BryanW

April - "Going Upstream" - River Ant from How Hill moorings taken in June 2016 December - "Sunset" - From How Hill moorings taken in June 2016

I don't usually have a moan but feel I must make some comments. Just been looking at the photographs of Brinks Serenade on the Barnes website (also on Facebook Norfolk Broads Boaters). Compared to the old Aquafibre Diamonds (Gardenier Girl etc), in my opinion, the new helm layout is appalling. The older versions had a double helm seat, you could stand up at the helm (with port canopy open) and have an excellent view both forward and aft, easy access out of the boat to port from helm. When going astern I always stood facing astern which gave good visibility over the top of the boat although I have to say that visibility to the sides was not particularly good when seated.with the canopy closed. With Barnes new version only a single helm seat which is very high (not sure how a short person would get on it), no possibility of seeing over the top when standing, no access to port from helm (with canopy open) without standing on a soft seat. Also the bed, in my opinion, is the wrong way round meaning that if you are tall your feet end up under the side deck. With the extra 4ft I am surprised that they haven't made the aft shower/toilet larger and redesigned it so that you don't soak everything when showering. The only good thing I will say is that it has a low stern. Loving the Diamonds we had thought about hiring Serenade (apart from the price) but seeing these pictures I wouldn’t even consider it.

Calendars delivered this morning thank you, nice. Just a suggestion for next year; could we have titles (location/boat etc) and photographers names under the pictures.

My wife has an iPhone on BT and it's pretty useless on the north Broads but I am on Vodafone, again with an iPhone, and I can invariably get a signal (even 4G in a few places). I think BT use the EE network. If you have a non-smart phone (e.g. older Nokia) then you are likely get a better signal but, obviously, only for voice calls. I was told many years ago that Eastern Electricity (remember them?) used Vodafone which is why the signal was always good with them because they had put up many masts to satisfy this customer.

Ordered & paid for 2 more

Paid

Yes please

Hi Admins As the title says.

BB's camera has been like this for a few weeks now, I suspect that it is operating on reduced bandwidth at the BB end, my broadband operates at 50Mbps + so it is not individuals download speed.

Hi The video camera was a Panasonic HDC-SD90 and the stills were taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 II. One or two of the video clips were taken with the Olympus but the vast majority with the Panasonic. All shots both stills and video were hand held.

The video is now on YouTube:

Hi Iain Sorry, I missed most of that thread, you may like to delete or merge my post.

In view of recent events with CO poisoning (assumed), why o why do boats not have CO and Smoke Alarms fitted. We have both at home and, nowadays, bring a CO Alarm with us. I am exremely surprised that it is not a mandatory requirement of the BSS and/or a licensing requirement for hire boats.

Hi Wonderwall In answer to your question there are several reasons: 1. It is somewhat historical and has become a habit. Some years ago for a couple of years we had other commitments on Saturday morning so had to leave on the Friday. 2. I have never really found a boat bed that is that comfortable. I do not get on with rubber mattresses and although some boats do have interior sprung ones they are few and far between, Summercraft have a few and, I believe, the ex-Swan Craft boats do. I am 6ft tall and suffer with bed lengths, we thought we had solved the problem when we changed over to Royall's with the walk round bed but my feet end up under the side deck, it would have been better with the bed the other way round. 3. By returning the boat on Friday we avoid the chaos that can occur on a Saturday morning. 4. Royall's yard is not the most pretty of yards for overnight mooring (I think that accolade goes to Summercraft) and if you want to walk up to the village and it has been raining hard then the road is likely to be flooded. 5. Royall's boats need to be back by 08:30 so unless you moor in the yard overnight there is always the risk of fog in the morning. As far as getting the chap out of the water, I could never have managed it on my own; he was wearing full 'wet weather gear', fine to keep the rain out but even heavier when saturated by river water. This is probably the worst place to fall in on the Ant; fairly high quay heading and smooth, no escape ladders and no chains, there is absolutely no way you could get yourself out.

