Vaughan

Thank you very much for that picture Carol. It's a long time ago, but I don't remember the stone cladding. It was a typical broads riverside house, a bit like 3 mile house or 5 mile house. My father took me in there a few times as a boy. Father could never drive straight past a pub! Inside it had a public bar and a snug, with an atmosphere a bit like Geldeston Lock only a bit bigger, or perhaps the Pleasure Boat, but a lot smaller. Also similar to Surlingham, in a sort of way. I remember old church pews round the walls and lots of stuffed pike in glass cases. The landlord was a Canadian, a great character, who looked down on the Broads as a collection of little puddles. He had a stuffed coypu on a shelf behind the bar, which he referred to as a "marsh mouse".

Tragedy is lurking around every corner, no matter how hard we, in all our experience, try to predict and prevent it. This is the nightmare of all of us who live and work in the tourist industry. I have lost count of the number of sleepless nights I have had when all my boats are out on hire and the weather turns bad, or the river floods. Offering a safe environment to our customers in what is, after all, an adventure and "activity" holiday, is an enormous reponsibllity. In this respect we should remember that the safety record of the Broads and its related industries over the years, is so high as to be actually incredible. I have spoken to James Knight this morning - he is my brother-in-law. I cannot, of course, go into detail but I wanted to say that, knowing James as I do, I am confident that the authorities will not find fault with the equipment of the WRC, or its health and safety procedures. Let us all hope that this tragic accident will eventually be judged to be just that : a tragic accident.

I am here, O Broadscot! Firstly I should mention that the motorway services which adjoins the canal is not Carcassonne, but further west at the Centre du Lauragais, in an area of the canal which is not so much frequented by hire boats. I have always found, in general, that the French canals do not present a security problem when mooring overnight but there are places to avoid, especially in the high season and a motorway services is one of those! I would always recommend an "out and back" cruise rather than a "one way", since you are not then under pressure to get to your destination in time, at the end of the week. From Port Cassafières to Castelnaudary (with Le Boat) means passing 54 locks, and you end up cruising all day, sometimes in long queues at the locks, rather than having time to stop in a place that you like, and spend the day exploring on bicycles, just because you are worried that you may not get to your eventual destination in time. For this reason I would also recommend hiring in the off season, especially in October, when the autumn leaves in the vineyards are fabulous, but the waterway is much more peaceful. This, of course, may not always be possible if you have children of school age. The French canals are very different from a Broads holiday - they are navigable rivers (like the Thames) or man-made canals (such as the Midi) where you travel for literally hundreds of miles through countryside which changes in character every day. I think the key to it is to choose a cruise which will not put you under pressure and will give you the time to appreciate the country around you, and its ancient history. As to which boat, and which company to choose, I would prefer to send a PM to Maxwellian. Be careful though - If you get hooked by the French inland waterways, you may not feel the same about the Broads!

Reminds me that this why wherries have a white half moon painted on the bows, so that they can see each other coming in the dark. For the same reason, the "planksheers" on the side of the deck are white, so that you don't walk over the side when quanting!

Oi tell yer what, when oi ask har would she loik a pint in the New Inn, she set orf up Lower Street a wholly lot quicker'rn what oi dew!

It's not the grey hair that makes a man old, nor the far-away look in his eye, I am told. But when the heart makes a contract the body can't fulfill - You're over the hill, brother. Over the hill. When you look at a "venus" and you just heave a sigh : when you hear a rude joke and you laugh 'till you cry : when it's all in the mind and you can't raise a thrill, You're over the hill, brother. Over the hill. Now, life is a struggle; the conflict is keen - there are just so many shots in the old magazine. When you've fired the last shot and you cannot re-fill, You're over the hill, brother. Over the hill. And so this is my story - alas and alack - when you've squeezed out the toothpaste, you can't put it back! So it you want to make "whoopee", don't wait until, You're over the hill, brother. Ooover the hill.........

Never, in the history of our constitutional monarchy, still respected and un-equalled, throughout the World, have the last two lines of the first verse been more appropriate than today. "Long to reign over us. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN."

Something I forgot is that the SMEV is one of the few small marine cookers that conform to EC regs by having thermocouples on all burners and an accessible fitted pressure testing point. On the right front is a small round plastic plug. if you remove this you will find the test point. Another tip is that the screws which hold on the burner caps can rust and seize in. Always leave the screws loose by a turn, so that you can undo them again next spring. If this means that gas escapes around the screw holes, with a little blue flame, so what? It is a burner, after all. Micro drills are not expensive, from model shops or internet. All jets have a number on the side, which indicates the size of the aperture in millimetres. Number 60, for instance (for ovens) means the hole is 0.6 mm. Older cookers are marked in SWG, but you will probably not see them any more on a boat as they have no thermocouples. This is not officially recommended and be very careful - if you make the aperture a little bigger with the wrong size drill, then you really will get a white flame! If you still have a gas fridge you must NEVER attempt to clean the jet. Always buy a new one. I find that the biggest problem with cookers is the way that people clean them. Don't use fancy spray products and dry them thoroughly afterwards. Ideally, you should get your boatyard every spring to pressure test the gas system and service the cooker. This would not take more than an hour but is well worth the peace of mind.

