marshman

Someone seems to have cornered the market in small fenders - I use to have two canvas covered ones I suppose I should have put shoe whitener on!!!!!! Griff would be forever taking them in and putting them out again!!

Again jumping to a conclusion PW - perhaps they will be able to make temporary repairs? If they cannot do anything , what was the point of inspecting it the other day? Can we not just wait and see what happens?

So what a surprise - the Forum seems to have got it wrong again and when the facts actually come out, it would seem the BA could have done bu**er all about it and Grendel seems to have summed it up nicely! I suspect differing leases will also have differing responsibility and repair clauses. I am sure the BA will have something to say in due course and perhaps it would just be sensible to wait until the position is clarified further by those who actually know whats happening!

Just to cheer you all up negotiations to reopen the footpath from Ludham Bridge to St Benets along the "new" river bank took rather longer than a couple of years!!! Not sure if it was the same landowner or not, but that issue took 6/7 or perhaps more, years to resolve!! If as Peter says they have been talking for a couple of years ( have they?) then clearly they did anticipate this? Hoveton Viaduct took a long time, but as Grendel says, we just don't know the details, fact or fiction. As to value again PW is right its not of great value to the landowner and in addition I am sure the District Valuer will be involved somewhere to add another complexity! Do we even know when the Lease comes to an end - perhaps they may only be making temporary repairs. Incidentally I understand that the land between the new bank and the piling at Stalham Staithe has collapsed and a portion is taped off - that will be either the Town Council or Norfolk County Council. Another one for the legal beavers to work out but knowing NCC that will take forever but I guess the BA will take the blame!!!! Just when you thought that had been sorted......!!!!!

Very probably because there are fewer people who can actually sail, but also people these days have to have a plan to stick too. Actually remember that many do have inboard engines so you can motor if you want to!! But people want their boats to be like their houses and you are never going to get that in your average sailing boat! Who wants a boat you can hardly stand in, let alone sit down comfortably in!!! Although I am getting past it now but there is nothing better than a good thrash up the Bure in a Rebel!!!!!! (For the uninitiated the Rebel is a 23' half decker that goes like s**t off a shovel and if you know what you are doing, Hunters will hire you one of theirs!!!)

OK I agree - but would you have been very happy for a special levy on tolls for an unknown amount at some stage in the future?? Methinks not!! Its ok Pete, I will leave you to your usual demolition job without full knowledge of all the facts and details!!!!

Lets not all jump to possibly the wrong conclusion. Its not at all unusual for people not to discuss whats going on in the middle of negotiations so we will just have to wait and see. What they should not do is overpay avaricious landowners who may be tempted to see the BA as a public honey pot!!!! Problems with lease renewal and where renewal costs are to be attributed, are nothing new sadly but rather than blame JP always, perhaps we should attribute some blame to the existing landowner - there are plenty of cases around where landowners have acted in an inappropriate manner, some even using the threat of non renewal as a bargaining issue in other issues, such as planning!!!!!

If I recall PW, all the repairs were done a couple of years ago or more! Perhaps it just shows how long ago you came "north" ???

Speliologist beat me to it by 2 mins!!!

I am sure Tom will come and tell us all about it soon, but elsewhere it states boats will have priority between 16/6 and 31/10. I am sure someone in the BA knows what is going on as the NDAA must have negotiated, or not, these rights over this area which is leased to the BA That will make for some interesting confrontations I guess, not what you want on one of the more prominent of BA moorings. The anglers seem to wish to take over the Broads!!

Ranworth stores might not sell them but I bet the new BA info centre at Ranworth will !!!!!!!

Either that or the top of Hickling - thats a tall mill too!!

Absolutely stunning PW - love how they get "dressed" up for the the pictures, or at least some of them!!! What on earth would a fisherman want with a telescope???? Seen some of them before but not all . Love that haystack of marsh "hay" - thats something hardly ever seen, as its usually all about reeds, rushes and sedge. Don't forget that vast quantities of marsh hay went down to London for the horses but not often seen like that!! In Emerson's books, the photos often tiny!!