The video record of this holiday will be uploaded in a week or so to YouTube for anybody interested and I will then put a link in this thread. A mixed week in terms of the weather ranging from hot sunshine through overcast conditions to heavy thunderstorms. Despite the weather we did cruise almost all the time with one half of the canopy open and my arms got slightly burnt and we enjoyed ourselves. Swallowtails were seen plus Damselflies but only a few Kingfishers and Marsh Harriers, no Otters though this time, however it turned out to be a fairly eventful week. The water was fairly high all week (about 8’ under Ludham Bridge). Saturday 11th June On the boat just before 13:00 and away from the yard by 13:30 after a very brief handover. Made our way to Cockshoot for the first night, Claire had a walk up to the Boardwalk but saw nothing of any interest and shortly after returning to the boat the heavens opened. It did dry up a bit later on but then heavy rain in the early hours of the morning. This evening we had a nice Chilli that we had brought from home out of the freezer. Sunday 12th June It was pretty overcast this morning so we decided on Womack, on the way we had a cruise around South Walsham Outer and Inner Broads, I had never seen so many boats mud weighting on the Outer Broad so we knew that it was going to be pretty busy on the rivers although I was already aware of that having been checking the number of boats available on the Hoseasons web site through the previous week. Between St Benet’s and Thurne mouth we met a cruiser (aft cockpit, red canopy (I think)) ‘on the plane’ coming round a bend, he did slow slightly when he saw us. On arrival at Womack we found plenty of space on the Staithe and moored very near the water hose, filled up with water which didn’t seem to take as long as normal so I don’t know if they have increased to pressure or we are very economical with water. Nothing of much interest on the Broad other than the normal ducks, one with a single newly hatched duckling, a couple of Grebes and a coot (one of the few we saw). Monday 13th June Topped up with water again. We had decided on Neatishead today in order to sample the food at the White Horse. Nothing of much interest on the way and on arrival at Neatishead Staithe found plenty of room and moored (bow in) about half way down the Staithe on the left hand side. It had now decided to rain but we walked up to the shop to get some Fudge, needless to say it was now raining rather hard so by the time we got back to the boat we were rather wet although we were wearing waterproof jackets. During the afternoon it did dry up and, since the two boats behind us left, we decided to move the boat back to the entrance to the Staithe so that it was easy to get out in the morning. Later on a private boat (Sheerline 740) that had been moored at the far end of the Staithe decided to leave at a fair rate of Knots and gave us quite a clout but didn’t stop or even look back, I did however take his number just in case. I walked over to the other side of the Staithe to check for damage but all was ok. There was no excuse for hitting us since, although there was a boat on the opposite side of the Staithe, this Sheerline is quite narrow at just over 9ft so he had plenty of room. During the rest of the afternoon it was boat after boat coming up to moor, some decided that it was too difficult while others very carefully managed to moor up meaning that by tea time the Staithe was full. We went up to the White Horse for dinner, although my steak and Claire’s fish were excellent we were little bit miffed that the menu was still the same as when we visited in April (meaning that there were still no Starters to my taste) and we were again seated in the Bar even though I had booked by phone. Early evening the steam launch ‘Lollipop’ came up for a short stay. Then, at about 21:00 one of Richardsons ex-Connoisseur’s came creeping along Lime Kiln Dyke and I have never seen so much alcohol on a boat, the entire forward cabin top was covered in wine boxes and even two kegs of beer on the fore deck. They hovered at the end of the Staithe for a while then turned round (in the turning area) and came back and waited, it transpired that they were waiting for another two members of their party to join them. Once their additional crew arrived at about 21:30 they very gently proceeded back down Lime Kiln Dyke. I fully expected to see them moored on Barton Broad in the morning but in fact never saw them again for the whole week. I have to say that they were very well behaved and seemed to know how to handle the boat so no complaints. Tuesday 14th June Today was to be a gentle meander up to Wayford Bridge and then back down to How Hill. We stopped at Barton Turf for water and found that the area by the water tap was an absolute quagmire, my shoes sank in to the top of the soles. No chance of getting through the bridge since the height gauge was reading just under 7ft and Satin is marked at 7ft 3in. Had a very brief chat while passing with Jon at Wayford Bridge Boatyard who was moving a boat around along the river. So it was onto a mooring at How Hill. We wanted to walk the Nature Trail but decided that it would be too wet without Wellingtons so took a walk up to the cottage with the macro lens on the camera to be met by a lady dashing back to her boat for her camera who told us that there were Swallowtails behind the cottage. Got to the Herb Garden behind the cottage and sure enough two Swallowtails, they refused to settle for long but we managed to get some photographs and video before they decided they had had enough and flew