marshman

That is good news - most of you will know I strongly opposed that trial on safety grounds and at least that has gone away. It will be interesting to see now whether the Landlord restores the Woodbastwick moorings, as I suspect he will - he will still be able to double moor on his own frontage and overall, I do not think he will lose a lot.. A lot of hassle and overall I suspect, the stern mooring added very little to overall numbers. More alarmingly, further on, I see the new Thurne Mouth mooring, is still having problems and I thought the pontoon mooring was a great idea! I see the landowner will not sign the lease as yet, because of a potential litter issue - what a really helpful chap he is. Firstly he closes the mooring, he then has a spat with the BA over the planning for his new basin and now he finds something else!! Enough to drive boaters to drink, let alone the BA negotiators!!!!

PM sent!!!

Beat me to it Pete!!!!

To be fair Vaughan, the pontoon will be no more of an obstruction than the dinghies themselves given the number of boats using it!! http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/go_to_hull_only_the_most_aesthetically_pleasing_boats_will_be_allowed_to_moor_in_thorpe_st_andrew_1_4884553

I do not feel qualified to talk on such matters as education as it is all too long ago , but if the BA's efforts with schools end the same way as the Wherry Trust's (i.e total and utter disinterest! ) then its all a lot of puff and bu**er all else!!

My understanding is that it would be recorded by digital voice recorder but not video! Clearly there is a difference of opinion!

Hi Vaughan, and others too!! Yep she has been down there too long, even for a Suffolk wherry!! All being well tonight, I believe, will be her last night out in a Suffolk town - but I said that a fortnight ago!! It was not just the stern post, but the apron too, the much larger piece "in front " of the sternpost to which the planks are fastened, and in addition as well, the last three pairs of ribs, three part planks towards the stern, a new stern deck plus associated bits and pieces including new knees on the inside of the apron!! I realise that there is a ban on new knees in the NHS but these were a special offer and having access to that area which can be difficult, the surgeon just kept hacking out the worn bits and replacing. Looked after that bit will way outlast me, probably having a life of 25 years or more!!!

Lets not start a campaign to say these boats will fit down the Chet or up the Ant(e)! There are very good reasons why these Bye Laws exist - to discourage larger boats. After all people CAN actually cope with something smaller!! I agree with PW on this ( not again!! ) and there is no doubt these boats DO put a bigger strain on the system. In fact over a certain size I would consider it sensible to increase the multiplier still further - why not? They might look OK but so would a torpedo boat - do we want boats overlapping the confines of moorings just because people believe biggest is best. And everyone knows that to be a lie in any case! (Or so they say! )

Firstly Timbo, as you know the BA are actually dredging Hickling now, and in fact the PP always seems to occur when the conditions are exactly opposite!!! It seems it is about dissolved oxygen too, as you know also i guess, and when we have had a dry spring and the water levels are low. It doesnt help at Hickling either that in those circumstances the salinity will increase, for rather obvious reasons and when that does occur, what it actually needs is a good flush through to clear it all out.. Oh well, we can probably discuss this one for a month or so......!!!!!

Grass banks are very kind to boats too!!

Thats why it cannot use the Chet or the Ant!!!

Pretty - but pretty useless on the Broads given the beam of 12'9" . Cannot use the Chet or Ant nor above the smaller bridges! I think I would like to go up the prettier rivers but I suppose the punters won't know or care much!!

Me too Vaughan!! But probably 50 yrs ago !!! It is still around in bits but whilst it is overgrown it is still deep! You certainly cannot walk across it ,even in waders - several years ago I was working out there with big machines and we had to use the interlocking floats to make a proper crossing - none of these little sleeper mats!!

The Humber Keel that met up with Albion was if I recall correctly called Daybreak and whilst converted to living accommodation had been rigged with the square sails, like the originals, for sailing. The Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society seem to have a barge rigged with the square sails and a sloop rigged one too.

Sceptic that I am, I cannot see him raising that kind of cash for such a project! Pw - the clue is in your comment methinks"...was a time..."!! I hope I am wrong but I just cannot see it - others have tried and not succeeded and things have not got better but we shall see!

