Vaughan

When I worked on the gas rigs off Humberside, British Airways Helicopters had a brand new Westland 30 , the first in its fleet. The registration was GO-GAS

I have been having a think about my earlier post and there is another big factor here : All those 3000 hire boats in the 60s came from well over 100 boatyards, all of whom were providing free moorings to their own (and other) agencies boats and all of whom would not turn away a private boat either. No wonder there was no problem mooring in Wroxham in those days, although the public staithe is only about 40 yards long. So if you wanted to stop in Horning for the night to visit the pubs and found the staithe full, you could find a free welcome on the front at Percivals, Banhams or Southgates (Lower St), or stop a bit further down at Turners or the lovely secluded basin in Chumley and Hawkes and walk up to the Petersfield Country Club - which also had its own customers' moorings. Or you could take the other option and moor free on the grass bank on the other side, which extended from Southgates (at the New Inn) to about 300 yards upstream of the Swan corner and come across in your dinghy. Nowadays, on what little is left of those moorings, you pay getting on for ten quid to stop for an hour's picnic lunch! Horning used to be proud to call itself the second most important holiday centre on the northern Broads. It certainly can't now and maybe this is why not! In those days at least a third (maybe half) of those who hired a cruiser also hired a dinghy - rowing or sailing. Another reason not to try to moor stern on! I also think it's fair to say that the classic Broads cruisers of pre and post War were not designed with access to the accommodation from the aft deck, apart from maybe a sliding hatch over a gangway ladder. There is no doubt that times have changed and today's users of the Broads - private and hire - are having to get used to living with those changes, especially on what few public moorings are now available, to replace what the boatyards used to accommodate. What's more, just for once, we can't blame this trend on the virus!

I have only just caught up on this thread, since Tuesday and I hesitate to "dabble my toe" in this particular water! It is true though, that "back in my day" and right into the seventies, double mooring was the thing to do. Stern on mooring was quite rare in the old days and so Horning Staithe and Ranworth were rafted up moorings. To say nothing of GYYS! I notice also that while there were 3000 hire boats in those days, there were very few private boats that regularly cruised the north rivers. They mainly stayed on private moorings in such places as Wroxham Broad. Nowadays it is reversed, and there are now 3000 private boats on the Broads, compared to (around) 700 hire boats. The private boats themselves cruise more regularly and so are more often to be found on BA moorings. So have attitudes changed? Does today's private owner expect more privacy and were the hirers of the 60s and 70s more gregarious in their approach to a boating holiday? Personally, I have always found that the main question to be answered when double mooring is "what time to you intend to leave in the morning?" Very often, you end up meeting some great people, and have a good night together in the pub as a result!

No problem here!

I love it! Oh, the joys of classic boats!

Not that anyone said at the time. Still, now that the Haven Bridge has broken down for an indefinite period, I imagine that the BA must have found themselves stuck with it.

Only serves to make one wonder what the big rush was, to get it out of Norwich?

I have just been trying to "thank" Maurice Mynah for a post he made which I though most appropriate, but it has since disappeared. No doubt we will be allowed to know why, in due course, since the thrust of his post was moderation, in itself!

So how about the Bure upstream of Coltishall lock? Beautiful clear water, no motorised river traffic and easy road access from the Norwich Rd. Or the Waveney, upstream of Geldeston, all the way to Bungay? Or the Wensum upstream of New Mills in Norwich, right through to Taverham and Weston Longville? Is there anything that says you can't paddle board in these places, where it would be a lovely experience? Does it have to be in Horning or Wroxham?

The short dyke at Rockland is a good thought.

Not sure which thread to say this on, but I wanted to congratulate Dave and all concerned in making the Beccles Show happen this year, against all the odds. You have had the courage and positivity to see it through, when almost all other annual events on the Broads and elsewhere have simply been written off months ago. This is the sort of "Dunkirk Spirit" which will see us through this virus and back to normal life again - one of these days! My heartiest congratulations to all, have a great weekend and I wish I could be there!

Hypothetical may be, but I wonder if they would allow paddle boarding on the Grand Canal in Venice. I rather think not! They don't even allow hire cruisers up there. And I suppose this is my point. The river between Horning and Wroxham is a similar crowded waterway where this sort of activity is not suitable. Why wait for regulation, or a fatal accident, when the problem is staring us in the face. There are plenty of other places for safe paddling. How about the Trinity Broads, or Fritton Lake? Why does it have to be Wroxham bridge?

I appreciate that principle, which includes water skiers, whose sport is recognised and protected on the Broads. But its potential danger and disturbance to others means that it is restricted to certain recognised waters. And those waters do not include the approaches to the bridge, in the centre of Wroxham, in August! This is surely just asking for trouble?

And they are now being hired for the day by boatyards. As advertised in the EDP and on local TV in the last couple of days.

