ranworthbreeze

Hi Neil, More pictures please, loving your holiday tales and looking forward to the next installment. Regards Alan

Hi Howard, Is the picture of the outside seating at the Swan at Loddon? Regards Alan

Hi David, We use a TomTom, but she keeps saying turn left or right to get off of the river and gets in a right paddy when we do not comply Regards Alan

Hello John & Mary Jane, Enjoy your journey down to Beccles tomorrow and I hope you meet up with some chums before heading to Oulton Broad for the meet. Wishing everyone attending the meet safe journeys and a good time at Oulton Broad. Plenty of pictures please. Regards Alan

Day 8 Monday. No rush today so I decided after breakfast that I would go into the engine bay and pump out a bit of standing water under the engine, this section does not drain into the bilges for obvious reasons. That done I moved onto proofing the canopy side sections. Jobs done for the day we called into Wroxham for some lunch at Greys and then went into Roy’s for a few items, we wanted a mattress protector and a new toaster (the one on board was showing signs of overheating on the outer casing, at Roy’s DIY we picked up some wiper blades for the boat. All done we called into the petrol station to fuel up for return journey back to Sheffield. Wiper blades fitted and some cleaning of the boat, we got as much off the boat in preparation for our hand over tomorrow. We had a light meal and played games before going to bed again around 11.00pm Day 9 Tuesday. Up early, breakfast before starting to packing the car ready for our journey, most of our items removed we finished cleaning up the inside of the boat. A little after 9.20 Peter & Jackie came to clean the outside of the boat for us, usually I do this myself on Monday, but we were training Jon & Barbara when they arrived, we had a little time before they arrived so went for a shower and left Peter & Jackie to it. Getting back to the boat we chattered a bit until Jon & Barbara arrived, they had also bought into the syndicate late last year but this was their first allocation, we met last year at the AGM in November so it was good to renew our acquaintance. The internal and external walk through completed and daily checks completed we headed for the river, we decided not to fuel up yesterday so Jon & Barbara could get used to fuelling up and pumping out the boat. Needless to say there was already a boat on the fuel station, so we went around a few times until we were beckoned to moor up on one side of the fuel station jetty, port side on so they could easily get to both pump out outlets. Fully pumped out and fuelled up I asked Malcolm to replace one of our gas bottles. All done we paid and Barbara bought some of the Broads Authority electric cards (I noticed these have an expiry date of 2017). We headed up the river Jon at the helm again; we practised a mooring at the 24 hours moorings opposite the Ferry House Inn and again at the Waters Edge where we called in for lunch, as usual very good. We put the top section of the canopy up after looking at the dark skies above us, Jon hardly needed any training he has his own boat elsewhere so just needed to get used to Ranworth Breeze. We ran in front of the rain for a short while but decided to head back to the marina which is jut as well because the heavens opened as soon as we were back. It was time for a brew and we went over the boats two boat logs. We chattered away for over an hour but the weather got worse, by 4.00 pm we had to make a dash to the car or we would never get home. By the time we came off of the bypass the rain had stopped, another Broads trip almost over we headed for home. All was good until we hit standing traffic, I decided to take off at a junction and we went along several narrow roads keeping the Power Station in view so we could rejoin the main road before the swing bridge, I recon we saved about 4 or 5 miles of standing traffic. After going over the bridge we kept going until we came to the truckstop café. Whilst having our meal we were watching a peacock who kept jumping up onto one of their open bins in the back car/truck park, it kept at it for about10 minutes or so, we are easily amused! Back on the road again we arrived home just before 9.00 pm, Michael was at home so he helped me unpack to car, the car groaned in relief. Tired and ready for bed by 11.00 pm in our own bed, bliss. Regards Alan & Tan

