JawsOrca

I'm a bit reluctant to add to much weight to it considering its hardly using any fuel and it would nice to get over breydon a bit quick lol But she needs a bit more I think we have some ballast in the garage and we will take some up next time. The chap certainly wouldn't be able to afford to take it back for what it's now worth lol and it's 110% not for sale not even for double what it's worth!

yeah she's not brilliant wash wise, but it's a deep vee.. I just have to be aware of it.. It's obviously better with the current which I try and do all the time anyway Glad you enjoyed the read though

I forgot I did that .. There's a fuel one too which needs populating too..

WRC have also (just) replaced the faulty valve on that pump out. You need to turn it parallel with the pipe but away from the pipe if that makes sense... and don't touch the red (off) button. £10 token from the shop.. you need blue loo and gloves though.

Thanks David . We found a little path by a lake this year too (Just after the railway bridge).. it's not a bad walk .. I do love looking through the boat yard doors though! Glad you enjoyed John Looking forward to beer it needs to be local beers though I refuse to drink anything other lol (I can barely understand Litres lol... !) Here's the next and final one of this trip... Although the next trip is erm very soon lol Tuesday 26th May It was a calm and peaceful morning. Blue skys and a warm feel.. Typical last day. It was early but as we had planned to meet up from forumite Frank (mowjo) we thought best to leave early. Engine on The first mate lifted the mudweight, coming to untie the stern lines and set off he screams “Engine Off” “We aren’t pumping water”The former first mate then had the audacity to say that the Captain should have checked and confirmed that the first mate who is also the chief engineer had done his job correctly and turned the seacocks back on after doing the checks.. Ladies and Gentleman as I’m sure you will appreciate the First mate has been demoted to Second Mate from immediate affect he may promoted back once he learns that the captain is responsible for nothing… Seacock's back on water was pumping well (and replacement impeller added to his shopping list) we departed right behind Broadlander.. (so much for peace and quiet).. The second mate said shall we go up towards Beccles for a bit to put some more hours on the engine. Upstream we turned, thankfully Broadlander turned and moored up on the services quay. Leaving us to a beautifully still and wonderful Waveney. We headed up stream for about an hour before turning back and heading back to Somerleyton. Sadly others were awake and as usual a jet powered hireboat soon overtook at warpspeed 6! Somerleyton bridge was closed but we head plenty of air draft so we went through and pulled into the marina. Orca’s depth alarms, of which I set as 3 feet, were going nuts but we made into her berth without to many problems. Everything packed into the car we set off for Stalham.. trying to work out the quickest route we decided to make use of the Reedham ferry (No I didn’t ask him why he pulled out on us earlier in the week but it did spring to mind!). We eventually found our way to Stalham and caught up with Frank, who kindly gave us some fenders and we had a look on one of his boats.. All very nice! Frank. I must admit we love the look of Broadsedge marina.. maybe one day! And so that was the end of a nice five day trip, although we only managed 30 of the 50 hours we wanted but that plan was a bit optimistic.. The next trip is already planned and we will be back very very soon!

What do you want a TV for?.. in all the years (Geez I'm starting to sounds like me dad!) I only ever had the TV on a couple of times.. mainly because it never picked up a signal!. Norfolk is all about relaxing and enjoying the environment (and drinking in riverside pubs ). Although I must admit I am a little surprised to see this doesn't have one of those sat dishes on though.

Grace. Glad you are enjoying them and hope they aren't too boring.. I need to draft them up when we are up there as I'm forgetting things and forgetting to add atmosphere I guess Lol yes It must have been cold that day as he was certainly a bit dressed up! Silvester (Lol we never call him that his nickname also begins with S though) was ok thanks. He jumped up as soon I got to the boat and demanded a cuddle.. I think he had spent most of the weekend sunbathing on deck!

That's crutches not a stick... disappointed I expected a wooden walking stick.. oh well... Hope he gets better soon!

