marshman

You cannot reserve places on the 24 hr moorings and that includes the Yacht Stations - however at Norwich there is a fair old stretch of mooring and whilst it can be busy, I suspect if you get there in good time, you will usually get in. I think there is over 500m of mooring and even after that there is a bit more outside of the Yacht Station itself. Be warned that if you stay overnight, it is beside a busy road - well possibly even by Norwich standards!!!!

And despite the supposed dictat, they are still talking to me - so alls well and as before!!! So its another ditto!

If you look closely KK and read the posts, you could get the impression that you seem to have already got, about the BA, but that is not necessarily the correct one.! You may also have spotted that there are a few hardened souls amongst us who tend to post an alternative view, when they feel it necessary. Its all in the good cause of balance!! Lets just say that by the very nature these types of Forum, they have a tendency to attract one sort whilst, I suspect, the vast majority stay away and don't even know they exist - or if they do know, don't wish to post. So as far as I am concerned KK, please drop into which pot you like to believe in and that which you think is correct - because it is unlikely to change my view which as you may have already spotted, does not always agree with some other posters!!!

There are always hire boats moored in that basin - I believe it is private boats they may discourage.

Thats about the going rate for the bigger day boats with facilities on board!! HW charge £240, Ferry £200 , Broads Tours £195, and once again it is the picnic boats that tend to go first - I suppose it helps if you split it! I am surprised they have an electric boat at the Ferry - I suspect they will not let them go to Somerton because of the weed.

Reasonable walk up to the Ferry and back - good job you are all pretty fit!!!

They have gradually been building up their fleet - some of the sailies are nice!

Correct - they may be farmers as I pointed out but they also own Horning Marina opposite the Swan and the old NBYCO yard in Horning Street. So hardly new boys on the block!!! The other point you should not discount is that Ferry do seem to do a lot of short breaks - that frees up availability at times but as they cost more on a day to day basis, may be more effective at getting to the bottom line! But I doubt at the end of the year, it will have been seen to be a good year overall - too late starting because of Easter, indifferent weather at times, uncertainty in the economy and a flat, to declining housing market. None of these good for bookings!! But Ferry in particular, have no shortage of demand for marina berths, both sides of the river - and they have a few now!

Interesting to see the other day the employees of Deutsche Bank walking out with their pot plants. If I recall my days in the City and how its done, you get escorted back to your desk by the security guard who will then give you 5 mins to clear your desk, you are not allowed to touch your computer, and you are then escorted from the building, having handed over your keys, if you had any, oh and including any car keys if it was theirs!!! Now it seems that instead of getting to discuss it with HR, you just get an email instead! Bit easier now in retirement!!

Pete - I too believe you don't tell lies, but all I can say is that the Rangers I know, don't seem to either know of it, or have read it! You takes your pick....! On the question of turnover, Mr Google says the average yearly turnover in a UK is around 15% p.a. - even higher than I thought!! No wonder HR departments flourish!!!!!

Is there a huge turnover in the Rangers? Not really aware of it although they do shift people around a bit! They also use more volunteers than they used to and that increases turnover - and I know that volunteers do that from experience! Pete was the one who made the comment about the no "frat" dictat - I was merely saying that in my own personal circumstances and experience, I had seen no evidence of that. Realistically a Ranger is not going to wave every boat owner, unless he had a little mobile hand he could use!!! Perhaps someone could make a mock up of a hand waving, attached to your foot, a bit like a piano pedal!!!! Also by way of info, you may be interested I too failed the Ranger test!! On reflection I am not sure I could have handled the aggro about these days - no not aggro around from everyone but those few who are tanked up and aggressive! These days they are not just patrolling or sleeping in the off river dykes, but in the quieter times, go scrub bashing and tree felling with the attendant hassle that brings given the number of risk assessments they probably have to write!!

