will.morris

Not at all ... If it were'nt for the swearing rules it would have been a lot stronger. Its more than 'just some posh toffs in boats' its a major part of british rowing and one of the oldest sporting events in the world first ran in 1829. Its pretty much the only rowing event on the british calender that gets publicised so its good for the sport for getting more people involved, rowing clubs all over the country always get a serge of new interest following the race. Whether you like rowing or not as a nation we produce some of the worlds best and anyone interested in our country for sport should appreciate this. And then theres the athletes/coaches/cox etc themselves who dedicate a huge amount of their lives for the 7monthes before the race. A re-start is the never the same, the athletes bodies suffer and they've trained the set distance over and over. All it did was create a panic sprint which just caused bad technique, sloppy rowing and makes a mockery of the preparation involved. Rowing is just as much, if not more, about technique than it is fitness, you have to sit in race boat to appreciate how unbalanced and twitchy they are. Plus no-one in the articles seemed to address just how dangerous it was for the swimmer ... a rowing boat itself would have decapitated him and then the was the risk of all the launch boats. I know I'm waffling on but as a fan of the sport its just really frustrating and annoying especially as its only an annual event. Really feel for everyone involved and hope that twit gets what he deserves.

Finding it hard to write this without getting myself in trouble from the mods The amount of training these guys put themselves through and the ruthless selection processes, the seat races, the ergo tests, the 4.30am winter morning rows. What a brilliant race until that ... "plonker" ... got involved. As much as I support Cambridge and have raced many times on their waters, its a truely ugly way to win Best wishes to Alex Woods for a speedy recovery BBC Sport - Boat Race: Swimmer halts contest, bowman collapses at finish line

Was a good day Cheers Albere was organising it and Dan for showing me how SRT works Nice to meet everyone, am frustrated that I'm back off to Newcastle in a week otherwise I would have definately come again.

I'm in, see you in the morning

Its an old photo that I took when i was just playing around with the knot, I think its just not dressed up properly.

Fishermans

I use a hitchclimber now but I found this pic when I was using it with just a micro pulley. I also use gecko rope as you can see but my prussik is 10mm I think.

A VT can and will often slip on ascent if you don't lock it up. By this i mean physically pushing the top of the prussik up so that you set the knot once you've taken up the slack. Its no biggy and once your used to the system you'll do it without thinking. Its not an issue moving around the tree though because you always have some if not all of your weight in it. It's good practice to set the know just before you do any jumps/swings but if tied correctly its really not as dangerous as perhaps your first impressions have been. How many top wraps and cross-overs did you tie in it and how long was bottom section? I use 4 top wraps and 2 cross-overs and from the bottom karabiner to the top of the prussik its about 10". Some people use 3 top wraps, some 5, and have it shorter or longer with more crosses. Its one of those knots that can take a bit of experimenting with how you tie it before your happy with it. Its worth playing around with (low and slow) because IMO its an awesome system.

Not good! Glad he was ok

Please find the email I have sent you I'm based in Ponteland

He lost me at £12 for a quote

Very negative view ... what are you proposing then that people go out and use saws without training to get experience BEFORE they get they're tickets Going to put my neck out on the line and say they're are a fair few grumpy old men candidates with their views about new arborists! Everyone has to start somewhere and I'm sure everyone of the experienced arborists on here has made plenty of mistakes throughout their career ...unless anyone wishes to claim that every branch they've ever cut has fallen exactly as they planned. Not everyone coming out of college is going to be upto industry speed standards I know, but the good ones, with a bit of initial backing/support could make very good, young climbers in 'X' amount of time if company owners are willing to invest a bit of time in them. Plus just because someone has not killed themselves climbing for 30 years does'nt mean they are going to be safe/efficient or have a good attitude. I think people should be a little more open minded and judge new comers individually rather than tarring them all with the same brush. Pick out the positives/potential in a person and see how they could become a beneficial factor for your own company under your wing initially. Rant over ... *Runs away*

I have the TCG 3rd Edition book as well. Its useful when your starting out as an overview of everything including basic rigging and giving you a range of climbing knots. Read the first chapter on tree health and sciences as well. I think knowing what your climbing/anchoring on and its condition is the most dangerous part of our work and from college I can say that a lot of new climbers are so keen to get up the tree that for example they miss the 3ft, deep canker/split on the main stem

I'd like to think as an arborist I'm (were all) not afraid of working at height ... but imagine turning up on site for that ...yehhhhhh I'll go up in 5mins ... just another few mins ... any second now ... actually I'm not sure I feel well enough, slight head ache

Depends what your like ... if your having to chop things up into tiny pieces to lift them and getting the saw stuck every 5mins then you might get £40 and no further work. Graft hard and have common sense regarding tension/compression, grounding saws, using your initiative to work with the climber etc and you'll be worth more. I think £50 is a standard rate for a rookie groundsman, its a big risk for any employer as a school boy error can make a good day very expensive in a flash. I've worked for £6ph as a rookie climber before... way below a climbers wage but it got me off the ground initially (no pun intended ).

Without meaning to hijack the thread, what are the pros and cons of using an 11mm rope over a 13mm, are they faster?

Do you do all your tree work for free ... It's YOU thats putting pressure on the industry not the cowboys . Only joking of course . It's nice to here such acts of kindness in todays fast paced lifestyle. It's good to keep customers/neighbours happy, was taking down a sycamore for a customer last week and they asked for a few stem sections to be left as a souvenire (sp) ... I spent a few minutes cutting them into rectangular blocks for seats and took the edges off for them, kept them sweet and they were appreciative ... and who knows future guests may ask who made them and then you get good praise as an arborist/decent person .

Haha way aye son thats the badger 'Canny' bit further south then Scotch Corner I'm afraid And don't worry I get plenty of abuse from the geordies for being a 'southern poof' or a 'legal immigrant' up there

Glad I'm on a 2 week break at the family home away from Newcastle in Sunny Suffolk at the moment ... was nice to climb a tree without it being windy today

*Googles some proper weird, non-terroristy stuff, just so they think I'm a right weirdo and possibly a ninja* Internet history: Borat thong, all black robes, rocky horror show outfits, extra suction plunger ....

Was going to quote a song lyric but then thought 'piccolo down low' on a 99% male forum could be seen as an innuendo and used against me in the form of banter

It could potentially be a highly mixed band haha! Any instruments/vocalists allowed with the exception of mc'ers, rappers "write the theme tooon sing the theme tooon :001_tt2:"

A Guide to Good Climbing Practice Really good book

Similar story to me Never knew you played Andy! I totally understand you with the pressure as a child thing, I had many dummy spitting moments in youth bands. I'm still to this day a very shy player and could'nt play in front of a group of people without beta-blockers. My dad is a brass fanatic as well whos played cornet for years and years and has conducted a vast amount of bands so I was always strongly encouraged (wouldnt say forced) to do my 20mins a day etc ... glad I did now. He filled in as conductor in my high school big band when our regular fell ill .... That was hard for me as I found it hard taking advice from him. Good to hear what people do/play on here