marshman

I had hoped that I would never see that picture again. Just to put you in the picture, that picture and the surrounding plannig issues probably occupied half of Norfolk posting upwards of around 10k posts, or possibly more some 5/6 years ago. By all means read them,but lets not open old wounds again!! You are right about that is Morning Flight - the son posts here under, unsurprisingly, Vaughan, aka Vaughan Ashby!!!

Lets disillusion some of you!! Why should the BA waste money by putting a Ranger on the quay? They have coped before and will cope again - there is either a space or not, I am afraid! Chris - I cannot see the problem - why waste a day moored up? Just hire a dinghy as you then have the option of mudweighting or indeed mooring up on Ranworth Island and then rowing ashore. Just FYI the Reserve is still shut and showing no signs of opening and although I have just come back from parking at the Church, I did not notice if the Tower was open. Don't forget both are operated by volunteers and most of them by their very nature are elderly and frightened by the whole issue!

I have measured mine at 6' 7" but thats absolute and realistically its 6' 9"/6'10" to avoid brown trouser jobs!!!! I managed Wroxham going upstream with just under 7' showing at low tide the other day but coming back it was a bit squeaky which just shows how you need to be aware of the tide even up there!!

Not sure either myself or PW advocated MM's last idea!!!

Oh dear Jean - you have me worried! I have been out at least 3 days this week!!!!

The water in the rivers the cleanest it has been for a very large number of years, despite what many would have you believe, and like PW and JM I see no real issues if you are with someone and you take care picking where and when - the BA are not likely to encourage it as they would leave themselves open to issues if anything happened!! As has been pointed out in many texts we have totally lost the ability to assess what is dangerous and whats not - its not without risk of course but if you are experienced and aware of these relatively minimal risks, just go ahead and enjoy yourself!

Which is why on the secondhand market they always sell quickly and hold their price - thankfully!!!! Will become a Broads classic I think in time - not yet Fred but in a few years!!!!

Grendel - try Catfield Dyke now - I believe they took some mud out of it this year!!

The bottom of the moulding below the wheel is in fact angled upwards as a footrest - that does not show in most photos. Not sure that feature is on the newer BB boats This moulding has been around for years and is proving to be one of the ones that seems to have lasting appeal. Barnes have been using it recently, with a bit added on at the rear, and hire it as the Serenade - I think they have 8/9 in their fleet now. Just bear in mind that if built by someone else, the layouts might be a little different on the detail.

Its not cramped at all - having said that most are easily driven by standing up and resting your arm on the bit of roof that doesn't move. I have had mine more years than I like to admit and have never felt it cramped - the seat design varies depending on who fitted it out though as some have two seats and others a bench seat!

I agree with MM - keep going and you will pick it up but above all take your time! Don't worry even the best still make mistakes! I have to reverse into and alongside a finger pontoon with another boat , but when it goes wrong and you misjudge it, boy does it go wrong! Even after so long! You will get better with time and experience - I am not sure you would learn a lot more by flinging a RIB around on a training course, perhaps with the exception of confidence! And that will come anyway.

As you say, Pete, all things are relative! I too remember those days and yes it was busy - very! One result of that however, is that it forced people to moor elsewhere and indeed open up "wild" moorings and to my mind that is one of the reasons why wild moorings have declined, particularly down your way. Boaters continue to bemoan the lack of more formal moorings nowadays but those old wild moorings are still there but require opening up again by being used - this year because there have been fewer boats even some moorings which were being used last year, now look overgrown - OK I accept that, so force your way in and trample the reeds and grass that has grown up and reuse it!!

Vaughan - if you think that is ridiculous, you should see the squit thats going on about opening libraries!! No browsing, no touching the books or reading the "spoiler" on the back - if you want a book you can order it online and they will collect them for you and hand your parcel ti you! How the heck can you "choose" a book if you don't look at??? Defeats the object of libraries totally - see what you get if you put the reopening in the hands of librarians and public sector unions!!!!

