I thought you might be interested to hear about an incident at Windsor last weekend.
I went in to watch the triathlon and after seeing the elite mens and ladies races finish at about midday, decided to go into Eton for a drink. As we walked up on to Windsor bridge, I saw a police barge pointing upstream just past the Christopher Wren hotel, with its blue light flashing. As we got to the middle of the bridge, I realised there was a huge old boat trying to get under the bridge.
Its bow was sticking out of the upstream side by a good 15 ft whilst its stern and wheelhouse was sticking out of the downstream side by at least 20 ft. So you can tell how large it was. I don't know what type of boat is was, but it was the biggest thing I have seen on the Thames at Windsor ever and seemed far too big for where it was. It looked like an old Thames gravel barge or something like that. It had a steel wheelhouse, an old black hull and the bow end rose up quite sharply with two sea going style anchors hanging out at the front.
As you can imagine, it was attracting a lot of attention, as it had this 'police escort' and was obviously struggling to get under the bridge. On board, standing on the deck were a group of about 10 people who semed to be friends, (dads, mums and a couple of children), some with a glas of fizz in hand and one or two of wearing the 'go triathalon' T Shirts, so they had obviously finished the race and were going on a boat to celebrate. (Although it did seem an odd boat for a champagne boat trip). In truth, I actually felt sorry for the skipper in the wheel house, as he had friends watching, about 100 people all gawking at him from the bridge, another 100 or so from the banks and about 10 other little boats all bobbing about, all watching the scene unfold.
As we stood on the bridge, the boat was right under us and the wife of the skipper (I am presuming she was his wife) shouted up 'we need more weight, if anyway wants to jump aboard'. Although that is what they did actually need, she was obviously just trying to lighten up the situation, whilst her husband fought with keeping the boat straight. The flow of the river was reasonably strong and the longer he took trying to judge the gap under the bridge, the more the bow end started to be pulled to the right. Then suddenly, he took his chance and piled the engine revs on and the boat surged forward and at first it looked like he had done it. But, as everyone held their breath, the enevitable happened and there was an almighty crunching and grinding sound and then nothing and then an almighty bang and wrenching followed by the smashing of glass and shouting. Then the boat crashed its way out from under the bridge and as it did, all the windows in the wheel house shattered and the glass blew out all over the decks and the top corner of the steel cabin had buckled and the boat lurched from side to side. The people on board were quiet except the little boy who burst into tears and the boat then started heading straight at the side of the old Eton Buttery restaurant.
The whole crowd was shouting warnings at them, as they seemed dissorientated at first, but the skipper went straight into action, thrusting the engines into reverse at full power. There then started about 10 minutes of him having to keep going from forward to reverse at full power, to try and stabilise the boat and as it turned sideways on to the bridge, you could see that he had a cut on his face from the flying glass and blood was running down his cheek.
But he did an excellent job, given the circumstances and the crowd all watching and he finally manage to steady the boat, get it pointing up stream and with the police boat alongside, he headed off and out of sight upstream.
I'm afraid in all the action, I didn't get the name of the boat and as for the bridge, apart from a huge scrape mark along the underside, it didn't seem to be too bothered and life soon returned to normal, but an interesting and lively twenty minutes or so.
I went in to watch the triathlon and after seeing the elite mens and ladies races finish at about midday, decided to go into Eton for a drink. As we walked up on to Windsor bridge, I saw a police barge pointing upstream just past the Christopher Wren hotel, with its blue light flashing. As we got to the middle of the bridge, I realised there was a huge old boat trying to get under the bridge.
Its bow was sticking out of the upstream side by a good 15 ft whilst its stern and wheelhouse was sticking out of the downstream side by at least 20 ft. So you can tell how large it was. I don't know what type of boat is was, but it was the biggest thing I have seen on the Thames at Windsor ever and seemed far too big for where it was. It looked like an old Thames gravel barge or something like that. It had a steel wheelhouse, an old black hull and the bow end rose up quite sharply with two sea going style anchors hanging out at the front.
As you can imagine, it was attracting a lot of attention, as it had this 'police escort' and was obviously struggling to get under the bridge. On board, standing on the deck were a group of about 10 people who semed to be friends, (dads, mums and a couple of children), some with a glas of fizz in hand and one or two of wearing the 'go triathalon' T Shirts, so they had obviously finished the race and were going on a boat to celebrate. (Although it did seem an odd boat for a champagne boat trip). In truth, I actually felt sorry for the skipper in the wheel house, as he had friends watching, about 100 people all gawking at him from the bridge, another 100 or so from the banks and about 10 other little boats all bobbing about, all watching the scene unfold.
As we stood on the bridge, the boat was right under us and the wife of the skipper (I am presuming she was his wife) shouted up 'we need more weight, if anyway wants to jump aboard'. Although that is what they did actually need, she was obviously just trying to lighten up the situation, whilst her husband fought with keeping the boat straight. The flow of the river was reasonably strong and the longer he took trying to judge the gap under the bridge, the more the bow end started to be pulled to the right. Then suddenly, he took his chance and piled the engine revs on and the boat surged forward and at first it looked like he had done it. But, as everyone held their breath, the enevitable happened and there was an almighty crunching and grinding sound and then nothing and then an almighty bang and wrenching followed by the smashing of glass and shouting. Then the boat crashed its way out from under the bridge and as it did, all the windows in the wheel house shattered and the glass blew out all over the decks and the top corner of the steel cabin had buckled and the boat lurched from side to side. The people on board were quiet except the little boy who burst into tears and the boat then started heading straight at the side of the old Eton Buttery restaurant.
The whole crowd was shouting warnings at them, as they seemed dissorientated at first, but the skipper went straight into action, thrusting the engines into reverse at full power. There then started about 10 minutes of him having to keep going from forward to reverse at full power, to try and stabilise the boat and as it turned sideways on to the bridge, you could see that he had a cut on his face from the flying glass and blood was running down his cheek.
But he did an excellent job, given the circumstances and the crowd all watching and he finally manage to steady the boat, get it pointing up stream and with the police boat alongside, he headed off and out of sight upstream.
I'm afraid in all the action, I didn't get the name of the boat and as for the bridge, apart from a huge scrape mark along the underside, it didn't seem to be too bothered and life soon returned to normal, but an interesting and lively twenty minutes or so.
