grendel

The raincoat I bought at Lathams had been a regatta one, I did have a big thick heavy raincoat, which is what I wore between the car and the boat, but that was now very wet so was left in the car, then I used the other for the rest of the week. one other little incident on BA was the fender overboard incident, as we approached Potter Heigham the order was given to deploy fenders, so I walked down the deck kicking them into the water, However the clip on one fender somehow came undone so it ended up bobbing behind us, a quick fender overboard drill was executed and it was retrieved in short order in one attempt I will apologise in advance as I will be busy tomorrow so day 2 may well be delayed, plus somehow I dont seem to have many pictures of that day

Well friday the 11th arrived and 8 am i set off for Norfolk, arriving early enough to go do some shopping at Lathams (where i bought a raincoat) I had promised to assist taking Broad Ambition round from the wetshed to Herbert Woods Yard.. while awaiting Simon and Robin to return from shopping I was sitting on the Bow of Broad Ambition watching the world go by, when this little chap helpfully came and sat on the pulpit rail of the boat opposite, even staying while I went to get the camera. I have had to lighten the image as i was shooting towards the doors and its not that bright in the wet shed. I looked away for a fraction of a second and he was gone, I then spent 5 minutes seeing if I could spot him outside, before turning to see him fly off from the pulpit rail of the boat behind me where he had been studying me from a range of 6 foot. Robin and Simon soon turned up and we were off down river, we had got no further than the turning to sutton when a gust of wind came in therough the open cockpit side and flipped the canopy clean off, all damage control parties to action stations (myself and simon) and the canopy was folded back down, then reinstalled to its correct location, the only damage was 1 press stud screw had pulled out of the windscreen. we then carried on through to potter heigham, by now it was raining off and on (a theme to be continued through the week). eventually we were there and by now it was really raining. My coat was safely packed in the car - this was parked in the car park, round the other side of the boatyard, slightly damper now i moved the car to the back of the boat to unload, put my coat on, walked the 6 paces to the boat and was dripping wet, the rain was torrential now. 10 minutes later it eased off, and with the car still fully loaded it was decided that it was time to head for the falgate for a couple of quick pints, it was here i tried to order a half of cider - only to find the pub didnt half half pint glasses, so a pint it was then. After a quick couple of pints it was back to the boat, and time to offload the car (now the rain had stopped) and shortly thereafter to bed.

Well here's my outfit for tonight

Bloomin autocorrect

Well I am thinking I might go for sir conference, or considering my job, sir Veyor

Yes just remember that the BA are members and should be treated with the same respect as any other member.

I believe you are thinking about a different forum that John Packman was a member of

What about the green slimey marsh monsters, oops sorry that would be NYX in her camouflage wouldn't it.

JM, the way I read it was they had a 25 year contract in 1995, by my reckoning that is ending and is just not being renewed, no mystery there.

I think you will like that area above potter heigham. bridge.

Well iwe are now safely moored up at Great Yarmouth, after a 10mph trip across Breydon we arrived and carefully made our way against the tide, to moor up. The only unusual fact was our skipper Charlie was. fast asleep, I am justifiably proud of the crew for doing everything necessary when it was needed as we moored up with a light bump to wake the skipper.

to the forum, I would have welcomed you earlier, but am out on the broads for lads week, yes it's raining but we don't care, we are having a good time.

We actually left at 9.30, breakfast on the move, we are now at Norwich yacht station, some are off shopping, others will be hitting the showers. We are here for the day now, so pubs or cinema tonight or other entertainment.

This morning, and while the crew sleep, I am up at 6.30, bread is now proving in a warmed oven, that will be 30 - 40 minutes, then it will be split into roll sized chunks proved again and then cooked for about 25 minutes, so we will have fresh bread rolls for breakfast. Late departure today means plenty of time to cook bread. We are just heading upriver from surlingham ferry Inn into norwich

Strange apparition

Not last night, but it's already only about 9" off overtopping and still at least another hours flood

We are at reedham overnight, we were told to expect overtopping of the quay heading at high tide last night, I came back to the boat from the ship after nine and there was only a foot to go before overtopping.

i probably wont be able to attend as i will be on lads week

that would take over this thread and would be way off topic, its all in the terms and conditions anyway.

i certainly dont have shares, but i do believe in praising good service. and i like their boats.

Well it certainly seems that we have had different experiences from different yards, maybe because marthams are more old school they still do things the old way, their engines are certainly old enough to still need to be checked daily.

most boatyards worth their salt will actually ask if there were any problems, and have a space on the return paperwork. i agree most hirers wont know one end of an engine from the other, but if the engine is wet from oil then its obvious something is wrong, yes the yard should also check when the boat returns. replacing good batteries because they are a certain age is pointless, i guess you would expect to pay more to hire a boat if they kept changing things because they might fail next month - next year - never. so if hirers dont report things like lets say the shower pump doesnt work, but it does drain eventually, how does the yard know, do they have time to check every little thing. I hired a boat fresh in the water, there was nothing that stopped me enjoying my holiday, but maybe the little snags i reported had been missed in the two hours between getting the boat back into the water, cleaning it and handing it over, the engine had been test run, but a slight leak on the injector probably didnt become apparent until after a few hours cruising. the alternator nut may have been missed when they tightened it. i do know some yards advise no maintenance is needed on the engines, but marthams still advise checking the oil, water level and weed filter daily, and the water level was dropping on a flat out run across Breydon (it was fine the rest of the time). Sharing these little things has given me a closer relationship with the boatyard, and i think they trust me as a hirer more too, i do like the attention these small family yards give to their hirers.

I have to face facts, I need a boat that has more bouyancy, where the freeboard doesnt drop to an inch or so when I sit in it, perhaps I should go into training as a PH bridge pilot, Guaranteed to take boat under with an inch less clearance than all the rest due to the ballasting effect.

i'd still sink it.

exonerated - breaking it down into parts ex - used to be - has been one - singular rated- having a standard or value assigned so combining those - a singularly standardised has been