Meantime

Is the yacht station in the wrong place, or is it being used by increasingly more and more unsuitable boats? I won't go anywhere near the yacht station on an ebb unless I know I can get through the bridge, but then I only need 6ft 6in with screen and roof down. I have a no turning zone from about 200yards before the start of the yacht station on an ebb tide. If I cannot make it through I turn before reaching the yacht station. Some of the modern boats have no chance of making it under the bridge at anything but close to low water and then should only be in the area at slack water or just after. Perhaps, and I know there will be a lot of negativity around this, but perhaps there could be a height sensor across the Bure near Marina Keys with anything triggering the sensor on an ebb tide being advised by a flashing sign to turn back immediately. I personally wouldn't turn my boat at 35ft on an ebb at or below the yacht station, let alone anything longer.

In my days of hiring we mainly hired dual steering boats, but mainly steered from outside. My own boat is a centre cockpit sliding roof boat as it seemed like the ideal compromise, but in reality I've realised that there are way too many times when there is a slight precipitation and the roof goes up to keep the interior dry, whereas in the days of hiring dual steer we would have toughed it out and put on a water proof jacket and stayed outside. However if it turned torrential, then it's nice to have the internal steering position. Confession time. On one occasion of hiring a dual steer boat we had only used the outside helm position. On reaching Thorpe and deciding to go under the bridge we needed to switch to the internal helm. This was duly done only to find the throttle didn't work inside. Several attempts at switching controls back and forth and it just wouldn't work. As the plan was to stay at Thorpe for the night, there was nothing else to do but improvise. We switched the controls over to the inside helm and found that although the internal throttle didn't work the external one still did. That was it then, one of us steered from inside, whilst issuing throttle instructions to the one outside laying down on the floor of the external helm position with absolutely no view. The only other time we used the inside helm position was for the return journey back under the bridge. Since this is a thread about boat safety I perhaps shouldn't have mentioned that. I will however mention that it amazes me the amount of times I see boats being taken through Wroxham bridge with pilots and there are people standing on the back of the boat videoing the passage, and ducking down at the last minute as the boat passes through the bridge. Another area that perhaps needs addressing?

Then I suggest they read the note on the second page of the report. "NOTE This report is not written with litigation in mind and, pursuant to Regulation 14(14) of the Merchant Shipping (Accident Reporting and Investigation) Regulations 2012, shall be inadmissible in any judicial proceedings whose purpose, or one of whose purposes is to attribute or apportion liability or blame."

It's hard to disagree with it, but any constructive dialogue on this thread is going to be like constantly walking on egg shells, and any criticism of the hire boat industry is only going to provoke outrage, and its hard to talk about boat safety without involving the hire boat industry. To make long well thought out constructive contributions to a thread which lets face it, it will only be a case of when, not if, it gets locked seems to be a waste of time, so in the words of Dragons Den!!!!

In which case I suggest you read the report again and more specifically it's aims, and the purposes it cannot be used for. In fact I copy the very last line of the report for you. Safety recommendations shall in no case create a presumption of blame or liability

Glad your back in the wetshed if you think that throne is now operational!!!

I always think there might be two sides to every story, so why assume the farmer is in the wrong? I have taken the liberty of copying part of the original post with a couple of highlights made by me. "Shortly after mooring a very annoyed farmer came over the fence and told me I was moored on private property and had to move, I pointed out the big sign that said free 24 hour mooring. He told me the mooring had encroached onto his land and unless I moved he would cut the mooring lines. Being me i declined to move and called the Broads Control. I have to say the Ranger was there in no time at all and did his best to sort things. I does appear however that the moorings have been extended onto the farmers lane." Now if someone has taken over part of my land for their moorings I might be annoyed as well. The "being me I declined" suggests the confrontation wasn't all one sided. The poster then goes on to concede that the farmer might be in the right as far as who's land it is. He probably has a very strong case for feeling aggrieved, but we still only have one side of just how aggressive he really was. At the end of the day the mooring is long enough so just move along a bit. Looking at some of the other replies it is shameful that people feel they would like to go and moor there now just to be confrontational. It always amazes me that people are so prepared to believe the words of a stranger they haven't met and condemn the actions of another they haven't met, who hasn't even had their chance to put their side of the story. How much of the story has been embellished to stir up sympathy we'll never know. Based upon my previous experiences of that site and mooring there I will give the farmer the benefit of the doubt and not attempt to moor in that section until the BA have sorted it properly once and for all.

Having now found the video on Facebook, I have captured the following picture. The Green box is the electrical supply to the pump and the BA electric post used to be just to the left downstream. The stairs are roughly in the same position and used to be the end of the mooring. That being the case, I would say the BA have stuck their sign in the wrong position, assuming they have leased exactly the same stretch of mooring as they used to have. Wouldn't be the first time the BA has put up incorrect signs, or in the wrong place, or with misspellings on them! I'm sure given time it will be moved, that stretch of mooring is long enough even if the sign is moved 40 foot further downstream. The interesting thing is that the original poster on Facebook even conceded that it does appear the mooring have been extended onto the farmers land. Back in the realms of supposition, this is probably no more than a clerical error and the BA workman going out and sticking their signs where they have been told to, or using their best judgement to space them out along the mooring without studying the drawing too closely. As I said previously the change of quay heading used to make it plain where the BA bit stopped and the fence also helped. The fence has probably to be re-instated by the EA or farmer and now the quay heading all looks the same along there. If you were sent to install signs it might be reasonable to assume that the BA stretch extended all the way to the pump inlet.

