MY littleboat

Have a really close look at what is actually happening and the future proposals around Martlesham creek and the Deben. The financial might behind these 're-wilding' schemes is truly frightening

Question of the day - does anyone expect JP to fall on his sword and a new JP mini-me take his place? It appears he has alot of support outside of the general boating community?

I have raised elsewhere, and not sure I have an answer, mainly about the additional funds that have been made available this year to the existing 10 National Park Authorities of which BA are one - I am slightly concerned that this actually means that the Broads are actually now a NP and not just a 'member of the NP family,' in the eyes of legislation and that this may lead to further alignment to the Sandford Principles, and is completely in opposition to the responsibility as a Statutory Harbour Authority. But more so is this, £4.4million was released to the 10 National Park Authorities in March. a further £2.5 made immediately available in the Summer, a further £2.5 for young and disadvantaged persons access, and then Steve Barclay, this week announced a further £40 million availability for a new national forest and new national park as with £15million for the existing 10 authorities, linked to the delivery of 'green' projects which meet the Green Recovery Challenge Fund criteria, and when Steve Barclay was being interviewed in Datmoor, suggested 'reducing or eliminating motorised vehicles' and described a Bio diversity Net-Gain challenge. I wonder, firstly, how much additional cash is going to (or already has) landed in the coffers of the BA, and secondly, how much BA envisages it is going to gain from this fund as 10% of this would still be approximately £2.5million - and therefore, should any toll decision not now be re-assessed?

Thank you Marshman for correcting my ramblings! You are absolutely right and no loss of life is fantastic. I concur that I may have used the wrong word in 'dangerous' however specialist rescue teams have been incredibly busy over recent weeks due to increased risk, even where situations just needed a pair of wellies!!!! - sadly that is something we have to assess rather differently now to years ago. In real terms 'risk awareness' has led to alot of 'rescues' over recent years for situations that you or I may simply wait out, however this has the disproportionate knock on effect of increasing the perceived 'risk' especially with Breydon etc. And I do thank our volunteer and professional responders in all of those cases - often some of our responders have been more than happy to oblige as it allows them to put their training to good practiced use and ensures that more serious incidents are responded to well. And I also agree with your comments about the Gull wing bridge as it is surely the volume of water and I should be clearer that I am referring to the fast ebb around Haven House, which for sometime, I watched on a regular basis! (Yes I need to get a life). I personally make no recommendations, just sharing a short video so that others may appraise the situation for themselves, and offering that BA should be collating accurate data and recognising that waterside business and residential property has been severely affected. The issue is that there are those who really do know the Broads - not just the waterways, but the way that the systems of drainage and farming are interlinked, people such as yourselves, who in the past knew the right thing to do. Nowadays we have so many different agencies, all with their own priorities, and understanding the real reason (Which may actually be a complete fluke, but also may not) needs open, careful and accurate assessment

It probably looked closer than it was! You are right that it is now lifting again, but hasn't been for a while - yes I have seen huge tidal differences there.. sounds like we have the same idea - interesting when you get to the piers sometimes!!

Absolutely agree, however, I don't think the water retention has been over just recent weeks, I have seen regular moorings that I visit much higher over the past year - 2 years - although this is anecdotal, I would have expected BA to have credible and concise data on this - after all other authorities gather exactly such data - it seems as though the 'perfect storm' that BA describe may need to be re-named 'sleep walked into this'

DO NOT TRY THIS IN YOUR BOAT - This is a piece of River I know well and understand the capabilities of my boat - no riverboat would be able to turn in this ebb. I have been watching river levels for some time, prior to Storm Cairan, bob or whatever it was called, I captured the following footage - it has not been published elsewhere, but thought that I would share it for those forum members who would not be able to access this part of the river. I needed to 'get out' of the Broads and needed to pass under the Bascule Bridge. I can do this by dropping my radar arch, but unless I am lined up perfectly straight, this isn't going to happen - and given the very strong eddies, is not an easy fete. For reference, there is never a 'slack' period in this part of the river, it runs one way, has a period of convoluted current and then quickly builds as the water re-floods. Haven Bascule bridge has two solid piers and the side spans allow water to pass under and is of a more traditional design whilst the new Gull-Wing Bridge is designed for heavy commercial road traffic and appears to be solid, restricting more than a third of the navigable channel. I have been concerned that the air draft at GY Haven Bridge has been above published datum at LW for a very long time, suggesting river levels are higher, and therefore the air draft is reduced. This has probable gone unnoticed as the Bridge has been out of actions for a very long period of time and very few users have the capability of passing under the bridge into the commercial port. Dredging in all commercial ports is necessary to both maintain depth for draft but also to ensure water levels do not rise higher than the working parameters of the quays - why then does this theorem, which ensured Breydon Water was dredged whilst under the remit of the GYPA not hold weight with BA? Yare Ebb Tide.mp4