Don't lose heart. These are very good cookers, especially in the confined space of a small boat galley. They have a good oven and grill, electric ignition and give a good cooking heat. Actually you can dismantle them without disturbing the pop rivets but you have to remove the whole unit from its housing and then you will find that there are cross-head screws which allow you to remove the whole exterior shell. your likelihood of actually having to do this, in a private boat, is minimal. Despite what we have all said above, I can well recommend them.

SMEV cookers are very nice little appliances, which work well in a small boat galley. BUT - We had the same problem in France with the flames having a white tip (incomplete combustion). I did several tests, as in our case this involved almost 100 cookers. SMEV insisted that this was quite normal and unfortunately, my new management did not back me up. Eventually I proved, however, that although they are supposed to be "dual fuel" they only actually work efficiently on LPG Propane, not Butane. If you convert to propane on your boat, this may not be as difficult as you think, if you have a modern regulator, which will also be "dual fuel". Propane is less efficient in calorific value but has the advantage of still operating in very cold off-season conditions. Another point to watch is that the SMEV burners take their "primary air" from little vents around the base of the burner, rather than through adjustable vent holes in the piping, as in old fashioned cookers. Make sure the burner assemblies are kept clean and never use foam type oven cleaning sprays as these will block the little airways in the burner. All this will cause the flame to burn with a white tip. If in doubt, remove the burners and give them a good blast of compressed air.

Webastos are very reliable and sturdy, which is why hire boats have used them for so many years. The modern ones are effectively a sealed unit, and therefore pretty well maintenance free. I think Freedom and others are right to look for the problem in the electric power supply. Get two volt meters and when starting the unit with engine off, test the voltage at the batteries, compared to the voltage at the unit itself. If you have a drop of more than one volt between the two, there is your problem. A fully charged battery is at 12.7 volts and so the unit, in this case, is only getting 11.7, and this is probably too low for the electronics in the control box to turn it on. If you run the engine, the alternator will give 13 volts, so the unit will then get 12 volts, which is enough to start it, so you get away with it. But you still have a problem! A drop of one volt is too much and could also start a fire in the wiring. Volt drop is caused by high resistance, and resistance means heat. That's how the glowplug works in the first place! If you have volt drop, then increase the size of the wiring from the batteries to the unit and maybe, if possible, shorten the length of the cable run. You can also simply run a second cable, to parallel the two supplies. You can also see this problem with electric fridges. If it is turning on and off every 10 seconds and not running steadily, then you have excessive volt drop. By the way I am surprised if it was dimming the lights as they should be on a separate circuit. That would sound to me more like a dead short somewhere. I suppose you have also looked to see if you have a Robin nesting in the exhaust pipe? Just a thought.

The international 4 letter call signs of all British ships start with GOLF or MIKE. So this ship could be MIKE UNIFORM SIERRA HOTEL Or perhaps GOLF ROMEO INDIA NOVEMBER And perhaps also........................

Insert another oscar between bravo and alpha. Reminds me of when the Admiral Far East Fleet arrived in Hong Kong aboard his flagship. He, and the ship, used a local Chinese laundry service and soon after the ship anchored, the lady owner of the washing service was waiting on the dock, to go aboard and take orders. A signal was sent to the flagship from the port signal station : "Please send boat for admiral's woman". This was followed by a second signal : "Insert washer between admiral and woman".

Let's be basic, folks. We have all heard of farmers prosecuting dog owners (successfully) for the "worrying" of livestock. In any area of preserved wildlife habitat the mere presence of a dog, especially of a hunting breed (which most originally are) will scare the poop out of anything else that might be in there. We all want to hear bitterns booming in the marshes, don't we?

It is indeed. If the dinghy is tied tight on a short rope (not recommended) then the additional weight in the bow could tear the mooring ring out of the stem. If it is on a longer rope, as it should be for towing, the sudden increase in weight forward changes the underwater shape so that it might well nose-dive and fill with water. With a sailing dinghy, where perhaps the centreboard has been left down, the sudden weight forward might cause it to fishtail, and the person might be thrown out. Yes, we have all done it as boys, but there should be no practical reason to get in a dinghy while making way, without stopping first.

Amen to that!

We didn't see how the dog fell in but given the way it was tied on the cabin top on a long lead which was bound to trip it up I suppose it was inevitable. Thankfully it seems to have happened when the boat was stopped. I have found that dogs are usually more stable and sensible on a boat than we are, so no need to tie it up when under way. When mooring, put it inside the boat. Other than that............. Well I would have them back as repeat customers.

I am a bit concerned that when I made my little joke on here yesterday I didn't stop to consider the feelings of those such as Wussername, who I know has strong feelings on this subject. I was, of course, talking of times long ago when attitudes were very different. In those days the whole of Thorpe walked their dogs on the green, with no poo bags. The mess was cleared up by the council along with any other litter, as a matter of course. It was what you paid your rates for. You also got your bins emptied with no fuss and a 24 hour manned police station, to name just a few services that no longer exist in our "modern" society. If we now find that dog mess is a serious health hazard then of course we must strive to keep it clear of public places. If only we could explain that to our dogs..... It is just that it wasn't like that when I grew up but I hope I did not offend, as there was no intention. Perhaps I have lived in France for too long : the streets of Carcassonne are not paved in gold, I can tell you!