Day 7 Sunday. We were awake fairly early up by 6.30am in order to get ready for our next visitors. So off to the showers and back for breakfast, Tan suggested that we had time to do a couple of crosswords during and after breakfast. Tan did the pots whilst I put the pots whilst I put the table away and did some tidying up. Training Day 2. Ian & Diane arrived at 10.00 am, we had showed them around the boat last year and they bought into the syndicate in November, it was good to catch up with them again, more legless donkeys later we started refreshing them of where everything was and what it did. I had left all the engine checks for them to see what we checked, oil level, water reservoir and raw water intake. Everything shown on the boat we showed Ian & Diane how to take out sections of the canopy and how to roll them for storage. All sections rolled & stowed behind the masthead light we proceeded on the letting the canopy top down, this is taken from the two front frames by unzipping the zips and Velcro, the loose sections of the canopy can be folded over and rolled up onto the back section which folds over like a prams hood, all secured with bungee cords we were ready to head for the river. On getting to the river a number of those flappy things were passing the entrance to the marina so we stopped until there was a break in them, “left-hand down a bit” it was sir! We did not want to get involved with a number of yachts heading towards Brundall. We did a few manoeuvres so Ian could get used to the boat, he managed well but handed the boat back to me after going down the narrow cut into Rockland St Mary, he didn’t fancy the tight reverse mooring into the staithe. We called into the New Inn for some lunch, all the roasts had been ordered but we managed with baguettes and chips and a beer, Ian had a lime and soda because he would be driving later. There were loads of vintage sports cars going past the pub with some calling in, so there must have been a rally somewhere close. Back on the boat with Ian at the helm we headed towards Brundall and we practiced a port side on mooring at the Broom’s fuel station ( fuel still £1.01 per litre). Onwards and upwards for more mooring practice at the Waters Edge and at WhitlinghamCountyPark the other areas such as Commissions cut were full, there were quite a few boats moored at the Ferry House Inn on those new moorings. Ian was satisfied with the mooring practice so we headed back to the Marina to try getting back to our berth, it went reasonably well with some tips from myself and use of the bow thruster. We went over how the canopy is put up and the sections put on. More legless donkeys later Ian & Diane left the boat and headed home. We used up some of the food onboard and played a few games of Rummikub, I held my own today, a DVD later, coffee and bed, dirty stop ups not in bed until after 11.30pm. Regards Alan & Tan

Thanks Mark, I will look out for you the next time we on the boat. Regards Alan

Hi Charlie, Version of the above story never fail to show how really green some of the older generation were back in the day, many of which I can clearly remember but from a British stand point. Regards Alan

Hi Eric, Glad to hear that you and the girls have arrived safely, you should be used to the weather. I bet the girls are urging you to go shopping! Regards Alan

Hell Jules, Welcome to the NBN forum from Tan & myself. Are you sticking to the Northern Rivers? you will find them quite busy. Be safe wear your life jackets that will be issued by Richardsons. Being ex Royal Navy you will have already been used to one hand for the boat and one hand for yourself.. Have a look at the links to the Richardson's video's for first timers in our information pages. Click on browse, and look on visiting the Broads, you will find a few links to Richardson's website. Regards Alan

Hi Griff, I am glad to see that you are brushing up on your jokes for your trip, I hope your crew appreciate them Regards Alan

Hi Ian, We did that and kept searching for string to make it longer. Did you make a periscope as well? Regards Alan

Hi Richard, You must be a youngster, the first puppet show I can remember was "four feather falls" on reflection it was bad even for children, it made Supercar look like a epic Regards Alan

Hi Mark, I do not believe it is an age thing, as a child when not at school me and my mates were always doing something until meal times and during the day we even took packup. Regards Alan

On Ranworth Breeze the amber light is hardly on it goes more or less from green to red. Regards Alan

I am happy to report that this advertised share and another standard share have been sold this week after visits to the boat. We currently do not have any shares for sale but you are welcomed to contact me to go onto our waiting list for shares, we would contact you before any shares were advertised. Regards Alan

Hello Tim, Welcome back to the NBN forum from Tan & myself. You can add your dates in September and see if any other forum members are on the Broads at a similar time. Regards Alan

Hi Mark, I am sorry if I did not wave, I guess it could have been Saturday or Sunday, we were training both days. Where are your moorings? PM if you prefer. Regards Alan

