marshman

Why am I not remotely surprised??? The bins reserved for boaters frequently contain garden waste and lawn clippings - typical boating waste!! Plus anything else you can think of!! It still beggars belief that the Councils can still produce figures that suggest that the imposition of charges at Household Waste sites, has no material effect on fly tipping??? Just who do they think they are kidding??

Except Potter!!! Or at least with VERY favourable tides

I suppose the zebra mussels may have grown to a size, where the sale to a restaurant, may defray some of the inevitable cost!!!!

As has been suggested, perhaps we should not be too quick to judge, knowing only half the story! It may sound entirely different from the other side!!

Think a bit further outside the box!!! You have already decided that being at sea is harder work than it used to be, and whilst I know now you think you still want to keep that option open, will you still feel like that in,say, 5 years? I jumped straight from the sea to the Broads, and know others who have also taken what seems to be a huge step, but on reflection further down the line, was the right one! PW has hinted at it, but my guess is once you are here , you may go to sea less, and less. It can be a bit of a hassle and whilst others love the S Broads, I am just the opposite! At the same time, this area is not the most exciting cruising area offshore - I always wonder had I done that, where the hell would I go apart from Southwold? So miss that step out and buy a boat capable of broadening your cruising range to include the Northern Broads - I really doubt you will regret it - and buy a boat more suitable to the area. You will change your ideas to that anyway in about 5 years or so, so just miss out that step!! As you get older you will not really miss the sea, but you still have your memories of what you once enjoyed. You really will not miss the sea and can look forward to a more sedate life on the Broads - you can after all go out whatever the weather, or time of year and you are not that far away by road and can pick and choose your timing to suit more easily!!

They haven't!!!!!!!!

Good to see that they have learnt their lesson though!!! I see the bog is lashed down so it cannot blow away as the one at Potter did earlier this year!!!

Just shows that you cannot please all of the people all of the time!! I think it very civilised to stop by 11 p.m. - it might have been a different issue if they had carried on until 1 a.m.

You see, I don't have a problem with those few fangled things called curtains! Much less hassle and it gets the wife,partner, girlfriend,boyfriend more involved too!!

Weedy?????

More like to fund the new one just announced! Whilst of course Heron could be right about the NP tag actually putting people off, I think he (?) would be extremely hard pushed to find any real evidence to prove that point. Equally it is all to easy to say we are in denial but some other points are pretty difficult to prove or otherwise. Sounds like Trumpisms to me!

After a bit, the "stuffing" gets hard and even tightening it won't cure the drip!

There is no doubt that the hire yards are feeling the pinch this year - but anecdotal evidence suggests that the holiday business as a whole is squeaking a bit! It is quiet on the rivers, but not only is there a noticeable absence of hire boats around, there seem to be less private boats on the rivers. Yesterday on Ranworth Staithe there were still 4 spaces at 4 o'clock. I don't think that there is any one reason, other than uncertainty - people hate that and with a stagnant property market, people just feel uncomfortable. Are they not taking holidays or are they staying at home or just spending less money? We can speculate but it is probably just a number of issues, all of which have an impact.

I know you do not require confirmation Vaughan, but reading your post, reminded me of the fact that many new builds on the Broads were built with the support of marine mortgages - indeed when I had an offshore boat it was deliberately registered so it would be more saleable so any prospective purchaser could get a mortgage. Registering a secondhand boat was very much more difficult which is why people used to register boats from new, even without the use of a mortgage.

I had a note that the Sutton Bridge closure work was starting on the 16th Sept - but only the westbound lane was going to be affected. I wonder where you can get some definitive dates which they can stick too, so people can make plans - or is that too easy? Nice that having announced the work and closures, they are going to change it - yes the diversion will be via Wisbech!!

No it doesn't mean its untrue, but as Matt pointed out, clearly others were managing adequately, and I would prefer to use my own judgement when it comes to weather and whether to take my own boat out.

Not sure I would ever take something on FB as definitive advice!!!

The good news too, is that Windguru continue to downgrade their predictions. More worryingly it begins to indicate that similar continues to be forecast for next weekend - thats MILES away and almost certainly only a guess but you boys will have a field day if the BA feel the need to employ a meteorologist so they can tell us what to do every weekend!!!!

