JanetAnne

Next years event will be on 19th and 20th August 2017!

The real problem with that Peter is that the current 'mahogany' is nowhere near as good a quality as the original used when Nipper was built. Todays offerings are pink, lightweight and softer when compared to the real stuff. I would be looking for a decent piece out of a scrap boats transom or similar to make a good repair with rather than replacing the whole side with what may well be an inferior board.

Your spot is well and truly allocated Liz.... And before anyone says it, these will be on Beccles quay head not the dining room table!

Ultimately Doug is the only person to do the repair on Nipper. Just as Griff would be if it was BA sat there. Once the value of the repair is established it should be fairly straight forward to negotiate with the loss adjuster to agree appropriate recompense. Yes the cabin side was in one piece originally but a proper repair will be just as good structurally. Matching it is a whole new ball game. You can see the colour difference between the surface of the mahogany where the years of sun have bleached the wood and the exposed grain within the damage. That repair may show for a while I suspect. Just how Doug hasn't murdered someone today is amazing. Not sure whether I would not make the news in a similar situation...

Oh Doug that is such a sad sight. Absolutely gutted for you and Nipper.

That we can do!

Maybe, just maybe, if we were to perhaps supply all hire boats with a games compendium, a crib board and a rowing dinghy as standard and remove half the electrical kit currently on board we would not be running engines quite so much? Yes I am quite sure I am very out of touch with the requirements of a modern family but have we gone to far when half the equipment on a boat just dies without the engine running constantly!

Just five days to go Just to tempt you one last time here is the final entry list with everybody confirmed as of this week. TABITHA ROSE (Herbert Woods Starlight Class) MANXMAN (Herbert Woods Golden Light Class) KINGFISHER (Herbert Woods Golden Light Class) GEORGIA (Chris Craft) WATER RAIL (Herbert Woods Delight Class) NIPPER (Moores Belmore Class) MISSOURI STAR (Jack Powles Star Class) JUDITH M (Martham Boats Judith Class) JUDY (Martham Boats Judith Class) JANET 3 (Martham Boats Janet Class) BROAD AMBITION (Jack Powles Star Supreme Class) LADY CHRISTINA (Graham Bunn Windboat) MYSTIC MELODY (Andrews) CHAMELEON (Compass Craft Compass Prince 3) LADY FONTANA (Richardsons Tranquil (?) I Hope!) STAR PREMIER (Jack Powles Star Premier Class) MYSTIQUE (Built by D Cutting 1984) GOLDEN COCKEREL (Wilson 24) MARIANNE (Forum member Spider's lovely yacht) FINALE (Connosseur and our support vessel - yes you've guessed it, I'm not ready!) Now isn't that a line up to die for! Over the weekend we will be having a rowing race challenge, a knot tying challenge, quizzes and competitions and, of course, the International Boat Building Training Centre display. Elsewhere on site at various times are a craft fair, funfair, the carnival procession, live music, arena events and just about everything else you can think of.

Would such an award be presented at the Salhouse annual meet? Just thinking that if it was awarded early in the season you would all have a good chance of seeing the recipient and trophy out on the water!

I have two! Being centre cockpit with a raised wheelhouse area there is one in both the forward an aft in the cabins. Engine fumes etc can travel in either direction after all.

Toast and dripping.... Sat round the coal fire with a long toasting fork each trying to get that nicely browned toast you get a split second before it's black! We have an open fire here along with some long forks I made years ago. We quite often still toast on the fire, the grand kids think it's brilliant as did their parents. Of course it's crumpets or muffins with butter and jam now, the dripping is perhaps no longer very pc! Something else was Farley's Rusks. Loved em. Well into my teens and probably longer. We had a similar conversation to this recently which resulted in a trip to the shop. Rusks duly bought I settled down and took a bite ready to relive the memory. Yuk! They've taken all the sugar out!!! My sweet crisp friend was now hard and bland. How could they!? I'm sure it has nothing to do with protecting kids teeth - not that mine are falling out fast of course....

