A major milestone for the Boat Team
by: Myron
Today, the Boat Team had 3 teams on the canal, all carrying out different tasks. This is I believe a little bit of history. Each team had 3 people making 9 in total. Margaret went off for another try at the Ocean headed by John Sirett. We had a team surveying the canal to see exactly where the silt is, headed by Tony Jones. We also had a team on Weedie, headed by Nick Carter. I spent most of the day looking very managerial.
The objective on Weedie was to finally see if we could cut weed without the whole thing falling apart. I’m glad to report that the trials were a complete success.
The result was 2 full loads of eel grass and pond weed. The section from Ebley floodgates to Wiggals Yard now has appreciably less weed in it that than before. Later inspection showed the mesh repairs that we have been working for so long on all held up very well.
We had got about 90% of the way to a complete set of procedures when operations ceased previously. By the time we finished today we had quite a slick operation going, that will only get better with practice.
The team doing the survey completed a section from the floodgates to Hilly Orchard bridge, a very good days work. We already have a comparison with our original 2014 survey and on average there is a staggering 300 mm more silt in that stretch of canal than 4 years ago. No wonder we are finding it hard going. Can’t wait to see dredging start here.
The team taking Margaret down the cut had a much more comfortable day than Monday, which you may recall had to be abandoned because of low water. A pleasant run down was terminated at Boakes Drive Wharf by an angling competition from there on down. There was no need to disturb their efforts, which would of course happened twice. The latest crew member to be initiated into the amazing qualities of Margaret, Paul Weller, came back with the now customary big grin on his face, gushing how wonderful a boat Margaret is.
In all respects, a marvellous day. Than you to everyone who joined in.
Here's a video of Weedie in operation. Not great quality, but gives an idea of how it works.
