oldgregg

Indeed. Norfolk yards can't even build them at cost for the price LeBoat want to pay, and some have told them where to go. Delphia in Poland have been building the Horizons (there were a few the right way up earlier in that video) with the interiors that look like something you'd get from IKEA. They're clearly not built to last, but will have been cheap.

I'm guessing that's why you got the E-M10 then Andy? I've had once since the 90's and though I haven't used it in a long time, it's a great camera. I used to shoot M4/3 and always quite fancied one of the OM-D's.

Difficult to know what the current situation is without being there, but it did look like a few may have ran aground, mainly P&H boats. There were clearly a lot that sank, although I think the Horizons seemed to fare pretty badly. I'm guessing there's not much of a keel on them?

Nice bit of Colin Facey action there....

Well.... LeBoat have had too many boats for a long time (although really they could have done with all those Visions writing off) and the cash from an insurance claim would be quite welcome right now, I expect. How many of those boats they actually own, I have no idea. Next year's premium will be a bit of a shocker, though. If you have a big loss, commercial underwriters will point to the business' poor risk mangement and penalise for years. It's not like personal lines where you can go and ask the Meerkats to sort you out a better price.

That'd be this one, at around 20 seconds in... https://www.facebook.com/mairie.villeneuvesurlot/videos/534048967529114/

Ouch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufilter=NULL&v=f1sua2OL__Y

Looking at the various videos it does seem that there were quite a lot of boats being dragged along underwater. That last video at around 2:55 shows what I think must be an upturned Horizon following the Caprice over the weir at the hydroelectric plant. And I guess the Magnifique at the end could be the one Vaughan was referring to? Just having a quick look on a French canal journey planner, I see Villeneuve Sur Lot is at least 43km from Douelle!

Just been sent another drone video, this one is quite good. https://fb.watch/3qiFRyniQx/ Such a shame.

And finally a very shaky one. Never seen anything like it.

https://youtu.be/NI6jmEf3PRQ The P&H boat doesn’t look happy but towards the end I guess that’s the remains of a Horizon.

And another.... https://youtu.be/8jCIFl7Wwmk

One of those videos shows a mangled and sunken Horizon going over the weir.... Also sadly a few proper boats from Norfolk underwater and / or damaged. There’s some serious damage there.

also this one https://fb.watch/3pwi0Lv-Hr/

Yeah, I think they should be merged....

And a bit more... https://news.yahoo.com/boats-unmoored-during-flooding-drift-141448520.html

It's at Douelle on the Lot. https://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/topic/21945-having-a-bad-day/?tab=comments#comment-356478

Assuming they've got cover for that risk. They'll have cover for fire, theft etc but accountants can be 'clever' sometimes.

Yeah.... That's not going to have come off well!

It could be worse.... https://www.facebook.com/100018057760670/videos/781983502413568/

As far as I know, the new Barnes boat is just a rework of the Alpha Highliner 44. The mould tools for those were knackered anyway so if you're going to create new ones then you may as well update the design a bit.

Or the ugliest and least likely to appeal to customers....

Love this topic. What self-respecting Broads / boat nerd could resist? I have long wanted to own Bureside Holiday Park, located just down from Thurne mouth. That and a great big pot of money to do my plan justice. I'd take the site and sympathetically develop it into something similar to Waveney River Centre. There'd be a large visitor mooring basin, 32A electric to all berths, a nice shower block and all the facilities boaters, campers and lodge guests need. However, these would tie in with the nearby businesses in Thurne to ensure there's no overlap with what is already there as that's excellent. Near to the visitor basin would be the hire fleet. That would be a mixture of aft cockpit, dual steer, single level forward steer and centre cockpit models. Around 50 boats in total, which would be designed by the best and developed and built by Haines and our own team. Efficiency, elegance, space and handling would be a common requirement. The hire fleet would be hybrids using the latest battery tech from the automotive industry and have capacity for at least a couple of days of normal usage. Naturally, these would be plugged in to the 32A supply on a turnaround and there'd be a more than adequate diesel generator to keep things topped up - The key would be to avoid running engines at moorings or on an early start. All of the fleet would have a smart speed limiter, which would know what the speed limit was for the boat's current GPS position (that really is not hard!) and the propulsion motor would also be more than adequate for punching a tide. The generator would run once the speed went above 5mph, or between the hours of 8am and 6pm if the battery was below a certain percentage and the forecast usage required it. There would be no gas on these boats - Induction hobs and combi ovens only, naturally. And a diesel wet heating system would provide heat and hot water. Over time, the fleet would transition to full electric or hydrogen fuel cell hybrids, as technology progressed. If there were any breakdowns, the on-call engineer would check his mobile app and see where the boat in question was moored and view the current data from it to determine whether attendance in person was required. The park would be run by a talented team of customer-focussed professionals, and have excellent marketing, social media and technology teams.

Well of course the tide tables are only a prediction, so yeah you'll never get it right every time... I tend to avoid being much earlier than slack going South>North, but for sure there's quite a bit of leeway North>South unless there's springs that week or the weather has been horrible. I recall a miscalculation some years back where at full throttle we barely moved until we were up towards Marina Quays. That sort of thing does not do your fuel consumption much good! I'll usually aim for a push up the Bure or down the Waveney, assuming daylight allows it.

It definitely does come from social media, yeah. Most of us have seen lots and lots of boats stuck on the mud over Breydon or aground on the lower Bure over the years, though, so clearly some do find it difficult. I think that's what prompts people to urge caution as it's very difficult to judge the experience level of the person asking the question - If they're a first-timer who has never driven a boat before then people will tend to suggest keeping North for a bit to get a feel for the boat before trying a mooring at Reedham, for example.