Griff500

Well spotted

Hi James, give Dan at Bridgecraft in Acle a call as he may have something available at Broadsedge in Stalham.. Good luck

A few shots of her on the following Youtube vid and especially at 27:16 onwards...

Certainly the cathedral in Auxerre and the picture was taken from the Port de Plaisance in town. From memory it is/was a boat from Navig France who had a base down river in Gurgy..

With the speed and force that those boats hit solid objects such as unforgiving stone Bridge piers and concrete barrages, the delamination of the hulls snd superstructures will be, for the most part, beyond repair. Those bulkheads which are usually ply bonded to the hulls will have been forced through the hulls perhaps only appearing as crazing externally but having caused extensive delamination of the layup. A simple gel coat repair gives no strength and large parts of the damaged areas will need to be cut out in order to let in a pre-moulded section or a mould laid over the cut out part in order to rebuild from the inside. The actual rigidity of the construction in this type of accident would have been more detrimental to the outcome than that of a more flexible structure...

Not to mention a good 4000 litres of diesel pollution if they were all filled to the brim for winter..

Seeing those with superstructures ripped off after hitting the barrages at +15mph, I think that they'll need more than a bit of T Cut...

Latest news from the Lot is that only 4 are repairable and that the other 17 have been destroyed

Hi Vaughan, yes indeed we did. Distant fun times in a different world. Sad to hear Narbonne has been closed too. I worked with Don McPhail in those days. Seeing some of the reviews for Le Boat is equally very saddening considering the hard work that was put in during the early days with P&H on a pittance of a budget...

I honestly cant remember Chris being there but I did go to school with his brother Richard. Yes there was the well travelled Freeman 30 that we crossed from Southwold to Holland and prior to that we used a cruiser that belonged to the landlord of the Eagle in Neatishead. I vaguely recollect coming through Yarmouth yacht station with Maidie and, I believe, Evening Flight in line astern tow. Punching the tide in one of Vaughans hireboats we came to a complete standstill and created carnage 🤣

No name needed 😉

Hi Robert, I dont post too often but having read this I guess this could only have been me as I set up both the Auxerre and Gray bases! I also crewed on Maidie in the late 70's. I believe that the Gray operation of Le Boat was sadly closed around 2 or 3 years ago..

At a guess I would say filmed over the weekend of Acle Regatta in May. The family were on board Saraline from P&H and I recognise a rather younger me on Maidie!

A truly kind, generous and thoughtful man. I worked with him at Porter & Haylett in the early 80's. A real Gent.. RIP John

Looks like she was built for operating in France as there are still the bike pedal protection pads on the canopy and the rubber on the stern toenail. Clearly well travelled!

Most of the bases in France had two each so there are probably a few more floating (hopefully) around somewhere! They were all incredibly well laid up boats and I’m sure that of the 300 odd built most are still around in one form or another. i was privileged to work at P&H during that era in a time where they just built themselves out of recession with hard fought capital investment. Bill Moore had a vision which he fully achieved 👍

You're on Jazz I think, which was an FBF4 based upon the 29' DL2 hull with a different superstructure moulding. There weren't that many built and even less of the FBF6's which were on an extended 35' hull. They were always rather ungainly with a narrower 11' beam and seemed quite top heavy. The broader 8 through to 12 berth models with the front well were far more popular and I think many have ended up as liveaboard houseboats in France. There was even a handful of FBGL4's which, as the name would suggest, were a luxury 4 berth on a 46' hull. My recollection was of a Swiss couple who, as the first hirers of the boat, proceeded to cook a brand new Peugeot 2.5 engine. They believed that the red flashing overheat light was an unusual design feature! They were not overly happy about losing their full damage deposit at the end of the week

The brown canopy boats, both 37 and 42', were the DL4's and DL6's. Those with a white canopy offered a double bed in the saloon and were designated Super 6 or Super 8's. As the builds progressed there were numerous offerings including the 3/5, the 5/6, the Super 5/7 etc. The later DL4's were multi purpose so that you could change the rear cabin from a double to 2 singles. Inevitably customers omitted to add their preference which meant that the arrangement had to be switched on their arrival at the yard! The GL2 which was a 37' with galley in the front cabin came at a much later stage and after the first 29' DL2's were built. I won't get started on the FB's (Flying Bridge) boats built for France just yet

Nice Tam, from a Griff 500 owner

Prior to Reg owning her she was owned by Peter MacAllister who kept her in Upton Dyke. He used to sail her with one crew member up to Wroxham Broad to race on Sundays and returned on the same evening! She did indeed race at two or three Barton regattas at the end of the 70's but was woefully slow due her keel dragging the mud for most of the course.

No I'm not mad thank you. Most of the wet sheds were probably built before there were many grp boats around. The owner I'm sure can and has every right to chose who moors inside and who doesn't

I find your logic strange that's why! If an owner choses to moor his grp boat in a wet shed who are you or indeed anyone else to suggest that he shouldn't. Freedom of choice unless the wet shed owner decrees otherwise

3 has two answers - New Inn in horning and a few years later White Horse in Neatishead. Freddie, 4, Swan in Horning

The Saone or more specifically the Petite Saone has far fewer locks than the likes of the Canal du Nivernais or Bourgogne. Locaboat (Penichettes) have a base at a small village called Scey-sur-Saone and this area is relatively uncrowded (or was when I lived there a few years back!) Lots of great restaurants close to the river or the canalised parts of it where the locks are. Or you could hire from from Le Boat further downstream at Gray. September can be a great month for weather but July and August can sometimes be as hot as the South as is more subject to a Continental climate. In any event the countryside is undulating and there are plenty of wild moorings under trees to stay in the shade...

Carol - this photo would have been taken on board one of the last Grampian 37 yachts that P&H were building before switching to full time Connoisseur production. I recognise 5 of the faces but can only put names to two of them and one Christian name. Attached with names: Let me know if you want any more info about the yard or boats during this era and I'll gladly trawl my memory