Irstead Staithe

[addicted]

On the back of this thread I googled Irstead  Staithe,  what a lovely looking spot, shame there's no chance with our present boat of our ever visiting. So many places  boats like ours cannot  access sadly.. When we first came to the Broads we had a lower boat and managed to get to Barton Broad, which I think is probably the most beautiful place we ever  visited on the Broads. If we had known how close we were to some of the other  most beautiful places we would have ventured further while we had the chance.

 

 

Carole

[rightsaidfred]

I thought I  saw this property up for sale a while back, just a thought while he is busy recording the conversation you could always video it yourself and then ask for his warrant card and if not forthcoming his name and address to check his authorisation, the response might be interesting.

Fred

[BrundallNavy]

The house next to the BA side was sold I think last year I've never seen the one with the black lab that chases boats while they go past up for sale.

The chap was waiting for friends to arrive that's why they had over stayed, they met them at Gays Staithe instead, I think it was the fact he wasn't told until half way through the conversation that it was being recorded.

Doug.

[JennyMorgan]

57 minutes ago, addicted said:

On the back of this thread I googled Irstead  Staithe,  what a lovely looking spot, shame there's no chance with our present boat of our ever visiting. So many places  boats like ours cannot  access sadly.. When we first came to the Broads we had a lower boat and managed to get to Barton Broad, which I think is probably the most beautiful place we ever  visited on the Broads. If we had known how close we were to some of the other  most beautiful places we would have ventured further while we had the chance.

Carole

Carol, lot to be said for having a kayak on the cabin roof, ready for when you want to visit out of the way places. The smaller the boat the greater the fun!

[jeffbroadslover]

I've not managed to moor at Irstead for quite a few years now (always full) . When I was last there I cannot remember seeing a Parish Council notice declaring that the staithe  is a free mooring for a maximum of 24 hours only.

Does anyone know if there is such a notice ?

If there isn't one  then how is a visitor supposed to know this fact?

I accept that there is a BA notice but surely this only applies to the BA section of moorings

Jeff

[dnks34]

Completely agree JM, we used to have loads more fun in our tender than we ever do in the big boat, its just a caravan that floats.

We sold our tender a few years ago but my wife was eyeing up a 2 man sit on kayak in a (un)popular wroxham chandlery the other day, they do look like a lot of fun! 

[JennyMorgan]

DNKS, 'nearest & dearest'? The old boy, presumably the boss, is well known for being a miserable old sod but in all honesty I have never had bad service or silly prices.

[dnks34]

Me neither JM, I did see the owner but not the other older gentleman ive read the odd complaint about.  

I dont go in that often anymore but I never had a bad experience with him either! 

 

[vanessan]

59 minutes ago, jeffbroadslover said:

I've not managed to moor at Irstead for quite a few years now (always full) . When I was last there I cannot remember seeing a Parish Council notice declaring that the staithe  is a free mooring for a maximum of 24 hours only.

Does anyone know if there is such a notice ?

If there isn't one  then how is a visitor supposed to know this fact?

I accept that there is a BA notice but surely this only applies to the BA section of moorings

Jeff

There definitely is a sign. It is actually closer to and facing the car park and cannot be seen from the river, which admittedly is a bit daft. We stopped at Irstead (pc side) last week and when we passed yesterday afternoon both sides were empty.

[SGWilko]

16 hours ago, dnks34 said:

Im not advocating loud music but there must be some way of subtly messing with the Irstead guy :-p 

You would think better of an ex policeman if he actually is.  

Though I do wonder what he was like if he were a copper, sounds like the sort who would nick his own mother to me. 

Why buy a house next to a tourist spot If you dont like people?

I imagine they are probably the sort who thrives on having summat to moan about and love every minute of doing it. 

 

Indeed - it's folks of this ilk that killed off F1 ever returning to Brands Hatch.  Buy a house close to a racetrack, then suddenly realise that racing occurs on the racetrack so moan about the noise....  No poopy Sherlock.

[addicted]

14 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Carol, lot to be said for having a kayak on the cabin roof, ready for when you want to visit out of the way places. The smaller the boat the greater the fun!

Kayak? sooooooo  not my thing

 

Carole

[Gracie]

It seems to me there is always someone waiting in the wings just to try and ruin your day, they will if we let them, I completely ignored the lady at Irstead, it annoyed her more than it did me

Carole, I can just see you in a Kayak but where on earth would you store your wine? 

Grace

[addicted]

Just now, Gracie said:

It seems to me there is always someone waiting in the wings just to try and ruin your day, they will if we let them, I completely ignored the lady at Irstead, it annoyed her more than it did me

Carole, I can just see you in a Kayak but where on earth would you store your wine? 

Grace

Gracie with the best will in the world you cannot see me in a kayak, wine storage would be the least of the problems believe me. The very thought of me paddling a kayak or even trying to get in one would render Tony hysterical

 

 

Carole  

[RumPunch]

Hey - my canoe type has a handy drink holder in the seat

[vanessan]

I've just remembered that we were mooring up at Irstead (BA moorings) a few years back, in the days before the electric post was installed. We had left the engine running while we sorted ourselves out and 'that lady' came rushing out and asked us to turn the engine off as she had friends round for lunch and it was disturbing them. The property did change hands last year so I guess she must have eventually had enough of noisy engines and fumes and moved. I wonder if she told the prospective purchasers of the horrors of noisy and smelly boaters! 