away. Late in the afternoon an ex-Connoisseur (can’t remember if it was Richardson’s or Herbert Wood’s) came into moor in front of us facing up-stream. He came in quite nicely and the lady jumped off at the bow and promptly slipped on the gravel. I went out to help her by which time the boat had swung out across the river, the gentleman on the helm said that he had misjudged the tide vs wind and he was going to try again, by this time a lady from the next boat downstream had come out as well. I decided that rather than the ex-Connoisseur try again the best option was to let the wind do the work and bring the boat into the mooring using the bow rope to pull her along so that she was facing downstream, completed successfully with the help of the second lady and with great thanks from both the crew. Having checked that the lady was ok I retired back to Satin to have tea the cooking of which had been interrupted.. Wednesday 15th June We were going back to Womack today (we like it there and wanted some ham from Throwers). A completely uneventful cruse down the Ant, Bure and up the Thurne apart from a few yachts all of which were very helpful, we did get passed by a few boats including a Herbert Woods one flat out. We decided to cruise up to Potter Heigham just for a look see but there was a fleet of Hunter’s yachts sailing very slowly towards the bridge so I decided that rather than make the congestion worse turned just past Maycraft’s yard. On arrival back at the entrance to Womack dyke I could see a Wherry coming down under sail, I could have carried on and then turned back once the wherry was clear of the dyke but decided, since the dyke has been widened, to go for the dyke. Although the wherry’s sail was up they were in fact quanting so no problem. Once again there was plenty of space on the Staithe so we put the boat in exactly where we had been on Sunday. This time it was next to a private boat “Roma’. After a walk to the village to get our ham I had a good chat to the gentleman on ‘Roma’ who was waiting for midnight to start fishing and also spoke at some length to the gentleman on ‘Grand Girl II’ who told us that his father (“Biggles”) hired from Royall’s. Most of the afternoon was spent relaxing and occasionally helping other boats to moor especially those who thought their boats wouldn’t fit in the spaces available, by the end of the afternoon the Staithe was absolutely full. Thursday 16th June Today we decided that we would go to How Hill again and this time walk the Nature Trail come what may because I wanted to photograph some Damselflies. Another uneventful cruise but we decided that rather than risk our Waste Tank getting full (the gauge doesn’t work on Satin) we would get a pump out so diverted to South Walsham and Russell’s (£10). Turned the boat just past How Hill (I always like mooring on the port side when possible since I can then see exactly how far from the bank we are) and came in for a very gentle mooring. The Nature Trail was quite wet in places but passable with care without wellingtons. In the first meadow we did see another pair of Swallowtails but too distant to photograph. I actually found plenty of Damselflies and managed to get quite a few photographs, the other bonus was that the “Secret Gardens” were open. Shortly after we returned to the boat the heavens opened for most of the afternoon. I had been hoping for a good sunset but we were a bit too far at the northern end of the moorings to get a clear shot without too many trees but I did managed some until I realised I was getting eaten alive by the bugs. Friday 17th June Today was to be our last day since we always return the boat a day early and travel (1½hr) home late afternoon. We decided that we would stop at Ludham Bridge to get rid of our rubbish so another gentle mooring just behind the Nancy Oldfield boats on the water point side of the river. I got rid of the rubbish then Claire walked up to the shop and got a Teddy Bear for our young Granddaughter while I waited by the boat rather than bother to lock it up. I watched one of Horizon Craft’s ‘Lowliners’ (Glistening Horizon?) come through the bridge and he decided to moor just behind us, but he came in at too steep an angle, the lady got off the bow with a rope no problem and tied it up quite nicely while the gentleman seemed to be trying to get the stern in by going into reverse. He then left the wheel (upper) with the boat still in reverse and walked round to get the stern rope but by this time the boat had swung out a bit more and he tried to jump the gap with a rope that wasn’t going to reach; big splash as he fell in. Fortunately they were both being sensible and wearing lifejackets, I managed to grab the gentleman's hand but there was no way I could get him out of the water there so it was lucky that another gentleman on a Richardson’s boat just upstream saw what happened and came out to help. Between us we managed to drag the rather wet gentleman out of the water and somehow, I can't remember how, managed to get the boat moored. The only comment I remember from the lady was ”We’re used to the North Sea” which I didn’t quite understand. Once all was quiet again we left the mooring and cruised back to Hoveton (Wroxham) via Malthouse and Salhouse Broads. Back at the boatyard the diesel was checked and we had used just over £46 worth, about our norm. Well, next year will be our last with Royall’s since they are then closing down so we need to start looking at alternatives again, this happened to us once before with Brister Craft when we had two years with them and then they closed, I’m starting to wonder if we are a jinx.

