The great electric narrowboat race

Saturday 29 May was the start of a long weekend in England and the sight of a group of narrowboat owners north of Worcester Bridge gathered in the drizzle for an 0800 breakfast briefing may have lodged in some dog walkers’ memories – but would have gone completely unnoticed by others no doubt.

For many of the owners, this was the first time they had met each other face to face, however they all knew each others’ names and quite a bit about each others’ boats.

All the vessels – three diesels and five hybrid-electrics – were designed and built by Ortomarine, based in Droitwich, and the owners had all agreed to come together to help Ortomarine carry out the first ever series of electric narrowboat performance trials.