I can only add from the point of view of travelling the Yare through Yarmouth itself and since the new bridge foundations were placed, the ebb is so much worse and faster - I have recent film of this, but fear that so few boats will have used the commercial part of the river since Haven Bridge was inactive for so long, that it may have gone unnoticed. I feel that the statement that 'dredging reduces flooding is a myth' that has been perpetrated by BA this week is very concerning in that EA spend a disproportionate amount of funding in keeping the Fens waterways and drainage channels dug to sufficient depth. There seems an almost total disregard to addressing that still, today, water levels have not reduced significantly, nor that just a couple of months ago that the government gave housing developers carte blanche to build without needing to implement either drainage or flood investment plans. Whilst there is a lack of ownership for the issue, there will be no solution, but with the Broads, for many, especially novice users, being a somewhat dangerous place to be at present, I am disappointed that BA are not being more proactive in their approach to at least acknowledging issues instead of putting their hands in their deep pockets and say 'its not my fault gov'

I think also, there is a very large question about residential runoff - I haven't seen postwick shut off once this year, it is a constant flow, and I feel incredibly sorry for those mooring nearby as the stench is often horrendous. Thousands of new properties with nil additional reprossessing.... overwhelmed... Failure to dredge has also got to have something to do with it - yes I remember those days when there was flooding, but it was gone as the tide dropped - and we cant even blame 'trapped tides' or wind in the wrong direction when we have had several concurrent days without wind... something is wrong and it doesn't quite compute! This is the footage I captured yesterday

It would have been interesting if you had been onboard, personally I always take care coming past Brundall Gardens as even on a normal tide, the boats get moved quite significantly.

So apologies if the last post didn't make alot of sense - I have been doing some videography at Surlingham today and this 'prestige hire boat' came barreling through, dangerously very fast and pushing a half decker ashore - the person across the river had a few choice words also - not least, at the time, a friend was wading back to their boat - this was not just irresponsible and causes damage, but causing fast moving water enough to sweep someone off their feet. Words absolutely fail me.

I've been at Surlingham today - I will post up an interesting photo in a min - the vid was running too slow!

The only real way forward is a Section 31 objection under the Harbours Act 1964. As a statutory navigation authority with responsibilities under this act to gather tolls for that purpose. The notion is that the consultation process leading up to the rises in 2023 and onward to 2024 is unlawful and unreasonable (when compared to similar authorities). Griff and others have posted much of the information needed above, but to recap, James Knight has raised one such complaint and you can write to support his or join another, there are several objections being placed. Objections under Section 31 f the Harbours Act 1964 can be lodged to Paul Sharpe, paul.sharpe@dft.gov.uk or maritime Directorate 2/34, Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR.

And I wonder, in the future, who will have the largest pension of them all? (And then probably come back to work in an interim role!!! Yes the middle option has been accepted so another massive hike.

Also, here is a little problem I had with one of my raw water pumps and impellors - I made a mistake in putting this back together in that I used both the O ring and the gasket as that was what was in there when I first changed it, however, i have since been informed that I should have used one or the other and not both!

Ref impellors - Jabsco also make replacements for typical Volvo penta as well and are about a third of the price! Just a few quick tips that I put together a few years ago - we pretty much keep using our boat and there has been some question over covering with a blanket or not, however, this may be helpful for some. It isn't a plug by the way as I do not monetise and on my current projection, that probably wont be possible for at least another 6 years :) https://youtu.be/nRSZt-S2kOs

If ever they let me loose with a digger, I think everything I touched would be like that! I suspected that the colouration was due to ferrous Oxide from a soil substrate. Am I right in thinking that the navigation exists up to Waxham and is still tolled and controlled by BA?

Interesting - I have seen that this thread has been dormant for a few years but this, along with another lost waterway (Which is within the tolled area) have the same issues - most notably around Dillham Mill where you will be heftily shouted at that it is private... Having recently canoed on the section between Ebridge and Bacton Wood, I am impressed how serene it is - but again, I didn't half get scowled at by one of the house (owners?) near the end - with lack of use, I suppose, comes a sense of ownership, however, it would be really lovely to see the efforts redoubled to engage with some of the land owners again and bring this wonderful area back to life.

I think I would see that as an opportunity to see if I could offend someone by actually getting in it!

Subtle innuendos follow There must be somethin' inside

Yes I am working on Part 2 at the moment and really struggling with alot of the politics - even a pushback of re-dredging the current area - I really appreciate your expertise in this matter - there seems to be so much more to the story than what is in the public domain.. any links will be most welcome

Oddly I was calling it antingham until I spoke to an old boy at Honing who pronounced it anLingham and I have seen at least one map with that written, but as you say, regional pronunciation is very important and I took the old boys pronunciation of Honing to be him from Norfolk and me from Suffolk (Up coming part 2 but need some more footage to make it work) Thank you for the feedback - heaven help me when I move on to Happisburgh!!

Apologies I couldn't make it appear in line

Hi all, I am probably setting myself up for a fall with this one as I know we have one or two experts on this topic on here, however, I believe what I have gathered is correct from credible sources (Obviously credited appropriately - I hope you enjoy - there is a part 2 but I need to go and get some more shots on a less rainy and windy day! http://youtu.be/KpfY7PIy1dU?si=UZTguKFaLxJiH3LP

Sorry, I couldn't make the YouTube file place an image as it usually does.