floydraser

Now as you mention it, I was thinking about this the other day: I have seen a few of those boaty mishap videos and they all seem to show at least one motor yacht going crazy and smashing into other boats in a harbour. The odd one I would have thought could have been someone worse the wear for drink but now, thinking about this thread, they could be down trouble between upper/lower helm controls.

Does anyone have an update on the contra-flow at Wymondam? Is it in place? Is it worth avoiding? I am thinking about coming over tomorrow, mid morning. Thanks in anticipation.

I've seen no mention of anything like this so apologies if I missed it. For my 65th birthday in January my kids arranged a narrow boat day trip from Market Harborough. In preparation the nominated Captain (me) is asked to complete an online instructional course which includes a series of short Youtube videos and ends with a multiple choice test. The score is for fun but is still an indicator. You are requested to complete the course at least 24 hours before boarding. On the day, life jackets were issued and the normal details were related, then I was shown the controls and asked to perform a couple of turns and a bit of reversing. The instructor then rode with us for a short time and made me stop so he could step off and walk back. Here is a link to one of the videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GuAU14OFxA&list=PLRh-5eosPL0JFrrKHsL_WzBEoQ1DrzMY1&index=2 You can find the other videos if you know how to navigate to Sharon's page. They've done a similar course for holiday cruises. Thank's to lessons learned here, I cleared the helm as we stopped for the swing bridges or to moor, and when the Grandchildren got a bit lively once, I related the unfortunate accident involving a young footballer, as they all play. BTW: we all had a great day. You only have two swing bridges to deal with on your way to Foxton Locks, where there are two pubs serving food and one serving Adnams beer. Form an orderley queue here. You are at the bottom of the locks and not allowed to take the boat up; you wouldn't have time anyway. I've booked again for a day in August.

My point about the red button was that red is a standard colour associated with danger and safety, and recognised as such generally. Fire alarm buttons also have a red surround. A large red button would be easier to locate in an emergency, as against having to stop and focus on a control panel to pick out one of a group of black buttons; the STOP button would be standing out. I mention this as a suggestion mainly for the hire industry as I suspect many private owners are likely to have far more familiarity with their own boats.

I'm not sure if this could be applied to hire boats but - workshop machines have a clearly marked stop button which is always (as far as I am aware) red. New machines also have guards which, if not in place, interrupt the elecrical circuit. Could there be some kind of wire mesh guard or other visual indicator to show which helm position is active?

I've had a rare non-cynical thought: A 42 footer listing over in the mud waiting for the tide to re-float it. Would it still do so with the weight of 10 people effectively on one side?

It says the alarm was raised by local marine engineers. I trust they would know what they were doing and either there really was a danger to life, or one or more of the occupants were finding it a bit traumatic. It's always possible that in a large group there could be some who were a bit hesitant about a boating holiday and it wouldn't take much for them to panic in such circumstances.

If they reversed over it then it's probably best that they never find it.

No, we haven't got this recycling thing at all. The loose stuff in the pic is all recycle stuff but the boxes aren't crushed and plastic bottles have caps on so if others have done the same it explains why the bins are full. But then if they had put that stuff in a general waste bin and filled that, you may well get general waste dumped there attracting cats/rats.

This is probably the most boring of my vidoes to date; a lot of it is me talking about parting company with the boat.

I agree with John. The A47 from Lynn to Norwich is not a bad road these days (outside of Bank holidays!) but it would be the long way round. I have used the B1145 too and can confirm it's not a bad road at all for a Norfolk B road!

In Norfolk??

It would be interesting to see a graph of fuel price rises in relation to Bank and summer holidays, over years gone by. I predict it will come down a tad after next weekend ready to rise again just before the schools break up for summer. Call me cynical if you like.

My favourite webcam; every still shot is a decent picture on it's own.

Some people ave thier own ways of handling administration and I would guess he just didn't like being shut away in an office; probably scared of missing something going on in the pub. Control?

That's why they ordered the huge skip in the second photo! Shame they haven't got rid of those annoying little stumpy yellow bollards that some idiots used to get there cars stuck on....

Mornington Crescent!

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but: if the fridge has been there for a long time it would have been inspected as part of the boat safety cert. And as you seem certain it's been done properly anyway, I would say try it first and see what other teething troubles may appear, probably more urgent. You mention vents: I think compressor fridges just need a good flow of cool air around the rear (don't we all? ). I think the boat safety scheme doesn't allow the fitting of new gas fridges? So a replacement would have to be 240v or 12v. As I said, someone higher up the food chain will correct me if I'm wide of the mark..

I don't think fuel retailers passed on the drop in wholesale price as an act of goodwill.

Oh crikey, here we go again. Should we change the law to allow tyre slashing so long as it's justified by a noble cause? What if they've tried to slash a tyre and failed, causing slight, unseen damage? I hope my relatives are not out walking when the tyre let's go. But maybe they've been trained to slash tyres properly? No, they're idiots. A better, more effective way of protest would surely involve getting more people onside, and that means good publicity. The price of fuel came down during lockdown to stimulate sales which to me, shows that if we all stopped buying it for a period, someone just may sit up and take notice. Oh but that may involve actually walking the kids to school; back to the drawing board then... And besides all that, while attention is focussed on fuel other things are being ignored: When was the last time we heard about excessive use of paper products? Those protesters may have more effect if they tried convincing us all to use less paper or blockading a paper mill. We seem to think as long as it's recycled it's not damaging the environment. It damages the environment as much as making new. In fact, if we cut down on paper use (and other areas), we would also be taking lorries off the road. Some magazines come through the post in a recyclable wrapper. The wrapper having been transported from Austria. Not sure how anyone could attention seek protesting about that one.

I hadn't thought about that. While I too enjoy the views I think I would be annoyed if any drones came over the boat on a regular basis. Once would be fine. Over my house would be different; it may come down rather quicker than it went up!

I think I posted elsewhere that on 11th March someone (Sky news via the radio?) was quoted as saying that supplies and the effect of the war had stabilised, and we could expect fuel prices to level off or even drop. Cheapest diesel was around £1.63/lt at the time... I'm convinced we are being ripped off big time, and we are now paying for the pandemic as business claws back it's losses with stealth. I remember diesel being around £1.20/lt just after lockdown and thought it was a bit too good to be maintainable. Rugby Services J1 M6 Deisel £1.93.5/lt. Drive 1/2 mile down to Tescos Rugby £1.69/lt.

The Moderators are working nights again folks, let's see if we can give them an easier ride.... I managed to read a post by FF before it was removed, which Vaughan responded to. I found the technical parts of it very interesting and informative; I actually learned something today! It's clear FF posses a lot of knowledge and experience of merchant shipping. It's also clear to me that Vaughan also has vast knowledge and experience which I and many others have benefited from over the years. I would even go so far as to say that Vaughan has probably posted more useful information on here than anyone?? No offence to anyone else intended. I repeat my advice about posting: type it, read it, LEAVE IT, read it again, post/delete it. The "LEAVE IT" stage is where you get over whatever it was that wound you up in the first place!

Agreed. It was a different era and I'm pretty sure we weren't the first to walk into another country, but someone else with a large navy did so and it became clear that if we didn't, there wouldn't be anywhere left to walk into. Also, back then there would have been nothing like the global economy there is now, where existing trade is taken into account. Like oil and gas... nuff said.

The boat that passed through at Berney looks like one of the other two Santa Caterinas like mine, only an early version with a wooden hull. It'll be Terry & Pam from Repps.