riyadhcrew

I would like to have watched this Alan but it's only for the UK and it won't let me watch it here in Riyadh.

Got this from a friend of mine and I think its good and worth a watch.

A FEW PHOTOS

COMMODORE 1 THE BOAT and TECHY BITS The following is a purely personal opinion from myself and the girls. It is in no-way meant to be an expert or professional opinion. The boat is entirely built and fitted out by Richardsons and is based on their 45ft hull. The fit out is to a good standard and there were no squeaks or rattles from the inside of the boat at any RPMs. The bow double cabin is the same as Carousel and Broadsman and has its own on-suite toilet and shower which is a decent size. The rear double cabin has plenty of space, and a walk-round bed. The rear cabin on-suite toilet and shower is also a decent size. The mid cabin can have 2 singles or a double and is tight. Chloe found it almost impossible to fit the linen to the bottom of the bed, as it is under the salon seating. The mid cabin toilet and shower was adequate and has a lovely glass door for water protection. The salon has central stairs to the fly bridge which are very steep and care must be taken, especially on the way down. There is U shaped raised sofa style seating to starboard which was comfortable for the 3 of us and would be adequate for 4 or 5. The boat is capable of taking 8 and no way could they all sit round to eat. There is a double leaf fold-up table, but I couldn’t work out how to fold up both leafs at the same time as there just wasn’t the space. The galley is small, as is the fridge and is definitely a “1 cook only” model. Saying that and because we only cooked breakfast and heated up a few pies, it was more than adequate for us and everything we needed was there. The internal helm station is to port and very comfortable, although forward vision was limited and the rear facing camera screen had to be looked at from a distance of a few inches. There is a sliding door to port, just behind the helm seat which opened straight onto the side deck. The fly bridge has the upper steering position and enough space to have ballroom dancing classes. Obviously, the vision from up here was amazing and the entire boat could be seen from the 3-person seat. Stairs lead down to the large aft deck, to make very easy to step on and off the boat when stern moored. Another door opens from the upper helm station to the starboard side deck for mooring, etc. The door to the salon and the door to port both had central locking, like a car and this was a nice touch. TECHI BITS TVs are fitted in the salon, front bedroom and rear bedroom. Reception was good from the old style TV antenna in all areas we stopped in. Heating was good in the bedrooms but very slow in the salon. There is a good de-misting vent for the windscreen. The drive is hydraulic but was very responsive and plenty of power was available. I felt that the thrusters worked better on this boat and it was as if extra RPMs were put on the engine when the thrusters were used. Mooring in tight spaces and turning around through 180 degrees was made easy. Fuel consumption was 160 litres for the week and I reckon half of that was on the heating. I think Commodore has been fitted with a new type of battery and we never experienced any problems at all and never needed to start the engine for charging. The boatyard staff were excellent as usual and I have nothing but praise for them. BIG QUESTIONS Would I hire Commodore again? – MOST DEFINITELY What’s my next boat from Richos? – MOROCO 1 on March 31st of next year.

We are back on July 22nd - 29th for the NBN summer meet. 101 days to go.

Looked like the load was electrical transformers to me and they are very heavy indeed. Maybe Iain will be along to give his opinion.

