Broadsword

What a nice thread...

Astonishing... Bewildering even...

Really glad you had such a good time... Crown Gem looks a nice boat out on the water... love that stern cockpit!

'hell'? It wasn't that bad seeing me again Bob, was it??

Strewth Matt! Thankfully it wasn't that busy when the missus and I went through last week - with quite a few feet of mast hanging over the back!! We had an easy path each way - what you have pictured there wold have caused us a lot of problems! Who on earth was the stern moored plonker??

One significant section of the inspector's marking will be based on 'confidence in management'. I am not blowing my own trumpet, as I had little to do with it, but when we took over at Letton, my wife met with the inspector and our rating was immediately raised to 3, as the inspector could see this was a manager who meant business had a good understanding of and was intending to address the issues. When our new colleagues joined us, another member of the team scheduled significant improvements in line with advice received and we now have a 5 - although we actually know we can still do better! I am sure what fails a lot of businesses, is the inspectors simply don't see that attitude and therefore can't express that confidence.

As I have said elsewhere, we worked very hard to raise our rating from the 2 when we took over to our current 5 - mainly down to SWMBO and our colleague who is a game keeper turned poacher... As our facilities are used by self-catering user groups, it is an ongoing challenge, as others can impact on our standards. Yes it costs money; yes it takes time and effort; yes it is worth it... Frankly, if you can't afford to do the job properly, you are probably not viable as a food related business. Once you have a 5 rating, further inspections won't just slap that down, unless there are serious failings, but will point out again, the ongoing improvements needed to continue to pass... Should it be law to display? I see no reason why not.

Frequently, IMHO

I'll say once again, what I have said in t'other place, I am no fan of one forum criticising another... A poor sport really. No offence intended Robin - and you were fairly tongue in cheek about it mate. I happily post in both and care not a jot what anyone thinks of that. I don't think you needed to defend yourself - personally, I think it might have been better not to rise, but I'm no-one to lecture you on that score! I have, as you will have noticed, questioned, if not criticised the tone of the OP in the NDF thread. Keep making the blogs Robin - you do a great job and you're a nice bloke... No-one here and virtually no-one there IMHO takes the rather cynical view expressed in that particular OP.

Well, moi hart aloive bor! Thassa rum'n

Enormous respect for our lifeboat crews - two of my friends are lifeboatmen and I know for a fact that they have saved many lives and not infrequently risked their own to do so...

I'm not even sure what that means?? Hope all is well with you and Phil - we must try to meet up in the boats! I'll let you know when our next 'big' trip is...

The tide can pull hard down there if it is dropping... Not good if a kiddie falls in. We saw a dog go over from just about the point in your picture, a couple of years ago... thankfully other people saw him go and he had a LJ on, but he had floated six boat lengths away before anyone got close to hoiking him out!

Hey Bob, it was great to see you (twice!) - only sorry we didn't get to sit beside the river for a few hours together with our ladies! I forgot when we waved, that I am Broadsword here, but glad you made the connection! Looking forward to a bit more detail of your cruise... We didn't see too much stupidity, but there is always some... We certainly enjoyed (endured) the rain and wind!

Day 8 - Friday Too good a breeze to waste, so we are up and ready to get away early, without cooking a breakfast! Nice chat to Phil, who we knew when he worked at Whispering Reeds a few years back... currently at Hunter's... Farewell Mr. Lysander man - hope the sticky tape holds up... Cracking chase down to Upton under full sail - one of those days when you overtake the cruisers - Yeah!! We clocked ourselves against the measured 1/4 mile posts and were averaging 6 mph... or 5.2 knots appx. Not bad... Knowing we needed to get back to Potter at a reasonable hour, we went about at Upton Dyke and long tacked back up against the last of the ebb, back through the TMOR fleet and home to our mooring. Passing Oby Dyke, we saw the resident otter, the only one we have seen for sure this week. Coming into Potter, my friend Harry was at Windyridge, where we have enjoyed many weeks of holidays as the children were growing up, so we stopped for a cuppa and a chat with him and Christine. Lovely generous people, who have allowed generations of young people to experience sailing holidays at their bungalow and boatshed. Now getting on, but still keeping active as the new paint on the boatshed bears testimony. There is a new boat on our old mooring; Harry has let someone moor a big old River Cruiser there - and we discover that the owner is a mutual friend, who with his son regularly participates in youth sailing camps from Hunter's. Our daughter and their lad were two members of a house share during their student years in Southampton - Small world! Finally, OBY is home safe. An hour or two cleaning up and walking gear up to the car; lunch from the burger van and then we are away. A good first week experience - happy with the little ship.... Sometimes people ask me why we like to keep going back to the Broads...