Sunday 24th May. Woken again but the usual of sound of starting engines, as holidaymakers make a quick dash for the next stop. (although we were one of the first to depart this time yesterday). Surprised to still see SteveandDebs here as they promised to wake us up at an ungodly hour as they wanted to be back home for early morning. But it was nice to have a quick chat another thanks for beers yesterday! My head was fine though so clearly we didn’t drink enough They soon departed. Once wide awake, although I find I never really wake up when up here, we wondered up the hill and into Beccles for a trip around QD’s and some further supplies from other local shops. To be honest for today we didn’t want to do too much and wanted to get off the boat for a bit (don’t forget Dave wasn’t well last night) so we headed back to boat, waved good bye to a new friend on a sister ship to my parents boat (Greek name?!). We decided to make for Lowestoft for lunch. The run to Oulton broad was very relaxing, I probably day dreamed most of it and can’t remember much! As we approached Oulton broad it was gopro on and we had a steady cruise over to the yacht station. It quickly became apparent that a power boat race was scheduled as there was a mass of spectators, spectating at us motoring over at present! Turning the corner the yacht station looked full. I was about to turn around and give up and go over the wherry hotel but thankfully the harbour master was spotted and he pointed towards what I always thought was a private marina. So the pressure was seriously on, considering the amount of people watching and some expensive boats. Thankfully and for some unknown reason she played nicely and simply reversed into the berth (Looking back now I’m starting to think she suffers badly from propwalk as this was opposite and she went in nicely), but good to know she can behave, I just need to understand fully why and how! Once tided up I noticed we had moored beside a boat from Somerleyton, I also noticed that her port of registry was Rochester, the same as Orca. Obviously we starting chatting, and the chap basically said “Hello Alan”?! Cut a long story short, these guys had been in the same boat yard here in Kent where we firstly brought the boat and knew us all very well, Small world! The power boat race quickly commenced and although we stopped for a few moments and watched, time was getting on and we wanted to get in Lowestoft to grab some lunch. There’s a very cool footpath into Lowestoft which leads right by down lake lothing, behind boatyards and the highlight for me the international boat building college, which one day I will go to! Sadly it was closed today and the gates firmly shut so I couldn’t even peak. I will build up the courage to ask to at least have a walk around.. It’s a shame the courses are so much money but as I say.. one day. Disappointed we marched into Lowestoft it only took about an hour. We headed straight for the fish and chip restaurant on the pier (not sure pier is the best word.. breakwater maybe but still). Sadly it was a bit noisy even in the pub section but the food was yummy and I had a glass of adnams. We had a quick walk around Lowestoft, sadly it’s ever deteriorating but still it’s a nice walk and nice to see the sea and at least grab some fish and chips. We got to the boat early afternoon, the power boats were still wizzing around and again we stopped and caught the last few moments of the race. It was different and good to watch, one day we will watch the whole lot. We paid our mooring fee and engine on. we departed, I’m not one for staying in a populated spot but we decided to head off to the WRC which should be a bit quieter for the evening. Pulling into the WRC it looked a bit busy and there really were only a couple of moorings as a few boats had moored side on. Orca span round with ease and we moored stern on. There were lots people camping in tents and a few kids were running around. Despite noticing the odd strange stare (Although this is the first time on Orca and can’t say I noticed on my parents boat.. maybe it was just me being stupid although even the boat beside us didn’t even say hello) but generally the atmosphere seemed friendly and holiday like so were more than happy to stay. Broadlander (or one off) was moored a few boats away from us and there were lots of positive comments, despite Orca and a new Sealand 40 flybridge stealing the limelight. I must admit this is the first time I’ve seen Broadlander and it did look very pretty indeed and if that’s the replacement for “Bathtubs” then the futures attractive.. slightly sad it’s not painted in a colour of the rainbow though. We relaxed a bit on the boat and enjoyed the atmosphere before doing a light dinner (Calour gas cheese on toast! Yummy – if you’ve not try it.. do it!! Thankfully no smoke from the cooker this time!) we wondering up the pub and spent a few hours watching some TV(They even gave us the remote!) and drunk cider and trawerboys.

Apparently AA is on sale now though (I've not seen it but read somewhere).. I am missing a frequent edition though, I hope bowwave or someone else does manage it.

Slowhand to the forum. Sorry to hear you had to sell but I hope you still manage to get out every now and again I'm certainly with you.. If the nelson is there and good it's an excuse to stop. Fingers crossed.

Hahaha mum has to get a picture of this!! Mum send it! Oh geez.. printed t-shirts here we come! Anyway's all seriousness gramps get some rest and hope it heels up quickly...

I'm sorry but thats dangerous.. "Lifejackets should be worn at all times whilst the vessel or erm crane is in operation"... Looks a good solution though..

