JennyMorgan

John, re that plot of land against Lake Lothing, it didn't make its asking price and the Auctioneers have asked people with any interest to get in touch with them. There might be ownership worries re the boundary against the railway. A very close look at the legal pack is strongly recommended. Should you buy that land, in principle probably ideal, then you might consider buying a second boat as storage, effectively a static floating shed. Your car & trailer will be welcome. I might be glad to borrow the trailer occasionally albeit rarely, mine is very small.

Unless policies have changed recently both Oulton Broad and Beccles Yacht Stations allow residential boaters to over winter. Not what you want but I do know of one 'older' residential boater who's plight was reported to Welfare. Welfare very quickly found suitable accommodation for the old boy. He still goes off boating during the summer! A devious plan perhaps? Re self storage, a grand or so a year. Come the autumn you could buy 'new' winter gear from the charity shops, that could be a plan worth considering! You'd have to really go some to spend even half a grand on replacement cloths and we'd all think you a real dandy! Whilst I can offer you some storage space, a couple of Volvo Estate's worth. I can also offer you a car parking space for the summer whilst you are gadding about the Broads. I wish that I could do more. Suggesting suitable winter accommodation for retired gentlefolk is no easy task around here, unless you are loaded!

My number one daughter has used these people several times and was well pleased. https://www.need2store.co.uk/

And that is from a man who does know!

Are you suggesting that Nyx has a military DPM appearence then?

Not quite so discrete when surrounded by acres of burnished while gel, buffed stainless and spotless fend-offs!

Indeed there was, great to watch, most impressive. The two boats were being used by folk who were clearly fit and knew what they were doing, can't say that of some of the paddle boarders. To drive a kite board as those two were needed both experience and ability, they could not have done what they were doing otherwise! By heck they could shift, 35 mph plus? if only I was fifty years younger!!

Had a pair of Essex's finest at the end of my garden yesterday, Apart from the dreaded F word every other Effing word, at some volume, they were vaguely fun to watch and it was good to see them enjoying the Broad. One had a new board that cost him effing £400.00 notes, know what I mean, continually telling his mate that he should effing buy similar. They told me that they had come up from their cruiser that was moored at the Wherry Hotel and both were clearly struggling after half a mile or so of paddling, and cursing. One tied up to my mooring buoy, the other tied up to a neighbour's moored sailing boat before having a leisurely swim and lounge about. I suppose I could have been arsey about it but hey, it was a perfect summer's day and they were friendly, just rather loud, Essex style! The one who had the inflatable told be it was great because he could keep it in his bedroom and go boarding when he felt like it, which can't have been that often judging by the lack of stamina. Eventually they set off, one kneeling rather than standing, straight out into the middle of the Broad. I can see the attraction of it, not sure that I'll bother again. One thing is clear though, guidelines are needed. I don't see sailing boats staying yards away, rather they will do what they always do, just miss!

Don't worry, you haven't been blackballed!

Perhaps not the oiks and riffraff.

Those who go out on a Saturday can not all be trash, surely? Mind you, I haven't been out on a Saturday night since Christmas!

Yes, any of us could die of any number of afflictions but the fact is that Corona Virus can or even will, on top of those ailments, help us on our way. There is no good reason to belittle the threat of corona virus, especially for those of us who are vulnerable.

Sod social distancing, it's a contact sport. Best come South!

And now they are mixing it with novice paddle-boarders!

Couldn't agree more and to your list I would inevitably add Whitlingham Pits, all those waters are probably ideal plus but regretfully all are private waters. There appears to be the keen types and a growing number of very casual boarders who stop and start and head for the middle of a waterway. The keen types are both able and largely sensible, aware of the hazards, but clearly in the minority. I'm not good on my legs and fully expected to go swimming knowing full well that I could climb back aboard but not back into a standing position but what the heck, the water is warm! For self preservation I stayed close to the bank but I was very much of the stop and start school of thought! One thing is clear, paddle-boarding does require a degree of fitness and fit I am not! In the meantime both the BA's Navigation Committee and the NSBA might care to comment.

Perhaps a mast and sail, or a kite rather than an electric motor for paddle-boards? A trapeze would be good too.

What clown came up with that one!? There are a hell of a lot of powered craft out there under 15 meters and not just on the Broads. More confusing than Boris's lockdown rules!

As one who at least tried it, I paddled from one end of Oulton Broad to the other this afternoon. Think I'll stick to my kayak in the future! Number three daughter paddled back to my set-off point and she too found it hard going. PS, neither of us fell in!

It certainly is hence my question about liability. It does concern me because, like you, I do see an accident in the making. Those who hire paddle-boards may not directly cause an accident but they do provide the means.

Vaughan has raised a valid point but we have to be careful what we wish for, namely restricting people's right to navigate. You restrict paddle boarders then who comes next? I do wonder about liability in the case of any boat, paddle board or whatever, that is hired out. Sailboat racing on Oulton Broad is restricted at the moment but even so problems are apparently being encountered by those going out, e.g. paddle boarders falling off, possibly panicking, literally in front of on coming boats, both sail and power. One of the problems with paddle boarders mixing it with the conventional boats is their sheer unpredictability, e.g. when will it come to a sudden halt, especially when the boarder falls off?

In days of old and waste not, want not, it was quite usual for dead wherries and other end of life boats to be used as a basis for creating a jetty or reinforcing a river wall. Imagine, if you will, the uproar if redundant grp boats were similarly repurposed in this day and age. Those abandoned wherries will one day return to nature, the same can't be said of the millions of synthetic boats that will eventually die .

We have 'bottle banks', why not old boat banks? That would be preferable to old boats being abandoned wherever, talking of which surely the last recorded owner could and perhaps should be regarded as having fly-tipped the old boat? Old boat banks would provide places where end of life boats would go to be dismantled and old hulls cut up. Once a month or whatever the scrap would be picked up for treating as waste at a regional centre. In the long run quite probably cheaper than retrieving wrecks from reedbeds or even from the bottom of the river. For a kick-off the relevant bylaws probably need revising and strengthening. We have funeral plans for us humans, why not for our boats? Any better ideas?

A sound, thought provoking article. Extending the lives of both wood and grp is expensive, often much more than the resale value of the boat. We take car scrapping as the norm, inevitably this will apply to boats, eventually.

Or paddles?

Re the potential life of a grp boat I think that the following link is worth a read: https://www.godownsize.com/fiberglass-boats-durability/