Vaughan

Springsong, indeed I remember. You probably saw Moira quite a lot after we were divorced as she lived in South Walsham for a while and I know she went in the pub. I was a guest at her third wedding in February! And the dogs, aren't they lovely? The bottom photo is outside the door of the shop, in our first year at Womack and the pups are Malin, the black one, which was Pat Simpson's dog (his son is called Shannon!) and the yellow one is Lundy, which was mine. Pat's next dog was going to be an Alsatian, called German Bight. They were both from the same litter. Next one up is H for hound, and third one up was taken a year or so later. This depicts H and Lundy in the process of making a litter of puppies. It is great to see these and thanks very much. Best wishes to you all.

Hello Peter, Of course I cannot blame the Eleni V entirely but I can identify it as about the time when everything started to spiral downwards out of control. I have posted this topic as I hope to expand it into an interesting discussion of how things were for Broads businesses then, and the forces that were working against us. Let us see who else replies and what they have to say. I will get back to you tomorrow as I am sure you and I and Jill have lots to discuss! Meantime, corkscrews at the "high port"!

The recent pollution of the beach at Gorleston with old oil from the Eleni V collision has given me bitter memories of the disaster itself. Only a couple of days later, the national tabloid dailies blasted off into Black Death headlines saying "The oil from the Eleni V is encroaching on to the Norfolk Broads!" followed by the usual doomwatch journalism about dead birds, pollution, the Broads will take 50 years to recover, holiday-makers on boats will have their little kiddies covered in oil, and all the rest of it. What actually happened was that the Yarmouth Commissioners quickly got a floating boom across at the Haven Bridge, and the oil never got on to the rivers. But did the press come back and say "It's all right folks, all is well, the Broads have been saved"? Of course not. They had already shoved off looking for the next scandal to feed their rapacious appetites. This was the spring of 1978 when Broads tourism was already in the grip of a fearful recession, and the new competition from foreign package tours. So the Broads was saved but for us in the boat business, that was the end of our bookings for that season. Does anyone have other stories to tell, of our Noble Crusaders for the Truth At All Costs? How about "No Lullaby for Broadland"? Remember that?

Springsong, the boat in front of Vesta 2 is from Hearts and is either Heartbeat or Heart-throb. What happened to them? They were lovely boats. I remember that the new owner of Heartbeat, in the 70's, found her in such good condition that he burnt the paint off the mahogany hull and brought it up in varnish. As every screw had been dowelled in, this was easily possible.

Hi Liz, You are another one who has popped out from behind a nickname! I am amazed at all the old friends I am talking to on here, sometimes without realising. Thank you so much for that lovely photo of Percivals on another thread. When I can get my scanner working again I must post a few myself. I am not a Facebook person I am afraid. It took me a long time to join on here. It is the only forum I have ever found where people don't descend into personal abuse, and instead give considered opinions. All the best and good to talk to you!

Marshman. It's amazing who pops out from behind the nicknames on here, isn't it? It is great to talk to you and thank you all for the way you maintain the Albion. As good as the day she was built, in fact. We couldn't do it as well as that in my day I am afraid, although we tried hard. Not enough money and no proper base. We did do a design though, and chose the site, so at least we made a start in the right direction. It is so pleasing for me to see her now with a secure future in such safe hands. My heartiest congratulations to you all.

Hello Jason. Blast! I am meeting so many people again on this forum! Did I really first meet you at Duffields? God bless Perkins engines! Drop me an e-mail and we can have a chat about the business in France and Germany. www.vaughan.ashby@wanadoo.fr

Cor, you are on a subject now! People have written books about this..... I think it comes down to two main differences. Wherries taking the far-reaching navigations would need a slipping keel in the shallower water, but this would ruin their sailing qualities so from then on, it was largely quanting unless the wind was free. It was also too narrow for tacking. Slipping keels were never taken out of the water as if they dried out they would warp, and would not fit any more. So they were left moored to the bank at the first lock, or sometimes towed behind. I have always understood that almost all wherries had a slipping keel as they needed to remove them when they were "slipped" for maintenance. A great description of the handling of a slipping keel can be found in "Black Sailed Traders". One has to remember that wherries and keels were derived from Viking trading ships (not Longships) which were a basic square rigged clinker barge. So the wherry's gaff sail needed a keel, which was an "extra" to the basic hull shape. The second difference was "north" and "south". Wherries were not classed by length or breadth but by tonnage capacity. So a south river wherry like Albion was a 40 tonner. In other words, she could actually carry her own weight in cargo. Quite a design achievement! The big ones traded on the south river as most of the big cargoes were there and, of course, the river gave them more room to sail in. We sometimes forget that the ones that traded on the northern rivers were much smaller ; only 15 to 20 tons, so that they could sail on the much more confined waters. There are none of these left now and Sundog was perhaps the last example. So the way we treat the Albion now is understandable but by no means fair to her. She was not designed for messing about on the Thurne. She should be allowed to run before the wind on the Yare. But of course, as a wonderful piece of history, then the northern Broads is where she must be seen. When I knew her, the slipping keel had been made permanent and she was hauled out on a cradle in Lowestoft for repairs but I understand that Maynard has now actually re-fitted a slipping keel to her, so that they can now plan to make a slipway at Womack and haul her out there. That would be good news!

