About Me

Blowing my own trumpet is not something I am comfortable doing but I have been asked to write a mini biography to explain who I am and what I am about. So here goes.

I fell into boating by mistake really.  I moved in with my other half on his boat, after just visiting him for a cuppa!! I never went home. There was something about being so close to nature I found irresistible. Six years and seven boat changes later we're still here and could not imagine any other way of life.

I don't have a degree, I'm not a member of any organisations, I own nothing but my boat and its contents and my beloved MG Midget which I talk to a lot and lovingly call 'Little Red'.  I am forty something and female.

I was involved in  (along with many other boaters) organising and vocalising objections to the Lee and Stort Proposals which the then BW were trying to introduce. The Upper Lee and Stort voted for me to represent them as their spokes person to discuss alternatives with the then BW.  I made a point of trying to speak to as many boaters as I could to ensure I could confidently say my voice was the voice of the boaters I represented. I would go with the majority opinion even if i didn't agree with it.

After a lot of work from the Lee and Stort group and the London Boaters The proposals were eventually withdrawn.

After that I negotiated a reduction in the costs of Winter Moorings with BW  in the Lee and Stort area.

Since then I have been travelling the network from Essex to Huddersfield and most points in between.  

I have been following the SEVM strategy with interest and have my reservations regarding the new shorter visitor mooring rules. I am worried that available 14 day moorings are going to be eroded by lack of maintenance.  Leaving the only alternative being the shorter stay VM's. causing me to have to move much more often than every 14 days. This would be more costly to me and to the environment I live in. More diesel costs, greater wear and tare on locks etc. 

I want to preserve my way of life,  to be able to move freely around the network without fear of not being able to find a free 14 day mooring.  I want to be confident that the canals and rivers will have somewhere for me in 10, 15, 20 years time.    I understand the need for enforcement and maintenance but feel very strongly that cash is being wasted on fruitless ideas and not being invested back into the network or spent where it is actually needed.

We may be the minority of licence holders but we are on the water the majority of the time.  We probably understand what is needed on a national scale better than anyone.  I want our voice to be heard and intend to do my best to make sure it is.

Continuous Cruisers have been until now a vastly untapped recourse.  Unfortunately, their value is being seen from a monetary point of view and not as a notional one.  If you added together the costs that are saved by those of us who live aboard and cruise the network maintaining it as we go, giving advice to visitors and helping those holidaying on the water.  It would far outweigh any revenue that could be raised by possible overstay charges for example.  We are the unsung volunteers.

Continuously Cruising Liveaboards help to keep the canals and rivers running during the Winter, our movements keep the locks in working order, keep the silt at bay and our presence on the towpath gives peace of mind to walkers and cyclists as the nights draw in. 

Well that's me.

Ronni Payne