JennyMorgan

The above shows the location of the Yacht Station at Oulton Broad. The boatshed on the left is still there, albeit rebuilt over the years. If you look over too the right you'll see the railway line that is there to this day. I suspect this picture was taken about 1900. Today we see it more like this:

For some reason I'm not able to edit the above. I just wanted to make the point that as a sailing boat, with a max speed of about six miles per hour flogging a foul tide is hard work, not a problem for the bigger boats though. Re that cod fishing, quite a flotilla of small boats used to go out from Oulton Broad each Sunday for the cod back in the 1950's & 60's. We kept an eye on each other, thirty plus cod in half a tide was good fishing. Sadly those days are long past.

As a youngster my father used to take me sea-fishing in the launch, central foreground of this picture: No lifejackets, mobile phones or radio, just a compass in case the fog came in. Morris Vedette engine, single prop. Morris Mynah. the rating difference between one Elysian and another might be nothing more than the size of the engine. Re sea trips, I wouldn't have gone on the recent cruise in company that was highlighted in Anglia Afloat. Not to do with seaworthiness or weather, quite simply because I would have been flogging the tide all the way to Lowestoft. I like the tide to be my friend!

John, on this one Strowager speaks with much wisdom. If there is a universal Broads rod then I suppose the John Wilson Avon/Quiver is as near as any out there. They come up on e-bay quite regularly. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTERLINE-JOHN-WILSON-AVON-QUIVER-With-2-tops-/291206293498?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item43cd3f67fa

Dave, I don't know for sure but 1922 springs to mind.

John. scour this link for hints & help: http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/news-and-publications/publications-and-reports/conservation-publications-and-reports/water-conservation-reports/50.-Angle-on-the-Broads.pdf Personally I'd head towards Avenue Angling either in the City or at Ellough just outside Beccles, top people. For £50.00 you ought to be able to get a good starter kit.

John, Fladden gear is normally very good but that basic kit is a spinning rod and really two short for general fishing. 3m really is the minimum that you would need.

Apparently there are some right little Wussernames as well as a major and minor one. John, only 35 years?

This museum is well worth a slight detour if you are visiting the Broads: http://www.aviationmuseumguide.co.uk/museum_flixton.php

Much too deep, he's married to Mrs Wussername

Just don't let Major, Minor or even Minimus take up carp fishing, that would be surefire decimation of your already meagre pension! A pensioner's licence is, if my addled brain remembers right, £18.00. Mrs W might like to treat her Mr W to one for his birthday present, even if it's a few months in advance. Not as good as a bus pass but still pretty useful. Might pay to buy a 2m 'whip' for Minor, just a few quid in Lathams.

No experience but have heard masonry paint being recommended before. Interesting.

Corfu, which river is that on? Can we moor there? Reckon Old Wussername has been Old Wussername for so long he's probably forgotten the real name he was born with! Before he was Old Wussername he was quite likely Young Wussername. In response to your kind enquiry, Old Wussername, how am I a doin on? Werra fare t'middlin, me ol' bor! Got to laugh, right rather than left clicked to post and was asked if I wanted to translate the above into English? Do I like as 'eck, that is already English, proper English! The Only Way is Broads

By the way, Old Wussername, glad to see that you've found your way over here.

Old Wussername, along with Thingummyjig & Ol' Whatsit, are well known Norfolk names. Blarst, Bor, always recognise a 'furriner' when they dun't recognise a local name!

When Concord was nearing the end of its career one flew low over Oulton Broad, more particularly the road that I live in. The pilot's mother lived nearby. Concord came in low and slow, until the pilot lifted it's nose and gave it some welly, what a finale! On another occasion I was a licensee at the Waveney River Centre and the Red Arrows used to perform over Oulton Broad. In order to make a dramatic arrival at Oulton Broad they formed up over the WRC and then hedge hopped over the marshes to Oulton. That in itself was pretty awesome and later that evening the whole team dropped in to apologize, and a very good night it was too. The following year rather than just form up they came in low and then stood up on their tails, after burners on and went high. The pub more than shook, incredible! I can quite understand Strowager's comments about other aircraft in similar circumstances. The two incidents that I have highlighted have stood out in my memory as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.

Dave, my food intake was the aforementioned round of toast

I went canoeing this morning, apart from a round of toast my carbon footprint for the trip was pretty low. Indeed my toast probably created more carbon than was used by my footprint.

Just checked the NSBA website: http://www.thegreenbook.org.uk/ No, NSBA, I shall stick with my old flag! Anyway, that's their prices, you'll have to judge prices, quality, value etc. for yourselves. Whilst you are looking at the NSBA website have a root round, good organisation for us boatowners. If you don't know it their 'Green Book' is a gold-mine of information & worth the sub alone, in my opinion.

Just to be fair to the NBF & their £20.00 'lesser' quality flags, they are made the traditional way, e.g. stitched and apart from fading after several years use wear very well. As for the £20.00.00, presumably a fund-raiser for that forum. If my memory serves me right NSBA, Norfolk & Suffolk Boating Association flags are £9.00 but they are printed, and provided that you don't put them on a hot wash survive very well too. I can honestly say that I see very few NBN burgees, maybe people don't want to spoil them by flying them!

Someone is bound to, sooner or later!

Have you ever watched an egg being hatched? The chick within the egg will control the initial break-out by uncannily cutting an accurate circle around the end of the egg, 'tis why their beaks are shaped as they are. Absolutely fascinating to watch. If a baby chick can do it then so can a brainy human! We do it with the tap of a knife! P.S. Like you I am suspicious, sceptical might be a better word.

We are privileged in that our boating takes place on the Broads, an area with numerous wildlife and environmental accolades to its credit. I suspect that will save us from the threat of fracking, but on the other hand those various accolades might also inflict unwelcome conservation burdens upon us, and I don't expect that we shall have much choice in the matter.

True, but if I were to buy a Range-Rover, for example, then I would fully expect to pay a greater road-fund than I do for my humble Dacia, only £30.00 per year! In other words road fund tax is set to encourage 'greener' cars, I can foresee the same applying to boats. We may not like the use of price as a control/deterrent but it is a fact of life. I think it would be grossly unfair to apply such a charge retrospectively but the 'green' excuse to push charges up is not unknown. My own view is that we have to restrict excessive use of carbon fuels, however it's used, but that is simply a personal opinion.

We all want power, we rush from one mooring to another, plugging in as soon as we get there. Quite simply we can't have it both ways. From a Broads perspective I have long thought that the carbon emissions of a boat should reflect in its tolls. If we use power then it has to be replaced, plain & simple.