JennyMorgan

Apparently it's the ensign of the former British Colony of Hong Kong. Says it all really!

I'm sure that it is well intended but part from being an ex copper I wonder what qualification or training these good people have? Dodgy blue ensign? Probably not in itself but doesn't a boat have a registered British ship before it can fly a defaced ensign and aren't there minimum size restrictions? It may well prove itself to be a valuable add-on to what we already have but I can't help feeling that as an organisation it's punching well above its weight.

Does anyone actually know what is happening there? I had intended to visit Berney but for various reasons my summer's boating never really got under way this year so haven't headed North. Add to that a pub would have been a draw whilst, to be honest, a cafe that was probably not open in the evening and with no provenance was hardly going to be a big attraction. Anyway, can't really judge, as I haven't yet been there, but some of the comments on the web have been less than complimentary. In the past it's always been a good day trip from Oulton Broad or the obvious stop-off when going North but so far this year we haven't gone any further than St Olaves, Berney being an unknown quantity.

Spot on, Charlie. I'm not adverse to neighborhood watch type set ups though. That said those that I know of have all died a death, especially when the sun refused to shine.

My daughter & I cover her wooden sailing cruiser up with a large tarpaulin that must by now be at least 15 years old and it's still got stacks of life left in it. Same PVC stuff as lorry tarps are made of. I suppose GRP & stainless can survive neglect but really it all boils down to whether you care for your boat or not. Come spring I reckon that you'll be glad that you covered your boat. Far too many people abandon their boats in the autumn & expect them to look pristine in the spring, it just doesn't happen like that!

Just a thought, on the Broads we have 'yacht stations', does that add or detract from the debate? Should they really be called 'river stations', or in the case of Oulton Broad, a 'broad station'?

In days of old I knew Berney station as Berney Halt, even if the BBC said otherwise! Only the end of the line stations would have been stations! Us Suffolk boys being bright, what with it being a request stop where trains halted their journeys!

Lou, how do you think the locals avoided the Fuzz! Lovely stuff, blook wot tork propper!

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/?hc_ref=ARQuYSD_sntjNqphaaAxS06mF43yeWhVplCQycuvz7Cl3GWP6m5fyRgBCz65pmbEPDs&fref=nf You will have to scroll down to yesterdays date. Sorry but I'm unable to find a direct link. Hope that you can find it.

Not if her hands were full!

As one who, when out taking close-up action photographs, was caught in the trough created by Madie as she went past on a broad reach in a fair old puff I can only add 'not all'. Even Mike, the owner, thought that he'd finally got me!

That's why sailies are sailies!

Of all the low wash hulls on the Broads those of the Martham boats built in the 1950's still take some beating. Their boats can really glide along!

It has long been said that the joy of sailing is in the journey whilst the joy in motorboating is in the arriving!

With respect, Paladine, we are fast heading towards a discussion that really is outside the fairly loose criteria required of a Broads Forum, here or elsewhere. Apart from yourself, few, if any of us are in anyway qualified to comment on the legal niceties that you have highlighted. Let's stick to the facts that have been made public. Mr Barrett has pleaded guilty and he has been sentenced. Clearly you and I have varying, even opposing opinions, let's leave it at that.

And I was at Lound Lakes so no, I didn't see you. Best not try again tomorrow, it's speedboats! Me, when I'm out then I will probably be out on the Broad in either of these, waggle your masthead at me:

Why would he need reminding?

Paladine, do you know for sure that Mr Barrett wasn't read his rights? You are not normally a man to make unsubstantiated guesses.

Did you hoist on Oulton Broad? Just that there was a Pegasus 800 on the Broad the other day, seemed to be doing everything right, despite the lack of wind. My wife has had rods put in her back as well as osteoarthritis in her hands, the curse of being a hairdresser, and I have it in my legs yet we both still get out there, just a case of doing what we can and not doing what we can't! The main on the Pegasus is relatively small, a full sized genoa might prove to be a problem for your wife so you might benefit from a smaller jib. Whatever, enjoy your new acquisition. At 46 you are still a spring chicken!

So long as it is a discussion rather than a passing down of judgement and sentence.

At the end of the day Nick will have to look at his partner & child for the rest of his life. Locking him up would have gained nothing, just depriving his family of their father and partner. The Coastguard report is clear, and fair in my opinion. For once the press coverage has not been far off the mark. The original news of the crash was published on this forum and it was only right that the outcome was therefore made equally public. Whatever our opinions nothing is going to change. The family remains intact, all credit to them both.

I wasn't there, but I wasn't far away, near enough to hear it all. Indeed I , along with others, made statements to the authorities. The investigation was thorough, door knocking every house in the vicinity for example. My immediate neighbour's son was the 'brave person' who rowed out to the casualties. The court costs were hardly light! The actual Coast Guard report is here: https://hmcoastguard.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/suspended-sentence-for-suffolk-man.html Vaughan's comment re searchlights is apt. If I had my way I would have a blanket ban on spotlights, searchlights and headlights on all Broads boats. Granted that it was probably ignorance but having encountered a sports cruiser with headlights after the fireworks at Oulton Broad on Bank Holiday Monday I am tempted to refer to the owner as being 'a clown with headlights'!

http://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/man-sentenced-following-boat-crash-on-oulton-broad-which-left-partner-with-fractured-skull-after-she-was-thrown-into-the-water-1-5178122

Nick should have known better, plain and simple. It be will interesting to see if the Authority now prosecutes or if anything else develops.

The fish was generally a bass bag full of prime fish that crew members were allowed to take home. They were generally paid for with joints of beef. Now, where did the beef come from? The barter system for prime food was alive and well at North Cove back then, probably a hangover from WWII. My uncle was a farmer and he live just up the road at South Cove, he was very partial to a decent sole! For me it was ginger beer. Strangely enough I was speaking to an old boy today who, with his father, used to poach both the Somerleyton and Benacre estates, using ammunition and a sniper's gun that the father had been supplied with by HM Government should the dastardly Hun have invaded. His cache of ammunition lasted well into the late 1960's. I got the impression that the food chain started with pheasants!