Sorry these are taken from far away, but that's not surprising. You only get a moment to get the camera focused. I am cheating a bit here, as these were taken in the Petit Camargue, in South France, which is very much like the northern Broads. But they are same bitterns in the same environment. The very large areas of reed beds are harvested in rotation, every 3 years, which leaves plenty of room for the bittern to breed. It is a wonderful place for them to thrive and you can hear them all day long at this time of year. By the way, the Camargue reed is reckoned to be second only to the Norfolk reed, for the thatching of houses.

Hearts Cruisers used to have a lot of lawns and flower-beds, which made a lovely place for visiting boat hirers and their dogs, to roam. No poo bags in those days. My father taught me from an early age that the best implement was a long handled garden hoe. With a good flick, they would sail up in the air above the river and land among the ducks, like anti-submarine mortars. If he had been having a row with the Parish Council lately, he could get them right over to the river green. This is rural Norfolk, after all. "Do that bludda dawg do his bludda doo doos on moi lawn agin oi'll bludda do for im. That oi will an' all!"

To see one, it will probably be flying, especially in early morning. They fly rather like a heron, but with a noticeably short neck. Later in the spring you might see young ones, which are less timid, if you wait quietly, before dawn, beside a drainage dyke on the marshes. But if you so much as blink an eye, they will fly off. I heard one booming on Wroxham Broad in the dawn, but that was in the 50's!

That's just occurred to me. We could live in the Buck car park!

It was indeed a pleasure Mark! This meeting was one of the promised "strategy updates" concerning the Island and was also attended by our celebrity guest and expert witness, Mr Roger Bush. So have we got it all sorted out now? Er....... perhaps not quite yet. Needs a few more pints. We'll let you know...... Meantime, whenever you are on the road through Thorpe about mid-day and see a cream coloured French camper van in the Buck car park, come and join me!

This subject is very important, and brings me back a lot of memories. I gave my first "solo" trial run to customers - on an auxiliary yacht - when I was aged 12. Since then I have long lost count of how many I have given, on how many waterways, or countries of the World. I can fairly count over 45 years in the business. What have I learned from it? 1/. The "trial run" is by far the most important part of a hire boatyard's operation. 2/. The whole thing is useless if the hirer doesn't want to listen. 3/. It is a personal one-on-one experience between the instructor and his customer, which cannot come from a book, film or "download". before-hand. 4/. Each instructor must be trained, but he must be left to tell his own story in his own way - you can't just read it off a check list. By the way, when I say "he" that is not sexist - just a figure of speech. When training staff I take them on a boat and give them a trial run, to explain the way I do it, and yes, the basic run takes 45 minutes, with all the "gadjets" on board which must be explained. This does not account for all the questions, the distractions caused by the children (who ideally should be bound and gagged in the front cabin during this time) or the number of times you have to go round again before he gets it right. So an actual run will easily take more than an hour, and maybe even two. I have never ever criticised a member of staff for taking too long on a run. It takes as long as it takes. Why is it so important? Because the customers will enjoy their holiday to the full if they are familiar with the boat and happy to handle it. The boatyard will also be happy as the boats come back un-damaged (less maintainance cost) and the hirers don't call out mechanics for silly reasons. Also, of course, if they enjoy their holiday, they come back again! In Crown Blue Line, when it was still a private company, we were running 450 hire boats from 16 bases, and for several years less than 2 percent of customers had reason to call the base for service during their cruise. Less than one percent had cause to complain and over 35 percent were repeat customers. Those are the target figures (to be proud of) but you have to strive for them and the key to it is personal service. If you put your mind to it, this can be done with a fleet of 400 boats as easily as it can with 10. In France all skippers have to have a driving permit on inland waterways and every hire boat goes out with a "permis de plaisance" which can be shown by the hirer if the boat is inspected, and shows that he has been trained by the yard to a competent standard. We, the boatyards, are licenced and qualified to provide this customer training. On UK waterways this has never been considered necessary but in my experience a permit system is easy to operate and is probably an advantage. By the way, in all my time I am certain that I have never given the same trial run twice - each one depends on the customer - and I am also sure I have never given one without forgetting to tell them something or another. Usually, how to stop the engine! In France, with worldwide marketing we also had the problem of languages. I have given a few runs in Chinese. Not difficult actually : you just have to smile an awful lot!

I find a lot of old paintings of wherries are very accurate, and yours is excellent. The rigging of the halyard is exact, as well as the set of the sails, with one wherry on a beam reach while the other is close hauled. I wouldn't have gone as far down to leeward on the bend, as that. Maybe that was just to "balance" the picture! The mast head colours appear to be black, with a white band, in which case she was owned by Crisp, of Beccles.