Vaughan

Sorry, I may have pressed the wrong button! I was going to say that it is the case, and has been for quite a long time. I have spent most of my career in the hire boat business and am well aware of the safety aspect of wearing a life jacket. I myself always wear one in a strong current, which means anywhere between Stracey Arms and Reedham or St Olaves. It's what my mother always taught me. Just a minute though! This is a matter of personal choice and it must always remain so. You are not going to infect anyone else with anything because you have decided that, having been made aware of the potential risk, you have chosen not to do so. These days we are already forced to walk out in public cowering behind the disposable nappies which hide our faces from each other and the hi-viz jacket has become an essential fashion accessory even if you are out in the middle of a field picking strawberries! This is what always used to be known as a free country. It is not China or North Korea. If the day ever comes when I am obliged by some new law to wear a lifejacket on the River Ant in a motor cruiser, I shall sell my boat and depart altogether from the Broads.

Good grief!

This is why boats with hydraulic thrusters usually have the tick-over set at 1000 revs, to stop them stalling when thrusting in neutral. This high speed is not a problem as hydraulic drive has a very soft gear change. You will get a bit of a "thump" which comes from the electric control valve on the hydraulic pump. The thrusters make a grating noise from the prop gearbox but then so do electric ones! The big advantage is that there is no overheating and no current drain on the alternator. If you wish, you can sit in the middle of a basin all afternoon with your finger on the switch and go round in ever decreasing circles - a bit like the Rare Japanese Oozlum Bird! Building a boat with hydraulic drive is expensive but very well worth it, especially if you are operating hire boats on rivers and canals with a lot of locks. All of the boats built by Crown Cruisers and Port and Haylett (Connoisseur) were hydraulic. Once you have the drive installed, you can then tap off it for a bow thruster, or an anchor winch. We were even experimenting with a fridge freezer, powered by a hydraulic heat pump. Peachments also make a hydraulic generator, for powering 220V air conditioning when the engine is running. In the evening, you plug the aircon into the shore power. I agree with Andy that it is very difficult to retro-fit a bow thruster to a boat already built and on some designs, such as the Bounty 37, it is almost impossible, although I have seen it done!

One would hope so! When I was doing trial runs on the Broads I always told people, when going south, to try to go under Acle Bridge at the time of low water in the yacht station. That should get them there about half an hour after slack. I tried it again last year, and it still works well!

I can't resist posting this, on the day that two more European countries are on the "naughty list" for quarantine and hundreds of thousands more Brits are scrambling for tickets on what is left of the airline industry. Two days ago the French set up testing stations in a resort on the south coast and immediately, 105 people tested positive for the virus in the famous naturist resort of Cap d'Agde, near Beziers. This is an entire seaside town where everyone goes around "in the noddy" on the beach, in restaurants, bars, supermarkets and, of course, in all the nightclubs - or "boîtes de nuit". I find this laughably predictable, in that nothing will ever stop the French from closing down all their industries, factories, businesses and even, hotels and restaurants, in northern France, and charging off down the motorways, where those who have not died in pile-ups en route, can enjoy a month or more on a beach before they all have to go back to what they call work. More importantly, none of those who tested positive for these tests were actual residents of the Cap d'Agde; none of them were showing symptoms; none of them were hospitalised; all of them were under 40 and above all - there are no recorded deaths. I have read that "Covid related" deaths in France, during the whole week that led to the imposition of quarantine by the UK, were eight. I say again : eight. Meantime this random test has resulted in the Prefect imposing the wearing of masks (anywhere outdoors) in the whole of the Cap d'Agde as well as the nearby village resorts. This will include Le Boat's second largest base on the Canal Du Midi, at Port Cassafières. I suggest that we will never come to terms properly with this virus until the Great Heaving Public stop insisting on charging off to exotic beaches for what they still think is their inalienable right to a Summer Holiday. I am just left wondering, in all my innocence, what all these naturists do with their facemasks, when they are not wearing them?

You will probably be told this on the boat hand-over, but you only use the thruster when the boat stationary. It is for moving the bow into the bank when mooring up, or moving it out from the bank when leaving a mooring. It is also very useful when doing a 180 turn in the river. It is not for steering.

Taking your questions in order : The landowner closed off the broad by fencing across it, a long time ago, as they said it had "fallen into disuse". The same applied to Black Horse Broad (Little Hoveton), Cockshoot, and Ranworth Inner Broad. After the War, a campaign led by Herbert Woods was successful in re-opening Black Horse, but not Ranworth inner or HGB. Blakes took out the lease on Malthouse Broad in the late 40s, otherwise that would also be closed today. I don't think the broad has ever been dredged since the War and I remember canoe-ing across it (dodging the gamekeeper) in the 50s, when it was very shallow, especially in Hudson's Bay. This revolves around the law of tidal water, which is determined by the line drawn on the Ordnance Survey map. In the 50s this line was at the downstream entrance of HGB, so in law, Blofeld owned the bottom of the broad and also the water in it. He did not own the water in Black Horse Broad as it was tidal, and this is how Herbert Woods won his case. This also means that Ranworth Inner Broad is closed illegally, as it is tidal water. Nowadays, the official tide line has moved upriver to just north of Wroxham Broad, which means that HGB is tidal and should be open to navigation across it. The problem, of course, is who is willing to spend enough money to prove this in court? Meantime, a lot of public money seems to be proposed, for improvements to a piece of "English Nature" which will still remain closed to the public, who will be paying for it.