Day 7 - Thursday Up with the cuckoos and a bit of early morning bird watching. Tables say low tide is around 11.30, so plenty of time to get down to Ludham Bridge while the water is low - and plenty of time to cook breakfast and chat to some of our neighbours. Mr Lysander is up early too, rolling back his boom tent and emerging to greet the day. It is a very friendly group at the Staithe and there is some swapping of information on tide times, decent moorings, pubs and the like, before they begin to drift away. We leave about halfway through the morning and drift slowly out into the Broad. I am hopeful for a little breeze to take us down the Ant, but it is too little by far so, once again, we are motoring. Horrors! We will have used almost a gallon of fuel this week! (To you youngsters that's about 4.54 of your Litres...) Arriving at How Hill, we opt to take down the mast there as we find a decent space. Thankfully, it goes much more easily than previously and we are on our way in just a few minutes. As we chunter on down the Ant, we pass Bob48 and his granddaughter (I think) coming up the other way, heading in the direction of Stalham and the last day or two of their break. A cheery wave and greeting exchanged, but a bit sad we didn't connect more this week, but it's the way it goes sometimes! Arriving at the Bridge, our hope is to get through unhindered and all is going well until a cruiser pushes away from the starboard side, right in our path! Not nice to have to throttle back too much when you have 145 feet of mast overhanging the stern, so Mrs. Broadsword delivered some brief but clear instructions from the bows and the crew hurriedly nudged back to the bank. Two cruisers coming through the Bridge receive a polite 'Hurry up' gesture from the angelic figurehead at the bows and through we go. Moored up just downstream on the farm stretch, we mast up again and down a coffee before motoring round to St B's. Lunch and a nice chat wit ex naval bod on a Richos cruiser who wanders over to admire the boat... that's nice! Unfortunately our dogs were not very friendly to his elderly collie, so he strolled off again. At which point a breeze springs up... not a big one mind and bang on the nose, but beggars can't be choosers! Having done Malthouse and S. Walsham, we decide to head back towards Thurne, in the hope of a sail down to Upton or maybe even Acle... No such luck, as we take an age to beat up against wind and tide to Thurne Mouth. Phil Ollier passed us in Malachite, with his White Boat alongside - Ah, Yes! Thurne Mouth Open Regatta this weekend! We hail Phillip as he slips by and eventually see him again tucked into the reeds beyond the Mouth. Quite a fleet is already gathering ahead of the racing, Lovely old river cruisers, racing yachts, half-deckers and punts, but we shoot past at a fair speed now the tide is with us. And so, to Hunters Yard for our last night. A chat with Vicky and the guys to check we are ok moored where we are and then we settle down for a lovely, sunny evening in one of our favourite spots. Can't see the cuckoos, but can hear at least two! Lapwings, Willow Warblers, Geese with their goslings of various sizes; Muntjacs and hares, all conspire to make me want to stay another week. Fresh sausages from the local butchers go down well with some Old Speckled Hen and our mate in the Lysander drops by having battled his way down from Barton. Scrabble ends the week well for Mrs. B, who stomps the skipper with two seven letter bonuses. Reading until the light fades and then bed...

She was a dear Pauline! Thanks for the tip about mattresses... We just need to be sure the depth is right, as we have one of those 'slide out' galleys, which it needs to fit beneath! We are generally very happy with OBY though

That four feet in length makes a big difference in beam and internal headroom! It's still tiny compared to a big old crusier, but we can do what we hoped, which is spend a week aboard in reasonable comfort. Need to re-stuff the bunk cushions though! We have taken spare cushions off and the irritating lift-able table - which basically just gets in the way!