Saw two Swallowtails last Tuesday about lunch time at How Hill in the cottage garden behind the cottage. Also saw another pair on the Nature Trail at How Hill on Thursday but too distant to photograph. This sighting made up for the rain. An eventful week, I will be doing a write up in the next week or so and a video.

She is indeed Rippling Light. The boat moored in front of her (bow to bank) is Anglian Sonnet, to the left of Delight is Y366 (can't read the name). Here is another photo taken to the left of the first one. If anybody wants me to try and read the names/numbers please ask since I can enlarge the pictures more.

Hi Vaughan Having had another closer look at the picture at Womack of Delight I think that it is Delight X B773 which, according to Craig's database, was sold in 1967, renamed Sea Shell 1, and then sold into private ownership before 1974 and, again, renamed Haste Away, last seen in 1980. It is my mother and father sitting on the forward cabin top. I am attaching another photo of my mother and me on Delight X, I find this picture interesting because of the design of the windscreen which is curved.

Hi I've just been going through some old photos of holidays with my parents around 1960 and thought I would share a few. I am not absolutely sure of the dates but they would be from between 1959 and 1962 and the colour ones leave a bit to be desired even though I have tried to correct the colour cast and removed some of the spots (mould?) in the sky areas. As you can see even then people ran aground on Breydon and look what you met on the Yare. If Carol (Adnamsgirl) would like copies please let me know, I have about 17 in total. Hope I haven't taken up too much server space.

Hi Charles I remember about 1960 when I was with my parents we had to go into Herbert Woods for a pilot for Potter bridge, this was with Dawncraft of Wroxham (Blakes). I am actually about to put a few old photographs up taken around 1960.

There is quite a good IOS App from Hoseasons which gives location (based on GPS) and speed as well as maps. Search on the iTunes App Store for 'Hoseasons' to find it. I use this to check my speed occasionally and it seems to be fairly accurate but only to the nearest 1 mph. I do not know if it is also available for Android or not.

Hi Hylander We've seen this boat a few times both last year and in April, looks good but could not see inside because the windows are very dark. I'm not a big fan of darkened windows either on boats or cars and I am also not sure about these bonded black frames. It looks the same size as Gala Girl and Royall Velvet, I just wish that some of the Northern yards would buy one or two rather than continue to build large boats more suited to 4 or 6 people than 2.

