Hire boat training

[minor2011]

Hi I'm a new member on this forum and have read quite a lot about the lack of training that some hire yards give.

Me and my wife hired Siesta from Richardsons in May last year and i can state that they did not just give a 5 min training cruise. I felt the training that was given was very good. the gentleman went through all aspects of navigating, mooring with and against tides, with and against the wind, stern on mooring, tidal conditions on different reaches of the rivers. he was with us for about 30 mins on the river until he gone through everything that we needed to know.

The only niggle i would say ist that he was adament that mooring at Graet yarmouth Yacht station was a bad idea, when in fact on our return from Oulton we moored there and couldn't see any reason for being put off mooring there. It was far better than at Stracey Arms where we moored on our way down south.

We both found Siesta to be a fine boat although the galley was a little small.

We have hored Gliding Light 1 with Herbert Woods this year so I will let you know how there training went and since there doesn't see, to be any reviews on that boat yet maybe i can post one.

[Hockham Admiral]

Welcome aboard, Minor!

So very nice to hear such a heartening tale but I doubt if too many of the regulars here will be surprised about Ricco's standards being so high!

[senator]

Great to here that Ricos are giving the time to do it properly and if they can manage it with the amount of boats they have to turn round it makes any excuses from other yards all the less laudable.

The moorings at Yarmouth take in lots of factors and varying conditions, arrive at the top of the tide on neaps and it is no different to mooring anywhere else, arrive mid flow or low water on springs and you will understand the advice given.

Even with years of hire experience, worse case conditions at Yarmouth would be classed as challenging at best and frightening more realistically when you have 5 knots of flow and a 40' 10 ton boat with a 60hp motor in.

You only have to stand on the quayside at the yacht station when the conditions are not favourable and witness the boats being washed sideways down the river crashing into all the moored boats to understand the advice.

[minor2011]

actually you make a good point senator. When we moored up it was at slack water so its easy to forget that the current can be so strong.

[Jim]

You kid me not Ian,

We left the meet at Burgh Castle in 2008 and after we'd crossed Breydon, the tide was still flowing. Trying to punch up the Bure in a Falcon with 190Hp was hard work and wasted shed loads of petrol