Precisely. And that is exactly where hundreds of day trippers who have never driven a day launch in their lives before, are let out from the boatyards, like fledglings "flying the nest". How are they supposed to know on which side to pass a paddle boarder, standing there in the middle of the channel? Actually, I don't think it's just dangerous - I think it is utterly ridiculous. MM, I know you like a rhetorical question, so here's another : Does a sailing vessel now give way to a paddle board? Is the board a vessel "having difficulty in manoeuvring? Is it a vessel "not under command"? At least it is not a vessel "constrained by its draught"!

I did mention perils - in the plural - as safe navigation is another one. I can't think what regatta racing will be like when it starts again, on Wroxham, Black Horse, or Oulton Broads. If they were actually running the Diamond Jubilee Gold Cup race at Wroxham this year, what would it be like, with over 40 starters and the broad full of day trip paddle boarders? I don't suppose they know much about the rule of the road and they don't keep to any side of the river, let alone the "right" one. It is all very well for us to have a little discussion on the forum about it but it won't be so funny when the first paddle boarder gets driven under by a motor cruiser on the main river between Horning and Wroxham. As usual, that will be when safety regulation comes in after a fatality or two. I think this is a dangerous thing to allow on a crowded waterway.

Nice and dry for harvesting the barley though. . .

I see in the EDP that the Whitlingham Gravel Pits are now infected by blue-green algae and visitors are being warned about keeping out of the water. This doesn't surprise me, as it is not what the EDP calls a "waterway" but simply an abandoned and flooded mine working with no thought of a connection to the tidal main river. I am only surprised it hasn't happened several times before. An "Environment Agency spokesman" is quoted as saying "We suspect this is blue-green algae". So much for science, then. . . Which brings me to another question, since paddle boards are now selling like hot cakes and disappearing up all the little abandoned, non-tidal, partially stagnant inlets that they can find on the north rivers : How much "social distancing" is recommended to protect them from Weil's disease or botulism when they fall in the water? After all, according to the BA, we are not supposed to swim on the Broads. Are we?

Some of the wherries on Surlingham Broad, at low tide. There are seven of them sunk in that corner and I remember walking over their decks, in the late 1950s.

I have also read somewhere that they often arranged to change horses when they met and then set off again, so that each horse ended up back in its own stable.

The plastic interloper looks like a classic Freeman 23, from where I'm sitting.

I very much agree with you there!

And so what do you recommend, in this case? Driving yourself into the trees in order to stop. Waiting until everyone else has passed on their philanthropic way. Extricating your rigging from the overhang in the hope that there is no damage. Sweeping all the twigs, leaves and birds nests off the deck and then carrying on in the happy thought that you are part of the carefree wonderland that is Broads boating. Sorry, but it would be a lot better if the authorities concerned engaged themselves in the removal of overhang and the maintenance of a legal navigation.

So maybe the BA - or the EA - or the local council - or Natural England - (whatever that is) should have properly maintained a legal navigation where, in the old days, there weren't any trees overhanging the bank in the first place?

Thank you for your post Bill, which I have read with interest. I think it is a good summary of the situation from the point of view of the "normal" Broads cruising sailor. Racing, of course, has it own rules, but they only concern those in the race! Other users of the waterway are left even more confused, during regattas! One thing I would mention, is your reference to Colregs (international rules for the prevention of collisions at sea) since on the Broads these are superseded (although closely followed) by the BA's own byelaws. In the old days, the Yare up to Norwich was controlled by Gt Yarmouth Port Commissioners and was "pilotage waters" in terms of Colregs. In other words a restricted channel, often marked with navigation buoys. Nowadays that is not the case but the Broads are most definitely "restricted" waters! The subject of the byelaws and wherries has come up and in this respect, there are some other ones to note : 23 (1) (a) The master of a power driven vessel . . . . . . . shall keep his vessel out of the way of : (1) (a) (ii) A vessel restricted in its ability to manoeuvre. (iii). A sailing vessel. (iv). A quanted vessel. It also says (C) (1) : The master of a vessel . . . . . . .(shall) avoid his vessel impeding the safe passage of a vessel constrained by its draught. I would guess that Albion in her present condition draws about 5 feet and some of the larger racing yachts draw 4' 6'" or more. You may have seen that Albion always tows a dinghy these days, usually lashed alongside the aft quarter and with a small outboard motor. This is actually because of a tragedy which occurred many years ago, on a night passage, when someone fell in and the dinghy was not immediately available. You can't stop a 40 ton wherry, running free with the tide, when someone falls in. When she is on the Bure on a reach with the wind ahead and too narrow to tack, then they will give her a "prod" with the outboard dinghy to keep steerage way and get her round the next bend. But is that "motor sailing"? I would prefer to call it "mechanical quanting" since there is no way you are going to stop Albion, or alter her course, with an outboard dinghy! But does that then mean she is being towed by the dinghy? In which case, other byelaws say you must keep out of her way anyway! So I agree with what you say, as the point you make is that, on the crowded narrow waters of the Broads, it is a question of common sense, and "give and take"!