Timbo - a wherry is a pretty generic sort of name but the Norfolk (and Suffolk - PW! ) Wherry is built primarily and specifically for the inland waterways of the Broads. They did go to sea but generally only locally, often loading in Yarmouth Roads. They have a single large sail, loose footed and with a large gaff - they can sail reasonably close to the wind as they had a keel and can tack, although they like a bit of room for that, or the larger wherries do!! The picture you posted is, I believe, of a Humber Keel and they were very different being generally flat bottomed and with a pair of leeboards. They are usually rigged with a square sail or two, and tended to use the sail only with the wind coming from astern or on the quarter - most of the waterways they used often had towpaths so if the wind was adverse, they could be bowhauled by men or horses. I suspect that even with this sail they could actually sail a bit closer to the wind than I have indicated but they clearly then built some sloop rigged. Up north the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Socy run, or did, a sloop rigged keel which from a distance looked a bit like a small Thames barge - on closer inspection the hull was identical to the keel, more bluff and rounded, and I guess they just rigged them differently to allow them to sail better, particularly in the more open Humber estuary. A couple of years ago Albion met up with a keel at Cantley and the keel was noticeably bigger, but not as big as a Thames barge which of course spent much of its time actually at sea off the East Coast in the shallow estuaries. Albion carried up to 40 tons, a keel I believe up to 80 and depending on size, even more. Thames Barges tended to serve a wider area but the Norfolk (and Suffolk! ) wherries were generally limited to the Broads and the keels to the Humber and associated waterways. There are quite a number of generalisations in the above and lots will be along to point these out, but i think its a pretty good outline of the situation!

We will also have more of a breeze about - the little waves break up ice quickly so I hope it all goes. No doubt PW will be along soonish to say Oulton YS is clear - I ,at least, hope so!!

Very good Vaughan - I "liked" yours too!!! Primary schools are just not interested in local history! It is virtually impossible to get the little kids out of the school and out to see local history - two normal excuses are given!! We are far too busy teaching about more important things and The cost of getting them to you - the cost of a 35 seater coach from say Norwich to Ludham, is prohibitive and if the BA do anything to encourage the kids to learn about Broadland the latter has to be overcome - now thats a worthy cause!!!

MM - don't join that grouping!! I thought better of you!! It IS all rather silly and everyone now knows the ins and outs!! How on earth can you "teach" a child the subtle difference? To 99% of the population of the whole world, its a National Park - just live with it now! Those who know different and know what they know, are right, and can live in peace for a long long time time. As you know all know, primary legislation is required to change the actuality and I think I can safely say the Govt will not have enough time over the next 15 years or so to give it a thought!! Timbo - with the greatest of respect just stop wasting the BA's time with what is really trivia - I am sure they have better things to do like put up tolls!

As you say, move upstream a bit away from the actual Yacht Station and you will not hear a thing!! After a night out on the town you can only crawl anyway, and I defy anyone to crawl from the clubs to up past Pulls Ferry!!! Its probably the best part of 3/4 of a mile!!! All they can manage to do is crawl to the cab offices conveniently opposite the clubs. Griff - I know what you mean!!!!l lol I have even been inside to get a closer look!!!!

Albion is slightly different Vaughan as ice can chip the tar off as thats brittle!!

Griff - I think you need to get here a few days earlier with as many of the lads as possible - go out on the booze and fill up with tons of grub as the pubs are not very full at this time of year, and then get them all to huddle together on the aft deck, give it some wellie and just hope the bow gets out of the water by about an extra foot or so!! Easy peasy but it may be a trifle expensive given the fact you have to foot the bill for booze, fags and grub!! OR Alter your schedule a bit to allow a bit more flexibility - it is Norfolk after all and expecting things to run to plan and expectation is probably not entirely on the cards. You know what they say about cup and lips!!!!

Gosh - what a lot of dangers people perceive!! Pollution, noise, rampant clubbers and not to mention drowning!! You are of course on a boat - it might sink!! A lot of the "dangers" are hearsay and I really doubt if many or indeed any, people here have had an issue. People are occasionally cast off everywhere, not just in Norwich! The "dangers" at the Yacht Station are more imaginary than actual and if you go up the far end away from the station its all some way away and whilst it is away from the fence surrounding the actual Yacht Station, it would be extremely unlikely if you had issues - whilst you cannot moor at the next bridge up, Bishops Bridge, there are certainly moorings up above Pulls Ferry. Any issues would only arise on a Fri/Sat night but even then its mostly about not a lot. As some have hinted, Norwich is a lovely place with lots of things to do, with good pubs and quality restaurants and you should not miss it so please don't be put off by scare stories.

I thought Hoseasons was owned by Wyndhams??!! (No I know Vaughan - you were talking about Tui!! )

I think niche means small!!! I am not surprised travel agents, given how few are left, do not have the brochures - why would they? Just try and work out how many people would book such a holiday that way? Most people book on the internet and of the 4 main holiday companies I guess at least 60% or more book direct - Ferry are not even in a holiday brochure as they do everything direct and seem to be doing nicely thank you! Tim - I think that is nothing to do with Mr Packman even if you do wish to blame him!!