ChrisB

I have a very large hedged garden with large plantings of shrubbery. I over the last 3 years or so have scrapped my 2 stroke power tools and bought professional quality rechargeable. They are not cheap my hedge cutter was £475, Charger £120 and battery £175 but worth every penny, you pick it up in spring and it works. I now have a chain saw, strimmer and pruner as well all on rechargable, interchangable battery. And the reduction in noise is wonderful. If I did not have so much grass I would love to go electic for mowing.

You mention a Japanese saw, I watched a fasinating documentary on Japanese wood working. It seems many tools that we would push like a plane they would pull. It showed a "Planing Competition" in fact it looked like they were working on masts as the wood was very long and round. The craftsman walked backwards dragging his plane which was two handed but much larger than our spokeshave and another held up the cigarette paper thin shaving that came off as one continuous piece more like the swarf off a lathe cutting mild steel when you have speed and feed spot on. I wonder what the Japanese Craftmen who learn their skills over many many years and have a status like that of surgeons in their society would think of the De Walt and Makita power tool competitions so beloved in parts of the US.

Perhaps not if you were looking for a sheltered landfall in a SW blow and aiming for Bremerhavn having discounted the Staande Mast for speed on passage to Keil. This is an easy do in a boat like that is being discussed for a Baltic holiday. Remember also in a blow your cruising speed could be well under half that in benign conditions.

I love the wildness of the Pennine moors, the timeless certainty of the moorland farm/ homestead. Except for the wind, the call of the Red Grouse and in summer the haunting call of the Curlew, to walk free through the purple heather in approaching Autumn. But M62!

I guess that is the difference between being 38 and 68! But the following being as second nature to me as driving to the supermarket makes me feel safe, reading the lights and marks into harbour in the dark does the same. And my Reeds has been my very best friend for over 40 years, can't turn my back on it now.m

Robin, You are obviously very set on this. May I offer a piece of advice? As you reside in London why not join The Little Ship Club. They are just off Upper Thames Street EC4 you will meet all sorts there and they have some wonderful speakers from time to time. Also when you wish to go "back to the smoke" their accommodation is very reasonable for London. They run all types of courses and if you want to go foreign you should really be able to navigate with paper chart, parallel rules, and protractor and transfer your electronic data to paper. At sea, unless you are truely "Blue Water" and especially around our crowded coastline you need to know where you are at all times and should those electronics go down!!!!! Which Ss law says they will probably in a North Sea Haar you are not lost. And in any case knowing how to navigate traditionally is very satisfying.

You remind me of the Elephants Graveyard that was inland from San Diego. It was full of abandoned dreams of sailing away. There were a number of given up restorations but most were Ferro home construction. The trouble with the ferro craze of the 70s was the hull was all uncosted own labour. A couple would have a dream of escape and decide on a 30ft design. Unfortunately they then realised it was only a few dollars more to go up 50% and build a 45 footer. But then came the problem the fit out costs had not gone up 50% it was more like 300 to 400%, the dream was now a nightmare and the storage costs mounting so they walked away, as in the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. "A sadder and a wiser man he woke the morrow dawn"

As usual I do not wish to cause some heated debate but let me say this: I was brought up in Chorley Wood that straddles Bucks and Herts. In the 50s 60s and 70s it was a wonderful rural area all be it connected to london by the Metropolitan line. In the 80s the M25 cut through between Chorley Wood and Rickmandworth and changed the area to what is really a Greater London Suburb. For most of my married life I lived high on top of The Chilterns at Bledlow Ridge. Again it was wonderfully rural until the M40 was pushed through from High Wycome to Birmingham. With it came development, Thame to name one small town change completely. I am not saying that we did not need these roads but Nothing and I mean Nothing changes an area like high speed conecting roads and the danger with an area like Norfolk is you change forever what visitors come to the area to enjoy.

I have owned a Mercruiser Outdrive and a Yanmar Saildrive. Timely maitenance is crucial to both. Once you basically start putting the drive through two 90 degree bends you start to increase friction , heat, wear the whole gambit. Also why compromise the integrity of the hull with big holes? Both saildrives and outdrives are as you say thousands when they fail. I would never have another.

Volvo marine engines are not cheap for spares, I think any high speed marine oil burner especially if turbo assisted is a fairly expensive business, that is why my preference would always be for a rigorously maintained single in a Nordhavn or Grand Banks style of boat. In the size of boat that you have set your sights on Robin a single would produce huge savings in fuel and maintenance and most likely a substantially longer range.

That was not the original idea at all, personally I hope not as it will only add to the Urbanisation of Norfolk and you will see Wroxham, Salhouse, Woodbastwick and many other small towns, villages and hamlets, Coltishall for instance become suburbs of an ever expanding Norwich. I can see there then being a call to resurect the old Bure Crossing between Wroxham and Horning opening up vast development in northern Broadland.

They have no plans for this to happen I was told. The clue is in the name "Distributor Road" Not ByPass. It is being built to distribute the commuters to and from the 22000 homes planned along it's route not to provide a Northern Bypass alternative to the Southern A47 Bypass.

