Hockham Admiral

Just rain in West Norfolk.

Lori, Hi. Friday Girl 2 is a sloop, i.e. single mast. Here's a ketch rigged similar boat (in fact a Fisher 30):

Don't you mean "Ghoulies", Peter?

That sounds like one of Bells riverside moorings?

Welcome Aboard from us too, Dave. It sounds as if you have some interesting stories to tell!

And this one, Jean:

Thank you, Jean. Try this thread from back in 2011

They certainly were, Chris. When we changed over to a keel cooler Alan Goodchild told me that he'd never seen such thickness in a glass hull before. Sorry, peeps, to questions about further developments, as I didn't particularly like the "improvements" that Fisher developed and didn't follow them on. As an aside we sailed Friday Girl abeam a Fisher 30 ketch. I could (and did) outpoint her by a few degrees and had the edge on boat speed too. (Here's a pic, taken in Enkhuizen, which shows her huge trawler bow off to good effect.

The smaller air-ambulance airline companies make a large improvement to their balance sheets during the Summer months carrying these sorry peeps home..... I employed an ex air ambulance pilot many years ago and his stories passed many a quiet hour airborne away!

Chris, hi. Pennington Yachts near Lymington built her for Freeward Marine and she was marketed as the Freeward 30. Later modifications resulted in the Fisher 30, although ketch rigged.

Not that early, Peter. When your pic was taken the entrance to the RNSYC was directly East and the incoming swells were at times quite horrendous! Here's one of Friday Girl 2 in Hinderlopenin '04: Note the inverted cone! She was a 30 foot double-ender at 7 tons unladen (over 3 tons of pig-iron encapsulated in her full length keel) and kept us safe in the middle of the North Sea when a passing ferry asked us on Ch 16 if we were OK. I thanked him and he went on to say that his anemometer was showing a steady F8 gusting to F9+. A picture ashore shows her lovely canoe stern with the 15 inch fully variable pitch propeller, which ranged from full ahead to full astern. You might notice the Decca antenna which we had in the late 80's. Also the very useful Aries wind-vane steering, which had already done a circumnavigation on Friday Girl's sister ship! The Aries had a very strong brutal construction and had no other purpose in life but to steer an ocean going yacht in all conditions including survival. We were so very lucky to own her (from '85 until '05) and she has a very special place in our hearts.

I asked because the different types cause an unusual effect here in England. Just in the lee of the pennines is the RAF Station of Shawbury and on the windward side was RAF Llanbedr. On a wet westerly wind day the temperature at Llanbedr might have been, say 10 degs C. The "mountains" east of Llanbedr are around 1000m so as the wet air rises it cools down by 5 degs and may fall as rain on the hill tops. It then descends and climbs in temperature at the dry rate and gains 10 degs. Thus a wet day in Llanbedr at 10 degs C can be transformed into a dry day at Shawbury on the other side of the Pennines at 15 degs C . Ain't meteorology great?

HEM, Hi. Don't forget that you are quoting the dry adiabatic lapse rate; the wet one is half of that. (In units that some would easier understand we always used 3 degrees C per 1000 FEET!)

A warm "Welcome Aboard" from us too, Riverbank!

A few other pics in no particular order.

There's a lotta mardlin' going on! (And the "Marquee" is holding strong!). Soon to be followed by drinkies and Bar B's With Robin later busy making final preps to the later entertainment!

Saturday, early afternoon. Going well! There's a LOT of boats here now! From the far end:

Penny 4'em arrives serenely! And soon has interested visitors! Meanwhile, the new Marquee erection commences! (NO comments, PW!

And here comes "The Rescue"! Now this is "helping out!"

The Guidelines!

And what's your draught, Mark?

Which will probably preclude all but the Waveney & Yare rivers?

John had arrived on Nyx and Charlie was giving helpful advice. John soon had Nyx looking boat-shape! (is that a word?) Uninvited visitors soon pecked up! Followed by the Skipper in a swish looker! Complete with Lucy to help moor

They soon had the NBN flag on display By mid afternoon it had started to fill up With BA joining later Not to be outdone by Peter's superb model!

We arrived early Friday morning in order to check that the ranger had done the necessary jobs like posting all the notices to warn other boaters off in the correct place (NOT you two!). I tend to prowl the mooring area most times in order to help peeps moor or to suggest where they might moor. Oh, and take lots of pics which I've assembled in chronological order! The beagles were early happy to welcome anyone! Followed by the Flagbearers!