Dan

I always think your most loyal, earliest bookers should get the best deal, and a business should be run for the long term (though I understand you have to survive the short term sometimes to get there, so it is a balancing act, especially if you've not learnt the lessons previously handed to you yet), so last minute deals sit a bit uncomfortably with me. There's some boats in the Herbert Woods fleet I would like to hire. Their pricing & approach to specal offers means they have never stacked themselves towards me hiring one. Last time (and the time before) I got a new boat from Richardsons for very close money to their twenty odd year old offering.... I believe that in retail the selling price and the product/standard offered are the two things most likeky to affect the business success. I dont see any difference with boat hire Dan

Hi Everyone Does anyone know what this rather "interesting" looking thing is that Le Boat are suggesting someone may wish to pay good money to holiday on??? I think it is confirmation, if any was needed, that whoever decided to close their Wroxham factory should be hunted down and shot http://www.leboatbrokerage.com/yacht-details/?yacht=sjqckxhc-87 Dan

Good service is always good business Most people are too busy thinking & prioritising around themselves to really get it though, but a lot of money gets left on the table as a result Dan

I think it is all about service now, and will continue to go ever more this way. From being the other side of the fence, operational scenarios such as staff holidays, people leaving, actually being able to find good people who care, few people actually being superstars at their jobs, people learning & growing within their role, the financial & feasibility of being able to have the staff level you'd like against whether the business is viable on this ratio, peak or unusual spike periods to name just a few, mean that to deliver a perfect, consistent service is much easier said than done, though will always be what is needed and what people should be trying to deliver, and it doesn't seem the case in some of the examples here. What would interest me is the real reasons why you didn't get a reply. You will probably never know them, but it is unlikely to be as black and white as they were just rubbish and dont know how to run a business Dan

Thanks Neil Is this the place? Never really looked big enough to me for the number of boats they had, but there does look to be a lot of late 90s-ish office developments close by, which could be right & what stop me picturing it as a hirebase in my mind!? Dan

Hi Vaughan Good to see you posting here. You gave me lots of great info when I set up the Hearts Cruisers website some years back. I remember Aquamarine, and have often tried (unsuccessfully) to figure out/picture exactly where their yard was when I have been on holiday on the Thames. Do you have any photos? It's a shame the Thames has lost so many fair size hirefleets. Benson, Maidlline & Ferryline being the last of the bigger ones to give it up, and the waterway is much poorer for it in my mind. We picked up a Consul from you at San Gilles around 2004. We enjoyed the handover but I suspect if I had known your Hearts connections it would have been a very long handover for you! Best wishes Dan

I guess Len Funnell would be the man to talk to about plannning in Horning. He seems to make it look easy. Dan

Thought my ears were a bit sore! Had a bit of a look... it's in lots of my pictures but as it changed from use around 2002 to a New Horizon one (with a reflection) the pictures are pre-digital and I don't know which box my scanner is in. However, you can see it in this one from one of the fleet that had sat kicking around for a long time....though perhaps not quite as large as hoped for, but I reckon combined with your current one there is perhaps enough to get a good replica and the colours right hopefully Dan

The south has always been harder to sell holidays on. Even back when large yards such as Jenners, Wards and Hearts were at Thorpe Blakes were having big marketing pushes to try and encourage people here over the easier to sell northern rivers. Brundall has changed a lot in recent years though. I first came over 20 years ago, it can't be a long time ago otherwise I'd be very old... but then the Riverside Estate was one hirefleet after another.. Alexander, Harbour, Bee's, Willow, Freshwater, Fencraft, VIP Harvey Eastwood etc. So on the Riverside Estate we will now just have Silverline and Alpha? With the Alpha fleet being little updated and getting older all the time... Dan

Hi Sarah If your "Kingfisher" is a blue Bounty 37 from the York fleet these were previously Waveney Heron from H.E.Hipperson of Beccles, and before that from Alan Johnson at Acle. http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Boat_Details&BoatId=4243&BoatHistory=6505 http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Boat_Details&BoatId=4042&BoatHistory=6139 Sadly, to the best of my knowledge a list of the build numbers and who sold to has not lived on, but if someone knows of a cupboard it is safely tucked away in please do let me know, and I will get very excited! Best Wishes Dan P.S I remember them as Sunsearcher and Sun Hunter (later Sun Searcher II) at York Marine

Here's the best I saw today: "Remember the five simple rules to be happy: 1. Free your heart from hatred, 2. Free your mind from worries 3. Live simply 4. Give more 5. Expect less" Dan

Hope you're doing OK now Iain. Keep hunting for him though - it's Broadlander in the webcam shot Dan

There seems to be a lot of protesting here, possibly a little too much?! Get yaself one of these and be done with it.... Less time varnishing, more time boating - what could possibly go wrong!? Dan

Yes, it was good to meet you in the Maltsters last October Dan

I was going to then I decided to play it safe & just stick my head out of the canopy! Here's a few more to help you count down the days! Dan

Here's a few more, including one of your 'best side' and a couple of Broadway 2 including my Mum enjoying the sun!

Hi Siddy We are on Broadway 2, & passed you/you us yesterday & on Tuesday at Coltishall in the sun! Great weather and great boats, can see these becoming a firm favourite! Dan

Enjoying the tale, and I do enjoy a bit of Horizon 35' action as you know Hope the weather has been as good for you as it has been here, and that it holds until next week too Dan

If you love something enough there is not much you wont do Dan

Yes, yes I have been trying to Jonzo!

Jonzo does a mean Fray Bentos' We normally have ours with lots of vodka Dan

Yes, the Bean & Baguette or whatever it's called. Never really fancied that, maybe it was because it's often busy though!? Many locations support a few coffee shops now, so I think an often busy location like this probably is busy enough for two, but as ever whether two will survive will depend on whether they are different enough to each other and also whether both can hit the mark in offering what enough people want to succeed. Dan

Be interesting to see what the Coffee Shop's like. A nice comfy, modern coffee shop would be a good addition at a few Broadland locations, not least the odd hire centre or two I think Dan

Good to see a new boat for up to ten, and yes some new smaller (32 - 38ft?) two berths are needed too in the industry, even if they don't look as satisfactory on a spreadsheet as the bigger 6 & 8 berths! Has someone else fitted these out than those doing HW's other recent stuff though? Domestic kitchen units and drawer fronts etc may be the norm, but it was good to previously see HW doing something slightly different with more detailed specific units in the boats laminate. I know it'll take longer and cost more, but it gave them a nice differing finish to others and it's a shame this has changed I think. The pictures I saw of insider her were on their Facebook Page on March 4th https://www.facebook.com/herbertwoods Dan

I thought that too, and we can't both be wrong I'm all for Apprenticeships though.... we have one and at just 17 and just 8 months in he is already a Superstar and on a good path to be the next General Manager! More businesses need to put employees & customers truly at the centre of their business. Dan