.
The deckhands on the IOW ferries have other duties like doing a stint on
the helm and time passes quickly, a good mate worked on the Portsmouth run
for a while and I’ve known a few Captains and crew on the Southampton route
and also been on the wheel of a ferry sized vessel in those waters on
numerous occasions,
Life is never dull , this is the sort of thing WAFI s do.

https://youtu.be/_tUoUxzt9sI

WAFI is short for wind assisted ****ing idiot.
It’s even more exciting when doing 25 knots on one of the high speeds when
a load of yachts tack into your path and you have to pick your way through.

GH

Marland wrote:
Offramp wrote:
I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a
dull job it was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every
half an hour. It made me think that what the crew REALLY must look
forward to is massively inclement weather, to really liven things up. I
suppose the heaving aislefuls of puke would be annoying, but seeing the
passengers' 45° fizzogs bowking barel-loads of rich brown vomit would be
a memory to treasure forever.

The Isle of Wight boats cross a major shipping channel which very large
vessels are proceeding along and then when spring comes along the WAFI s
arrive.
The deckhands on the IOW ferries have other duties like doing a stint on
the helm and time passes quickly, a good mate worked on the Portsmouth run
for a while and I’ve known a few Captains and crew on the Southampton route
and also been on the wheel of a ferry sized vessel in those waters on
numerous occasions,
Life is never dull , this is the sort of thing WAFI s do.

https://youtu.be/_tUoUxzt9sI

WAFI is short for wind assisted ****ing idiot.
It’s even more exciting when doing 25 knots on one of the high speeds when
a load of yachts tack into your path and you have to pick your way through.

Having been under sail in those waters, I have to say the idiocy is by no
means one sided. I’ve been put into pretty precarious situations by the
Ryde cats with a questionable interpretation of the colregs. The standard
example is overtaking close by one side and turning across your bows with
barely a boat length to spare. Overtaking vessels are give way, and give
way vessels should maneuver to pass behind, not in front of, stand on
vessels.

Robin

"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

michael adams

....

On Wednesday, 21 February 2018 13:58:50 UTC, michael adams wrote:
"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

I believe that the Henry Ford model (one guy one job) has slightly been overtaken buy a more holistic conveyor belt concept: 5 guys build one car, each having the ability to build any of that car. That's what Marland suggested earlier. The crew rotates.

I did not know that. It sort-of blows my brilliantly phrased paragraph out of the Solent.

HOWEVER, has anyone here seen those ferries operated by one old geezer? Normally over a tiny, thin stretch of some stream or rivulet. And sometimes the ferry hasn't even got an engine: the guy pulls it across via the agency of a strong metal wire. THAT must be dull. There is no crew rotation there.

Adge Cutler's Wurzels sang a song about the Pill Ferry, which went from Pill to Avonmouth. I can find the song online, but no trace at all of there ever having been an real ferry. The brilliant song describes a wonderful, storm-toss'd crossing.

On 2018\02\21 18:36, Offramp wrote:
On Wednesday, 21 February 2018 13:58:50 UTC, michael adams wrote:
"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

I believe that the Henry Ford model (one guy one job) has slightly been overtaken buy a more holistic conveyor belt concept: 5 guys build one car, each having the ability to build any of that car. That's what Marland suggested earlier. The crew rotates.

I did not know that. It sort-of blows my brilliantly phrased paragraph out of the Solent.

HOWEVER, has anyone here seen those ferries operated by one old geezer? Normally over a tiny, thin stretch of some stream or rivulet. And sometimes the ferry hasn't even got an engine: the guy pulls it across via the agency of a strong metal wire. THAT must be dull. There is no crew rotation there.

Adge Cutler's Wurzels sang a song about the Pill Ferry, which went from Pill to Avonmouth. I can find the song online, but no trace at all of there ever having been an real ferry. The brilliant song describes a wonderful, storm-toss'd crossing.


I see loads of mentions of the ferry, even a picture.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzl...red/6781968085

On 21/02/2018 18:36, Offramp wrote:

HOWEVER, has anyone here seen those ferries operated by one old geezer? Normally over a tiny, thin stretch of some stream or rivulet. And sometimes the ferry hasn't even got an engine: the guy pulls it across via the agency of a strong metal wire. THAT must be dull. There is no crew rotation there.


Well the chain ferry at Symonds Yat certainly has crew rotation - it's
crewed by whomever is working the bar at the Saracen's Head pub that
isn't busy right then....

On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 13:58:30 -0000, "michael adams"
wrote:


"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

michael adams

...


The cargo, be it the self loading form or not, will also provide some
variation, not necessarily appreciated. To give an example......

As a young man some friends and I would go over to the island for a
long cycling weekend. One year we were waiting to board to come back
to the mainland. The ferry arrived, dropped the prow, everyone got
off and, naturally the boat rose as the load lassened. The first
vehicle they tried to load was a coach but because the boat had risen
out of the water the angle between the ramp and the slipway had become
such that the nose of the coach just buried itself in the ramp
accompanied by tittering from our group. They got a large wooden
joist and laid it in the angle and signalled the coach to try again -
the driver shook his head but they insisted and he drove onto the
joist and once again into the ramp except this time, as he reversed
off his front bumper fell off to cheers and laughter from us, I'm
afraid.

Needless to say, we weren't accomodated on that ferry!

Offramp wrote:
On Wednesday, 21 February 2018 13:58:50 UTC, michael adams wrote:
"Offramp" wrote in message
...

I was on the Isle of Wight ferry recently and it was obvious to me what a dull job it
was crewing that little boat. It's a ha;f hour journey every half an hour.

But each journey has the potential to be a bit different, even if its only to the
extent of counting the number of seagulls at various times of day, or watching
out for stuff floating on the water, potential collisions etc etc

Such a job will be far less dull than one involving a repetitive task that has to produce
identical results every time. Instead of making 8 journeys back an forth on a ferry
Imagine having to turn out eight ferry propshafts every day on a lathe. Where each
propshaft has to be exactly the same - within the specified tolerances - as the
last one. That's eight propshafts a day, five days a week, with maybe half day
Saturday overtime if you're lucky - so thetas an extra four propshafts making
44 per week. And whets more its not as if the weather, the time of day or the
seasons are going to make any difference to the "work experience"
either.

I believe that the Henry Ford model (one guy one job) has slightly been
overtaken buy a more holistic conveyor belt concept: 5 guys build one
car, each having the ability to build any of that car. That's what
Marland suggested earlier. The crew rotates.

I did not know that. It sort-of blows my brilliantly phrased paragraph out of the Solent.

HOWEVER, has anyone here seen those ferries operated by one old geezer?
Normally over a tiny, thin stretch of some stream or rivulet. And
sometimes the ferry hasn't even got an engine: the guy pulls it across
via the agency of a strong metal wire. THAT must be dull. There is no crew rotation there.

Adge Cutler's Wurzels sang a song about the Pill Ferry, which went from
Pill to Avonmouth. I can find the song online, but no trace at all of
there ever having been an real ferry. The brilliant song describes a
wonderful, storm-toss'd crossing.


If you get the chance, I recommend a ride on one of the reaction ferries in
Basel. The ferries are tethered to a cable spanning the river by a rope
attached to a pulley free to run on the cable. The operator uses the rudder
to angle the boat against the current of the Rhine and the motion of the
water pushes it across the river. You might think that to be a thoroughly
dull job, but as a tourist attraction, the self loading cargo is usually
game for conversation and banter to lighten the mood.

Robin