Sunday 24th May Unusually for me I had a full night’s sleep and woke up naturally and full of energy at 7am! Not sure if it was the previous long day, or the full meal from last night, the friendly reception of the Reedcutters or the sheer peace and quiet of the mooring. But it was nice to have such sleep. It was also a glorious Norfolk almost summer morning, the canopy was opened up and I even wondered about (in my slippers (yeah classy)) and took some pictures. Seriously surprised with Cantley, I think it’s because we’ve never done such a stop so it felt new and such days on the broads is very special. As the tide was flowing out and we were both wide awake (and thankfully no shops about) we started the engine and as quietly as possible, slipped our berth and drifted off. Reedham ferry was soon upon us and to my absolute disgrace the ferryman ignored logic and common sense and when I was about 100m away from him, with a strong flood behind me, the idiot cast off. Now if I was on the south coast and it wasn’t so early in the morning he would have got all 160db of Orca’s airhorn, but with a tut and a mumble of words (and knowing I’m in Norfolk relaxing playing nicely) I quickly turned Orca around leaving the tailgating alpha craft to just miss the chains (Not quite sure how he missed but thankfully he did). I’m sure there are readers that will disagree but I did consider the ferrymans manoeuvre to be incorrect (sadly the gopro wasn’t on) and potentially dangerous to both vessels. Reedham looked very calming in the morning and we were quickly under the bridge. I knew when we hit the new cut the tide would be coming towards us which it was but there wasn’t much alternative. This also meant that we caught up with the tailgating hireboat from the ferry and knowing they was going to stick to the rev gauge speed limit and knowing we couldn’t overtake I gave the helm to the first mate! The first mate did well and didn’t hit anything and we was quickly (well eventually) mooring up in Somerleyton where we promised to catch up with Steve and Debs. Dave quickly tried fixing a fuel leak which just won’t give up.. no joy so we wondered over to annoy Steve and debs. To Dave’s disgust (I guess) Steve quickly gloated how he managed to fix his leak! (Steve you can try Orca’s if you want!). We then noticed that LadyP’s exhaust meant that it was a bit hard to confirm if she was pumping water so Dave took half of it apart for them and confirmed it was pumping! (and now she’s a bit on the loud side!) Still talking with us we decided to do a little cruse in company and head off downstream, destination Beccles! Steve had said that Lady P wasn’t the fastest of boat’s but we agreed to be kind and follow them.. grr .. to our surprise though Steve quickly got up to speed and we struggled to keep up. But it was nice to follow behind and cruise with them. There were a few rag and stick boats about, as you may know we used to have a sailing boat so I still like the look of them so I took a few pictures and enjoyed the spectacle.. A lovely Norfolk broads feeling. Sadly though one open dinghy crew (in my opinion) made a bit of a slip up and almost got wiped out by lady P. If you watch the video attached you will see. I could see he was going to tack as he was running out of water but I’m not sure he did so in the best position and/or stalled the tack which didn’t quite help that idea. Thankfully Steve was quick to respond and no contact was made, I think if it was Orca with her delayed and individual handling it may have been a bit different. But it’s all part of the fun of the broads. We left Steve and Debs at the WRC as we were down to half a tank of dinosaur bone juice and full of something else. Unfortunately a boater had inconsiderately moored right in the middle of the service bay and it took an “Excuse us could you ever so kindly move forward a tad”. Topped up with only 25 litres of fuel (Pleasantly surprised with that we expected 40 litres!) and the tank emptied with only one £10 token. We were soon off upstream to Beccles. The river was quiet although a heavy rain shower and through the rain the sight of a group of sailing dinghies tacking in a complete “unhelpful” manner appeared! As you may know Orca at the moment is being “run in” so getting the idle low enough is at present, not really happening! It means I have 3.5mph or nothing! A bit of wind or current and she’s off doing what the current and wind chooses! By probably the grace of god I managed to slow her down and get past two of the boats but the others put a roadblock in place and in the middle there was a full size sail boat. So sadly I had to engage a gear and kinda spoil the peace and throw the rulebook out (It was honestly that or someone would have ended up even wetter!), I had to focus on the large sailboat and get around that as that was going at some speed on this narrow section. Thankfully I did the best I could only passing close in front of a couple of the slow moving dinghies, Thankfully no wrist were shaken at me and I couldn’t hear any strong language so I think I got away with it! (Again I’m sure some readers will say, if the boats unsafe or not suitable for the broads it shouldn’t be here, but with all respect this is why it is here, on the reasonable quiet southern broads away from the majority of river users… 25 hours to go and we should get a stable idle). Beccles appeared quickly and the sky was almost clear, thankfully it looked like we dodged most of the Rain. Beccles Yacht Station looked unusually busy.. So long for the quiet southern broads ideal! I tried putting Orca in the larger spot but for some reason (I don’t think I slowed her down quick enough or pesky prop walk) she choose to go the other side in the smaller spot but she slotted in without contact! Steve and Debs were on hand to help with the rope work. So it was time for a beer with Steve and Debs! They hadn’t heard nor been to the Waveney house hotel so we suggested to try that. We grabbed a nice table beside the window overlooking the river and fields beyond.. Several Beers later we booked a table for even later and wondered back to scrub up for diner. Back up there a few hours later we got the same table. Dave wasn’t feeling well, not quite sure why but we believe it was motion sickness as Orca really is a bit light and moves around a lot so he passed on diner and headed back to the boat to get some sleep. It was a nice dinner with the three of us though and we stayed until just before the sunset (Lovely spot to watch the sun setting!), as Dave was fast asleep I jumped aboard LadyP and had another beer and more chatting! I’ve really not drunken this much in a long time! As it got late, I crawled back to Orca before showing Beccles Orca’s complex and flash LED lighting system, Well Steve and debs looked impressed at least.

