Coryton

It looks to me as if the reason the upper graph starts where it does is because it's only showing actual measured results, whereas the bottom graph covers a longer time period because they've added reconstructed measurements from before people were doing measurements.

That's cheered me up! A good start to the morning.

While this virus is spreading very fast, one person infects on average only 2.2 people. Going out and touching a contaminated surface in a shop is not a guaranteed way to catch it. As someone else said, it is important to wash hands and avoid touching your face though. It's not as contagious as flu, but nastier to have. I'm generally in the keep-calm-and-carry-on category, but this is very different. If everyone carries on with a stiff upper lip, this is going to spread far faster than the NHS can cope with, and the death rate will shoot up. Everybody has to do what they can. It might feel as if an indvidual's actions make no difference, but altogether how fast this spreads, and how deadly it is overall, depends on what we all do. Sitting indoors certainly does help the spread because you're not going outside contaminating surfaces, and coughing over people. People in Italy and China aren't being kept near prisoners in their houses for fun. The problem is that the NHS will do their best to save the life of anybody who gets it, and resources are limited. So anyone who decides to carry on and take the consequences if they get it impacts other people, not just themselves. I am not an epedimiologist (I can't even spell it) but I am a scientist and have read the work Imperial is doing - and sobering reading it is too. (I also realise that it's perhaps a bit rich to have ignored this forum for months and then come back only to criticise people, but this is very important and I couldn't leave it be)

I don't think it's that hard to sight along the top of a boat and see if you have clearance for a bridge (i.e. can you see the underside?) Whether the tide/current/wind will let you abort by the time you realise it isn't going to fit is probably another matter.

Something that would directly affect her?

When we hired on Lough Erne we got two short ropes and that was it. Presumably to reduce the chances of us wrapping one of them round the prop. But it made mooring very difficult at times. Having four decent length ropes on the Broads this year was luxury, because normally once we had one rope on there was no trouble getting the other one on land to pull the boat round - which is why we got caught out when for once the stern had swung out so far that the stern rope didn't reach.

We had a bit of fun in Thurne dyke on a bit of a breezy day. Got on shore with a rope at the front, but the stern swung out across the dyke and didn't want to come in. The stern ropes weren't long enough to reach the shore. It took longer than it should have done to think of tying the two stern ropes together to make one longer one so we could pull the stern in.... Nice place for the night though.

Can't you use the "static cling" hire boat versions?

Having spent a couple of weeks on the Beam of Light recently, I'd say that the Diamond 43 is an excellent design. Goes under everything (OK, probably not Potter), roomy inside, easy to get in and out of, excellent visibility from the upper helm (not so much from inside, admittedly), split canopies so you can have it open on the non windy side or away from the quayside, decent sized kitchen. And you don't have to open the canopies and get everything wet if it's raining to get under low bridges. I wouldn't want to hire anything else, and if I was looking to join a syndicate, I'd want it to be Thunder (or Lightning).

I saw this on a trip to Bristol at the weekend. I don't recall seeing anything quite like it on the Broads, but the canopy design looks quite Broads-y. Does anyone know if this is an ex Broads boat? Just curious... Not the best of photos, but it was a bit of a way away. We were visiting the SS Great Britain, which is well worth seeing if you're in the area.

Hire boats do have the advantage of being able to take refuge in hire boat yards, which made things relaxing for us. In August it wasn't much of an imposition on the Northern Broads to look for somewhere to moor while leaving enough time to make it to a boat yard before dark if we didn't find something. As it was, we didn't have any trouble, but it meant we didn't have to worry. Our manual said we should aim to be moored an hour before sunset. It didn't offer any advice on how easy that might or might not be.

Curiously enough, this is where the boat I was referring to had tied up. We were at the upstream and of the yacht station. The offending boat passed us after sunset, and we did go to try to warn them about being careful to tie up, but couldn't find them. The next morning I discovered them beyond the yacht station. They must have slept through the whole thing, or maybe not even made it back to the boat that night? Seeing the boat at such an angle to the horizontal was quite an impressive sight. The rangers aren't just useful for tying up - advice/help on untying is good also. On our way back North, we passed a cruiser where they had made the mistake of taking the wrong rope off first, and were having great difficulty sorting themselves out.

