Speleologist

According to an article in today's Times, Hickling estate is on the market with an asking price of 2.3 million. Doesn't seem to be on the agent's website yet (Knight Frank).

The last time I tried to get into Catfield I ran aground in the entrance. There simply wasn't enough water. However that was in a Womack Classic. A small motor boat should draw rather less.

I never run an engine at a mooring, because usually I don't have one.I usually hire from Hunters or an on one of two provate yachts, only one of which has an engine. I must admit that the noise rarely bothers me. After alI take my hearing aids out when I want to sleep. However exhaust fumes are another matter. The cockpit of a yacht is much lower down and several times I have had the experience of the next boat starting up their engine and enveloping the entire crew and their dinner in a cloud of fumes. Given the ease with which the fumes get into the cabin it can be enough to make the whole boat untenable, leaving no option but to leave or get out of the boat.It has happened to me more than once. It is one of the main reasons why I normally now choose isolated wild moorings and the pubs therefore lose my custom. I have also yet to find a yacht that is fitted with a CO alarm. There should be no need as far as the systems on the yacht go, but I can see a very real risk on a yacht from exhaust fumes from an adjacent boat. For this reason I see running of engines as not just a matter of a bit of tolerance, but as a safety issue. Nobody should be running an engine where the fumes threaten the safety of those on board another boat.

It's a beautiful stretch of river although the trees mean that it's usually a quant rather than a sail.One of these days I intend to complete the upper Bure and take a dinghy from Coltishall to Aylesham.

I must admit I get more than my fill of airports with business travel. I have only once taken a flight for leisure reasons in the last 20 years, and that was to get home after a race to Brittany, when I couldn't get the time off to stay on and go cruising for a couple of weeks. In fact, most of my trips to foreign parts are under sail and it is more about the journey than the arrival.

Yet another bump. I'm still hopeful that there is a boat out there that would find my skills and experience an asset.

In summary it meand that only computers whose network card has been added to a list on the router can connect. It also means that when I am away I can make a secure, encrypted connection to access computers and network storage at home. additionally, if my Broadband goes down, it will auto connect via 4G. (Plus a lot more).

I have never used the free routers provided by an ISP. I have yet to find one that is full enough featured. My own preference is the Draytek SOHO range. I currently use a 2840. Full MAC address security on the wifi, two separate wifi access points so I can keep visitors off my network. Support for VPN remote access and Site to Site VPN. Support for failover to 4g via an installed dongle. Remote management that can be switched on and off. Add to this good technical support. (They were superb whan I discovered a firmware bug). Something that actually does the job.

It was indeed! Far better than The Gardeners, which was popular with students.It was a decent local community pub with great ale.

Howard, If you mean the Dulke of Wellington on Peel Street it was a regular haunt in the 70's.

Back in the day we used to refer to Norfolk and Suffolk as "The Great East Anglian Beer Desert" Most brewers had been bought up and Watneys had almost a monopoly. Red Barrel must be the most consistently awful beer I ever tried. Nowadays, with the establishment and growth of so many new breweries, things are much better. Nowadays a bad beer is usually down to bad cellar craft. The worst I have had in recent memory was a pint of St Austell Trelawney, which is usually a fine ale. It was in a pub on the outskirts of Falmouth and at first taste it was clear that a pint of malt vinegar would have tasted better. On complaing that the beer was off the landlady took a taste and said "It's supposed to taste like that." Needless to say we left, and they lost our custom for both beer and food.

If you go back enough years, when Tetleys was still an independent brewery in Leeds, it was a very fine beer. It was a proper cask conditioned ale and, if well kept, was the equal of any bitter of the day. However the pale imitation produced by Carlsberg under the Tetley brand bears no relationship to what was once a quality product.

Only just caught up with this topic, and not having a boat on the East Coast I shan't be adding another one. However the diary is free that weekend and if anyone is worried about lack of skilled navigation etc, I would be happy to come along as additional crew. I am essentially a rag and stick man but with significant power experience, however, in term of skills for offshore passages, I am a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore, Sail Cruising Instructor and Navigation Instructor. I can also bring along with me local charts, PC based chartplotter and associated nav kit, along with a handheld VHF with DSC. If this is of interest to any participants or potential participants, let me know.