Video is now on YouTube; URL:

The video record of this holiday will be up loaded later to YouTube for anybody interested and I will then put a link in this thread. Generally a good week with only one night of rain but rather cold overnight and in the wind. Three Otters sighted together with a few Kingfishers plus the usual ducks, geese, swans etc but once again very few coots, in fact only saw one. I did remember that this boat’s rudder centralises very easily with a burst of forward throttle so didn’t get caught out when stern-on mooring this time. Every morning use of the heating was necessary (without starting the engine) due to temperatures down to 4℃ inside the boat. We had taken the precaution of asking for an extra quilt, just as well we did considering the overnight temperatures. The water was very high all week (less than 7’ 9” under Ludham Bridge one day). Saturday 16th April This being the second time we had hired from Royall’s the handover was a walk through and paperwork (with a trainee in attendance as well so it took a bit longer than normal), no trial run necessary, then we were told ‘good to go’ and were away from the yard by 14:00. Since the rivers were quiet we decided to try for Ranworth for a change and sure enough there were a few moorings available, we were going to moor on the main section facing the Broad but the boat in front of us was taking his time so settled for the section to the left. Had to have two goes at mooring due to the wind playing silly b*****s. Once settled down it was time for a few photographs and then dinner. Sunday 17th April A quiet night was had apart from the rain which my wife heard but I didn’t. Woke in the morning to an interior temperature of about 5℃ so it was heating on without starting the engine having checked the battery voltmeters to ensure that the batteries were well charged, once the boat was up to about 12℃, which didn’t take long, the heating was shut down and then bacon sandwiches for breakfast. Today was to be a trip up the Ant and, depending on the number of boats about, overnight at Gaye’s Staithe. The Ant was uneventful with few boats at How Hill but an awful lot of trees have been cut down above How Hill and once we got to Gaye’s Staithe were flabbergasted at the reduction in the number of trees. There was a large dinghy on the side-on moorings preparing to raise his sails so initially we moored stern-on and filled up with water. Once the dinghy had gone we moved round to the side-on moorings which is always our preference here, at this point there were no other boats present. Claire did a bit of video and I did a few stills but not much of interest, I think the cold weather had delayed the water birds hatching and not even any spring flowers. Monday 18th April Today was a bad day. Usual routine first thing, filled up with water after moving the boat up a length so that the hose was a easier reach (this hose is still full of kinks and leaks, it really does need replacing). Set off for Womack. Nothing of particular interest apart from a couple of dinghies being difficult below Ludham Bridge and on the Bure, then mooring at Womack!!! One boat had moored side-on and there were, maybe, two other boats stern-on, so got the boat lined up very nicely and was just gently nudging the quay when Claire slipped on the step in the stern well as she was about to step off banging her head and shoulder, she got up and got off the boat with a mooring rope saying “I’m ok”. At this point I left the boat gently in reverse to hold her against the quay and went out the back to take the other rope only to find Claire with blood all round her neck. Got Claire inside and sat down, she seemed ok so I secured the boat properly. It turned out that Claire had cut the back of her head on the door when she fell but she’s got so much hair that I couldn’t really see how bad it was so decided to call ‘111’ for advice, after about half an hour on the phone they finally decided to send an ambulance out but the call centre had trouble locating where we were even though I went to The Little Shop to get a postcode. The ambulance arrived after about 2 hours (fair enough since it wasn’t a dire emergency) and the crew cleaned her head up and located the cut which by that time had scabbed over nicely so they just applied a dressing and bandaged her up. The ambulance crew were actually superb (many thanks Julie and the other guy if you ever read this). That was the afternoon over sitting quietly in the boat, apart from feeling a bit sore Claire was ok. During the afternoon Royall Swan moored on one side of us and a Richardson’s boat on the other. I did phone Sara at Royall’s