Belated and to the forum PuraVida Completely agree when I first hired (and it wasn't all that long again in comparison to some.. No names mentioned..) swancraft were state of the art and far too expensive for me. Please fell free to introduce yourself further

Broadway probably has a decent keel Iain and all that posh stuff Clive puts on there probably helps make it super heavy.. and ignore the amount of whisky you probably had aboard adding further ballast too (and scoots battery pack!)! Me go near a bathtub boat.. pah.. no chance.. although we hired a shoe boat before (alpha skylark I think) and that was as far away from a proper looking boat as we got (although it was nice to sit on a proper sofa and look out the windows). When I'm older it will be a really old wooden boat (or maybe even Richardsons commodore you never know lol

Lol good old Apple.. everything bad expect their own rubbish..or perhaps paypal have upset them .. or they just aren't hip enough for them! Ok sorry rant over. Sorry Jas we are really bad at digressing.. it's normally others (Grace) though and I try to get (her) back on topic..

Thanks David I actually have the Chinese "knocked off" version. Sjcam Sj4000 and I couldn't see the setting.. (Reminds me to google though)..I understood it shouldn't overwrite by default which was one reason I brought it and annoyingly it always showed as an hour space and still overwrote.. I can understand if it was full.. Worst case I'll just get a few more chips and back them up daily but I'll probably get bored of doing the videos soon anyway

Anything is better than what is there now ... Although I agree it shouldn't be too OTT it would nice to see a reference to yesteryear (I like pubs with old bits on the wall) and maybe the odd reference to it's namesake.. as I'm sure he used to frequent there quite a bit when he was a teenager

Lol glad you liked it Grace.. In reply; - It's very surprising how she reacts to the wind, even a little gust and she's of doing her own thing! But it makes it interesting! But yup feel free to use that excuse.. it's probably on applicable to this planning hull though which isn't alot of hireboats though - It was really nice that day.. I think I even took off my jumper for the first day this year.. I did have to cut the video short and Dave was wondering around with no bloody shoes on.. He works outdoors so I guess he's used to the weather On the top of this page theres a "Follow this post" click it then you won't miss anymore I've got a couple more post coming although they take ages to compile.. I dunno how Robin does his! I'll try and put the next one up tonight.

Nun chance.. you're not getting away with it that easily... get googling!!

Oh Jas.. it's cause you are on an iPad.. use that as a mudweight and use a proper device! lol only joking.. Jonzo? any ideas?? it looks like the paypal link isn't opening.. I guess it needs Javascript but I guess that's loaded up on safari, although I know little about Apple stuff.. Hopefully Jonzo will be along shortly.. Thanks for trying to get burgee though.. they are good quality and it's nice to see them flying and spotting other forumites

Lovely looking boat and cute dog! (Thanks for posting pictures.. glad to see you managed it ) I think the boat would look even better with an NBN burgee! ().. Looking forward to seeing you out on the rivers

and from me. Good luck with the boat.. Just shout if you need any help! and before Grace asks.. we will need to see pictures of your boat (Click more reply options and you will see the option to upload pictures or click the "+" icon beside the reply box in TapTalk).

Grace.. you're right.. your jokes are really funny in comparison...