Day 7 – Friday April 8 Lovely quiet night in Potter with no squeaks, so slept until 5.30am, which is late for me but hey, I’m on holiday. Heating on, TV on for the news and kettle on for coffee. Thought that I would spoil myself for breakfast this morning, so I fried up some sausages and black pudding with Hovis bread and butter. It was delicious and I left some of the sausages for the girls. Sat in the peace and quiet wondering where to go today, as we had to take the boat back to Stalham tomorrow morning. I decided to wait until the crew got up and we would make a joint decision on what we would do. Girls got up around 8.00am and I got the engine started for hot water. They made their usual breakfast and I had yet another cup of coffee, before getting some warm clothes on and preparing to make a move. The girls untied while I kept the boat against the banking with the thrusters and then it was bow out using the thruster and away we went for a slow pootle down through Bungalow Boulevard and the Thurne to turn right on the Bure. We passed quite a few boats on the river and on the way passed St Bennets, before we turned up the Ant and headed for Ludham Bridge. The height marker said 8ft and I needed 8ft, but I was confident that there would be enough space. I got on my knees behind the wheel on the fly bridge and went forwards slowly until I was sure we would get under and put the throttle forward. We cleared by a few inches and on we went up the Ant through Irstead and on to Barton Broad. We had decided to go to Sutton Staithe for lunch in the hotel and there were plenty of empty moorings. I turned the boat through 180 degrees just before the electric post and we moored up facing the way we wanted to go when leaving. The hotel was quiet and it was easy to find a table for lunch. Skye had Steak & Kidney pudding again, Chloe just had soup and bread and I had a gammon steak and chips. Lunch was very nice and washed down with a couple of pints of John Smiths. We decided we would go back to Richos for the night to avoid trying to find a mooring in what would probably be a very busy morning of returning boats, which it was. Majority of packing was done, car was brought round to the stern of the boat and we were all starting to get a little sad about our brilliant holiday being almost over. We decided to have a walk into Stalham for a look around and then we got a Chinese take-away to bring back to the boat for dinner. A few drinks, did up the dishes, watched NCIS for an hour and then it was off to bed. Woke up early on Saturday morning and got the heating on. There were no occupied boats next to us, so I started the engine at 6.30am for hot water. Breakfast and showers had, packing finished, boat cleaned up and the car was packed and ready to go by 9.00am No hurry here, as our flight was not until 5.00pm from Gatwick. I will do one more post on the boat and its techy bits tomorrow.

Hi Q, Mine is gammon steaks, pork pies and pork sausages.

Just to let you know that I have just booked Monaco from Richos from 31 March 2017 for a week. School holidays are a bu**er, but that's what I have to do.

Day 6 – Thursday April 7 Had a horrible night trying to sleep. I think between the height of the water and the wind, the rear rubbing strip and fenders were creaking like an old bed. I gave up trying to get a sleep around 3.30am, got up, made a cup of coffee and put the news on TV. Tried to look out the window, but the rain was making it difficult and the glass sun roofs were no better. Sat down on the sofa with another cup of coffee and dozed off for an hour or so. I was dressed in a track suit and wrapped in a blanket to try and keep warm and then at 5.15am, somebody relatively close by started their engine. I thought – if they can make a lot of noise – the I can make a little noise – so on went the heating. I know that 2 wrongs don’t make a right, but my heating was pretty quiet (I had verified this at Womak) and I was cold. Girls surfaced around 7.30am and – no prizes for guessing what we had for breakfast. lol. Engine was started at 8.00am (Far Horizon had already left their mooring) and we warmed up the water to do the dishes etc. Where to go today? Ranworth was the general consensus, so off we went for the number 2 gamble on the Broads – a mooring on the Staithe at Ranworth, Horning Staithe being number 1. Plenty of space on the side of the Staithe, so thrusters on and in we went. We left the engine running until we had all had a shower, dumped our rubbish in the bins and then it was off to the Maltsters for a nice lunch of Scampi for Chloe, Steak and Kidney suet pudding for Skye, Fiery Chilli (nice and hot) for me and a couple of pints of Wherry. We chilled (no pun intended) for a while after that and watched the rain come and go. A Broads Patrol boat came in and leisurely moored just to the side of us. About 15 minutes later, the 2 patrol men jumped back on their boat and with blue light flashing, they shot off at a fair rate of knots. Must have been something somewhere close by that needed their attendance. Plenty of boats coming in now and looking for a mooring, so we decided to head for Potter for the night and a visit to Lathams. A nice pootle up to Potter and plenty of space opposite the entrance to the HW yard for mooring. All tied up and off to Lathams for a little look around, but didn’t buy anything (thank god). Back on the boat and I watched an HW boat come up the river and turn into the yard. I think that some new skippers forget that a boat steers from the stern and bang – a good clout on the heading with the rear starboard quarter of the boat. Next was an X CC 45ft craft with 2 kids (without life jackets) on the stern. I watched him turn in under the bridge and it was like “slow motion”. I had time to write a book on what I could see was going to happen. BANG – the rear starboard quarter slammed the heading and one of the kids, a girl, who I suspect was in her mid-teens was thrown straight off the rear of the boat into the water, where she was able to grab the banking. There were 2 guys working on the left quay heading and they ran over the bridge and pulled her out. She was lucky, as the rest of her family on the boat were still faffing around in the basin of the yard. Steak pies, sausage rolls, chips and beans was had for dinner, before a little TV and off to bed. Night all.