Continuing the supposition, I would imagine the EA would have been in discussion with the farmer and were unlikely to stop flood defence work when they have a remit to protect that bank. I don't think the argument is about whether the bank should have been re-piled and protected, including the farmers bit. The farmers beef is more likely that it has not been made clear again which bit is his and which bit isn't. If you look at the Berney Arms mooring the BA signs make it very clear by the use of arrows which bit is theirs. The same occurs at Bramerton Common where arrows indicate where the BA mooring ends and the private moorings start. I'm sure it is no more than the mooring being opened with unclear signage and a rather frustrated farmer trying to reinstate his rights over his bit of mooring and being frustrated that either the EA haven't re-instated his fence and signs, or the BA signage being a little ambiguous in that area.

I didn't see the post on Facebook and the wonder that is Facebook makes it virtually impossible to find anything that happened more than 24 hrs ago. One reason I don't post on it. The recent history of that mooring may go some way to explaining why the boundaries could have become a little blurred. A few years ago it was obvious which bit was BA and which bit was the farmers. The BA only leased their bit and gave up the lease when they deemed the mooring to be unsafe. The Fishermans Inn landlord then rented the mooring and made it a free mooring for pub patrons. It is the EA's responsibility to defend that section of land and have now completed the repiling along the whole section including the farmers bit. It now all looks like the same mooring, but with different owners. The BA have obviously taken on the mooring again, however it is also entirely possible that they have taken on a shorter stretch than they had previously on the basis they consider it an under used mooring.

Does anyone know that the farmer hasn't been extensively in talks with the EA to try and get his fences and signage re-instated. I would imagine trying to get action from the EA could be every bit as frustrating as getting action from the BA at times.

The BA mooring used to end roughly where my Red line is and there is a pump outfall that breaks up the BA mooring from the farmers mooring. As you follow the Angles Way just past the outfall it turns inland and there used to be a fence stopping you from accessing the farmers land.

The work was actually carried out by the EA, not the BA. So no charge to the toll payer, other than re-instating the usual BA paraphernalia that you find at 24hr moorings. Before the work was carried out the original EA piling continued on beyond the BA stretch of mooring. I assume the EA have replaced all the piling, which is why part of the farmers land has been repiled and defended. Their used to be a fence and signage that made it plain where the BA mooring ended and private land began. I would assume it is a simple enough task to replace the missing fence and signage. I would add however that even when the signage and fence where there, you often used to see boats mooring where they shouldn't, even the farmers signs warning of adders didn't deter people. I'm glad the adders could read though as otherwise there would have been nothing to stop them invading the BA section of the mooring The farmers bit of the mooring starts roughly where the Angles Way footpath turns back inland again. If you knew where the old electric post was, then not far upstream of that was the farmers bit. I believe the BA are planning on re-instating the post again.

I place this link here for information only. The investigation has been carried out by experts and I would suggest we can add nothing here. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62710e0be90e0746ca7e55da/2022-5-DiamondEmblem1-Report.pdf

Not just my point of view I think. How about an eye witness account Quote "All of a sudden everyone started arriving and we began to realise that our mooring, although quite normal, was restricting the width of the river when boats were tacking. By then the raters suddenly arrived and we were stuck there! As soon as we could see a gap in the traffic we cast off and scuttled back under the bridge again!"

Somewhere in the very centre of that picture is someone out for a relaxing cruise.

Don't get me wrong, it is fun to watch, just no fun finding yourself in the middle of it if your not a competitor!!!

Just remember stay close to the bank and they'll go around you!!!!

You'll have a calm peaceful relaxing holiday they said!!!!!

I wonder if the people on board the Orange Gem ever came back!!!! With moored boats as well, it is just too tight.

Whilst that maybe true, surely this is enough to put any one of for life!!!

Both those rivers are far wider than the Ant and in the case of the Yare way less busy. For those who value their boat the Ant is effectively closed during the 3RR anyway.

I would rather cross Breydon Water a thousand times than go up the Ant once when the 3RR is on!!!! In fact you might even have more chance of persuading me to go into the Lion's den than go up the Ant during the 3RR. Now this might be a tad controversial, but since it is only once a year, I would even support the BA closing the Ant below Ludham Bridge, to motor boats, for a period of 6 hrs from say 1pm to 7pm. They can and do close other parts of the navigation from time to time on the grounds of safety during maintenance etc. I do and will be again spectating at the 3RR and one of my favourite places is Ludham Bridge and for many half the spectator sport is watching the motor boats panic and struggle to navigate past the sail boats, but I have also seen too many scrapes and people possibly put of boating for life. Only last year a moored up boat lost a window and sustained damage to its window frame as the mercy of a bow sprit. I know it is a public navigation and there is a right to navigate and perhaps the counter argument would be to place the Ant mark just in the mouth of the Ant to make things easier, but there is a lot of history to the 3RR and it's only once a year, so I think serious consideration should be given to restricting access to motor boats for one 6 hour period per year.

I don't think anyone has suggested they are. However I'm sure statistics would show you were more likely to see a hire boat aground on Breydon than a private boat. It says something that you had to search the archives for a picture from 21st June 2015 to illustrate your point. Off course we all know that private boats go aground as well, and they are not perfect helmsmen either, so what focusses their mind? I'm not going to go into any detail, but only last weekend we witnessed an incident down Thurne Dyke where my friend on board helped out a crew. As we walked into the pub one of their party offered to buy him a drink to say thanks for his help. A conversation ensued including a discussion about the three foot of rubbing strake hanging of their boat. It ended with, "well that's what the CDW's for" Thankfully in this instance the only other injured party was a piece of quay heading, not someone else's pride and joy.

Not one but two boats, one possibly with engine failure. Hey but carry on rewriting history.