riverman

Just my unwanted thoughts. After the flooding on the Somerset levels in 2014 and the massive backlash regarding the lack of dredging, I strongly doubt the EA would disapprove of any comprehensive dredging programme, be it in BA jurisdiction, CRT or anyone else's. Its not BA bashing to put the onus on them instead of the EA. For an operation of their scale, 26000 cube is pathetic. Truly abysmal. However in their defence, from personal experience, getting rid of even 1000 cube is a challenge. Excusing the slightly hippy-ish term and bareing in mind this comes from someone who does dredging but what's required is a genuinely holistic approach. Nurturing better relationships with land owners to allow for easier spoil deposition and possibly active involvement, because you can only dredge if you've got somewhere to put it. Working with the WMA and Norfolk Rivers Trust to try to store water and slow the flow coming from North Norfolk would be another good idea. And slightly less hippy-ish, pulling there finger and stopping the holiday camp that is BA's works team would help. We were sheet piling in Oulton Broad back in March and in the 2 weeks were on site, they removed no more than half a dozen barge loads of mud, an utterly pointless waste of time and money.

Wow, thank you so much, that wasn't patronising at all. Exactly the kind of attitude we need to see the broads through the next 50-60 years, thank goodness you're here to correct me. So basically, everything is 100% fine as it is, no room for criticism or improvement. Just pay 2 grand for a boat, walk your young family on a rainy day to Wroxham barns, get on a train and travel somewhere else? (because there's so much to see and do on the Broads/Wroxham), hop aboard a Wherry to see all of the same things you've just travelled past to get there if there running that day, sit in (various) eating establishments and pay £25 for a microwave meal on a posh plate. Perfect. Nothings free, nobody expects things to be free. I don't want things to be free. I just want more things. And of better quality. And I'm actually quite willing to contribute towards them.

Apologies, you've lost me. I was trying to say that a hire boat, considering the initial investment, horrendous operating cost of a hire boat yard and the fact they can sleep so many, represent reasonable value for money for the end user, not that they aren't profitable.

Facilities or activities? Anything. Something. A Waveney river style centre for the north. Significantly more moorings and advertising for the amazing powerboating at Oulton Broad. A regatta or paddle board race or something, anything in the middle of Wroxham or Beccles. Food festivals. Beer festivals. Boat festivals. And massively more boat access to our fine city. Just something other than pubs really. And what do I expected? Progress. Ingenuity. Investment. Nothing too unreasonable. What is essentially the heart of the broads deserves to look and operate a damn sight better than it does. Now unfortunately I've never visited the Broads, I've only ever worked, started a business and lived here my entire life, so excuse me if I knock it but it's only because I have vested interest in it's continued success. There is nothing about this man made environment that is set in stone and it needs to change with the times. Apologies I don't see how it's a contradiction. Value for money has nothing to do with how much something costs. Considering your modern hire boat is a floating mobile apartment that sleeps 6+, where you can do everything you could at home, and that it probably cost double if not triple to build than a motorhome, I think there reasonably priced.

I don't think it's that hire boats are too expensive, it's that a broads holiday represents extremely poor value for money by modern standards. We often discuss this at work, we'll be in Hoveton sitting down having a brew on the barge, looking around and asking, what is there to do here? Nothing, the answer is nothing. Other than Bewilderwood there has been no major investment into anything that anyone would want to actually go to for years. 'Well you can stop at the pubs' .... right 👍 Let's not beat around the bush, by modern standards, most of them aren't great and they charge absurd prices. 'You can look at the wildlife and all the nature' ... but you could stay in a cottage slightly further away, for a fraction of the price, drive to Neatishead Boardwalk etc and explore on foot. Why is Hoveton/Wroxham a run down mess and not the Henley of the broads? Or Beccles for that matter? Why aren't there more events that holidaymakers can an engage in? Why is there no where to go? Why is there nothing to do? Why is there no where to moor? Pre-rona price hike a broads holiday represented reasonable-ish value for money, now it doesn't. Unfortunately, for far too long the hire boats were cheaper than they should have been, so putting prices back down isn't really an option. The only option is investment and a willingness from those in a place of authority to let the broads go forward. From my experience, and as you can see at the moment in the hospitality sector, people are still very willing to spend money, if there getting decent value for it.

Now I am but a simple dyke pirate but i can't remember a single incident of anyone ever putting themselves in serious danger, or even getting hurt or killed on a hire cruiser, day boat or private boat. Ever. Whereas paddleboards, what a dangerous menace they are, responsible for so many fatalities on the broads. And there's really no downside to there restriction. After all most paddleboarders are in there twilight years and will never go on to buying a boat, buying a riverside property, joining a local club, starting a business or even just returning to the broads for a boating holiday with there family. Unlike previous new fangled things like sailing, canoeing, kayaking or rowing there'll never progress from those to other things that may help the local community or economy. Plus, there's no chance of a 'paddleboarding area' ever escalating into a 'no powered craft area'. Or even just an area where speed is restricted so heavily it silts up. Nobody at BA would want such a thing. P.S For those of us that work on the broads and are boating about near daily, if paddle boards are bicycles, most boaters are lost holiday makers.

I don't always agree with Marshman but he's absolutely spot on. Considering about 3 years ago the landowner wanted to put a set of piles in and a gate across the canal at there boundary Wayford end, and recent stories of them trying to discourage paddle boards and canoe that haven't been launched off there premises, I find the idea that anyone other than those paying to stay on the campsite or in one of the cottages would ever get to see it. A terrible waste when you consider all the work that has gone into the NWDC by Laurie and the volunteers.