to confess to a rather bloody Life Jacket which I didn’t try to clean in case I triggered it not having any instructions for disarming it, she said ”not to worry she’ll sort it when we get back”, at least it proved that Claire was wearing it. We had intended to get some of Thrower’s nice ham on the bone but since I didn’t want to leave Claire we ate what we had brought with us for dinner. I have to say that I was very surprised that the mooring charge was still only £3. Tuesday 19th April Another cold night but a lovely sunny morning. Usual morning routine, water was easy since we were right by the water point, still a very slow fill here. Claire had had a good nights sleep and was back to normal. After getting a few pictures and video of the local Heron cleaning his self opposite we lifted the Mud Weight (leaving it just in the water to wash it) and were away having decided that it would Sutton Staithe tonight. On entering Barton Broad we saw some sailing boats tacking and all of a sudden I had a boat come past us on the starboard side at a high rate of knots and then two more on the port side one (a hire boat) slowed when he saw the yachts but the other (private) carried on at high speed and passed between the yachts quite close to the bow of one of them. Other than that an uneventful trip but did spot an Otter swimming across Sutton Broad at the Staithe end. Once moored up towards the end of Sutton Staithe it was an afternoon soaking up the sun for a change. Wednesday 20th April Usual routine on waking but this morning we had ice on the decks so decided not to attempt to get off the boat to take photographs of the mist rising over the Broad since discretion is the better part of valour. Once breakfast and engine checks were over we decided that it would be back to Womack since we like it there especially when the sun is shining and we wanted the ham we had missed on Monday. Pretty uneventful but another Otter spotted on the Thurne between Thurne Dyke and the Womack turn, this time it popped its head up in front of us and immediately dived. Uneventful mooring this time thank goodness. Spent the afternoon in the sun, down to photographing Terns since nothing mush else was about although we did briefly see a Coot (pretty rare these days) and a pair of Swans. Walked to Thrower’s for our ham this time. Thursday 21st April Cold morning again, we were close to the water point so it was easy to fill up. Today was our penultimate one since we always return the boat on the Friday afternoon so a slow trip back up the Ant to Neatishead. Another Otter spotted poking it’s head up and then going straight back down between Ludham Bridge and How Hill plus a Kingfisher in the same area. In Lime Kiln Dyke we managed to meet the Nancy Oldfield sailors with their rescue boat lashed to a yacht coming down which didn’t leave much room and they weren't going to slow down, but with all the tree cutting that had been going on it is now much wider. Initially we moored about half way down the staithe but later on moved to the end to make life easy in the morning, I needn’t have worried because most of the other boats left to return to Stalham before us in the morning. No fun and games with boats trying to moor which was a bit unusual but all this week everybody has been very good by approaching moorings slowly and gently. Managed a few photographs then it was to The White Horse for dinner. The pub was reasonably busy, quite a few locals and as usual my steak and Claire’s fish were very good as was the Treacle Tart. Friday 22nd April Left Neatishead at about 08:00 and a slow run down Lime Kiln Dyke spotting a Kingfisher skimming the water and then down to How Hill for a short stop, at least the quay heading is nice and high there so it was a straight step off the boat for a change. Stopped off in Salhouse Broad for a bit on the mud weight and then back to the boatyard. The wherry Solace was moored across some of the moorings at Royall’s but reversed the boat in at an angle then used the bow thruster to straighten it up. Nigel and Sara were out so Paul sorted the diesel refund out which was £72 meaning we had spent £58 on fuel, very nearly identical to last year in April. In summary a very good week with quite a good amount of sun and virtually no rain but cold. Pity not too many young wild fowl but spotting three Otters was a bonus. Excellent boat and yard just a massive shame that 2017 will be the last year with Royall’s, still we have booked their boats for next year, Velvet II for a change. Back in June with the same boat.

Hi Alan We didn't stop in Horning (as usual, no space) and forgot to check the signal on the way through.