for information.... I own a number of old broads cruisers, all wooden and mostly from the 60's. They all used to fit under Potter Bridge week in week out when in the hire fleets yet now we struggle time and time again for clearance. Whilst I accept we are seeing climate change and possibly rising sea levels(an inch in 50 years so maybe not that relevant here), my question refers to the seemingly total lack of dredging of the lower Bure leading to artificially high water levels on the northern rivers and subsequent loss of access through Potter, Wroxham and on occasions Ludham bridges. Its not a case of buying the wrong boat - these have been on the network for decades! Yes, I accept that some small amount of work has been done but the torrent of water we experience through Yarmouth twice a day surely must suggest that the water is trying to escape but the flow is restricted. I've been on the broads for close to 40 years now and the situation is just getting worse and worse. In the meantime we have a yacht stuck on its mooring at Catfield that we cant get out of the dyke because of running aground. We have just paid for another years toll which, I believe, is for access to the whole network not just Catfield Dyke? I seriously wonder whether navigation is a priority still? Dear JanetAnne, In the last 3 years the BA has dredged over 70,000m3 from the river Bure, however the modelling that we carried out as part of the Sediment Management Strategy showed that dredging has minimal impact on water levels. In fact, the Bure Loop acts a throttle in the system and restricts the flow of water heading upstream from Great Yarmouth which is why the waterway specification was restricted by agreement with Natural England to reduce the potential for saline incursion. Generally speaking, water levels are more influenced by atmospheric conditions and rainfall in headwaters and there is good evidence from the bridge pilot records at Potter Heigham that water levels have increased over the last 30 years. We have also spent a lot of time, energy and money in agreeing a vision for Hickling which is allowing us to carry out dredging on this very sensitive site, and will include Catfield Dyke in a later phase. Regards John (Packman) Now what the above tells me is that the water levels, according to the "bridge pilots records" on the Thurne have increased over the last 30 years. Two points.. 1- I can find absolutely no evidence that rainfall has increased. I've been through the met office archives but whilst there are peaks and troughs the yearly average remains about the same. If its down to the peaks and troughs why is the water not lower at times? 2- If the water levels are being kept artificially high to protect the upper Bure and associated areas from saline contamination that would suggest that the actual water depth on Hickling is artificially high as well. Maybe we do need to stop dredging because should the rivers ever get back to their proper flows Hickling will be high and dry! Use it while you can people!

Marshman, I love the cleaner water and the weed. It's just a shame the base the weed is rooted into had been allowed to get so close to the surface! Elsewhere on the network we have weed, reed, marsh marigold in abundance and water lilies a plenty yet we can pass over the same without disturbing the base or stirring up silt. And yes, I am sure my prophecy about the Pleasure Boat Inn is pure scaremongering yet I already can't get to it? Anybody want to sign a petition? Lol

We have a nice safe secure mooring that we like. It is paid for a year in advance and committed to well ahead of our relaunch date and now we have to move and pay again because BA are failing in their duty to maintain navigation? Grrr!!!! Anyway its up for sale! At the point the very boats designed and built for the broads almost 100 years ago no longer fit its time to move on. Look at the data in Peters link. The AVERAGE depth of Hickling is now 0.6m. Thats the average of the whole broad not the shallow bits. The deepest was just 5ft. The deepest.... We have paid a toll to use the whole system not just the dyke. I did offer to pay for the dyke pro rata but was warned that I would be prosecuted if less than 100% due toll was paid. Fortunately the BA launch draws just enough to still get up the dyke and enforce this! I have also asked for a definition of what 'maintain navigation' actually means. I believe that if you can canoe over the water navigation is maintained but cant get BA to put their definition of 'maintain navigation' in writing to me. But hear this, It will not be long now before you will no longer have to worry about getting under 'that bridge' because you'll be running aground long before you ever reach the closed down shell of the Pleasure Boat Inn sadly lost to us boaters when the custom dried up along with the broad it stood on. Little by little boating on the broads seems to be getting harder and harder.

Yes Peter, we could drag the keel through the silt but we have been stuck fast for over an hour before now which is stressful, inconvenient, annoying and to be honest, if you did not have any certainty of getting back to your mooring, would you risk leaving it? Nor would the majority on here. And yes, the boat has deteriorated. It's worth a quarter of what we paid for it now and it's hard to maintain any interest in what has become just a money pit.

As you know, we have a sailing boat in Catfield Dyke which we can't get out due to shallow water. Two seasons now it's been stuck there, we can't use it and we can't sell it because the new owners would have the same problem. But not to worry BA are "aware of the issue" and will review it in the future.

The obvious way to sort the 'problem' would be to double up on the number of posts as in fill in the gaps. But, is it really such an issue? I mean boats spending a few hours on the putty turns a holiday into an adventure and very rarely is there any harm done. Poor Jaws will never get his night with the birds at this rate because he will be rescued, towed and reported on long before the mud appears under his keel, whether he wants to or not. A lot of years ago we used to regularly take the local schools ornithology club to Breydon and hang off a post while the tide went and returned. These days you never see anyone stopped for pleasure such is the big bad wolf that piece of water had become. Still looks exactly the same to me though...

And there was me thinking running the following quiz was an incentive not to win

Ignore me chap. Next time I shall read what you wrote (cockpit sides) and not what I thought you wrote (cabin sides) I blame the lack of chocolate...

Looks good to me chap. Does the mast go through the hole in the top? Surprised RT's cabin sides are not lost tongue though?

Once the season comes to an end I would happily be quizmaster on a rota system. How about a six slot or eight slot rota? Someone clever can put a calendar at the top of the quiz thread and we can fill it in for all to see. Just can't get there at the minute with everything else that's going on this end. End of September onwards and happy to be involved again. I do miss it though

Behave yourself you wee scamp! Just because you have survived us for two years doesn't mean you're safe.

And Mr Wildfuzz Sir, you need a wooden boat in your life! The combination of your skills and a nice woodie would lead to something really special. You can practice on me anytime, happy to fit in around shifts...

Careful, you'll get this lot started!