I also use Seasafe, and find them very good. This is partly because, working professionally on MCA coded yachts, I need to have evidence of professional service, renewed every 12 months. However I don't see annual service as being all that matters. If I've been out at sea in rough weather, or anywhere in the rain, I always unpack the lifejacket when I get home, rinse it off thoroughly and hang it up to dry thoroughly before repacking. This avoids any risk of rusty cylinders, which can damage the bladder, accidental firing due to a damp firing head and general deterioration through damp and salt. Lifejackets, like most emergency equipment, are easily forgotten until they fail to function at need. Far better to keep on top of servicing and provide proper care. Oh, and I always use the crotch strap. Otherwise the lifejacket us useless if you're unconscious.

And bump again.

Almost any hireboat witha rag and stick will fit!

I wasn't on the Broads, but I was teaching a Day Skipper course on the south coast. High winds were consistent all weekend, but Sunday night was the biggest winds I have ever known in a marina. The boat was well secured, but all night long there was the banging of the hull on the waves and the surge on the mooring ropes. And this was all in the shelter of the river Hamble. Next morning the scene had elements of devastation. A whole fleet of J70's blown over and lots of self furling foresails unfirled and shredded. Based on recorded wind speeds nearby it probably oeaked ant force 10 to 11. There were certainly force 11 gusts at Chichester Harbour. Anyway, we had a good weekend despite that and despite winds that hardly dropped below gale force all weekend.

There is an element to a good handover that has so far not surfaced in this debate. A few years ago I was returning from Barton Regtta (incidentally with a broken mast). At Ludham bridge we encountered a mother and daughter, first timne hirers who had , due to lack of instruction, no idea of how to steer the boat. When it didn't react as quickly as a car they were panickiing. Stress levels were high and I have no doubt this holiday was heading for disaster, both in terms of risk to boats and the high likelihood that they would have ended up having a miserable holiday. Loan of our galley boy for 20 minutes instruction and they went on their way competently and in control. I'm sure they ended up having a great time. The key message in this: Good handovers are good for business. Customers who are equipped with the right skills are more likely to enjoy their holiday and more likely to become repeat customers.

On a yacht I would use a winch instead. A bit more difficult on a motor boat with no winches.

Being blown off should not be a problem with the right technique. My approach, which even works single handed is like this. Take a mooring rope that is almost the legth of the boat and make both ends off to a midships cleat. You now have a huge loop. Keep this ready. As you approach, from the safety of the cockpit, drop this loop over a post or cleat that will end up near the stern. Keep going very gently forwards until this loop is under load. Keep the engine running and in gear with as many revs as are needed and the helm turning you out from the bank. You will now lie comfortably alongside with no need for other ropes. Step gently and carefully ashore to secure your mooring ropes. There's no rush. Once everything is secure, turn off the engine and remove your inittial loop, or convert it to a spring if needed.

At risk of drifting even further off topic, my account of doing it in a Javelin can be found here.

I woould love to. I haven't sailed one since about 1973, but I can claim wide experience since then. (And some experience of tuning, the most demanding being fettling a Martham Javelin for the 3RR). If there's an opportunity when I'm in Norfolk that would be great.

I never sailed 13. I must say I thought that 7 and 8 were the last, with the later number being converted from half deckers on identical hulls. I may be wrong, as that is only what I was told back then, but 7 and 8 were nearly new back then and were different in having plywood sides to the raised cabin roof rather than canvas. We used to hire all the Gay Ladies (4-13) in those days, along with a gaff rigged 2 berth yacht called Peggy. When Woods sold them on we ended up getting yachts from several yards, mostly Eastwood Whelpton, but also Southgates and Martham.

Do you know which Gay lady it was originally? I have fond memories of sailing Gay Ladies in the late 60's/early 70's when they were in the Herbert Woods fleet. I may well have sailed yours.

Bump.