Pete - but think of the stress of running 6 women simultaneously - good job he never went out in levels above this!!!!!

John - don't quote me on this but for what it is worth, the water being high has less to do with the wind, but the barometric pressure. Having said that the next high is bound to be lower because of the wind blowing the water out of the North Sea - whether the wind will last long enough to impact Broadland water levels remains to be seen!! Check this though - the last high was lower than predicted as will the next I guess https://www.ntslf.org/data/realtime?port=Lowestoft .

Thats a pretty good description. You should understand that sailing boats generally sail best mainly upright, so being able to reduce the size of the sail as the wind increases, enables you to stay upright longer. It is a common misconception that the more sail you have up , the faster you go - sailing boats are subject to the laws of physics too, and as all hulls have a maximum speed , more sail does not necessarily equate to going faster and faster! If it is getting a tad breezy, and the ropey things harder to hold, then just reef - it will be a darn sight easier to sail, and you will probably go just as fast! Its easy to put reefs in - with practise you can do it in a few minutes, and has been said, to shake it out, is even easier and quicker!

Actually, some other forecasts have got marginally better, with the emphasis on marginally! Whilst the Shipping Forecast has not changed, the predicted wind speeds and gusts have been marginally downgraded on for example, Windguru. For those of you who are not aware of this site, it is an excellent one to check as it indicates projected wind speeds with more detail. their projections are here https://www.windguru.cz/54059 Going on to the flappy things, I concur with the last post! The one thing that most newcomers, and some more experienced sailors seem impossible to work out, is when to reef, and how to reef properly Its particularly relevant on Broads sailing boats as relatively speaking they carry a lot of sail. But somehow, they appear to feel its wimpish to reef, and it will slow them down, whereas its likely to be quite the reverse! It is quite frequent to see boats spilling wind constantly and struggling, whereas a reef or two would make it so so much easier. And probably quicker!! Incidentally on posts, I think my counter has been stuck for months or longer!!!!

Whilst I am sure it is going to be windy, especially in the gusts we have to be a bit careful to talk about not letting hire boats out - that IMHO is probably going a bit OTT. I think the few sailing yards may probably suggest they remain tied up until it eases, but I am not sure its necessary to stop boats going out! Some hirers will be experienced and able to cope - others may be less so. However the worst seems to be in the middle of the day and it would seem by early evening the worst will have moved on. Yes its going to be a summer gale, but they have happened before and we have managed to survive! The Northern Broads generally have a lot of cover and whilst I accept that the Shipping Forecast is F6 to 8, possibly F9, that is in the open sea, and with the wind from the SW, some of the sting will come out of it coming as it is, from over the land. Breydon will probably be closed as with the wind coming straight up from the SW, on the flood, it is likely to produce a nasty chop - but its not going to last. Whilst I can see the logic in cancelling the music bit down in Newquay with stuff being on an exposed cliff open to the SW, I was quite surprised to see Houghton Hall being cancelled with it being in a more wooded setting, well inland. Did they not have contingency plans to limit perhaps, the use of the larger structures for a limited period but has everyone else with marquees etc up throughout the UK cancelled just in case? Perhaps it is best to be safe not sorry, but forecasting accurate wind speeds is notoriously difficult and I get the impression that they have begun to err too much on the side of caution - but then they would say it is just too risky to take the risk!!

The trouble is that, despite the minor irritation of cost, there is actually very little justification for it being tax differently for pleasure boaters - it was introduced as a concession for farmers (? ) and fishermen, but as far as general boating activities, it is a very small part my general boating costs, and taxing that small proportion of the cost would make very little overall difference. People who run petrol boats do not have this concession so why should diesel boat owners have one? Or have I missed something?? And as for making our own rules, my belief, for what it is worth, is you should be very very careful of what you wish for. Do you really think the the existing rules are suddenly going to be dropped to be replaced by no rules at all? Oops - sorry Mods that is almost political!!!!!!!

Looks as though they will have a long reach out to the Rock - it a tad breezy out that way and that will involve a lot of windward rail sitting for the crew aided and abetted by lots and lots of damp and wet sugary snacks!! Probably!!!!