SwanR

Beautiful morning and it looks like it cleared a bit again as you were crossing Breydon. So lovely to be out and very interesting to see your map too.

Lol, actually no ... but I used to work with someone who would tell customers over the phone that she was having a blonde moment when she couldn't remember what to do. I used to tell her she couldn't say that in case the person on the other end of the phone was blonde and was offended!

You've mentioned channel markers but for a long time I didn't really understand why sometimes the green ones were on my left and sometimes they were on my right ... and I don't mean just because I had turned the boat around. The most confusing place has to be Rockland Broad. If you are just going through the Broad without going down to the Staithe, then halfway round the colours switch sides. I can still remember going through there on our first trip and feeling quite panicked because I knew I had to be between the red and green but not being sure that I was because they changed round.

We went to the Fur and Feathers for the first time the week before you were there. Must admit that it did seem like quite a hike right from the boat but it was over 30 degrees that day as well. Coming back we were almost at the car park to turn right and follow the path back to the boat when a couple going the other way asked if it was far. I joyfully told them that they had a long way to go yet ... and all uphill.

I bought my first Christmas present in July ... do I win the "earliest Christmas present" prize or can anyone beat that?

Oooo ... are we allowed to talk about Christmas now? John Lewis opened in Chelmsford this week which may make my Christmas shopping easier this year. Mods please note that I didn't start this thread.

Bow thrusters are great for us as there is only ever the two of us on board so no spare crew to help when mooring up or departing. But I have also been in that situation where the bow thrusters are no match for the wind, usually Beccles Yacht Station and Ranworth Staithe. Had bow and stern thrusters on Rose Emblem this year but didn't get the hang of that at all!

Looks very magical to be out at sunset.

Reversing out of a mooring is one of the most valuable things I have learned, as well as mooring against the tide. And both of these came from other boating folk and watching Robin's videos. I remember only too well our first trip. We were on the southern rivers and although we had been on the northern side many years before with our children, really we were complete novices. Our first night was spent at Bramerton - I was probably bringing the boat in too soon and some very nice people came out of their boat and called to me to go along a bit more before coming towards the bank. They then helped us tie up and I was very relieved to be safely moored up for the night. The second night we spent at Reedham. Not having been on these kind of forums, or read anything at all, I now know that we were actually quite fortunate to get in there easily and that the conditions there can be trickier than I would have known. When we were preparing to leave the next morning I realised very quickly that I could not swing the boat out soon enough to avoid hitting the one in front of us. I quickly put the boat into reverse to stop us going forward with a fast flowing tide but I didn't know how I was going to manage to get out and we now had the ropes off. Another boat owner walking along the bank called out to me to reverse out into the middle of the river. And they helped with clear directions until I was safely on my way. Over the course of our subsequent trips this has proved invaluable advice but it's only through experience that you gain the understanding of how it all works. I'm not saying that Swancraft didn't tell us any of this - they might have done but it's hard to take in and remember everything when you're excited to be on holiday and anxious about doing something new.

I would agree completely with Howard about Swancraft boats - as most people probably know, I loved hiring from them. Took a look at Swan Regal on Richardson's website. If I was looking for a boat of this size and if the layout of bedrooms suited my needs then I would definitely go for this boat.

Lovely write up and photos. Doesn't matter how many photos I see of the boats and the Broads there is always room for more.

Great write up Griff. Read some of this to my hubby who was chuckling away as he is ex-services himself.

Wow, sounds very scary. I think that would have put a lot of people off ever going back on a boat again!

We have been asked to do engine checks every day by some yards and not to go anywhere near it by others. One yard advised that hirers doing checks but not putting things back together properly causes more problems than leaving the weed filter alone. If we had a problem that caused safety concerns or affected us too much we would call the yard, as we did in June when the bilge pump wasn't turning off. But if it's something else like the wi-fi not working or one of two electric toilets not filling back up properly between flushes, then we report that when we hand the boat back over.

Like everyone else I'm just the same. And even now with a boat booked for March I keep plotting and planning and trying to see whether there is any way at all that I can get back up to Norfolk before next season. The answer is very probably not but it's still fun to read the forums and browse the boatyard websites for bargains.

I chuckled at the part about the helpful people on the bank when you came into moor. We had something similar at Acle this year. Wind in one direction, tide in another. Space between two private boats. Said to hubby "If I get the bow in can you get onto the bank and pull us in?" to which he agreed this was a good plan especially as we had bow thrusters. The gents on the boats either side came out to help but advised me to go back out into the river, spin the boat round and come in again. Hmmm ... well I did it but only just - there was lots of traffic about and if I had gone too far out to come back round I was going to lose the space. It worked out in the end. Looking forward to reading the rest of your tale. I do a lot of the helming when we're away ... except for the New Cut. However I do love taking a boat down the Chet. Did you really resist its charms?

Really enjoyed reading about your trip. Sounds like those were long hours of sailing to get to and from Oulton Broad.

Great write up. I also have a feeling that I know which operator you are on. Not 100% sure which boat but we did have problems with the sliding roof on the only occasion that we have hired from them ... it wouldn't slide!! Being more experienced now we would call them out if in a similar position again. But I would definitely talk to them about the carbon monoxide alarm going off. Looking forward to hearing how the rest of the holiday goes ... and seeing whether you visit any more of my favourite places on the south.

We always drop the mudweight at a stern on mooring if staying overnight - don't necessarily worry if we've just moored for a coffee stop or for lunch. It is something that the boatyards tell you to do when you are hiring. For some reason the mudweight on Rose Emblem was way heavier than any other we have known - or so I am told by my hubby whose job it always is to get the wretched thing up and down. An electric mudweight is something we are now on the lookout for but very few hireboats have them. However contrary to Andrew's delightful observations, I always bring the boat into a mooring, hubby gives me very clear directions from the stern and he steps off to tie the ropes. Mind you, we did laugh at the bit about choosing a different post ... and tying umpteen knots around the post. As novice hirers we probably did something similar! Nowadays the boats we see crashing into stern on moorings the most, tend to be day boats stopping for lunch outside the New Inn or at Ranworth Island - the person at the helm of those very often really doesn't seem to know what they are doing.

Enjoying reading all about your first few days on your boat. Sounds like you have some very useful friends there.

That's interesting to know Alan. We certainly found the north extremely busy in both June and September. We are seriously considering whether we would want to do that again. We had lovely holidays both times, and having seen how full the moorings were in June we felt more prepared in September. But we're not sure that we would do either month again on the north side.

Have a great time. If the weather's as nice there as it is here then you should have a lovely day.

If he's on O2 he won't be getting any signal down at Horizon Craft either. Having said that he just needs to sit on one of his boats and use his own Wi-fi!

Please feel free to remove my post if it would be better not to be talking about this one - I realise that speculation is not always helpful. But I think that discussion amongst interested parties is inevitable especially when people on the ground, so to speak, are freely giving out the information.

Yes that's exactly what we got for NBD's boats including Fair Prince on Hoseasons site but when we called NBD directly whoever we spoke to said that she couldn't give us a price and in fact they still haven't done so despite us contacting them again. We've made a note of what it's showing on Hoseasons just in case they come back with something different. Not really the way to keep your customers. When you hire with them they give you a 5% voucher to use next time, which means you need to go to them directly to get the discount. I'm sure it will all be fine. As we all know, leave it too late to book and you miss getting the boat that you want for the dates that you want.