Vaughan

Actually, among Norfolk sailors, it is known as a "Cow Pat". Rather like what you stand in, if you are crossing a meadow!

Actually, the asterisk against the word notes that it used to be wrongly called "flaked". My father was in the Navy in the war and always called it flaking down. At the least, a mooring rope should be coiled, before laying it down on deck and it is less of a tripping hazard. That way, you can pick it up and throw it to the bank and it should not get snagged up. Most ropes, except log lines, are "right hand laid" so you coil them into the left hand and they will not kink up. And yes, hirers are shown this on the trial run, if they seem prepared to LISTEN.

Admiralty Manual of Seamanship, vol 1.

This also appeared on the EDP website along with another article entitled "Broads Authority : We are not the Fun Police". In other words don't blame us, it's not our problem. I notice this article no longer appears! In that respect they are correct. You cannot be breathalised on the Broads in the same way that you can on the roads. You can, however, be prosecuted for dangerous navigation. Part of the proof of that, is if you are considered to have had too much to drink to be capable of driving the boat. Which, unless I have missed something, had nothing at all to do with alcohol. Statistics have proved that alcohol related accidents, over several decades on the Broads, have consisted of people staggering out of the pub in the dark and falling in the river. Again, nothing to do with driving a boat.

I think that is fair comment, since there are now so few public moorings. I have often had to mud weight on Barton Broad on a trip back from the south rivers, since there was not one space available all the way from Stokesby to How Hill. And that is in the "off" season. Not that I mind Barton Broad, of course!

That's good to hear, Dave but in your experience, do you think it has added anything to the service you were already providing?

In all the trial runs I have ever seen, customers are told 2 things: 1/. Never cast off the mooring lines before you have started the engine. 2/. Never stop the engine until you have got ashore and moored the boat properly with the lines. It sounds as though BA mooring attendants need to be "accredited" as well!

Perhaps worth an explanation. Old engines such as Perkins have a stop cable, which you pull out to stop the engine. More modern ones have a solenoid, which means you stop the engine by pushing a button. Most new engines have the solenoid wired to the key, so that the engine stops as soon as you turn the key off, in the same way as a petrol engine. If you have dual controls and wish to be able to start and stop the engine in both places, the wiring all has to be doubled up in two parallel circuits. In addition, a flying bridge is always open to the weather and ignition keys are not weather proof. In heavy rain, this can even result in the starter motor engaging while the engine is running. This will burn out the starter and cause a fire in the engine compartment. For this reason, most dual steer boats can only be stopped and started at the main dashboard down below and only a few instruments, such as rev counter and temperature, are repeated on top. Some yards, but not all, also install a stop button on the flying bridge. Personally I think it is potentially dangerous to be able to stop the engine from on top but then not be able to start it again. I have never seen this as a safety feature.

During a discussion on this several months ago, I warned that there is no point in enforcing another level of documentation and more "boxes to tick". I have had a close read of the QAB website, where they describe the scheme and what you have to conform to in order to participate. Considerable use is made of the expression "self assessment". As far as I can see this seems to be much more of a Tourist Board Rosette than a practical code of business conduct. In particular I cannot see anything which refers to actual installation safety standards although it appears that you can choose to have each boat awarded "stars". There are, of course, additional fees to be paid for the accreditation. But in making this an obligation, the BA can always turn round and say "Look, there you are : this is the Authority taking responsible action".

I very much understand the sentiment and sympathy which are felt after such a human tragedy and therefore the wish that it should never happen again. Before we throw the baby out with the bathwater, however, please consider one brutal statistical fact: In almost 3 years since the accident, it has not happened again and I don't remember any accident of this type on the Broads before. I was technical director of a company running over 500 hire boats for 20 years. At least 3/4 of them had dual steering and we never had a fatality or even an injury, caused by confusion over its use, not even in locks. I do very much agree that dual steering must be carefully explained on the trial run but here is the second fact: This accident happened at the height of the Covid panic, when yards were heavily constrained by all the government restrictions on normal human life. Only one person was allowed on the boat for the trial run. Only one person was even allowed in the office. So the driver of the boat at the time of the accident had not had any controls explained to her as she was not there for the instruction. She was sitting in the car park maintaining her "social distancing".

It depends what type of destination and for whom? Ramblers, paddle boards and canoes don't need made up moorings, or dredging. All part of the "National Park" mentality, I fear. Of course, "in my day" all these moorings such as Ludham Bridge, St Benets, Acle Bridge and Stracey Arms, were just grass banks, with a pathway along the top of the bank. They were what your rhond anchors were for!

According to the EDP 2 hours ago, the jury has returned a verdict of accidental death.

There is a big difference between speculation and simply posting what has been reported in the public domain, in the press or on TV news. I assume we are still allowed to do that here? It is indeed a family tragedy but it is also something which could have a lasting and deleterious effect on the way we cruise on the Broads in future. I thought it only natural that a forum such as this should be concerned to follow the proceedings. Perhaps it means more than average to me as I have been a boatyard owner and hire fleet operator. All the same I would not like to strain the forum's sensibilities so I will shut up about it.