Members are welcome to correct me but I am sure I have missed something, in all this : What is the plausible benefit of this grand scheme, to the tax payer, the toll payer, the yachtsman, the fisherman or even any other pedestrian visitors of the "national park" persuasion? Hoveton Great Broad (HGB) is part of an ancient navigation that has been deliberately allowed to become closed off to to any public access ever since well before the last War, despite great efforts by such as Herbert Woods, Jack Powles, Jimmy Hoseason and my own father, to re-open it, in the same way that was successful, in the case of Hoveton Little Broad. It is the private domain of the landed gentry, even though recent changes in the official Ordnance Survey tide line mean that it is now tidal water and therefore closed illegally. Why does all this public money and disruption to the balance of nature have to be involved, in what simply amounts to cleaning the water in the Blofeld family's private garden pond?

We on this forum don't know anything more about prices for next season than the boatyards themselves.

I can't help you a great deal but I know that when Richardsons were building a lot of boats in 1976, they sourced all their Formica faced plywood from Ipswich Plastics.

I would never pretend to know anything about fishing but I do know that the best way to improve water quality and promote weed growth on an almost enclosed broad with no tidal flow through it, is to remove accumulated bottom silt by mud pumping. Just as they did with spectacular success on Cockshoot Broad in the 60s. The difference is almost instantaneous as the weed grows back at once. You don't have wait 8 or 10 years as seems to be the case with this grand scheme to play with the balance of nature. But then, what would I know? I haven't got an "Ology".

There is something about not being allowed in a dinghy when it is being towed but that may be a hire boat condition, rather than a bye-law. The danger, with a wooden dinghy, is that if you stand too near the bow your weight may bring the bow down and cause the dinghy to "porpoise". With an inflatable, that is not so much of a risk. I wouldn't know, I never did it myself, as a boy . . . .

Ships are held at anchor by the length of chain, not the anchor itself. Usually the chain is three times the depth of water. The anchor is designed to pull itself into the seabed when it is pulled by the chain, so it is anchoring the chain, not the ship. Most "grounds" for anchoring are sand or gravel bottoms, so the bottom of Barton Broad would not be appropriate!

But it does stop you losing the picture on the TV when the boat swings round . . .

I find that dogs always love boats. It will take him a little while to find all the special corners where he prefers to lie or sit. After that it will be his boat, not yours!

Wow! Motorboater did share a PM with me before he made his post and I can just assure you that what you read on the hongkongescape website, is true! The webmaster, Richard Hide, is the son of Petty Officer "Buddy" Hide, who was my father's chief engineer on MTB 07 from before the War right through the actions that are described. He also stayed at his post in the engine room when all around him were killed. Have a read of the website, especially today, on the anniversary of VJ Day. It's quite a story and it is a true story. If any members have any questions later, I hope I can fill in on some detail!

Especially if you had paid a deposit before the birth of the litter . . . .

Here are a couple of very tatty Japanese officers' swords. You may think I should have taken better care of them but this was the condition they were in when they were surrendered to my father in 1945, about 2 months after VJ Day. Rusty they may be but they are still extremely sharp! Father lived in Hong Kong before the War and by 1939 he was already a Lt. RNVR, and skipper of an MTB. He was one of only 57 Forces personnel who escaped the fall of Hong Kong, in what was left of his MTB flotilla and they later also escaped the fall of Rangoon, having trekked for 2000 miles across China in the space of 2 months. Much later in 1945 he played a major part in the re-taking of Rangoon from the Japanese, as senior officer, coastal forces on the Arakan Coast of Burma. He told me later that "VJ Day" to them, was like any other day, as he was still up the Irrawaddy River with a flotilla of ML's of the Royal Indian Navy, rooting out any Japanese forces who had not heard of the surrender and were still fighting. This was part of a huge area known as "Chuangs" which were mangrove swamps, notorious for being shown on Army maps as water; but on naval charts as land. As the flotilla came round a bend in the river, a large Japanese force suddenly appeared out of the mangroves and formed up on the beach beside the river. The gunners on the MLs immediately trained their Oerlikon and Bofors guns on them but father sensed something was wrong and radioed the boats to hold fire. It became obvious that the Japs had had enough. Father went ashore in a dinghy and was met by the colonels of two regiments, who surrendered their swords to him on the beach. He later told me that one is an infantry sword and the other is artillery but I wouldn't know about that! The Japanese were starving, emaciated, mostly un-armed, only partially clothed and totally beaten. Perhaps by the swamps, as much as by General Slim's 14th Army. My father then had the problem of getting several hundred starving prisoners, for many miles down river until they could be handled properly. Today we remember all those who served in what became known as the "forgotten army" as well as all who lost their lives, either in action, or as prisoners of the Japanese.

John is a good friend of mine, from when he was the chief engineer at Crown Cruisers. I would recommend him without hesitation.

Not if you were flying the NBN pennant and introduced yourself as Trambo! You would be welcome alongside us for an evening of shared reminiscence of the old days of Hearts Cruisers, and the Broads of the 60s. All that would be missing is Timbo, to record it for posterity!

At least it wasn't a Norwegian Blue. Remember Monty Python?

And make sure it has flame failure devices on each burner, to pass the BSS.

We're very well, thanks Tim. We live in rural south west France where there is no virus (yet) but I think France's figures have gone up because they all set off from Paris to the Mediterranean beaches, like lemmings, at this time of year and I think they are carting the virus around with them! I don't suppose we shall see any improvement until they all go back to what they call work. We are resigned to staying away from England for as long as it takes - maybe next spring - as it is just not worth the hassle of trying to travel. Meantime my daughter and family are enjoying our boat at weekends!

Any one want to buy a couple of tickets for this afternoon? I'll start the bidding at €1000 each. Still cheaper than British Airways today, so I hear! I am sorry but I can't help but laugh about this. Surely anyone with any foresight could have seen this French quarantine coming about 2 weeks ago.

I would also mention that inverters and battery chargers must be installed with good ventilation, to get rid of the heat that they give off. This also helps to avoid condensation.