Andrew - easily doable in a week , especially if you use the other week to do the north. Depending on tides you could do a whole week down south - I am sure you know how to check the tides etc etc but if you need any help, just post the dates and someone will advise you which would give you the best to catch the best tides.

Well, for what its worth I shall be on mine for the day on the 29th, and on my own!! I don't think I shall be doing anything wrong, but if I am.......tough!!!!!

For what its worth I would interpret a wet shed as "open air" as generally at least, one end would be open to the elements. If you are fortunate to be able to close it up completely, just open the doors!!!!

A Chinese gybe is most spectacular on a wherry- but worrying for the skipper, as suggested by Vaughan. Dont forget a real wherry does not have a boom so when running there is a tendency to let out all the mainsheet - about 70m!!!! As a result the blocks, two of them and pretty heavy, will tend to go right up towards the area of the mast - if you let them. If the wind then gets aback the top of the sail, that bit will gybe over but because of the weight at the bottom and position, the bottom might not follow - you therefore get a twist in the leach, the gaff goes almost vertical, and the gaff jaws because there is no thrust, tend to come away off and away from the mast - there are parrel beads across the jaws but these are not fixed so the gaff can come away from the mast. You used to have special lightweight "summer" mainsheet blocks but never seen any!!!!! If you follow all that, you probably know a bit about sailing but believe me you don't want to be on the tiller when that happens - it makes a lot of noise given all the weight that is aloft and can cause real issues - as Vaughan suggests!!!!!!

With a bit of luck then, Clive will be along at some time to tell us his views on the sort of figures involved! It will be less but I doubt it will be a fraction of the cost of a new build - I suspect they will be reengined and their labour costs involved may be more given that the quality of the fitout may be just as good as the new ones? I think we may be surprised to hear what the cost is!

You can also unship the jaws by executing a "Chinese" gybe, although not to be recommended generally!!!!!!

Facebook - whats that?

PW - that ring!!! ( The rest is really only for wherry technophobes - others will find it utterly boring!!! ) Still have no real idea but been thinking that it might correspond with where the coburg might be and could be a rest for the mast when lowered? Canarytops mentioned the fact that the gaff jaws looked very short and just suppose perhaps it was set up for single handed working - anyone who has tried it will know removing the jaws of the gaff really requires two crew. However with shorter jaws it might be possible to do it on your own - at the same time with less weight on the counterbalance you might be able to drop the mast right down onto the coburg and almost to deck level? Normally the weight is balanced so you have to actually pull the mast down the last bit but with less weight it may go all the way down and the ring rest on top of the coburg? Single handed sailing would allow you to do all three actions from the mast on your own , as described but you would have to be a good ol' Norfolk bouy and fit to do it!!! But we do know it was done!! Dont forget Ludham bridge was also much lower then and getting the mast lower may have been a real help - although the mast mounted winch would not help unless it could be moved out of the way somehow and the photo does show a seemingly full height tabernacle which is the highest point given the mast sits on top. With real apologies to most of you 'cos it is a bit technical so probably only for PW, Vaughan and Canarytops and certainly NOT for David H!!!

Perhaps its just to avoid chafe from the main halliard which with a mast mounted winch may well be closer to the mast. Given the way they were all working boats though, seems a bit of bother just to avoid a bit of chafe.

Define area then! The fact is that there is no definition of "local" in the legislation as I said earlier.

There is no definition in the legislation of local - that I would guess is the papers interpretation!

Andy - believe me there is no way this is a precursor to them welding Reedham Bridge!!!! They have just spent millions upgrading the operational signalling systems on the Wherry Lines and also purpose built new rolling stock. Add to that fact that I know they are looking to upgrading the bridges over the shorter term - in this case I firmly believe that the pessimists are drawing the wrong conclusion! Carrow Bridge is the responsibility of Norfolk County Council, not Network Rail, and I must agree that even for a saving of only £150k, I agree that there are better things to spend money on a bridge that is just just not used and in any case leads nowhere. Nobody has bothered to check how many times it has been used over the last 5 years!!! PS Here is the link to upgrades being planned on the other bridges - I accept you either believe me or Vaughan - thats down to you!!!!! https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/anglia/improving-the-railway-in-anglia/swing-bridge-renewals/