TOPIC: Taking a Rhine Pilot

We haven't used this pilot but met him at a fuel station taking an old tug from the NL to SJDL if you are looking for someone:
Roel Hartman, FR 0544241064, NL 0634285329. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The capitainerie at Strasbourg (Europe Boat Trading) can also provide pilots.

Tony
Once over 15m you need a pilot on the Rhine and different parts of the Rhine require pilots with different licenses. For example to go from Mulhouse to Strasbourg there is one type of license, however, from Strasbourg to Arnhem requires a higher level of license.
I have a note of caution that if you go on the Rhine and you are over 15m and have no pilot then your insurance cover is null and void.

Regards
Mark Dick
Melba
Strasbourg

Jan

Thanks for that info , certainly those extra days give us much better tides and gives us that option of the Eems, which is usually good fun.

Strangely , I've just rechecked the Rijkwaterstraat site and it is still saying the 4th. You would think they would have a direct connection with the Elwis site. Obviously it was a mistake to think checking one site was enough.

Cheers
Tony

We got someone by asking the people at the big marina in Strasbourg.

Tim

Hello,
the closure of the locks Bollingerfähr and Herbrum starts at september, 09th 23.00h. Before there are good tides to go down the river Ems. When you leave Herbrum with high water you need about 4 to 6 hours (depends to the speed of your boat) to reach Delfzijl. The lock there (Zeesluis Farmsum) is working at all tides and around the clock.
If you need any help, I can help you. I live in Haren on Ems, four locks and about 30 km upstreams of Herbrum.
Regards
Jan

Paul is absolutely right but forgot to emphasise one point, viz. that in deploying the bow anchor the "braking distance" is much longer since you have to add on the length of the vessel plus a bit more for the time to run forward etc. We have only had to drop the anchor urgently once when the gearbox failed when heading down towards a Yonne barrage. We did stop, but a stern anchor would have been better!

Our hire boats on the UK rivers & canals all had their anchors fitted at the stern for precisely Paul's reasons.

A stern anchor has been on my list since very early days; indeed my ship did originally have one, but for various reasons fitting one now would be logistically very difficult. A suitable portable anchor would probably not be large enough to be worthwhile, but could be a sensible option for the average 20m barge.

Balliol.

Hi Tony

I'm a firm believer that a stern anchor, even a "mobile" one, or a big "mud weight" that can be thrown over the stern on a decent length of rope or chain, is a good idea for just about any boat on a river.

Why? If there is anything like a flow on the water, when traveling downstream, deployment of a bow anchor can create a very scary situation.

If the anchor bites, then inertia of the boat + current will cause the stern to swing in a circle the diameter of anchor rode and hull length.

This can be rapid and violent, being:

1. Alarming to those onboard.
2. Dangerous, especially if the vessel hits another or a solid object.

Deploying a stern anchor, even if it doesn't stop forward movement, will slow the vessel enough to reduce the effects of deployment of the bow anchor to a hopefully manageable extent.

If a stern anchor is not available, if at all possible turn to head into the flow before deploying the bow anchor.

Just a thought

Paul Hayes

Do I take it that your proposed Rhine trip would be the 70 Km between Wesel (where the Wessl-Dratteln Kanal meets the Rhine) and Nijmegen, or do you need you join the Rhine further upstream?

I travelled from Strasbourg to Nijmegen (600 km) in 2019, but I'm a fraction under 15 m. I can't suggest how one finds a pilot, but frankly I think you are very unlikely to be stopped by the water police on this 3 hour trip along a relatively unchallenging section of the river. Being 17 m an excuse of thinking that the non-pilot limit is 20 m is unlikely to be fully accepted, but I very much doubt that any fine would approach the cost of a pilot - and you may get away with a slapped wrist in the unlikely event you are spotted and stopped!

There was a thread about this subject a couple of months ago - it may be worth searching for it.

If you've not travelled the Rhine before, it's not as scary as one might think and you could easily do that stretch non-stop, so no need to plan overnight or even lunch stops - not that there's any shortage of them. You may like to read the 4 page article about my trip down the Rhine published in Blue Flag No 139 February 2020 - download from DBA Website > Library > Blue Flag Magazine.

Peter

Thank you Paul.

The problem I was having with the regulations was over 20m they are quite specific and require certain bits of kit , a stern anchor springs to mind. Under 20m I cannot find any detail of the requirements.
I would imagine a pilot would know, if I can find one.

Cheers

Sorry, I can't help with a pilot, other than say I've heard of off duty river police officers helping people in the past.

Regulations, no difference, over 15m "sport boat" is over 15m so pilot needed to be lega, I believe. Unless the Knowledge Base has been changed since I last checked..

Paul Hayes

We have a 17m boat, and what with the shortage of water this year , the Haren canal is already limited to 1.2 m draft, and the unplanned closure of the lock at Hebbrun , on the Eems for September, Getting out of Germany is proving difficult. Which for Brexit related reasons we must do by the 24 Sept. Currently we are in Poland, so not close especially as the tides at the end of August are not at suitable
times.

Acknowledging that the Rhine is not over blessed with water at the moment.

Does anybody have experience of taking a pilot down the Rhine into the Netherlands? Especially in a sub 20m boat?

Any recommendations for a pilot?

What regulations apply to the boat if over 15m but under 20 m?