Davydine

Hi everyone, Well, I am thrilled to say we have our next Broads adventure booked, following a fantastic weekend on Broads Serenade from Richardsons earlier this year, next year, we have booked Regal light from Herbert Woods, but I would appreciate your collective wisdom to see if there are any other boats we should consider, you can tell I am already thinking about 2019! We are a group of two families, with 4 adults and 4 children, so we need a boat with2 doubles and 4 single berths. I generally prefer either a centre cockpit or, as regal light, an outside helm, but I am always open to suggestions. Are there any other boats you would recommend for us? Thanks, David

As much as I like Mr. Branson, I doubt that he would have been able to convince Airbus to continue to provide maintenance support for Concorde and without support from the manufacturer she was never going to be kept in the air. I rather suspect it was a clever piece of publicity for Virgin and nothing more.

Was it by any chance from a yard on the southern rivers? Sounds similar to a boat I hired once! on another note, we hired "Broads Serenade" earlier this year, and unfortunately the oven wouldn't stay lit, I think the thermocouple had failed. It wasn't a problem for us as we didn't need it over a weekend, but we did report it when we got back and I did wonder if it got fxed before it went out on hire again.

When we had our sailing boat we kept it at Tollesbury marina in Essex, there used to be one of Brooms old seapilots called Trulos Bay, which was used as a liveaboard, there was also, briefly, an old wooden Broom captain class moored out in the saltings at Tollesbury, but it didn't stay long.

The picture above is definitely woodbridge and the bathtub is still there, although it didn't look like something that was too big for the broads, Highcraft at Thorpe came to mind when I saw it and I think it might be a Foster 30. Highcraft used to have one called Peverill... http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Style_Details&style=Fo30

I like to see a red ensign worn in the correct place and can see no reason not to, it's your boat after all. When we had our sailing boat, we always flew it along with the appropriate courtesy flag when we sailed over to Holland or Belgium. As Vaughan said the no nos are the union jack and the cross if St.George. Personally I don't really like the jolly roger pirate flag, but I don't really know why I don't like it!

It's a nice idea, but i'm not sure my close quarters handling is good enough and I am not really convinced that all of the dayboats understand how to stay out of the way of a sailing boat! Why do they have to keep zig zagging?....!

I guess this was my point. Are they building as many boats as they are selling? Most of the new boats seem to be pretty big. Are there any smaller boats coming in to the fleet?

I noticed the post about some of the older Richardsons boats being sold and I was just wondering if the fleet is smaller for 2018 or if there will be the new boats being added to the fleet?

We hired a boat once from a yard on the southern broads and when we collected it we found that it was distinctly shabby, the engine compartment was definitely not pristine, in fact, the boat we had actually booked had broken down and was being repaired, so we were given an alternate. Not surprisingly the yard is long gone. We hired a boat from Richardsons at the beginning of May this year and it was immaculate.

Thanks everyone, it did indeed feel like coming home. Boating on the broads has been such an important part of my life, I have fond memories of family times, like going up the Tower of Ranworth church with my grandad, it felt pretty good to take my kids up there to show them the view!

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum, but not new to the broads, having first holidayed aboard Brooms Wavemaster in the early 1970's when I was just 18 months old. I believe they made a cot side especially for me! From then onwards I would holiday on the broads almost every year with my parents, usually in the Whitsun half term holiday. I can't remember all of the boats that we hired but a few spring to mind, including Brink of Day and Brinks Beryl from Brinkcraft(as they were then), Gleaming Light from Herbert Woods, Seafarer, Midshipman and Mariner from Brooms. Later, mum would stay at home and it would be a boys trip with my Dad and one of my friends on either Skipper from Brooms or Rapier from Bounty Boats. WhenI left school I started hiring on my own with a group of friends, always from Richardsons. Swiftway and San Louis spring to mind. After that I met my wife and we bought our own sailing boat which we used to keep down in Essex and then we had kids and the boat was sold. This May bank holiday we rediscovered the Broads, hiring Broads Serenade from Richardsons with another family. We had an amazing time and have already booked for next May. I love Norfolk and the Broads and can't wait to get back afloat! David