The Haven Bridge

[finny]

28 minutes ago, Ricardo said:

Iv a little problem here with this tide thing , if independence arrived at 4.15 pm and the draft was a problem explain how it cat get to brundall when high tide there was around 5pm , the marina is the place where there's a higher percentage of grounding than anywhere on the yare , that leaves just 3/4 of an hr to cross braydon and refill at good child's then at least + 4 hrs of travel up the yare so arriving at around 9 pm 4 hrs after high tide , given the tides prior to her arrival at Yarmouth around the brundall area  it would have been crazy to take her to her mooring in the dark at half tide .

I highly doubt anyone would have got home any earlier had the bridge opened , that said this thread is sort of not about the right of navigation in my eyes its far more personal but that's just my opinion and no doubt at all one which will see a huge amount of backlash heading my way 

Nah mate no backlash .............although the though of you hanging from that damm bridge from a mooring rope  wrapped around your peanuts does have a certain appeal 

finny

[JennyMorgan]

Over the years both the Yarmouth Port Authorities and local council, despite changes of personnel, have shown a desperate  lack of sympathy or respect for private boaters. A proposal for a marina at Cobham was ignored as were requests for pontoon berths for visiting boats for example. Bridge openings are, by now, traditionally resisted if there is a hint that traffic will be inconvenienced. What has long been forgotten is the legal requirement that comes with there being a tidal river to the Port of Norwich. Clive Lewis M.P. is the obvious person to  contact. The Broads Authority is, in actuality, the local harbour authority, and as such should be demanding that the Port Authority meets its responsibilities in regard to the bridges. The NSBA should also be asked to act on behalf of those of its members that use the port. RYA members could also lobby their legal department. There's plenty that can be done and with the probability of a third bridge at Yarmouth it's a problem that needs taking in hand. The Broads Authority is legally required to protect the interests of those of us who navigate the Broads. 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, finny said:

Nah mate no backlash .............although the though of you hanging from that damm bridge from a mooring rope  wrapped around your peanuts does have a certain appeal 

finny

Thanks for that 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Over the years both the Yarmouth Port Authorities and local council, despite changes of personnel, have shown a desperate  lack of sympathy or respect for private boaters. A proposal for a marina at Cobham was ignored as were requests for pontoon berths for visiting boats for example. Bridge openings are, by now, traditionally resisted if there is a hint that traffic will be inconvenienced. What has long been forgotten is the legal requirement that comes with there being a tidal river to the Port of Norwich. Clive Lewis M.P. is the obvious person to  contact. The Broads Authority is, in actuality, the local harbour authority, and as such should be demanding that the Port Authority meets its responsibilities in regard to the bridges. The NSBA should also be asked to act on behalf of those of its members that use the port. RYA members could also lobby their legal department. There's plenty that can be done and with the probability of a third bridge at Yarmouth it's a problem that needs taking in hand. The Broads Authority is legally required to protect the interests of those of us who navigate the Broads. 

Totally agree .

[CambridgeCabby]

Irrespective of rights and wrongs concerning rights of navigation the simple fact is Robin booked passage through the bridge at an agreed time was there at such time and rightfully expected the BA to honour their verbal contract with him and has just cause to question for what reason they chose not to honour it.

The hollow excuse of the bridge being inoperative was proven a lie (and I don’t feel that is too strong a word) when access was required by the Pilot craft 

[grendel]

To be fair on the BA - they dont control the bridges, that is Peel, 

[JennyMorgan]

7 minutes ago, grendel said:

To be fair on the BA - they dont control the bridges, that is Peel, 

I reckon that I can argue that point, at least to a degree! The BA is the local harbour authority and I suspect that, even though the bridges in question are outside their executive area, they are in a position that requires them to insist that access to the Broads is not hindered. It is certainly worth asking the BA to at least comment. 

[Siddy]

Mr Bridge operator what time did you sign off, What time did you make a call for an engineer.

Mr Engineer what was your job number and where's your report? if they got a call.

Job going for a bridge operator, start straight away.

 

[JennyMorgan]

Embuggerance

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-emb1.htm

[Guest]

Robins experience would certainly put out me off taking a boat through Yarmouth (not my current craft obviously) I presume Lowestoft is generally more friendly to pleasure craft?

[Boatingman]

Not sure Lowestoft is more friendly

If I recall correctly Griff had to abort a trip in 2016 because of problems with access through Mutford lock 

Ray

[finny]

But why not be straight...if the bridge was out of order then why not just say so right from when the phone call ahead was made 

it's very very naughty and sadly it reflects badly on Peels ports and what JM has posted the BA to a degree 

 

finny

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, 40something said:

Robins experience would certainly put out me off taking a boat through Yarmouth (not my current craft obviously) I presume Lowestoft is generally more friendly to pleasure craft?

Er best as Griff about that one i guess , iv a funny feeling he might disagree .

[Islander]

Just a question. Was any charge made/requested for opening the bridges or for Indy to stay overnight.

Colin

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, Boatingman said:

Not sure Lowestoft is more friendly

If I recall correctly Griff had to abort a trip in 2016 because of problems with access through Mutford lock 

Ray

That 'event' was, should we say, the result of unfortunate and uncharitable meddling.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

That 'event' was, should we say, the result of unfortunate and uncharitable meddling.

Not sure about that yr , I was thinking of quite a bit earlier than that .

[JennyMorgan]

Just now, Ricardo said:

Not sure about that yr , I was thinking of quite a bit earlier than that .

