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Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:36 pm
by Kirbstone
Now B&B if you were the Earth, your equator measurement would surpass that from pole to pole, so I expect you've still got plenty of room to manoeuver....44" versus 76"? A bit like a winding hole :idea:

Tom

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:02 pm
by Big and Bashful
Ooh that one hurt! Today should have been a sad day, handing our 70 foot hire boat back after a week of constant laughter, canals and boating Speaking of winding holes and turning a narrowboat, here is a video of me doing just that:
https://youtu.be/YQVxmeGVT1I

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:23 pm
by crfriend
Big and Bashful wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:02 pmOoh that one hurt! Today should have been a sad day, handing our 70 foot hire boat back after a week of constant laughter, canals and boating Speaking of winding holes and turning a narrowboat, here is a video of me doing just that:
https://youtu.be/YQVxmeGVT1I
Dang, that was a tight fit!

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:07 pm
by Big and Bashful
crfriend wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:23 pm
Big and Bashful wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:02 pmOoh that one hurt! Today should have been a sad day, handing our 70 foot hire boat back after a week of constant laughter, canals and boating Speaking of winding holes and turning a narrowboat, here is a video of me doing just that:
https://youtu.be/YQVxmeGVT1I
Dang, that was a tight fit!
We normally go for a 70 footer, unless we have picked a canal were they don't fit, then we go for the longest we can get. There are normally only four or five of us but big boats are good and as an all male crew there is no such thing as a double berth, just wide berths for big folk! In the UK if your boat is 57 foot long, it will be able to go on 99% of our waterways, I think a 70 footer can use about 80% of the waterways. One year we did the Kennet and Avon canal, that had us worried for a while as we had to turn around and head back to the boatyard at some stage. You normally use a canal guide to show you where the locks, tunnels, winding holes etc. are so you can plan your route. We set happily off on our 70 foot boat, as we passed the different winding holes we saw signs at the holes with lengths on them, 50 foot, 55 foot, a few 60 foot. Hole after hole that was not long enough for us to turn. Of course the guide did not mention the lengths at all. Narrowboats do not steer backwards, well barely. We were so glad on the Wednesday to find a large enough winding hole to get turned round! It's all good fun and I love a challenge! It's a good feeling when you get a 70 foot long boat that is 6 foot 10 inches wide into a narrow lock (7 foot wide) without touching the side after fighting the current that some locks have coming out of bypass weirs!

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:12 pm
by Kirbstone
Skilfully done, B&B and I notice you didn't bury the bow in the far bank, which I have seen others do.

Tom

Skirt Design

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:58 pm
by Happy-N-Skirts
Tobacco Skirt.jpg


I think this would help for designing a skirt for men. If it were designed for male proportions with a pleat like the picture from the bottom to the inseam front and rear, it would look more like shorts and be more stealthy. This might be an answer for guys to wear in public.

Re: Skirt Design

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:31 pm
by Big and Bashful
Happy-N-Skirts wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:58 pm Tobacco Skirt.jpg



I think this would help for designing a skirt for men. If it were designed for male proportions with a pleat like the picture from the bottom to the inseam front and rear, it would look more like shorts and be more stealthy. This might be an answer for guys to wear in public.
Looks good, but for an elderly monster like me, far too short!

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 5:49 pm
by Big and Bashful
Kirbstone wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:12 pm Skilfully done, B&B and I notice you didn't bury the bow in the far bank, which I have seen others do.

Tom
Thanks Tom! I pride myself on being fairly good on the helm, although there are times when things do not go to plan, a tight space, a high cross wind and a crew that were all working a lock led me to put a big scar in the paint on our last trip. Sorry, still pining for the canals, here is the timelapse video, featuring the crunch in the middle of Birmingham (wind took the boat as I tried to line up for the lock, given the choice of being blown sideways and into moored boats or trying to get the boat's front end in the right place, I chose to try and get the nose into the lock entrance, paint was spilt!), The wind blowing from my left, hard, eddying around all the buildings right in the centre of birmingham, you can see how it just takes control of the boat, you do not get bow thrusters on hire boats. This was made more interesting as the locks are barely long enough for a 70 footer, in every lock I had to lift the rear bumper which protects the rudder so that I could reverse right to the back end of the lock against the cill, while one of the team pushes the bow sideways to clear the gate. That was a hard day! we were ready for our evening pints and food!
https://youtu.be/CfEMOoNXiko