BBC Look East has just done a segment on the enquiry. They reported that a family member told the court : If we had been shown the emergency stop button, she wouldn't have died. That is all the BBC had to say, in the space of less than 30 seconds.

The inquest on this incident opened today and there is a report on the first day's proceedings on the EDP website.

I haven't been on the Thames for 3 years, although I ran a hire fleet there in the late 80s. Strangely, there are not many public moorings, although it has a tow path. This is partly because of the loss of almost all the boatyards (where have we heard that before) and the best place to moor is usually at the locks, where there is usually a quay further back from the waiting area, where you can stop overnight. Pubs, such as the Swan at Pangbourne, also have moorings which are free, if you are customers of the pub. It is run by the EA who, I must say, do it rather well. You will often find self service pumpout machines at a lock as well. I wonder when the BA will wake up to the fact that this is a service they should also be providing on the Broads, instead of casually relying on what is left of the boatyards, to do it for them? I think the main point here is that the Broads is a cruising area which is totally different from anywhere in my experience. That means all of Western Europe and the Eastern United States. Don't forget you can't sail on the Thames, or the canals. There are no locks on the navigation and the tidal conditions are very easy for the novice - especially compared to the Thames! It is a very precious, although man-made, asset which must not be allowed to become just a cash cow for a Quango.

And there is no doubt that you are not alone in that.

I agree completely. This forum allows you that ability to comment freely, some do not. Action is not our concern or our objective. That is a point of view and I am sure the admin already know my opinion on this! If the membership prefers to consider the TOS above all else, so be it. Let's just remember this, though: We are not just talking about the threat of a proposed mooring charge any more. It has now been put in place and it exists. It is a "fait accompli". So if you see it as unjust and illegal - which it seems all of us do - then the only way to stop it now will be for enough strong public protest to force it to be rescinded. If not, we all know very well that by this time next year there will be a charge to moor all over the Broads. And that will be the death knell of Broads cruising as we know it today. I say well done Griff! If only I could be there I would be making exactly the same protest, standing right beside him. My father was a director of Blakes when they forced the re-opening of Black Horse Broad and when they took out the lease on Malthouse Broad to stop it being closed off. He came from a generation who fought for their rights and we owe our present-day navigations to them, not to a Quango.

Let's equate this to parking your car on a meter, without putting any money in it. So when the ranger comes round the quay and finds you haven't paid, what is he going to do about your boat? Clamp it? It appears to me that the BA are just "testing the water" to see if they can get away with it. So let's hope that the more people who protest and the more bad publicity that raises, will mean they can't get away with it. If not, this extortion will very soon spread to all the other public moorings. After all, there is no offence of "refusing to pay" : you have already paid, for a mooring maintained by river tolls.

And to think that in the late 50s and early 60s, Hearts Cruisers and others like them were running on 60% regular customers. So what is now putting them off? We all know what the problems are and we all know why. But we clearly have an Authority that doesn't have the competence, or the motivation, to stop the rot. They are too busy "working with partners" and chasing political rainbows.

Long article in the EDP this morning about BRAG and the present bad feeling against the BA. Stangely, I didn't notice any mention of the new mooring fees although there are two photos of Ranworth Staithe. Incidentally I find it easier to read the Evening News (EEN24) as they haven't got around to bombarding you to subscribe. At least not yet!

The season starts and here we are off again on the same old subject. It's almost as predictable as the first cuckoo of Spring. This is Hippersons' free choice. Personally I have found that if you hope to run a successful seasonal tourist business, especially with day boats, then you can't filter your customers. Antisocial behaviour by louts on holiday is a civil matter for the Police, whether or not the culprits are on a boat.

Hello @mousetrapmick Sorry to be late replying but I have only just noticed your post. The Sea Duke that I remember is this one, from Blakes catalogue of 1964. They were lovely boats, originally with varnished hulls but they certainly weren't made of Ferrocement! A concrete hulled hire boat on the Broads would have been built by Windboats in Wroxham and called Tradewind. They were operated from Thorpe after Windboats was bought by Jenners in 1966-7, and one may have been based at Wards, although I remember them at Hearts Yard, re-named Knave of Hearts. I don't remember one called Sea Duke. They would not have had a Y number as they were built on the Bure at Wroxham, but I have another catalogue photo of the original Sea Prince class, where the number appears to be Y76. This is one of the very few photos I have found of the Jenners operation at Wards boatyard, from a press cutting when the operation closed down in September 1970. In the foreground is one of the later Wards boats, possibly Sea Ranger, a Jenners Gay Privateer, an Elysian 37 (which must have been brand new), and one of the earlier wooden Windboats, possibly Finewind or Merrywind, but not a Tradewind. The photo would have been taken mid-week, as on a Saturday you would have seen a long row of boats moored stern to on both sides of the river, going right round the bend to the Town House hotel, with just enough room to drive a boat down the middle between them. The old Wards sheds can be seen, now demolished and turned into the Old Hall Close housing development.

Probably too busy answering irate queries about the new mooring charge. When not menacing new arrivals with a boathook.

Think further back, then.