senator

"For the record I don't care what boat you have the Broads are for all to enjoy" So what is the reasoning?

Another weekend another three leaving, BA short funded next year, "suitable" boats will pay the year after.

Why would they want to? The People I am talking to have booked berths in other marinas, no idle chat. Haven I would agree, as per RNSYC, no where to go but still cheaper than the Broads. really only ideal for Sailing as they never get anywhere anyway. If, and it is a big if but if the numbers are representative of those leaving then I can see the BA being stupid enough to try and bring in a twin screw tax the year after to try and make up the cash. now that exodus I can't wait to see. A good number are actually going to be paying more and at least two have free moorings on the broads but still prefer to pay a substantial sum in moorings elsewhere to avoid putting money into the pocket of a certain BA dictator. As Marshman was saying there are a lot who think it will be a good thing when the southern sea goers leave, it is going to be interesting to see if they are happy paying considerably more because of it.

Haven Lowestoft is £234 per meter plus you don't have to have a toll so considerably cheaper than Brundall bay once you put £500 on for a river toll. The attitude of a certain dictator from the BA is ensuring that lots are leaving, big mistake to keep hitting the bigger boats, reality is they can leave easier than the rest and by the look of it they are. At the weekend I spoke to another two long standing Broads moorers with boats over 40' that are leaving this year as they are fed up with the way they are treated by the BA. It seems everyone I talk to at the moment is off by the end of the Toll year.

Be really interesting to see what the outflow of sea going boats is this year. unfortunately they are I think classed purely as private despite being the highest contributors and using the least of the services provided. I have certainly never encountered a year where so many are intending to leave the Broads. maybe it is coincidence and the trend through the people I know / know of is not reflected in general, if it is there is going to be a big hole in the accounts unless they can find lots of 40'+ x 14'+ boats to replace them. If they manage it with "suitable" boats then god help the mooring situation on the rivers.

Sure you will have no problem with nav & gen, they were brilliant with me a couple of years ago. As you say not having to claim in the first place is the preferred option but when the worst happens you can be glad you are with someone as good as n&g.

Going back to the OP, How are the BA justifying there current increase, given that inflation is 0 and they are supposed to be reducing their overall costs in line with other Government departments? Given the above surely this years tolls should be lower than last years

I think Luke nailed it Mark, there is a point when all the little rises year on year when added together make a big difference. Let it go and next year is 7% on top of the 7% this year. From what I gather the Broads are one of the cheapest inland waterways but then they have no major cost for infrastructure that the others do, If the BA talk about one lock everyone is up in arms, what would happen if they had hundreds of the things? I dread to think how much the toll would be then.

Maybe the Hire industry are missing a trick, Have to ask you Clive as you voiced it, do you collect tourism data from your customers, by that I mean, meals eaten out etc.? We are not often around midweek but on the odd occasion we have been were amazed to see how many private boats are moving. even so I am sure that especially mid week the broads businesses would suffer hugely without the hire trade. That said there does seem to have been a swing away from supporting local business as hire boats have become more comfortable, domestic and expensive. when we first discovered the Broads around 15 years ago it seemed the occupants of hire boats ate and drank in the local pubs and restaurants but as galleys have become more usable and the hire has claimed a much higher percentage of disposable income it seems more are happy to sit on pub moorings while eating food cooked on board and drinking beer from Tesco's. We only see the South so maybe the North is different or it could be the perception is completely wrong and a customer survey would show that hire boat customers are eating in local food retailers every night. To us on the South it appears that the majority of people eating in pubs are from private boats but if that is not the case the evidence collected in customer surveys could give the upper hand in negotiations regarding tolls for the hire industry.

I feel sorry for the hire yards as not many service providers would move for a 6.9% rise when there is no inflation. That said it would be interesting to see the number of days that a typical hire boat spent on the river in any one year when compared to a private boat. I'm guessing that a hire boat gets better value from its toll than the average private boat, even after the multiplier is applied. JM if a shared solution could be found it would be great. Unfortunately with the BA calling for a minimum of a 7 day visitors toll and restricting this to four a year there are not many who choose to moor saltside if they intend to use the Broads, Haven Marina gain more from the lock breaking and the railway bridge not swinging than they do if they are working, Once you are through the bascule bridge you have to stay somewhere if you can't get back onto the Broads. I would go as far as to say the Railway bridges should also be put under the charge of the BA, given that they are the responsible navigation authority yet they have no control of bridges that obstruct it. The Ba should then be able to charge everything that the bridges cost to maintain back to network rail, along with an admin fee. OK train fares would be even less affordable but the bridges would work and the BA could join all the other companies milking the rail using public. As far as the lock, the transfer agreement states that the lock is handed over in good order so they should take it, fix it then charge the repairs back to ABP.