Right! The date didn't click, sorry

[LondonRascal]

Frankly anywhere would have been nicer than spending the evening having to tend to fenders and lines while alongside the Quay in Yarmouth and added to this the simple fact there was so much not known - would they honour their word to lift the bridge in the morning?

As it happened, no they missed that time too. Again more unknowns, more silence and no information forthcoming in fact I was ignored and was being passed on information from either Charlie who had made contact with operations or even others following things who had called up themselves. Hours ticked away and then, suddenly the first I know anything is actually going to happen is overhearing on the VHF the conversation between Pilot boat and Haven Bridge and then being radioed asking if we had heard this and to follow the Pilot boat through.

Nobody had asked me for any money, I was the one offering it - going by their website to open outside of normal operational hours and incur this fee. I was up for paying the chaps overtime to get it done.

IF the bridge had lifted at 16:15 and we had got through, we would not have fuelled at Goodchilds because I had called them and been told they would only be about to fuel with such a quantity until 16:00 - so it would have been over Breydon, up the Yare and onwards. Now if we had not made it to Brundall, I would have been far happier being on the boat at (for example) Reedham Quay overnight - less stress and heck even a Pub right there and knowing the final leg was all but done. As things go depth was not a problem the lowest depth was indeed in the Marina at 1.4M below us. That is not to say on an especially low tide I may not be able to get the boat out  (or back in) but I would imagine that I would be facing that sort of issue at most Marina's since it is not Ilkley any would have a minimum depth to maintain.

My gripe is the fact I had allowed so many days in advance to book a bridge lift, then have kept  bridge operations updated on the day and asked them to confirm to me the latest time they would lift - get there in time for this, but then be let down, talk to them offer to pay them money - be told the crew were now off shift but then  be assured a lift would happen 07:30 the next day.  Time came and time passed and then all communication was ignored by the bridge operations team.

 

[BroadAmbition]

Just a question. Was any charge made/requested for opening the bridges or for Indy to stay overnight.

Colin, not sure I understand your question correctly.  The original lift was booked for 1330-ish (Not sure of actual time down to the minute anymore)  at Haven / Breydon bridges. Once we realised there was no way we were going to make that deadline due to overnighting at Dover instead of Ramsgate plus the sea state was stopping us proceeding any faster , Robin contacted the control office,and asked what was the latest time it could be lifted. They informed him 1615 was the latest so he went with their instructions and booked the bridges for 1615 as they stated. Meanwhile onboard once we got the news, we knew we were up against it good n proper to make that revised deadline Staying the night was never requested or booked as we had no intention of staying overnight in Yarmouth.  The bridge failing to open forced Indy to stay at Town Quay

Griff

 

 

 

[Islander]

Sorry Griff what I should have said was any charge made/requested for opening the bridges or for Indy to stay overnight buy Peel Ports. I trust it was free of charge. Sorry if I didn't make my self clear.

I'm off to bed now as I'm sure you need a few good nights sleep to.

Colin

[BroadAmbition]

Simple answer no request made by Peel Ports for altering bridge opening time or asking us to overnight in GYA.  They just said the bridge would not open and left us to it offering no advice or mooring

 Robin rang them immediately then got the excuse for not opening at 1615 due to a fault. They then stated all the staff had gone home.  Robin offered to pay for an out of hour lift of £200 and incredulously they immediately stated they could open it at 0730 the next morning!

Just how could they do that if there was a fault and all the staff had gone home so could not fix the fault but could still lift the bridge at 0730?

Of course 0730 came and went with no opening. Robins calls Tuesday morning and answer messages left with the control office were ignored.

We only got a provisional lift at 1015 because I rang them mysen from here in Donny requesting a bridge lift that morning (They answered the phone immediately, different mobile number showing on their phone) the girly sounded somewhat surprised at the end of the conversation when I told her the boats name was Independence!

If it wasn't for the pilot boat requesting on vhf a lift which was granted immediately with no mention of any faults and coming through, I reckon there is a good possibility that Independence would still be there now

There is a lot more to it but I want the port operations manager to get back to me first

Griff

[JennyMorgan]

I don't think that there can be any doubt about it, private craft are not encouraged to make use of Gt Yarmouth Harbour. I certainly don't think that it is in anyway a personal matter. Norfolk County Council is responsible for the roads thus the bridges, a lot of unraveling required here!

[JohnK]

I don't think that there can be any doubt about it, private craft are not encouraged to make use of Gt Yarmouth Harbour. I certainly don't think that it is in anyway a personal matter. Norfolk County Council is responsible for the roads thus the bridges, a lot of unraveling required here!

Maybe it’s just lifting the bridges for pleasure craft they object to. I don’t need the bridges lifting but I’ve passed through a couple of times and they’ve been very helpful on VHF and by phone.
Playing devils advocate (again!) I usually leave my VHF on channel 12 (scanning 16 too) when in the area and I’ve heard a lot of private craft calling for the bridges to be open with a pretty poor attitude towards Yarmouth Radio. I’m not saying it’s ok to not open and I’m not saying Independence did anything wrong (other than not making the booked time) but I can see why the staff might have a worse attitude towards pleasure craft than commercial traffic.


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[BroadAmbition]

(other than not making the booked time)

Actually JohnK - Indy did make the booked time, both of them.  She was ready in all respects for the 1615 lift on Monday and the 0730 lift on Tuesday.  Both these booked times were set by the bridge control office which Indy agreed to and complied with

Griff

[Hylander]

11 hours ago, finny said:

Nah mate no backlash .............although the though of you hanging from that damm bridge from a mooring rope  wrapped around your peanuts does have a certain appeal 

finny

Behave!!!!!