Day 6 - Wednesday The wind had dropped but the rain had arrived in the early hours. However, OBY remains dry, except for one small seepage a screw fitting on the mainsheet track. We'll have to get that looked at - but it can wait... Rain or not, we were going sailing! After two days doing not a lot, we needed to stow our gear properly, ready to heel the boat out on the Broad. In March, we treated ourselves to some nice wet gear - intended for the early and late season, but here we were in Mid-May, breaking it out of it's plastic covering! We left the reef in, which was probably not essential, but meant I could put Mrs' Broadsword on the helm without too much anxiety (for either of us ), to get a feel for the new boat. Unlike yours truly, our little Prelude and the old Perfect Lady we once sailed, are the only boats she has helmed. Anyway, she did fine, handling her with ease in the lively breeze. We spent a good while just punting around the Broad, in and out of Limekiln Dyke and round the back of Pleasure Hill Island, to experience all points, tacking, running, gybing etc. Great time! We got wet, but hey, that's the way of it in a yacht! Saw the Nancy Oldfield boats out and about, the lugger and canoes with a safety boat, but they didn't stay out long. One or two humorous souls in mobies offered to tow us to harbour and told us how sorry they were for our plight... We couldn't have cared less - loving our new boat and its lively sailing characteristics. Having been naughty and stayed two nights at Barton Turf, we opted for Gay's Staithe for our mooring, arriving a bit earlier and finding a nice space on the 'side on' side... An amusing hour or two was had watching comings and goings and bird watching again... Several arrivals had no idea that the rising tide would affect them as far up as Barton and couldn't figure out why as they tried to reverse in, their bows were being pushed sideways. One exception, an older chap in a big high rise cruiser made a great job of it, coming in slowly and steadily to a very tidy stern on mooring. Another - Gala Girl or something decided to go elsewhere after spinning around in a nice circle and reversing into a tree, whilst another, a big Woods job, 'Artificial Light', or 'the Lights are on but'... came in at full speed. Young woman at the helm who seemed to think the river continued that way and looked a bit surprised when she saw the water was fast running out. Those boats can stop sharply, I can tell you! They didn't stop, but slunk away red faced... We were joined on our side by a nice chap from Hull in a Lysander... neat little camping set up but held together with tape, string and blu-tak... No, that's not fair; I lied about the blu-tak... Supper was Corned beef hash - much nicer than it sounds, especially as Mrs. Broadsword did the cooking this time! I forget what beer we enjoyed, as I had a good measure of Scotch later! Scrabble was very close tonight... just points in it...

Day 5 - Tuesday Well, it just stayed windy. After a late breakfast we had a lovely walk into Neatishead (Molly, the old pup plodded most of it, but got a carry on the way back!) and visited the community shop for a coffee and a slice of coffee and walnut cake. Met Mary, a fabulous lady of 80 (she told us proudly) who had cycled in from her home at Barton Turf. We had a marvellous chat with this extraordinary and lovely Norfolk woman, who had lived there her whole life - a typical no-nonsense character who in her own words 'don't like to sit about' - so she still keeps a veg garden, cycles everywhere and lends a hand in a variety of worthwhile local concerns. She told us of growing up at Barton - of the the times when the cottage by the Staithe (the white one for those who know) had a 'hole in the wall' bar and she and her siblings used to buy ginger beer and take dinghies out to Pleasure Hill Island. Regatta days were an amazing spectacle (well they still are I guess) and the 'hole in the wall' did a roaring trade! Back in the day, they had to attend Church in the morning and Chapel in the afternoon every Sunday. As girls, she and her sister were once given sixpence each for the offering at chapel, but used it to hire a boat for the afternoon and took a young cousin with them for a turn on the Broad! Unfortunately, taking the passenger was an error of judgment as she told her parents! Apparently they didn't get sixpence for the offering after that - but apparently two young ladies found it hard to sit down for a while that evening! I guess she meant the thwarts were uncomfortable... Back at the boat, we ventured out for a sail on the Broad but it was blowing a hooly and after belting down to the bottom end we popped into Gay's Staithe to think about mooring there. It was chocka-block, so we headed back to Barton Turf and, as no-one else seemed to care, moored at the Staithe for another night. Chicken Curry and a nice Abbott Reserve for supper and then more Scrabble. Mrs. B was out for vengeance, but was disappointed...