Yes pontoons are good - but seem to be extremely rare on the Broads. I did get a bit paranoid about leaving enough rope for tides - I think I tended to rather over-do it. Then again I saw an excellent example at Great Yarmouth of why it's important to get it right - someone came in after the yacht station closed and tied themselves up. At low tide early the next morning the boat wasn't exactly horizontal, but at least they didn't rip the cleats out.

Must be a nice spot for the night. We called in there during the day to visit the mill. Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind for it to go round, but it was still very interesting getting to see everything inside. We didn't have a wherry for company though.

It's interesting...on the train back from London this week we briefly ran alongside the Thames, and I realised I was seeing the river as a way of getting somewhere, rather than something that looks pretty but gets in the way when you want to be on the other side...

Maybe he's another fan of Diamond 43s?

I was quite impressed by the ranger at Great Yarmouth knowing the air draught of the boat we were in just from the name.

That's pretty much half of what we used in two weeks. Most days we didn't go very far, but towards the end we did rather up the pace. I've discovered that just looking at a nice picture of a boat on the Broads is quite relaxing...

Funny - when we got to our last day this year (after 2 weeks), it was a shame to have to hand the boat back, but it felt as if we'd been living on it for at least a month...(in a good way). Actually we found it relatively easy - it bends a lot, but not many other boats around, and currents/wind weren't a problem when we did it. And no sailing boats tacking backwards and forwards! There were places that were reserved for Mrs Coryton's superior skills and experience at the helm, but the Chet wasn't one of them. Oh please do, if you have the time. I don't think you have to be someone who posts all the time on the forum for people to enjoy your tales.

No, you're not. Something that surprised me on my first boating holiday was how stable the boat was most of the time - it was as if it was somehow running on rails. Of course there were exceptions - fast boats going past (no speeds limits on most of the Lough Erne system) and being on the lower Lough on a windy day - that was less a nice rocking and more like being at sea.

You wouldn't think... The skippers' manual we had was in a few places a masterpiece of vagueness. Don't moor in the "lower reaches of rivers, where the current is very strong and the rise and fall of the tide is very large". Where are the "lower reaches?" "Watch your wash, especially when passing moored craft." Watch for what? What shouldn't it be doing? (And for the really inexperienced, come to think of it, what does "your wash" mean?) Elsewhere under Byelaws it says "Don't make waves" which is perhaps a little more useful but not much. "Life Jackets are provided for each member of your party. Make sure that they fit properly and make sure that they wear them AT ALL TIMES." In bed? OK I'm being a bit facetious but instructions like that aren't terribly helpful. "Always reduce speed when approaching a bridge" Doesn't that depend what speed you were going before? Reduce to what? I'm being unfair because manuals are not easy to write, it is comprehensive and has a lot of very useful information in. But it could be better in places. Some pictures of what your wash shouldn't look like would be very helpful.

And there's that 200 miles of waterways claim I mentioned recently in another thread.

Some boat designs make it easier to see what's behind you than others. And if my experience is anything to go by, when hiring a boat you are given no warning to watch your wash, or any way of knowing what counts as a 'significant' wash. Of course there is a warning in the skippers' manual, and everyone diligently reads through them, don't they? I agree that ground speed isn't everything, but I don't think GPS speedometers do any harm. If we had gone by the rev counter we would have had a very strange view of our speed, no matter which of the two different sets of numbers given at the helm we chose. After all the different speed limits across the Broads are given in mph, not wash levels.

"Latest news" from 2017...

Fascinating. This one doesn't seem to have been repealed: "For the greater convenience and security of the public, the company shall erect and permanently maintain a lodge at the point where the railway crosses on the level the turnpike road or public carriage road; and the company shall be subject to and shall abide by all such regulations with regard to the crossing thereof on the level, or with regard to the speed at which trains may pass the level crossing, as may from time to time be made by the Board of Trade. If the company fails to erect, or to maintain, such lodge, or to appoint or keep a proper person to watch or superintend the level crossing, or to observe or abide by any such regulation as aforesaid, they shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding [F2£50], and also to a penalty of ten pounds for every day during which the offence continues after the penalty of [F2£50] is incurred."