[Gracie]

Not forgetting children's laughter, anglers angling and dogs barking, people just enjoying themselves in general, someone mentioned this earlier but why on earth buy a property on a river where boats and holiday makers are going to be in abundance. A bit like buying a flappy thingy and expecting to have the rivers to yourself 

Grace

[JennyMorgan]

57 minutes ago, RumPunch said:

Hey - my canoe type has a handy drink holder in the seat

Errrrr, wrong sort of bottle! Well placed for the right sort though. 

[addicted]

10 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I've just remembered that we were mooring up at Irstead (BA moorings) a few years back, in the days before the electric post was installed. We had left the engine running while we sorted ourselves out and 'that lady' came rushing out and asked us to turn the engine off as she had friends round for lunch and it was disturbing them. The property did change hands last year so I guess she must have eventually had enough of noisy engines and fumes and moved. I wonder if she told the prospective purchasers of the horrors of noisy and smelly boaters! 

Must admit I'm not a big fan of those who come in to moor and leave the engine running while they faff about with ropes etc, I just don't get the rationale of it, Surely it's safer to leave an unoccupied boat with the engine off. Not to mention the unnecessary prolonging  of fumes.

 

 

Carole

[JennyMorgan]

Brave and wise words, Carole, I too just don't understand the rationale of leaving motors running. It's just plain thoughtlessness in my opinion. We had a huge GP moor up wind of us a couple of summers ago, it was awful! I asked but they refused to turn their engine off! Grrrr!

[SGWilko]

15 minutes ago, addicted said:

Must admit I'm not a big fan of those who come in to moor and leave the engine running while they faff about with ropes etc, I just don't get the rationale of it, Surely it's safer to leave an unoccupied boat with the engine off. Not to mention the unnecessary prolonging  of fumes.

 

 

Carole

I get your drift - however until the boat is secure, engine should be running should you need to manoeuvre due to dropped rope risk?

[addicted]

That's the whole point most engines out on the Broads have been round the block a few times to say the least and  frankly they stink! We had a boat berthed opposite  to us  when we first came to Brundall Bay and although an electric post was on offer they hadn't availed themselves of it preferring instead to leave their engine running for 5 hours to charge the battreries, the noise was irritating enough but the fumes even from that distance were appalling, after 5 hours I phoned the office and asked them to do something about it. Our superb manageress instantly went and dealt with it.. People who do it when mooring irritate the hell out of me.

 

 

Carole

[addicted]

Just now, SGWilko said:

I get your drift - however until the boat is secure, engine should be running should you need to manoeuvre due to dropped rope risk?

so that you can wind the dropped rope round the prop I  don't think so! A dropped rope is an even better reason to cut the engine. Sorry to  disagree.

 

Carole

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, addicted said:

so that you can wind the dropped rope round the prop I  don't think so! A dropped rope is an even better reason to cut the engine. Sorry to  disagree.

 

Carole

Why the boats not in gear so no chance of going round the prop , boats should be secured before cutting the engine and single handed that take s little while , its just the same when leaving or do people actually push the boat off and then start the engine ? 

[SGWilko]

21 minutes ago, addicted said:

so that you can wind the dropped rope round the prop I  don't think so! A dropped rope is an even better reason to cut the engine. Sorry to  disagree.

 

Carole

Agreed - however we were taught at handover to tie up front first, as you can control the rear with the prop/rudder.  I only cut the engine once front is secure and Domestic Management has control of the rear with the rope.

 

I do agree wholeheartedly that stuck on a mooring for hours on end with the fumes from a proper glazed bore 4 cylinder disiesel is a proper no no!

[LondonRascal]

I always leave the engine running until he boat is secure.  There have been instances where I have come into moor, got off the boat, have gone to tie the rope to a post then found out the wind had taken the boat away too quickly to safely now reach the other rope to secure it.

So, its pull boat back in (for example at the bow) get on, quickly back to the helm and go off for a second attempt. We are talking a few seconds for this to happen - but it certainly helps not have a possible issue of a hot engine suddenly not wanting to start as the boat drifts away from the bank.

Another example has been where you've had a long hard slog up the Bure against the tide in a less than well serviced engine that is running pretty hot and upon arrival outside the Bridge Inn at Acle I've then let it idle until the temperature comes back down before cutting the engine, simply to avoid too much heat soaking.

The secret is the instruction given to people on handover - this was told to me by a very helpful, older gentleman who clearly had many many years of experience on the Broads at Richardson's when I took over Bronze Gem. He advised that once I had moored up for the evening, about 45 minutes before it got dark to run the engine at a high idle of about 1,500 RPM to do two things: Give the hot water tank a boost to last you through to morning and give the batteries an extra charge to keep the heater and telly going all night.

I'm sure he and others repeat this daily to those who take over the boat (indeed something like this features in Richardson's instructional video on their website) so people believe regardless of boat, how long they have cruised that they have got to run their engine for about 45 minutes at the end of each day to get them through the night. Some might thing "is 45 minutes enough" others might believe they have to keep it running or else the heater will stop... Of course from the boatyards perspective it may result in fewer call outs to "the heating has gone off and the telly won't work" only to find low battery power is the cause.

What I think would be helpful is a cheap and simple LED battery monitor - either with a voltage readout or green, amber and red lights. Only run the engine when it goes into the red - but even then only in real need after 8pm type thing.  I doubt many would respect that, but one can hope.