Planning will never be self financing, if each planning application fee was large enough to cover the money wasted by any planning department then no one would be able to afford to build anything. Tolls however are self funding, largely because a high percentage of the money collected involves providing no service at all, with the possible exception of an occasional bit of dredging, Effectively those that moan the most are being subsidised by those that aren't even there. Practices that are largely supported on the forum, such as stealing money by refusing to allow the transfer of licenses from one boat to another when it leaves the system and a new one is bought in to replace it, rumours of another tax that seems to curry favour with the masses and would see toll levies being handed out by HP even though HP is directly attributable to speed, high HP boats use no more than those with low HP engines on the Broads. And the disgust that the BA may provide some sort of service by trying to ensure that Mutford lock works occasionally, against a worsening crises for sea going boats seeking passage from and to the Broads, where by the chances of a successful passage are dropping every day due to unreliable equipment at both points of entry. Are turning the trickle of seagoing boats leaving the Broads into a a bit of a flow. If the trend continues it will soon become a flood, leaving the "suitable" boat owners to fill the pot back up after the emptying of the largest contributors. The BA really do need to do something to stem the tide instead of increasing tolls further. I do hope the "Suitable" boat owners have deep pockets, or Mr I am the Broads Authority will find himself having to make do with Tesco's Value Bourbons with his morning coffee, and that would never do.

Was so sorry to see that it was your boat that had sunk. Brian was moored next to us at Surlingham Ferry on Saturday Evening, we did see it sunk on our way past on Sunday but couldn't tell which boat it was. Really shocked when I found out that it was Ultimate One. Mooring at Reedham on the river we have seen you about a lot this year, yours was a very distinctive boat with its colour scheme. I hope you don't have any issues with your insurance claim and wish you luck with your search for a replacement. If you don't mind me asking, who are you insured with? always good for the whole forum and wider Broads Boats owners to know how an insurer performs and if they perform well they deserve the positive publicity they will enjoy.

Sentimentally it is great, in reality I do struggle with the concept of forcing a business to continue to operate something that has no chance of returning a profit. Obviously there are lots of ways to make a business non viable but the fact is no one has been able to make a decent profit out of the place in recent years and as long as the rents being asked are reasonable against land and building value why should the owner not be reasonably expected to make a profit from his investment? Not seen sight of rents or values to make a judgement but maybe a fairer solution would be to negotiate the availability of the moorings as a bartering point for the granting of change of use. Guessing most of the boats on the moorings outside, both Berney Arms and BA, will sit on their boat drinking tinned beer and eating food cooked in the galley.

to be fair it would end the potter bridge debate, everyone could just go over it, insurance permitting.

Usual apply's, allow lots of rope. at least 6 times the depth of the water, then remember how far you are going to swing so that you don't hit anything if the wind changes.

Did you ever use your sports cruiser at sea or is it something you considered and never did? If you still have the itch for something that would look after the family at sea and has plenty of space there is a Sealine 350 Statesman at NYA that I know has had a fortune spent on it and has to be about the best possible example of its type. Makes the Southern rivers a pleasure as you can see for miles but is a bit tight under the Yarmouth Bridges.

I find myself in an odd and unusual position here, Aldi are in the position of having to charge 5p per bag and although obviously intended as a publicity stunt they have stayed within the spirit of the rules and chosen a charity to partner. they could have, as it is being reported Sainsbury's are, found a loophole to keep the 5p. Personaly the RSPB would not have been my first choice with many more charity's in my mind more deserving but I think both Aldis and on this occasional the governments intentions are honourable and may actually go some way to reducing the bag crises littering our fields, hedgerows and river banks. Some folks will sit for 15 minutes in a que at a petrol station because the one with the empty forecourt across the road is 0.05p per litre more, saving 25p on their 50 litres of fuel. Just think of the lengths the same people will go to to save 50p on the 10 carriers from the weekly shop.

Strowager. Absolute credit to you, looks stunning.

Insurance is probably the answer JM, Any restoration of an old boat is likely to outstrip the value once complete, especially if you value your hours, but if you are going to keep it then you will have a vessel that needs very little spending on it, in comparison to a similar aged boat that hasn't been renovated, over the next 10 years. Hence its value pays back over time. You only have to look at the time and money people will put into restoring a wooden rowing boat or old sailing boat that, once you remove teary eyed nostalgia, can't hold a candle to the comfort and performance of a 2 year old alternative that will probably cost less, in order to see that there is always someone prepared to regenerate anything that could be described as classic, or even just plain old.

They must be the noisiest petrol engines I have ever heard and they smoked a hell of a lot too when it pulled away from next to us at the Surlingham Ferry, 2 Chaps on board would say mid 50's. Have seen it pass us at Reedham quite a few times recently but one of the few I would say at the proper speed so maybe it had changed hands recently.

Not seen this boat before the last three or four months so not sure if it is new on the system but have seen it quite a bit recently. Looked like it was due a bit of work but it is definitely not an abandoned job. From the look of the Photo it may not be going to plan at the moment.

that is a Sunseeker by the name Ultimate One, it was certainly running on Saturday Evening as it was moored next to us at Surlingham Ferry, it left there with two men on board at around 6pm. We passed the Beauchamp Arms about 2pm Sunday and it was under then.

We always used seajet emperor 034 for exactly the same reasons, that was eroding but suitable for 30 knots and sold as a two year application and we found it worked really well on the Broads