Did they get there little paddle out and start waving it around? The best thing you can do in this situation is shout these exact words, "I don't have time for ping pong today" and just carry on doing whatever you were doing before. Some times they'll follow you, waving it with there silly little blue light on but that's just because they can't get enough of ping pong. I promise they will stop eventually though. Always worked for me.

Don't hold me to this, but we were supposed to do some work for her late last year and she had just gone into hospital. I believe she passed away in November.

In the short term, they would be far better off mitigating for extreme weather rather than extreme tides. Waste of time and money.

If they had any sense, more outsourcing. There dredging is painfully inefficient, there subcontract piling isn't managed nearly well enough (see the abortion that is viaduct moorings at Hoveton) and there tree clearance is beyond a joke. Tender more work out. I'd love to tender to the tree clearance, we've done acres on the broads and have got very efficient at it.

Every cloud and all that. In 50 years il be 80, and if the Great Estuary comes to pass il have a seaside property in North Norfolk, ideal for my retirement. And the value ought to be spectacular.

Can swim, don't swim. I've worked on the broads for 15 years ish and I very rarely wear a life jacket, as is the case with most of the other contractors regardless of swimming ability. However I've experienced cold shock, on purpose, and it's not a pleasant experience that I'd recommend. So to anyone even remotely nervous, or on the other side of it, cocky around water I would strongly recommend wearing a LJ. The water isnt the danger, you are.

Suits me, it's too cheap round here anyway. And I dunno, depends if it's just me on it or the missus and the dog aswell

The menace that is sailing boats, completely unsuitable, ban them immediately.

Complete tangent but it always amuses me so il tell the atory. When we re-vamped Granary Staithe at Hoveton by the bridge a few years ago, for safety reasons we had it completely fenced off. The first morning the fence was erected I met a woman standing at the fence with a feed sack looking quite lost, she was very concerned as to what was going on as apparently she drove from Acle most mornings to feed the wildfowl on there. The look of unbridled terror on her face when I told her the fence was for rounding up the Swans before the cull took place was priceless. I did feel a little bad, but that soon disappeared when I had to start work on the fecal matter covered piling.

Just my opinion (and most people who also work on the broads), Otters. I'm often near plenty of soak dykes and I very rarely see many waterfowl on them outside of Swans. You hardly see a Coot or a Moorhen, and I regularly watch ducklings seemingly disappear day by day. However I see plenty of Otters, which considering there place in the food chain, concerns me. Surely seeing them should be a rarity? I would also argue to a lesser extent, Egyptian Geese. An unnecessarily aggressive bird which I've watched attack many a small duckling.

Il probably get a lot of hate for this but... Its about common sense. Mitigation. Doing what's best for others but with a caveat, this isn't going away, there isn't going to be a vaccine this year. Yes protect the NHS, Yes slow the spread but be under no delusion that it's going away. You still need to have some quality of life, and if you're local to your boat, go down to it, enjoy yourself while you can, you might catch it next year. Let us not forget that the economic disaster and mental health crisis that is currently happening will cost lives, so if you can order some new Nav lights and go down to the boat and fix them on, then crack on. If it's doing a little for the economy and a little for your mental health then I can't see any issue. And maybe most importantly, when you see the death figures, Google some other statistics. Odds of heart disease, cancer etc and the population of the UK. There's plenty of better things to be terrified of.

That's not what I mean. In instances where the rubbing strake is a two piece, I've seen 30mm water pipe used as the filler piece essentially. Richos have done some of there day boats like it

Any pliable plastic pipe will do. Boat yards use underground water pipe

It's right and proper for two reasons. Firstly, speaking for myself and a lot of other self employed sub contract construction workers in Norfolk and I'm sure across the rest of the country, most firms pay like crap. The opportunity to save for a rainy day just isn't there. I will continue to work as long as I can because with 3 months wait for any assistance there is no other option. However I know this will be at a greatly reduced level, so I fully intend to claim the grant. Secondly, I highly doubt we'll be repaying this great debt we're amassing as individuals, so if I have to pay for it, why shouldn't I have some of it.

I wouldn't be so certain about staying with red, for this to stand any chance of being enforceable, certainly the construction sector would have to go onto white, so why not the marine sector?

Well, I wish I hadn't said anything now.... From what I understand from listening to the budget, the end of red use in construction is more to do with reducing N²O output and improving air quality than it is about 'saving the planet'. The idea being to push firms into investing in hybrid and full electric alternatives, which do exist and have been well proven. However, this will in my opinion disproportionately affect small firms with slimmer margins and less buying power. I would argue the cost of fuel in this country is already a road block for enterprise, social mobility and entrepreneurship, this just adds to it. This same principle could be applied to the maritime sector to some extent, where larger boat builders with deeper pockets can more easily invest in the r&d required to create and install reliable hybrid and full electric alternatives. Personally I don't think this is such a major issue as a great deal of this technology already exists. As I said in my original post, this issue is one of security, if you have to put white diesel in your boat, immediately it become a much bigger target for thieves.

I entirely agree we need to see the small print.... It wasn't so much a comment on who it will affect, more the practicality of it. Mostly the practicality of leaving large quantities of a very desirable commodity unattended for potentially months at a time. We've had red diesel stolen from our tug boats and equipment. Red, at 50p a litre, I can't imagine how much will go missing if we have to put white in.

It'll be very interesting to see what happens with fuel. I would imagine there will have to be a different colour dye added, I can't see another solution. If they keep it red for all then people will abuse the system and it'll be very hard to catch those who do. If they force people to use white, well, you can forget about there being any fuel in your boat, digger, dumper etc when you next go to use it.