tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887663299524500542.post2993295194282712517..comments2008-09-29T13:47:56.671+01:00BRIAN AND SUE'S TOURShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17550147845571465381brian.badminton@gmail.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2887663299524500542.post-7568795754905976692008-09-29T13:47:00.000+01:002008-09-29T13:47:00.000+01:00Super account. Thanks. Very useful for discussions with BW on their Standedge consultation group.<BR/><BR/>We came through from Marsden to Diggle on Copperkins the next Wednesday, which is the next operating day - probably the next journey through the tunnel. Fred drove the tug, and we were pulled behind in the normal fashion - it seems because of the selection of boats needing to come back in the afternoon. Anyway, Fred was talking about your trip: he thinks the tug-driving will reduce/disappear soon, and he'll miss it, he says, in a professional sense of the challenge in getting a four-boat convoy through, particularly with no fenderers any more.<BR/><BR/>On the subject of 'proper' pilots - advising the skipper but not actually controlling the boats, I'm sure BW at all levels expect this to be the way of doing things, in the end. Somehow the MCA became involved in the whole process in 2000-2001 - because of the public passenger trips - and they need to be convinced of the new procedures, together with most of the rest of the elfin-safety bureaucracy afaict.<BR/><BR/>The need for a non-engine-shove, which is a natural boaters' reaction to getting stuck wherever it happens, seems to help the argument that *people* on the boat are a useful resource, much outweighing their role as elfin-safety-hazards.<BR/><BR/>There's a BW 6-monthly user group on the 14thOctober (we're boating but may manage to be there) at which there will hopefully be some statement about progress of the trials.<BR/><BR/>Many thanks for the account. <BR/><BR/>Peter Scott<BR/>IWA West Riding.<BR/>peter@homescott.free-online.co.ukPeterScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00342779741894698087noreply@blogger.com