Pete - I must take you to task on two things concerning your recent posts!! I do not think that the turnover on BA staff is any greater than any other industry, particularly in the public sector - if you think so then I am afraid you may have been retired too long and probably a bit out of touch!!! Staff no longer have any loyalty to any employer and with unemployment at pretty low levels, it is now pretty easy to leave and get another job! Shove unemployment locally up to around 10/15% and you might see a different story. And do you really believe that non "frat" message you seem to be spreading? I am in an enviable position that I do have opportunities to "frat" with the Rangers and I notice no discernible change in attitude generally, especially amongst the field staff . OK there are a few more of them since they tend to use more volunteer staff on the patrol boats but IMHO that seems just Suffolk squit. I will believe it if you have proof, otherwise I just think its probably untrue - with respect!! Perhaps we should call those little titbits Trumpisms!!! Going back to the original thread, one of the reasons I suspect they don't use an inflatable quick boat on Breydon is probably fairly obvious, especially as they have one they use occasionally, is that the boats used, tend to be ones you can "patrol" with. With mixed crew and the boats being used longer than inflatables could be used for, I am afraid modern legislation puts a slightly differing perspective on the type of craft you can use. It shows what happens though when you do not use specialist craft, expecting one boat to do a variety of tasks.

Actually knowing very little about their manoeuvrability ( rubbish I expect ) and immoveable posts every 100 metres, may prove an obstacle in daylight, let alone the dark and/or fog!! Now there's an idea - move the posts out of the way and you at least would have more boats stuck and in need of "help" !!!!

I didn't say my view on the hovercaft was right, but merely that I could think of reasons WHY it was not really suitable - if you cannot then thats fine by me. Perhaps the cost coming out of the navigation budget may be one, especially when people are rarely in danger on Breydon - of course we have incidents where those that have gone aground think they are in need of help but are they in reality? But then perhaps our perception of danger has changed too? Not often has there been a case when boats and crew have been in real danger on Breydon - my ol' man used to regularly cross it in a 16' lifeboat conversion with an iffy British Anzani outboard. I suspect today he would be stopped doing it!!!!!!

Paul - I don't actually think that the BA is generally unloved although this is the perception that you could gain from reading the threads and the posts on Forum generally! The real trouble is that the vast majority of people out there DO NOT have the issues that some have on here. The trouble these days is that everyone has an opinion and they think that their opinion is right. Think carefully about it, for example, and you could think of several reasons why a hovercraft would NOT be suitable on Breydon! Perhaps someone should ask the RNLI why they have not got one for Breydon - quite simply it would have even more limited use than any boat like SOB and there is the little matter of cost ( £1/2 million ) too, especially when lives generally are not in danger if you just sit tight!!! I could think of some more too but everyone has a right to a view, and they do, but a post on any topic is neither necessarily the view of everyone, and equally, not often totally correct!!!!

Is that sign still there, the one just past the Rising Sun, saying that that is the limit of navigation for hire cruisers????

Vaughan - instead of using the white one, you could have used the red or a nice blue!!!!

I think Vaughan has hit one of the issues on the head and I don't think that seeing boats in a yard is necessarily reflecting a bad year. The nature of the beast has changed and yards are seeing far far more short breaks and unless you see their booking charts to see when it is next out, you cannot really make a judgement. Don't forget that short breaks are more expensive and probably give a higher return. Having said that, it is, I suspect, going to be difficult - with Easter being late it just got off to a bad start. As one yard said to me, you just never catch up when that happens and a slow start to the year is probably indicative of an indifferent year.

If it is part of the package, that is part of the problem! Pensions have long since been absent from private sector calculations, by and large you contribute your own, and many big private sector companies pay statutory severance, literally!

What you do NOT have to offer them however, is vastly extortionate severance payments and pensions that the average person can only dream of!! I know of a number of ex public sector employees who quite literally cannot spend their pensions. No wonder many are now retiring early whereas the vast majority of the employees outside of the public sector are actually having to look to work longer! A bizarre waste of public sector resources!!

Thats good - out at last!!!!

Can we link this to the "incident" thread somehow - we can then see how those things are really quite rare in comparison!!

Hasn't made a difference yet and they have been dredging up there for 5/6 years!!!!!

On reflection, you might have found it more efficient to drop the second mudweight up by the bow as well. This trend to carry a second mudweight (for the stern? ) tends to often present a larger profile to the wind, causing more drag. Previously I have only recommended it for fishermen just to keep the stern in the same spot, but apart from that, a second mudweight, at the stern, usually IMHO just makes matters worse, as your dragging might indicate. The only time I have dragged, except at Ranworth, has been in a near gale!!

I chose Horning 18 years ago for a mooring and never tire of it - too many ways to go, too many choices. Within 2 hours, I can get to Coltishall, Barton Turf, Potter and Acle Bridge - and all places in between. OK you pay a bit more for the privilege, but I have only got one time in life!!