PW - I have been watching some of those birds - on bikes.....!!!

Ian - no one is arguing with you and we are pleased you are looking forward to getting out and about but its all a sense of perspective! You state that Covid19 is "..extremely serious if you get it.." but perhaps it would be nearer the truth if you prefaced that remark with "can". Indeed there is plenty of evidence that lots of people show no symptoms and of the remainder only a small proportion are even hospitalised - this is not meant to downplay it at all but if this whole episode illustrates anything, it is how as a community we have forgotten how to assess risk. It starts as we step out of bed every morning and it will not go away but somewhere along the line we have to be able to accurately assess risk or we will never go out at all, let alone work!!! At this moment in time, many people are not assessing risk correctly and need to relearn that ability I am fraid!!

Yes but see Grendels post for the other view of the actual risk!

Ian - I know you are alarmed at the beaches but you just cannot tell from those pictures how close people are! And do you really trust the papers to have actually sent photographers to the actual beaches and not to have used generic pictures? The cynic in me says those pictures may not display the whole truth!!!!

Sorry Bexs, if you are that worried about the pilot, I would seriously give that bit of the river a miss!! Indeed to be really honest, given the fact that Norfolk has been such a hotspot for transmission, and with a bit of luck you should be outside, I should not even give the issue a second thought!! And I wouldn't go anywhere near the ice cream boat unless you desperately want an ice cream - which you probably will!!

I am unclear where conservation comes in - as far as I was aware conservation was greatly enhanced by the creation of the soke dykes when they built the new banks. Alder poles would still be the responsibility of the landowner, not the BA. As Chris rightly points out, they own the bank!

The wild moorings are still there - if you want to take your brush cutter!!! As you probably well know it was nothing to do with vandalism but when the EA moved the flood banks further back, the old quay headings, part of the flood defences and holding up the old flood banks, became redundant, and the EA would no longer maintain them as they did. The BA then had the option of taking over the maintenance of old quay heading throughout Broadland and passing the cost onto the toll payer - instead it was removed and generally I think it has been successful despite many complaints at the time. The maintenance of quay heading is the responsibility of the landowner don't forget, and the BA have to lease even the 24 hr moorings - and that has become more expensive unsurprisingly Wild moorings have gradually returned and will continue to do so but the bigger issue remains the obtrusive "No Moorings" signs which landowners insist on putting up on their land!!!! The Festival of Sail could easily be tacked onto the Ludham Gardens Open Day a biennial event at Womack - but like all things they have to be organised and the organisers get fewer as the demand rises!!!!!

What else you expect!!!!!

Just talk to the yard and see what they say!!!!

Would be sensible - if they actually look at them!! However it may just stop a few callouts on one or two basic things as they can refer to them during the hire. Hunters used to, and perhaps still do, send you something to watch before you go out sailing - shame then that perhaps 50% still cannot reef a boat properly!!!!

People can get very obsessed over not a great deal!! In actual terms the Broads are unquestionably the cleanest they have been for many a long year - I was led to understand, probably wrongly, that the white lilies prefer cleaner water to the yellow ones and that seems to follow. As a result its good to see the white lilies around more and more indicating perhaps there is some truth in that belief. If not someone will be along shortly to say its a load of 'ol squit!!

Sorry Bernard - but of course the water goes up and down! I have been on the Broads long enough to know that! However the NTL (Normal Tidal Limit) is an officially recognised limit of tidal influence and is marked as such on OS maps for the various rivers concerned. It is an average and does not mean that above that, tidal influence is not felt. The point being in this issue, is that as it is classified as above tidal waters, so salvage rights applicable lower down may well not apply - as always I am open to be proved wrong!!! I am sure that others will explain more fully (or I hope they will! ) but it is the legal head of tide for many issues. The NTL on the Bure is outside the top entrance to Wroxham Broad, and the Thurne at the top end Candle Dyke where it enters Heigham Sound.