Day 4 - Monday A Windy day... breezes of 19-20 mph and gusts of 30! Anyway, we are heading for Barton so after cooking breakfast on the riverbank and saying goodbye to the stranded HW customers we nipped down the river to How Hill where we dropped the mast for the first time. I made that sound easy, but it was quite a challenge! Heavier and harder to do than our little Prelude, and a lot of bits and pieces to remember, but eventually we got it down and into the crutches and motored up the Ant. Mrs. Broadsword did her figurehead impression at the front, watching out for traffic coming the other way as I was wrapped in ropes and stays in the cockpit! A very kind crew on a Richos monster waited to let us through at the 's' bend by LBBY and assured us the way was clear to continue. We passed under the bridge with just over a foot to spare - the mast is a long one and air draft is around 7' 6'' on the crutches. Safely tied up just past the water taps, we reversed the procedure and with a bit of groaning and effort, got the mast back up. Only to find we had trapped the topping lift under the foot... Ho hum... All good practice Bought pasties from the shop for lunch and enjoyed them on the move. Passing How Hill, we were delighted to see how fantastic the pond looks now and the amazing display of rhododendrons. Wind was on our nose and the Ant was busy, so we motored most of the way, raising sail again just short of the Broad, only to wish we hadn't! More gusts than steady wind, it was extremely lively and, unsurprisingly not a single other sail boat was out! So, on up to Stalham, where we moored at the Staithe and walked in to town for a shop. Replenished gas bottles for the camp cookers, sausages from the butchers and beer from T***o's and back to the boat. Barton is amazing, whatever the weather. We enjoyed some bird watching, especially the Marsh Harriers - and heard yet another cuckoo! Moored up at Barton Turf, a favourite stop for us, and looked out for the local Otter, which we were told is still about, but were disappointed. Nice showers at Cox's - so Mrs. B was a happy girl. The Staithe was ours alone until Poshy McPoshboat turned up with much roaring and coughing and tied up opposite. After a short chat the owner headed off, leaving the boat tied up and our peace was undisturbed until the following day.

... and at Cockshoot Dyke...

OBY and Mrs. Broadsword at Horning Ferry Marina....

Day 3 - Sunday Living onboard OBY seems to be working OK... We don't carry a lot of fresh water, so today will involve a water stop. We decided to head for Horning and then on to Salhouse to see what the day brings. After walking the dogs (very slowly for the old one these days) a gentle meander up to Horning where we filled up the water containers and had a browse round the area. Lots of people enjoying a pleasant Sunday around the pub. Motored through Horning - a good call as the racing was just beginning (Yeomans, Rebels etc.) on the bend and then aimed for Black Horse Broad to play for a while, only to find it closed!! What's that about? Does anyone know why it is still chained in May? Sailed up to Salhouse instead and then headed back for a late lunch at Perci's Island... Decided on Cockshoot Dyke for our overnight mooring which gave us a lovely surprise... Walking the boardwalk we met old friends Andy and Jeanette Crafer (Jeanette was vicar at Martham for some years and curate at Neatishead before that - and we were friends in Norwich much earlier...) They have retired to Sea Palling, but were over for a walk on their old turf. Lovely to catch up! Phil (who used to be at Ludham staithe) came out to rescue a HW cruiser with engine troubles. They had already lost a day and would have to take the cruiser up to Horning in the morning to switch to a spare... understandably they were a bit miffed! Sat watching the sun go down on another fine day, listening to yet another cuckoo... The trip boats chuntered by with the usual pounding music... I doubt anyone on board heard the cuckoo.

We have to use it a few times a year and have not bothered to set up an account... I have heard the horror stories of penalty fines for crossings that could not have been made! It is a pain if you forget though! My usual approach is to pull in at the next services, grab a coffee, log on and do it immediately! What bugs me about the false penalties (chap on the Wirral who got charged, when he was several hundred miles away for example) is that they wrongly identify the vehicle, but it is the owner, apparently, who has to demonstrate that they were not using the crossing at said time. I think I would say, hope you can whistle, I'll see you in court! You Prove I was...