vanessan

I was assuming the two hire boats came down river, is that right?

Welcome and how long have you got? There are quite a few threads over the last couple of years concerning bins (or the lack of!). To cut a very long story short, boat waste is treated as commercial waste. That was an excuse to allow local councils to remove bins and save money. If you are on a hire boat, you are able to use the bin at any hire yard. If you are a private boater - tough, you have to keep it with you until you do find a proper waste collection bin like Reedham, Ranworth or the Yacht Stations to name a few. Hope that explains a very sorry state of affairs.

I remember we got caught out many years back when hiring. We had come across Breydon heading north and wanted to moor at Stokesby and have tea in the pub. It was virtually dusk when we got there and, as per usual, there was some very inconsiderate mooring with gaps left between boats but nothing big enough for us in our 32 footer. We ended up moored at the end of Acle dyke which in those days was Eastick’s. We thought we probably shouldn’t be there so we got up and left early, as it was a hire boat yard it wouldn’t have mattered but we weren’t aware of that then. The hire boats mentioned in the OP were very late in mooring up, I’m not sure there is any excuse for still being on the go at 11pm. It must have been almost dark when they left wherever they left from!

to the forum Robeverson. Maybe another review on Serenade wouldn’t go amiss, a second opinion/viewpoint is always useful.

Hope they don’t all get sent to the salt mines!

I’m dreaming but even if they don’t quite manage it, I’ll be so proud of what those lads have done. They have given us hope and at last we have a football team to be proud of. Thank you Gareth.

Herbert Woods also have a smallish cruiser called Adventuring Light which is a little bigger than the day cruisers. It looks a good boat for a couple and it wouldn’t surprise me if it could transit PH bridge. I have seen it/them about quite a bit so I reckon they are gaining in popularity.

Richardson’s have in recent years built Broadway and Broadlander, I don’t know how many of each class they have but they don’t seem to have caught on like the Broadsman did. Having said that, every now and again I take a look at the Brokers’ websites to see what’s hot and what’s not and it does seem that the likes of the old Bountys, Horizons, Hamptons, DC30s etc don’t hang around for very long. They are usually competitively priced anyway and clearly still have plenty of appeal.

I bet there’s at least one angler seen that and gone off to Argos!

I quite understand that but, as a ‘regular’, you know how things work and I can’t for one minute imagine you hogging very much mooring space. I also have no doubt you would move your gear if you saw folk hopelessly seeking a mooring spot late in the day. However, I think you may be in the minority and that there are a lot of inconsiderate or thoughtless people around who wouldn’t do that. That’s why I feel that consideration could be given to stopping angling at 24 hour moorings during peak months. Very recently we left Fleet Dyke quite early in the morning. Moored at St Benet’s was one of a popular boatyard’s finest 45 footers, set back from the last two posts with fishing gear spread out at the end. There was identical kit spread out behind the boat so it looked as if both sets of tackle belonged to the same boat (of course I can’t be sure of that). I would estimate that at least 25 foot of the moorings had been lost due to this. It was a busy weekend too. That’s the sort of thing that happens a lot and is what I think is so unfair to others. I think I will stop trying to fight others’ causes!

‘Bout time! Courtesy of the council I guess.

Going back to the matter of local council maintained moorings, a while ago someone mentioned that part of the Brundall Church Fen moorings were still maintained by the village and permission could be sought to moor there for longer than 24 hours. Does anyone know what part of the moorings that would be? I always thought all of them were BA 24 hour.

That’s ok for those that know. I think that a lot of the boats that try to find a mooring late in the day are new hirers or visitors who expect just to be able to stop and moor up. They are new to the area and want to spend as much time as they can enjoying being on the water and exploring the Broads. Ask a newbie what a rhond anchor is and you would probably get a very strange look! For my money there is nothing better than a quiet solo bank mooring, as long as there is somewhere to walk the dogs though.

I am trying to think of the village staithes that are still maintained by the local councils but the main ones seem to be BA moorings now. I assume the councils would put up signs, such as at Irstead where the sign states no launching of boats. I believe there is a boat at Stalham Staithe that has been there for a very long time so maybe that particular local council isn’t too bothered about what goes on.

Exactly the same thing happened to us a few years back! Looking at the end of the mooring now though, it is very overgrown and I doubt mooring on the end like that would be possible.

I think it is inevitable that there will be someone not happy but that happens when tough measures are needed. I would imagine most anglers hiring a boat would choose one suitable to fish from, I don’t know for sure though it is just an assumption. I agree that the current system works as long as anglers give way but I do think there are boaters afraid to ask and probably quite a few who are unaware they can ask. There are those who never bother to read signs. (Hands up anyone who has come through Ludham Bridge and found a 40+ foot boat moored at the less than 20 foot mooring!) The BA has chosen to ban bankside fishing from Bramerton during the busy months and one or two other locations, I don’t know why but must be for a good reason.

And it will always be the motorists fault.....

The issue of fishing gear spread out at moorings is very common. So often I have seen a boat moored with 2/3 posts left clear at the end of a mooring, specifically so fishing tackle can be spread out. I believe quite a bit of mooring space is lost through such practice and people move on rather than experience the unpleasant confrontation that sometimes ensues. Personally I think it is time the BA stopped bankside fishing at all their 24 hour moorings, at least between 16 March and, say, the end of September - as they do at Bramerton. There are numerous fishing platforms and banks etc available now and anglers (unless they are boaters too) pay nothing towards the upkeep of the moorings. Boaters, hirers or privateers, can still fish from their boats. I am expecting the usual barrage of indignation at making this suggestion, seems to be the norm now so .

Shame about the drone, I do love these aerial views. Yours have been just at the right height, giving good views but not from too far away if you know what I mean. Hope you manage to get it fixed or replaced if necessary.

No, there is absolutely no reason why you should. It was a money making excercise and a successful one, I just hope a little more cash went to the local charities as was promised. No doubt the information will be available, in fact If others benefitted, then bring it on again for next year and the year after.

Well I would rather like to know where the money went if you don’t think much was made. By my calculations there were 70 solo entries at £70 a time plus I think at least 10 relay teams at £90 each. Plus sales of merchandise. That’s a fair amount by my reckoning. I believe I saw that £265 went to the Waveney River Trust. I hope a few more charities benefitted as well, maybe you can answer that batrabill?

It is indeed but, when you are competition swimming, I wouldn’t think you would be admiring your surroundings too much! batrabill - it’s probably a combination of all those things you mention. It really doesn’t matter to me at all if there is another swim next year, it will still be the safety aspect that concerns me. I am quite happy for absolutely anyone to enjoy the Broads as much as I do, I just try and see all other points of view - for or against.

The swimmers came to the Broads to participate in the swim, not to enjoy the Norfolk Broads. I wonder how many of them actually saw anything of their surroundings, other than when they entered the water and then got out again at Beccles. The venue was primarily chosen because it is a river and considered suitable for a swim, not because of the lovely area. I think that’s the difference between this event and the majority of others held on the Broads.

I guess that’s probably where people stay logged in to fb because they can’t bear to be parted from it. It’s something I have a look at from time to time but when a Broads group spends a lot of time saying good morning to each other it gets a bit pointless to me! Not the NBN fb users of course, much more useful stuff on there.

That was a bit harsh, sorry! I used to be the same, wouldn’t go anywhere near fb. I realised there could be a lot of info I was missing out on so I joined to be able to access things at a whim. I never post and never will and the info google has on me is very limited and not necessarily totally true! But I am prepared to take the risk so I can keep up to date (and look like a thoroughly modern crumblie!!).