grendel

Thursday Fleet dyke to Wroxham, Via Ranworth-(no spaces) and the Ferry Inn Horning Early Morning Fleet Dyke Exiting Ranworth, no room at the inn - Onward ho. All sorts of fishing at the Ferry Inn Purdy Keeping Watch Pike caught opposite the Hotel moorings at Wroxham, this one had well and truly swallowed the hook

Wednesday, early start in the mist, Rockland to fleet dyke, via stokesbury Follow that light or those lights, anyone seen the banks recently Purdy had manged to get a tick, and had it removed and was recieving daily cream on the afflicted area if anyone wonders about the small bald patch above her eye

Tuesday Thorpe to Norwich, then down to Rockland Nearly free again

No pics Sunday- so Monday Beachamp arms to Thorpe Green Trapped, it got as high as 5'3" The skippers make a break for freedom in the dinghy

Saturday- PH to Acle Bridge - Reedham

now for the pictures of the week, Friday, cruising BA down to Potter Heigham, pictures taken from Dougs new boat

looks like you got the spot we had yesterday, we have been very lucky this week withthe weather, only 1 wet day, and one morning where we had ice on the decks and roof

I tooam back home so will be available next week.

well thats another lads week finished, I reckon some of the others should be home, and the rest due home shortly, it was a great week, mishaps adding some adventure to the mix. what you have to remember is that a number of the lads either own or have shares in boats, we all know well how easily things can go wrong, but Herbert woods enginneers pulled the whole of lads week out of some tricky spots through the week, and we managed to carry on and complete most of the nav plan (well the parts thaat werent disrupted by high water levels), so we missed nothing that was planned through the, we wouldnt have got up to cotishall anyway as the bridge clearances would not permit, so we missed nothing that was planned through the mishaps to jewel 3, and she is now once again in excellent shape for her next hire. I was totalling up and over the week we managed to visit aat least 14 pubs (though not everyone went to every pub. we had some great fishing and catches, and for the rest not covered by the above , a relaxing week.

i got a text yesterday inviting me to a booster jab this morning, unfortunately I have only just got home from Norfolk, so missed it, I will have to get hold of the surgery and talk to them as thats both the flu jab and covid booster missed due to being on lads week.

Thanks Meg, it was good meeting another solo boater, so I appreciate that help is much appreciated when received, we had a lovely meal at acle bridge, as usual in costumes, wild west this year, a good meal and great fun, we sail for Herbert woods at first light, and so will end our trip this morning, next to pack and get ready for the trip home. We will all have new memories to treasure, and friends to remember.

After a pub lunchtime it was time to be off, in all of the manovering to get 2 46' and a 40' boat from the side moorings, one of the lads was fending off and managed to slip and sploosh, into the drink, Man overboard routine was enthusiastically put into operation, with no fewer than 5 people pointing to the m.o.b, rescue was put into effect and within a very short time the casualty was out of the water, and soon after that back aboard his own boat, sent to have a warm shower despite his protests that the water really was quite warm. Anyway we are currently moored up outside the pub with 2 hours to get ready and into our costumes for our lads night meal out.

The most of a day was spent in the pub at reedham, rather than the one at Loddon, so no loss there, the delay there didn't cause the change of plans, that was down to high River levels and getting stuck at Thorpe,

Not literally bumped into, figuratively

Well early departure from wroxham as BA were watching the height gauge, so we left just after 8, destination ranworth. We arrived at ranworth to find plenty of spaces, and bumped into Meg from Norfolk Dream

The majority of work will be left to the winter maintenance, as we are hiring at the end of a busy season, you can expect issues to develop, so probably by this time of the year maintenance is reactive.

Every year we go through the boats before handback and compile a list of work that is needed for the engineers,, from cosmetic to functional, like a windscreen panel that was replaced with perspex and is now starting to get scratched up, to door catches that need new springs. Vaughan is I think correct in his diagnosis of the toilet, the gearbox issue went from slight vibration when we left (we had noticed the stern gland dripping excessively before we left and had it tightened), to excessive vibrations as they crossed breydon, we had been on the go as we went from PH straight to reedham, something obviously shifted at that point to make the vibrations worse, one bolt had sheared on the universal coupling, at this point in the middle of breydon, there was not much option other than to continue to reedham. It was obvious that this was the result of some previous incident, probably not reported to the yard on return. As for recompense, we have generally ( through dint of hiring the same boats year in and year out, ) managed to get concessions - like our Friday afternoon boarding so we are ready to be off early Saturday, and not paying for the hounds. Each is renegotiated at the end of the trip. Lads week is a week of adventure, we relish the unusual and challenges the week brings. It's all good fun and part of the lads week, as much as the pool on what Robin will break next on his boat.

It's been a hard season on these boats, plus we don't ignore even minor issues as they soon become major issues, so we report them, these boats will be in tip top condition for the next hirer, we do work them hard and put in a lot of miles (and pubs) over the week, so we do find any faults that may be incipient.

They now have a new toilet and a new set of batteries too, and a new bilge pump and switch, at this rate by the end of the week it will be the best boat in the fleet.

Apparently a broken toilet handle, combined with a burned out bilge pump switch, soon fixed

Departed ferry inn horning, bound for hoveton, as we were pulling into the hotel moorings jewel 3 called in today they were taking on water nearly as fast as their bilge pump was pumping it out, engineer called again and fault now fixed.

This morning and Broad Ambition needed a pump out, so we sailed into south walsham broad, unfortunately the quay heading was full, so we carried ion, did a quick tour of the inner broad, and then headed for ranworth, no space at the inn, so carried on round to the ferry inn horning, the two jewels moored up, then BA carried on and got a pump out, then came back and moored alongside us.

Griff caught about 11, so not toobad

Fleet dyke, an afternoon of relaxation, fishing and general chilling out, we were one person short on jewel 2 so had one day to fill in on meals, fortunately yesterday's spaghetti Bolognese, had been made in a generous quantity ( there was still a small amount left after we had all had tea today too) so we added half a bag of carrots and half a bag of potato left over from my Sunday roast and made a meal of it. Then we settled down to watch TV, have a few drinks and off to bed.

As far as I can tell all they are catching is worms and maggots