Brigid-Mary

Good morning Luke and all, I have just seen some recent posts and the one about crossing the banks betweeen Scroby and the Corton Sands is 'intrequeing?' The old Hewett channel went out through there but silted up in the late 80s early 90s. Although the charted depth states a minimum of 2 metres,from experience I would say you would be lucky to find that amount of water. If there is any amount of swell that would then exacbate the situation even more. When I ever go up to the wind farm, I always follow the main channels, cant go wrong then. The sand banks off Yarmouth are well known for shifting about. Thats why the Hydrograhper issues new charts each year for this area. Only my thoughts, Paul

MAPS YOU SAY!!!!!!!! They are charts!!!!!!!! If any one wants to borrow any local charts for the Easter weekend I have plenty I can lend you. Let me know and pick them up from me at the Haven Marina. Paul

Hello Wayne, I would imagine that the alarms are to indicate primarily that the engine is not running. When you shut down the engine(with the alarm) then the alarm will activate to let you know that the engine is stopped. On a two engine installation,with no alarms, you may not realize that an engine has stopped over the noise of the other engine. When I was assistant mechanic on Gorleston Lifeboat, the boats had this set up to let you know of an engine failure over all the other racket that was going on. Paul

Spot on chris craft. We had left Ramsgit early one morning on passage to Neiweport . Just off Dunkirk I saw this special mark buoy and went for the camera, could'nt find it, when I had found it I just had to turn back and get a picture. I reckon its a new IALA top mark. Trust the French!!!!! Paul

Hows That for a clue!!!

Getting closer, another clue is you are a bit too far east

Perry, To get any where near close, you should turn to stbd out of Lowestoft. Paul

I'll give you a clue, it is on the North coast (of somewhere close)

I have it on very good authority, that a well known local maritime publication is organizing a cruise in company this coming June. It will be the first they have done for 2 years and is expected to be well subscribed. I have been very loosely involved in a couple of the previous cruises, wearing a different hat then, and I must say I found the organization pretty good. There are back up people ranging from mechanics to help out as and when and experienced navigators and much advice on hand. John, who is,like my self, new to this forum, will be involved, although he may not know that as yet.(time to keep my head down perhaps?) You are left to make your own decisions,exactly as it should be as skipper, but there is plenty of advice for those not too sure. Worth thinking about, in my opinion. The Cruise is starting at the knobs and snobs Lowestoft and usually goes to the Orwell, it is in June but I cannot say the date on pain of death!! More details to follow in the fullness of time Paul

Hello Merlyn, Just to put my two pennthworth in, Shotley, brilliant, easy access,24 hours, good facilities and we've never had a problem with getting a berth, they have a great little gizmo in place of leading lights, called a Moire Light, it actually points in which direction you need to steer to keep on line. St Kats is another thing, in my opinion. We went once and will not go again. The staff are rude and aloof, it is expensive, £168.00 for 2 nights for a Fifty foot boat. It is noisy and the rats are as big as dogs as the refuse is kept on the rickety pontoons and is collected very early in the mornings. Japanese tourists put their cameras to good use,and all together it was not a good experience. Limehouse basin is always our choice and last time we were there the fees were £22.00 per night. The trip up the Thames is well worth the effort, we cruise at 6 Knts so we have to use the tides, the ebb can run at 4Knts+ we were down to 2 knts once, going against the ebb at Tilbury, so we picked up a mooring buoy at Thurrock Yacht Cub and waited for the flood to start. Have a good Trip, Paul.

Can I come too please!

If we made it 8, that would be a gallon! Right Oh I'll let you Know nearer the Time!

Would love to add Frigid Brigid to the list but we are orf down to Wrabness if the weather is kind, Easter should be our first outing of the year, although we may get some good weather and we will saunter down to Southwold for the weekend, although I Like the town, I don't much like the Harbour, The ebb roars down the river and the baily bridge makes me nervous on the flood, plus the fact that the pub is the most expensive pub n the universe!!!

What ho Clive, Yes it was a good time, hard work sometimes and there were really a lot of pillocks involved, but it was a good experience. Classic class entrants consisted of 747 which was a Fairey driven by a team of BA Pilots, very competitive,but if they wanted to win then they should have entered a more modern boat. Team Gee, was a bit of a hybrid, raced by a family of property developers. The boat had a bit of history in as much it was an entrant in a previous race. Then there was a Swordsman and a Huntsman, wonderful boats, and we had a good association and banter with the crews, they were only there for the same reason as us, to take part and have a jolly. The there was us. We are taking part in the Cowes Torquay Cowes Jolly this year, will keep you posted on this one! Paul.

Perry, good evening, Thanks for your comments, yes it was a bit fraught at the start, the start point could have been a bit more westerly which would have kept the boats further from the antisubmarine barrier, but thats life, at least we started, dropped out, then moved heaven and earth to get a replacement propeller and off again racing. that is one of the reasons we won silverware, for fortitude in face of adversity, or some such sh--e. What an experience, not available too often, apparently there is another race in 2012,but the organizers are struggling to get a starting field. Paul

Just doing a bit of surfing and noticed this thread, interesting in as much as I did it in 2008, during the Round Britain Powerboat Race. I was asked by the owner of Ocean a 42foot Motor cruiser, if I would be interested in taking part in the race. OP was built at Brooke Marine in Lowestoft, specifically to take part in the First Round Britain Race way back in the sixties. We knew we couldnt win, did,nt particularly want to but we entered and it was brilliant. Someone said that the boats went on the backs of lorries during one stage, that is not strictly true, most of the boats did as there was very bad weather in the western approaches, only 3 boats actually went round the course on their own keels, we were one of them. Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth are really NoNos for some of the boats that took part, they were mostly RIBs and things that looks as if they would break if they hit a wave of any size. Have a look at www.oceanpirate.co.uk The owner lives in Oulton Broad, I was navigator and live on Lake Lothing, and Tom the engineer is an engineer at the big yard in Brundall that makes offshore motor cruisers. We didnt win, or come any where near winning, but we did lift silverware, and proved that three old(ish) men and a whippersnapper could persevere with the help of the odd bottle of Bombay Sapphire to help us along!!!!

Hello All, The Fuel berth near the Lifeboat station is still in operation, it is operated by Paul Willament, he has a longshore supplies company just across the road from the LB. Go and have a look at his place, it's like going into a time warp. To comment on when I got charged to enter the port to take on fuel, it should be OK for most of you, as most boats are kept up river, they do not levy the charge if you are going into the Broads, so the next time I go in for fuel, I will tell them I am inbound to the broads, get them to lift the 2 bridges, have lunch at the Berney Arms, 2 bridge lifts on the way out and refuel. There is more than one way of skinning a cat. There is fuel in a couple of places in Lowestoft, Royal Norfolk and Suffolk, BFP Fish Selling and The Haven Marina.