Bluesman54

I’ve no problem with being quoted but it’s the assumption I am a newbie to boating and the Broads and for that matter the North Sea on numerous diving expeditions, that rankles, I’ve taken both a power boat course and an inland waterways helmsman course (very recently) both RYA courses and hold a VHF SRC radio licence and have been hiring boats on the broads on and off for over 40 years, if my post had been read properly I highlighted the need for due diligence from other boaters and not my according to the RealWindmill need for a “trainer”, the worst incident apart from the ramming on Ranworth Staithe being a Broom hire boat exiting Bridgecraft marina without slowing or look right and left, his excessive speed caused him to end up on the “wrong” side of the river and me to throw the boat into what can only be called an emergency reverse but no matter it was 8.00 am and he obviously didn’t think any boater apart from himself would be on the river so that’s ok in his book no indication of him ever having seen us was forth coming but hey I was in a ‘lowly” bathtub and he in a top of the range large sports cruiser. So I stand by my decision not to return to the Broads which was duly reinforced this morning after viewing the Ludham bridge incident, accidents do happen especially with the conditions late last week which I personally experienced but not stopping to give details of a collision is inexcusable and just part of the mindset of far too many boaters which may be down to the CDW as one poster has already mentioned, I for one have a conscience and do all I can to return my hired boat to the yard as it was at the start of my hire.

We too had planned a Friday return to the South but once we saw the forecast we moored up at Fleet Dyke on Wednesday afternoon and crossed Breydon on the Thursday midday tide and moored up at Pyes Mill before taking the boat back into Brooms on the Friday, I was told they’d had 3 other hirers return a day early as well, on the way up to to Brundall we saw several Northern based boats in what looked like a run down to Breydon, just a comment re’ newbies, whilst at Pyes Mill we spotted but only just as it was 19.00 and dark by then a rather large Richardsons bath tub trying in vain to find a mooring for the night, where he ended up I’ve no idea as Pyes Mill was chock a block. Oh and to end a week of numerous closes calls and one incident of being rammed whilst moored we obviously had to finish our holiday with a bang, so whilst on the fuel dock today at Brooms one of their hire boats still on hire got out of control narrowly missing us but crashing into the key heading, with regret I’ve made the decision that I won’t be returning to the Broads again, there are too many people on them with very little if any knowledge of what they are doing and who are in some circumstances positively dangerous.

About the same feeling as I had this week as I watched some idiot trying to put their bow through our window as they attempted to moor up bow first in the small boat slip at Ranworth to get water as he was too impatient to wait in turn for a mooring space, unfortunately the ranger had only just left so he escaped a fine.

I’m afraid I have absolutely no interest in football, I know, I’m a rare breed, the Bluesman is in relation to my taste in music.

Hi Tom Thanks for your post, I sent a message via your facebook page, so one way or another my question has been answered so no problem. Regards Ian

Hi all firstly I must apologise as I missed out saying Hi to you all before my initial posts, I'm hiring a boat on the Southern broads on the 19th Sept for a week and intend to cruise the North as well, ideally I'm looking to moor overnight at Hardley Cross Staithe before crossing Breydon on the 21st so do any members know if the BA repair works to the staithe have been completed yet, I know I could possibly moor at Loddon/Pyes Mill, obviously if there's room, hopefully will be a tad quieter now term time has started, allegedly but I don't fancy navigating the twisty River Chet in the early morning 1/2 light of 6.00 am, Reedham would be an option but I'm wary of double mooring there and getting blocked in as LWS times around the weekend of the 19th are quite early, I'm aiming to be moored up around 15.00. I've already messsaged BA but no reply and no updates re' the staithe on their web site either. Ian

The problem is the number of publications/media that this misnomer has been made public. As an example I’ve just passed my VHF SRC test along with a helmsman course and was given a RYA Inland Waterways handbook published in 2010, in where it clearly states. ”The Broads Authority has the status of a national park authority and manages the 125 miles of inland waterways and 40 broads.”

m Makes sense to me and to be honest that was how I was reading it, thank you, will have to wait until Sept 19th to see wether Brooms will do a refund or not as I’ve heard nothing as yet, I’m not holding my breath as you may well imagine.

And here’s the link https://britishmarine.co.uk/coronavirus and below are quotes taken from Hoseasons covid page. “Hoseasons does not own the boat accommodation. Instead, we act as a booking and marketing agent for our boat owners and provide a booking service to customers. These services are not within the scope of the changes announced. This means that the applicable VAT rate for any services provided by Hoseasons remain at 20%. HMRC has now clarified that the temporary 5% VAT rate applies to services provided by the boat owners to the customer. The rental price charged to customers is set by the boat owners. Where the boat yard is VAT registered, the rental price charged by the boat yard is inclusive of VAT. During the period in which the change applies, the VAT included in the rental price payable by customers will be set at the rate of 5%.” Might be an age thing but I find that very confusing. Ian

Hoseasons are using some very confusing excuse not to drop the VAT to 5% though so having to pay the full 20% for our September holiday, needless to say will never book with them again.

Good news. check this out. https://britishmarine.co.uk/coronavirus Ian.

Testing time tomorrow for the hire yards, lots of boats returning, all wanting deep cleaning, last Saturday they’d had the time to prepare the boats due to being layed up. I’m hiring from Broom in September so will be eagerly watching what happens tomorrow, hopefully all will go well.

How’s about a politician telling the truth😱

I totally agree with all the points you’ve made and had thought of most of them but didn’t want my previous post to turn into War and Peace, as it is it will be unworkable and I’m sure that after the first week or two each boat yard will sort out a procedure that suits them, taking into consideration the Gov’ guide lines, the idea of timed slots sounds good to me and is IMHO the only way for yards to get themselves organised, just imagine what’s going to happen at Richardsons if all their hires turn up at 5.00, doesn’t bear thinking about. As you say it is what it is but Hoseasons shouldn’t be calling the shots they are not at risk it’s the customers and staff at each boat yard and it’s up to them to do a risk assessment and put in place procedures that suit their individual circumstances.

I can comment on this with a certain amount of knowledge as I’m a shop steward for a major union that represents shop workers and the statistics are quite disturbing and are as follows. “over the past year over two-thirds of shopworkers were verbally abused, 41% were threatened and around 400 were assaulted every day.“ Yes that’s right EVERY DAY. How would you like that happening to your wife, daughter partner etc. One lady I spoke to had had a frozen chicken thrown at her, one had been stalked home from her place of work another was asked to perform a sexual act, the list goes on and on, I’ll leave you think on that but a shop workers job is low paid with long unsocial hours without being abused by so called customers.