Nice name Alan & Dave. Good luck.

I clicked on David's link and added day 5. It has all come back on my computer now and seems to be OK. I had received a 3 minute old like to the day 4 post and that was after it had disappeared from my computer, so maybe it was only invisible to me.

Day 5 – Wednesday April 6 Woke up early as usual and it was cold on the boat. Thought I would try something, so I put on my big coat, started the heating and went outside to see how noisy it was. I let it wind up to full power and it was OK. There was no throb of an engine, so I left it on and went back inside. Girls got up a bit later and the usual was had for breakfast. We got dressed and went to see Martin in the shop, as we had ordered 3 NBN fleeces. Clothes picked up and a few extra bits and pieces for Skye and off we went. It was decided that Wroxham and Roys was the next stop, so off we went in the rain. Down the Thurne and right on to the Bure, up through Horning and into Wroxham. Faircraft was pretty quiet and we moored up easily. Into Roys for a few bits and pieces and a go on the lottery. Back to the boat via the Chinese chippy and a delicious lunch was had by all. Showers had, boat cleaned up, water filled up and we decided to try and get a mooring in Horning for the night. Horning staithe was full, New Inn and the Ferry Inn were full, so we moored at the Ferry Marina, next to Far Horizon. It was funny weather and a squall hit us early in the evening. The sky was black and the rain and hail was passing the windscreen in a horizontal direction. 15 minutes later, the sky was turning blue and the wind had dropped to a breeze. Scary, but I had doubled up the ropes and dropped the mud weight, so we were OK. I couldn’t eat dinner because I was still full from lunch, but the girls finished off what we had bought and we watched a bit of TV and then went to bed.

Hello Admin, My blog is still missing and I was wondering if you guys have moved it somewhere. I am still ready to upload the next day, but don't know where to. If I do a search, the last post is there - but I don't know where.

Just ready to upload day 5 to my blog and it has disappeared. Been uploading all day, with no problems. Blog name is Riyadh crew onboard.

Day 4 – Tuesday April 5 Woke up at 5.30am and it was very cold on the boat. There was a live-aboard boat next to me who had moved around the Staithe 4 times since we had arrived yesterday. I put on the TV to watch the news and then at 6.00am, I thought – the heating exhaust is on the opposite side to his boat and there was no one on my starboard side, so I hit the switch and got the heating on. Girls got up an hour or so later and the “banger bash’’ was had again. Our next port of call was Loddon. We left the Staithe at just after 8.00am and all was quiet. Between Rockland and Loddon, we saw 3 moving boats and there was plenty of mooring spaces when we arrived. Tied up, showered and off into town for a look around. Skye wanted to go around the graveyard at the church (I don’t know why) and she was amazed at the dates on some of the headstones. We saw some that went back to the 17 hundreds and some of children who had died very young. It was an extremely peaceful walk and I could tell that the girls were affected (in a nice way) by it all. We stopped at Lims fish n chips on the way back and as he is from Malaysia, we were able to have a conversation with him in his native tongue (same as Indonesian). Lovely lunch was had by all. I saw that the boat named Captain Dread was moored up 2 down from us and I went and asked if the guy was called Jasper? He said yes and we had a nice little conversation about this and that. Where to go next????? It was decided to head back North and see how far we could get. I checked my tide tables and low water slack at Yarmouth was at 16.18, so I wanted to get there at 4.30pm. We left Loddon and basically went on idle all the way to Yarmouth. We had an ebbing tide all the way to the yellow post and safely through the bridges, we opened her up a bit and pushed up the bure. Very few boats moving and we made good time. It was decided to try for Womack Staithe, but I didn’t hold out much hope in finding a mooring. When we turned off the Thurne, the moorings were full and the island was also full, (the girls said ‘’have faith’’ so we kept going and low n behold, there was a space on the Staithe, so on went the thrusters and in we went to tie up for the night. Oven was put on and we had Pukka steak pies, chips and beans for dinner, before watching a bit of TV and off to bed.