Since giving up the sea and moving inland I have noticed how much more "Cleaning Maintenance" inland boats need. I never got all this green on decks and canvas and cockpits filling with leaf mould. On the other hand the sea takes it's toll on gear especially standing rigging as you fall off steep waves etc. And at sea "I will do that, or service the engine next year" simply is not good enough.

My deep and sincere condolences. My thoughts will be with you at this very sad time. As you know I lost my wife and best friend of 50 years on 23rd November last to Cancer, we met on bonfire night 1966, I was 17 she was still just 15. It was only this morning, actually looking at the sell by date on a steak that I realised it was my 68th birthday a week on Saturday. It then occured to me that my birthday 23rd September will never be without saying "Exactly 10 months since I lost Judith" next year will be "1 year 10 months etc." I wish you strength to face the sadness and loss that the immediate future holds, it is not easy but you learn to manage it. I shall think of you as all your friends raise their glasses and ask everyone to excuse me as you all know that, I have found, on a personal level, that grief and chronic loneliness is not a good basis for me to drink "Home Alone". Kindest regards, Chris.

What a fantatastic place for a range! No noise to cause problems and you would be hard pressed to get a stray in there.

Just got back from Cart Gap. Went to see the new D-Class delivery. They also had their Atlantic 75 upgraded to an 85 in May. A very well provided station.

A lot of guns were handed in to the Police and registered firearms dealers to be scrapped. When I moved to Norfolk I had nowhere to use hence need my BRNO .22LR so gave up my FAC. Also on my FAC was my Anshutz No3 bore 9mm garden gun so that got scrapped. It was a shame but it could not go on my shotgun certificate due to the barrel being less than 24 inches. Interestingly another gun on our shoot applied for an FAC to take over my rifle but was refused on the grounds "that on revue 4 rifles were too many on the 950 acres as the head keeper had two and the land owner one" so effectively they reduced their true firearm owners by one on that land.

Up early this morning to join the queue of old'uns waiting for this years flu (illness not boiler) protector! I always just do a short sleeve T shirt with a Musto Snug over so as not to hold up proceedings. Sat at home waiting in T shirt and had to put on the heating. Driving to Mundesley Medical Centre at 08.00 this morning the car said 8C. Rain has stopped up here but the wind has got up again!

That is a hand hurting round, I used to fire one at the range in Little Chalfont. I shot .303 from a Lee Enfield short mag. MK 4 for the School at Bisley. Modified .303s were used, not prone but in a most uncomfortable looking lying position by some shooters at up to a mile. It used to be hard work working the targets up and down in the Butts with rounds flying over you. The highlight was sometimes the Armourer would let us have a go at the running deer targets that were deer going along a miniture railway track. .303 ammunition is like gold dust now. We had a Lee Enfield at home that had been converted to a .410 shotgun, but it was useless except at sitters being much too heavy.

The .22LR always carried a warning on the box flap "Dangerous within 1 mile" the .22 short was the original Smith and Wesson round from about 1850. I would have thought that this accident would have been cause by a .22LR (long rifle) because most hunters would not use a short round in their gun as it creates a "jump" from chamber to rifling leading to bad leading and inaccuracy. At about 28gr Vs 40gr for the LR and a generally lower muzzle velocity due to the much smaller case a short would have difficulty traveling a mile. The Short is often refered to as a "Gallery Round" because of its target use generating 50 to 60 ft/lbs at the muzzle as opposed to a Long Rifle at over 100 ft/lbs. Nowadays the .22 has been displaced for control purposes by the .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire (HMR) whilst only 17gr it's velocity of 2550fps is twice that of the .22LR as is it's 250 ft/lbs energy. Given that the the law requires unlicenced Air Weapons to generate no more than 12 ft/lbs for a rifle and 6 ft/lbs for a pistol you can understand that given the power of these small bore rifles why in this crowded country an FAC is very difficult to acacquire. Comparison Short.22 V .22LR

You could keep theme going and re-name her "Huge Ambition" but not before you have (according to Newfoundland lobstermen) found a virgin to wee in the bilges.

What do you mean by Central? You may be experiencing a problem because moorings tend to run Jan to Dec or April to March. End of contract time is always best as folk move or give up boating. A personal visit to a marina always works best. I am at Broadsedge, it is very well kept and has quite a large turnover but it is not central, it is Stalham, up the Ant, that is a game stopper for some people. If but central you mean Horning then they are quickly snapped up.

The Trader is a proper ship, she can take you all over in comfort and safety. We had an ambition to take our Berwick through France to the Med but with a young family, house and all the rest of the baggage it never happened. And before you know it you look round and it is too late. Do it while you can, you sound like you have researched it well, not doing it on impulse, so best of luck.

Barton Charter Yacht Regatta still takes place every year. It is the 7th to 14 October this year. Martham and Eastwood Whelpton provide most boats.

Here on the North Norfolk coast it is 06.13 we have 40mph and just had a gust of 58mph regular gusts of 56mph.