Byfleet Boat Club Page

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Byfleet Boat Club

There was a fantastic turnout at the Wey Festival and Byfleet Boat Club was very well represented in the illuminated parade. The Boat Hire season has been very successful including the cleaning of boats and oars after each usage and the introduction of payment by card. We were pleased to welcome back many local residents who were very keen to get back to boating after lockdown. (See picture: members of the public queuing for boat hire) We have just had a great Hire Boat laying up day and managed to get all the boats out of the water, cleaned inside and out and put away in the shed in about 2.5 hours. It was just as well as the rain came shortly afterwards. We are now looking forward to our own illuminated parade which will take place on November 27th

Commodore BBC

The Wey Fish Pass and Wetland Delivery (FWD)

The project has run for three years, replacing historic weirs and adding adjacent fish passes which will open up over 100km of river to fish between the Thames at Weybridge and the Wey at Tilford. It is scheduled for completion next month.

This project: • has completed replacement of all but one of the six historic 1930s River Wey Improvement Scheme flood weirs • includes 4 to 5 fish passes • helps protect 388 homes from flooding • opens up 47km of the river to the Thames for fish and eels for the first time in centuries.

Total cost of all the improvements is £13 million.

The Walsham Fish Pass shown with the channel route shown below is a naturalised/hybrid brush channel.Construction began last year.The channel will

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be 170 m long and replicate a natural stream. It will be planted with a variety of plants and the bed will be lined with gravel to provide valuable habitat where fish can lay their eggs. An outlet section with fish brushes and walls will slow the water down so that fish can migrate. The base structures have now been completed and landscaping is in progress. (Ed: Info taken from Environment agency website) IWA members moored at Walsham say that it is good to know that the formerly peaceful car park and access road will soon be free of “Mackley” vehicles. At the start we were told that the site would be reinstated to its former wild state but it seems a shame to rip up perfectly good roadways which might be useful in future. The work has involved a large number of yellow vests worn by generally good humoured people of many nationalities and some very large “toys” they can play with. A lot of tea seems to be drunk in the portacabins. We wish them luck as they move on (soon we hope!) It is ironic that the EA is spending £13 million on getting fish to move upriver but ignoring the fact that the river is being choked with pennywort for want of funds spent on river maintenance.

Water points

As noted in the last edition River Thames taps have been modified to accommodate the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999. Some members have reported waits of up to 4 hours to access a water point, resulting in boaters using alternative solutions. As open taps are not subject to the backflow hose restrictions it is perfectly legal to fill containers with water and transport them to your boat to fill your water tank as illustrated below. BCC Ed: The risk of someone dying having ingested contaminated river water backflowing into the water main via a 6 metre hosepipe carelessly left in the river, versus the risk of someone dying from a heart attack caused by lugging 20 litre water containers to their boat has yet to be determined!