Day 3 – Monday April 4 I woke up around 6.00am and it was very cold and very wet. The rain was teeming down (better than pi**ing down, but same thing). Nobody in the boat behind us, so on went the heating and I woke the girls at 7.30am. Engine was started at 8.00am and we had the usual “banger bash” for breakfast. Some of you might think it’s a bit funny with us eating loads of sausages, but the sausages you can get in Saudi are all plastic and tasteless, so we “enjoy while we can”. I had a shower and we left the mooring around 9.00am and headed for the bright lights of Norwich. (bright lights at the check-outs in the girl’s shops I may add). Very quiet trip up the river, turned around in Norwich Yacht station and tied up. “Riyadh Crew and you’re Eric” was what I heard and there was a guy standing on the quay side that I had never seen before. It was Vaughan, who had spied Commodore and had obviously read in the forum to see who was on her. It was good to meet him and we had a nice chat about the forum and bits n pieces. Lovely bloke and thanks for coming to say hello. Another face to a name, which is no bad thing. We had a damp walk into the centre and the girls disappeared into Topshop. I stayed outside and had 3 fags whilst waiting for the inevitable “can you come and pay”. Wallet was wheezing and trying to find an excuse so it could stay in my pocket, but needs must and the stuff they bought is much cheaper than Riyadh. Shopping in Norwich is one of the highlights of their week, so I won’t deny them their pleasure. M&S was next and I got 6 vests and a 7 pack of socks (all I needed). Back to the market and Skye got a nice baseball cap. Chloe got some thick soft wool and knitting needles and then we had hot dogs, before heading for the Scotch shop, so I could buy a tipple. Cardhu, which is my favourite was only in a 750ml size and I thought that was too much to drink in 4 days, so I bought a 200ml bottle (24 pounds and worth it) of nice Cragganmore Speyside malt which was absolutely brilliant and hit the spot every night for the rest of the week. Headed back to the boat via the Cathedral and took a wrong turn. We ended up walking for a couple of miles down the riverside. I kept the Cathedral spire on my right and we had a lovely walk for an hour. Next stop was Rockland Staithe and the New Inn for dinner. Moorings were almost empty when we arrived, but filled up as the afternoon went on. Pub has changed hands recently and whilst the food and presentation is not as flamboyant as before, it was still good, as was the beer. Watched a bit of NCIS on TV and then off to bed. Good night all.