Yes, you are both right. What you see is only half of the basin - it got filled in when the boatyard closed. To get planning permission for the whole site they had to have a boatyard, as there was already one on the site. There was also a scout hut which had to be incorporated. The developer is an old friend of mine from Norfolk and he asked me to run it. I knew it would only be for 3 years, to get round the planning conditions, so I chatted up Keith Gregory of Crown Blue Line, and went to work for him in France. Still here now! By the way Dan, what happened to the Hearts website? Can't seem to find it now. All the best, Vaughan.

Sorry, when I said "the last two photos" I didn't realise there was another page to this thread!

Laura, Sorry I am late replying but I have only just seen this thread. The last two photos are Sundog but the others are not - they are much bigger and she was only a "25 tonner". I knew her when she was a houseboat in Thorpe in the 50's and 60's, moored on the island on the garden frontage of Guild House, which is the large white house on the main rd about half way between the Buck and the Town House. She was unique in being half pleasure wherry and half wherry yacht - a wherry with a counter stern. I am most interested in the large shackle seen on the stem, at the waterline. This was for attaching a slipping keel, and means she was built as a "north river" wherry. She could have got up the Dilham canal, or up the Bure to Aylsham, leaving the keel moored to the bank, or towing it behind. What a shame she, like so many, has gone now.

Thank you all very much for your kind good wishes. I hope I deserve them! Neil, please give my very best to Pam and Chris Clarke. We had a lot of fun in those days! Carol, I have been absent for a while as the computer blew up. The new one won't accept the scanner, but I hope to be back "on the air" in the New Year. My yard at Womack was called Womack Cruisers and used to be Womack Boats, where we had a bungalow with a shop on the front. The boats were not the same as those in Knights Creek. I came out of the Army in 1975, bought the yard and named the boats after the LSL.s of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that I had served on for 6 years in the Royal Corps of Transport (maritime). You may remember Sir Galahad, which got sunk in the Falklands. She was one of my favourite ships. The only other one was Sir Garnet which, of course, was the wherry in the famous books "Coot Club" and "The Big Six". We used to moor the Albion on the front for her winter maintenance, before the shed was built for her at Hunters. The yard's not there any more as we had to close it in the recession and build 3 houses on the site, which is just where the dyke enters Womack Water. In those days the brand new BA were handing out section 52 agreements like concert tickets. As long as you were closing a boatyard, you could build what you liked. A decade later, of course, it was "Oh, where have all the boatyards gone?" And the service infrastructure that went with them. Broadscot, you are thinking of Ludham Marine, which is down at the far end of Womack Water. They had boats called "New Impala" which were, shall we say, rather older than their photos in the brochure which were taken when they were brand new! I was down there one Saturday picking up a sailing dinghy when the hirer for one of these arrived at the yard. He got out of his Range Rover, stood looking at this poor old boat sitting in the dyke with a pool of oil around it and said "******* ****! What are the Old Impalas like then?" Thanks again for your welcome and Happy Christmas to you all!

Some of you know me, from the long debate on Thorpe Island. I have a personal interest as my parents were Cmdr and Mrs Ashby of Hearts Cruisers and they brought me up on the old gunboat, Morning Flight. I went on to have my own little yard at Womack until selling in the awful recession of the early 80's. I ran a yard on the Thames for a few years and have just finished 20 years running hire bases on the French canals. I have now retired and we live near Carcassonne, close to the Canal du Midi and in the heart of the vineyards of the Minervois. And people ask why we don't come back to Norfolk! But if you have known the Broads as I have you never lose your passion for them. To the forum, I can offer wonderful memories, and historical fact, on the boat business of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Anything after that, you will have to tell ME! I am also pretty good at identifying hire boats by name and yard, in old photos. Look forward to chatting with you. Vaughan.