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:20 pm
by partlyscot
Big and Bashful wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 3:07 pm
crfriend wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 2:23 pm
Big and Bashful wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2020 1:02 pmOoh that one hurt! Today should have been a sad day, handing our 70 foot hire boat back after a week of constant laughter, canals and boating Speaking of winding holes and turning a narrowboat, here is a video of me doing just that:
https://youtu.be/YQVxmeGVT1I
Dang, that was a tight fit!
We normally go for a 70 footer, unless we have picked a canal were they don't fit, then we go for the longest we can get. There are normally only four or five of us but big boats are good and as an all male crew there is no such thing as a double berth, just wide berths for big folk! In the UK if your boat is 57 foot long, it will be able to go on 99% of our waterways, I think a 70 footer can use about 80% of the waterways. One year we did the Kennet and Avon canal, that had us worried for a while as we had to turn around and head back to the boatyard at some stage. You normally use a canal guide to show you where the locks, tunnels, winding holes etc. are so you can plan your route. We set happily off on our 70 foot boat, as we passed the different winding holes we saw signs at the holes with lengths on them, 50 foot, 55 foot, a few 60 foot. Hole after hole that was not long enough for us to turn. Of course the guide did not mention the lengths at all. Narrowboats do not steer backwards, well barely. We were so glad on the Wednesday to find a large enough winding hole to get turned round! It's all good fun and I love a challenge! It's a good feeling when you get a 70 foot long boat that is 6 foot 10 inches wide into a narrow lock (7 foot wide) without touching the side after fighting the current that some locks have coming out of bypass weirs!

Nicely done. I have been on one canal boat holiday, we did the Cheshire ring. Our group took two 40 footers. There was another group we saw at the start that had a single 70 foot. They had no clue. Zero skill, and an inability to learn. We saw them several times during the week, and they never made a clean entry to a lock. It was like they were playing billiards with the boat. Bounced off the side of the gate every time. By the end of the week, the 1/4 inch steel of the bow was stove in on both sides.

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:30 pm
by Kirbstone
B&B,
Fortunately spilling paint tends not to be life-threatening, but always awkward to explain to the hire people at the end. On your canals with a very generous 1" lateral clearance either side entering locks there's absolutely no room for fenders and certainly none for error. A good idea to have at least two poles on board and strong crew deployed for'ard to use them. Cheaper than bow-thrusters!

When you think just how primitive it is to have just a single screw on the stern and a large spade rudder also there to control a 70-footer in all winds!
...and then there's the turbulence of lock-filling water to move the boat & bang bits off sills & gates when the fore & aft clearance is so tight.

We have it a lot easier here with our narrowest canal locks 14 feet wide and most boats a lot shorter than 70 feet. Smaller Shannon locks are 102X30 feet. Fenders are universally used and hire craft all have rows of them permanently suspended from the gun'ls which identifies them, for sure! There is no boat-driver's licence requirement, so any gobsh!te can hire a boat here. Also, the waterside pubs are further apart than in the UK/Englandshire.

Tom

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:48 pm
by crfriend
Based on the time-lapse work, I'm guessing that the actual pace is somewhat akin to a walk -- a nice leisurely pace to be sure. But, threading that 70' behemoth into some of those locks I'm quite sure takes skill and talent -- especially with all the thrust at the stern and only a paddle to steer with!

Thanks for posting that. It gave me a few quiet and enjoyable minutes during an otherwise entirely rubbish day.

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:38 am
by Big and Bashful
One final video of canals- This was on the Llangollen canal, the week were I spent 90% of the time in my kilt. (early in the video is the Pontcysyllte aqueduct where you will see my in shot, kilted and looking for photographs. At about 40:00, no time compression on this video, you will see me making an entrance to what was quite a tame lock, while trying to explain to our new crew member how to do it. at about 43:00 there is an absolute swine of a lock with a torrent coming out of the bypass weir. I can still remember the tension, as I went to full forward throttle and hoped for the best!

https://youtu.be/7f-RTKjpoNo

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:37 pm
by Sinned
In my teens our family used to hire a boat and go on the Norfolk Broads. A set of waterways in the South East of England. Enjoyable and very slow paced holiday. Must try and do it again someday.

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:01 pm
by Big and Bashful
Sinned wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:37 pm In my teens our family used to hire a boat and go on the Norfolk Broads. A set of waterways in the South East of England. Enjoyable and very slow paced holiday. Must try and do it again someday.
We did the Broads once, once was enough. I suppose it depends what you want from a holiday, if you want to sit on a boat all day and just point it at the wet bit between the banks, the Broads are great, you only need to be aware of tides, low bridges and some interesting currents in Yarmouth. On the canals thanks to the many locks, life is much more interesting, there are also many more opportunities to stop, eat and drink. Thanks to the locks on many canals you do not get to sit on a boat all day, you have to be active and get the boat along the canal by operating the locks and swing bridges, much more entertaining. I must admit the boat we had on the Broads was luxury compared to even a 70 foot long narrowboat, the Broads boats are far wider and the one we had was equipped with two steering positions, one inside and one on the flying bridge cockpit thing. On a narrowboat if it is raining you need waterproofs!

Re: Skirts worn with a corset

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:39 pm
by crfriend
Big and Bashful wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:01 pmThanks to the locks on many canals you do not get to sit on a boat all day, you have to be active and get the boat along the canal by operating the locks and swing bridges, much more entertaining.
Thanks for posting that wonderful snippet of life on a canal along the Llangollen, B&B. It's simply spectacular. From the exquisite scenery to magnificent engineering achievements it was a magical moment for this old colonial.