Day 2 – Sunday April 3rd Heading south today, but no point in an early start as we wanted to go through Yarmouth at around 2.30pm on slack water, so frying pan out and loads of sausages put on for the usual crew breakfast. An entire pack of 12 (big ones) was cooked and I had 2, so no ‘’O’’ level maths required to guess what the girls had. Lol. Nice fresh Hovis bread with sausages and ketchup - was delicious sausage butty. Topped up with water and headed off around 11.00am. We pootled with the tide all the way down to the Stracey Arms on idle and moored up for a while to let the girls go to the shop for a look – see. Left around 1.00pm and pootled down to Yarmouth to get there at 2.20pm, so not bad. Easy crossing on Breydon with the radio blaring and the girls singing their hearts out. Big SMILES everywhere and a great time was being had by all, especially as a can of Kronenburg 1664 had mysteriously found its way into my hand and the girls were drinking Irn-Bru like it was going to evaporate if they didn’t. Our destination for today was the Ferry House at Surlingham, where we were joining 2 very special people for dinner, with pre-ordered Ribeye steaks on the menu. Easy trip with the tide all the way up through Reedham, past Cantley, through Brundal, arriving at the Ferry House around 5.00pm. I was looking for a mooring when I saw the reserved sign for Commodore right in front of the pub with just about enough space for our 45ft boat. There were around 30 people sitting at the outdoor tables and I thought “I only got this boat yesterday and I have to moor in front of an audience without co*king-up”. On went the thrusters and in I went side ways for what I would say was a very good mooring. Our host for the night and another gent took the ropes from the girls and we were safely tied up. At last, I was able to greet John (the Admiral) in person and after introducing him to the crew, I said hello to his lovely wife Mary-Jane. We had a delicious dinner and a couple of “Little Sharpies” and then it was off to bed, as we wanted to get an early start for Norwich in the morning. Great day with a beautiful ending and this is why we all love the Broads. More to come.

The beginning – Friday, April 1st 2016 Car picked us up at 9.30pm and it was an uneventful drive to the airport and an equally uneventful check-in for the flight to Istanbul. Luggage for the kids and I was booked straight through to Gatwick and my wife’s was booked through to Milan. A couple of coffees and a couple of hours later and boarding was called. Flight took off on time at 1.15am (now April 2nd) and away we went. Landed in Istanbul and time for a quick fag but no beer. The plane from Saudi is a ‘’no alcohol flight” and I was dying for a cold beer. Anyways, wife went for her flight to Milan and we headed for our gate for Gatwick. Day 1 – Saturday April 2nd Flight was again on time and we landed at 9.15am. Off to the car hire to pick up our Vauxhall Insignia at Enterprise Car Rental, but alas – it was not to be. Last time, we were upgraded to a Merc and this time, we were upgraded to an Infinity Q50. What a beautiful car and I’ll stick my neck out and say it’s as good if not better than the Merc. (2.2ltr turbo diesel with a 7 or 8 speed auto) M 25 not too bad and a good run all the way, with a stop at the burger van just after the Thetford monument (delicious). Arrived at Richo’s just before 1.00pm and boat was ready. Asked for a show round, so we could go to Tesco and was told to do the Tesco run first, as they had 67 boats going out. Tesco done and back to the boat for a good show round. No trial required, so off we went, (beer in hand - heaven) heading for our dinner at Acle Bridge. Helmed from the Fly bridge and it was cold, but my new NBN waterproof coat did its job. No moorings at the pub, but managed to get the space at the second water hose, just in front of where Horizon start to moor their boats. Showers had and off to the pub for what was a delicious dinner and service from Sue. I have to say that the Bridge Inn takes some beating when it comes to pubs on the Broads. Raining quite heavy on the way back to the boat, but not far to go and then it was “good night from them”.

Just got home to the house in Riyadh. Security scare in Istanbul, so the flight was delayed. Got to have a few hours kip and then I'll start my blog of the week.

Love it Timbo.

Hi John, Writing this from Womak. It was great to meet you at last and please pass on our regards to Mary-Jane. She is an angel. My wallet was hammered in Norwich, but that was to be expected. We left there just after lunch and got to Rockland to find plenty of space. However, it did fill up later in the afternoon. Food in the New Inn was basic-but good, as was the Wherry. Wallet will get hit again this morning in Martin's shop.

Well done Mark. Looks spot-on to me.

We are at Surlingham and will go to Norwich in a couple of hours. I agree that the rivers are nice and quiet.

Just moored up at Acle - near the water hoses. Will get showered and then go for dinner.