Boat teleport trials announced to address new Canal and River Trust cruising rules

In response to the latest boating rules from Canal and River Trust, Dr Milkem Drie in association with Professer Denzil Dexter will today start public trials of their new boat teleport system. Dr Drie says:

Our new teleport system is designed to assist boaters deal with the new rules from CRT. Not only does it means you can move your boat to another part of the country at short notice, thereby complying almost instantly with the new requirements for a minimum movement range during each licence period, but this complex system also provides infallible location data down to the nearest molecule. 

Accurate space time location data is an essential part of our design and is available at all times when the unit is active. This data can of course can be provided to CRT should the need arise.

However Dr Dexter added the following cautions:

Boaters should however note that it is not yet clear whether this data will be accepted by CRT as valid evidence of your boat movements, but we are in discussion with them about what format they would prefer the data to be presented in.

However we believe we have identified a potential solution to any doubts over the data. We have modified the system somewhat so alternatively, if a patrol officer does not believe the output showing that you were in a particular place, you can ask them to step aboard, then hit the redial button and take them to any of the last 10 locations you teleported to or from.

At their press launch Drs Drie and Dexter also identified other potential attractions to boaters including;

• shortening waiting times at locks
• making docking your boat for repairs much quicker
• mooring your boat faster in small spaces
• significant savings on diesel costs
• options for taking your boat to overseas waterways

When pressed Dr Drie confirmed that the team has in fact already undertaken secret trials during the last year:

The questioner is correct in suggesting that a number of our trial teleports have shown up by way of anomalies in CRT craft sighting data. It is correct that several of the claims by boaters that their boats were in a different part of the country than that recorded by CRT arose as a result of the teleport function. Obviously the boaters concerned were sworn to secrecy and could not admit the use of teleport to CRT Enforcement staff before today's public launch. As a result we are making representations on behalf of these boaters to the CRT legal and enforcement teams. 

Our initial disclosures have however identified another issue: there appears to be some dispute at to whether teleporting your boat constitutes 'bona fide navigation' under the 1995 Waterways Act and it seems uncertainty on this legal point in the CRT enforcement team may become an obstacle to some boaters being re-licenced. CRT say they will be taking out a test case on this point in the next few months so this should clarify matters. 

We must therefore advise boaters that despite the obvious attractions of our system, until the test case is concluded, they should not rely solely on the teleport device but should undertake some traditional cruising activities as well in order to guarantee licence renewal.

CRT have also expressed concern about the potential impact of the teleport system on their Section 8 enforcement process. We have assured them that where there is a valid court order and injunction in place we will assist them with this if the boater in question does not move their boat voluntarily by the relevant deadline. We suspect that this will be a very rare occurrence as most boaters where the teleport is installed will be able to comply with such Court orders without our involvement.

Boaters interested in taking part in the public trials should follow this link.

Prof Denzil Dexter demonstrating a beta version of the teleport.