Day 5 Friday A dull start to the day so let Tan sleep in, no rush to today. Breakfast and off to the showers. Today after the engine checks I ventured into the engine bay and slightly tighten the stern gland to stop the excessive dripping, job done and off the list. Tan was cleaning and tidying up the boat ready for our visitors tomorrow, I took off the full canopy to clean the top of the canopy, sadly because of the weather we could not tackle this at the season start and plans by other syndicate owners were thwarted by bad weather. All of the sections removed and scrubbed separately and put over the rails to dry off in the mid afternoon sunshine, time now to scrub the top and left to dry before proofing, I had called at Ward’s earlier for some more Fabsil. We refitted the canopy top onto the rails one rail at a time so we could reach to proof it, fully onto the framework, all the sides in we decided that fish & chips were the order of the day. We decided that we would go to the chippy at Blofield rather than Brundall and I was going to order two portions of chips until I saw the portions, one portion was plenty for the two of us, the haddock was hanging over the plates. We needed to call in at Budgen’s on the way back for a few provisions and ended up waiting in a queue of about 12 to 15 people, luckily the chips were well wrapped and the railway level crossing was open (usually it is 50/50 odds on it being closed). Back aboard for our meal which was very good and worth the travelling to Blofield, we settled down to watch a DVD. Coffee and bed a little after 11.20 pm. Day 6 Saturday Training day 1. Up and off to the showers by 7.00am and back for breakfast and a quick crossword. I had two remove my tool case and my boat kit items out of the way into the car. I spoke with Paul off of Southern Crusader after helping them into their mooring by taking one of their ropes, he was expressing his thanks for their syndicates decision you fit a canopy earlier at the start of the season. By all accounts it had bucketed it down the previous Saturday. It was good to meet him, we had sent PM’s on the forum but had not met until now. Paul in his hast to get on put £10 of credit onto our electric meter, so I said I would get a £10 card and put it onto their meter when I went up to reception. Shortly before 10.00am I went up to reception and bought the card for Southern Crusader and a few cards to go into our log for further use. In the reception I met Mark & Rely who had been upstairs for a coffee. I suggested they follow me through the barrier and onto the parking area by the boat. Tan greeted our fellow owners who looked around the boat at our season start weekend in February and subsequently bought into the syndicate in March. Re-introductions made we went through the what everything does, where is it stored and how it works from stem to stern both inside and outside of the boat. This completed it was time to go on the river, sadly it had started raining so we just unzipped the screen section out of the canopy, wet gear on we left the moorings and the marina. We headed towards Norwich and showed where Broom’s filling station was on the river, we conducted some emergency stops in the 6 mph section of river to show Mark & Rely the distance it takes to stop Ranworth Breeze, and it is usually within the boats length, we then did a few maneuvering exercises before moving on to do mooring practice (our training back in 2001 consisted of doing figure of eights on Hoverton Little Broad) Mark had no issues, it was getting wetter so we moored at the Waters Edge for lunch. A nice lunch and conversation by the time it finished the rain had stopped and the sun was out, we showed Mark & Rely how to take down the canopy and roll up the taken out sections. We proceeded towards Norwich chatting away at the do’s and don’ts (watch out for those legless donkeys) it was my intention to do some more mooring practice at Commissioners Cut (we often moor here and walk up the lane and catch the bus into Norwich) it was not to be two boats were in the cut and were on the bank side having a picnic, one of the boats was an interesting old broads cruiser. Onwards and upwards we did some more mooring practice on the pontoon extension at WhitlinghamCountyPark, portside and starboard side on. Mark has been coming to the Broads on & off since he was a boy so only needed to get used to the boat. We proceed back towards Brundall and practiced mooring at several places on the way back and finally Mark brought us into the moorings of Broom’s fuel station, we moor port side on here because both toilet outlets are on to port side, this makes it easier for the Broom’s staff to do our pump outs (needless to say we were not using their facilities today this was just a practice run. Mark brought into our mooring at the marina by reversing us into our slot next to Southern Crusader. Tied up we went through the logs of what to check on the daily logs (we had already been through this before we left the marina, by checking the oil, water reservoir and raw water filer) what to fill in on the weekly sheet etc. Questions and answers done Mark & Rely are looking forward to their first allocation in two weeks time. Tan was welcoming our other guests that had just arrived to have a look around the boat whilst I was saying goodbye to Mark & Rely. I made my introductions to Sean, Helen their young son Evan and their bump. I had spoken to Sean at length a couple of weeks earlier about the unadvertised share that had recently become available so we had made this appointment to view the boat. We showed Sean & Helen around Ranworth Breeze, it was good to see Evan wearing his lifejacket, only 4 years old but already on the right track. It seemed only right that we took the boat back onto the river, out of the marina we handed the helm over to Sean. Because Evan was on board I fitted the two dodgers we had made for when children are aboard, these are fitted by clips and bungee fittings into the space when canvas doors are rolled up on the canopy or when the canopy is fully down to prevent small children getting to the side rails. We headed towards Reedham passing the Beauchamp Arms before turning round to head back to the marina, I let Sean see how maneuverable the boat is, we chatted away (more sad legless donkeys) and arrived back arrived back at a very blustery marina, I showed Sean how not to do it but eventually got into our berth after a lot of to-ing & fro-ing. Moored up more chatting I asked Sean & Helen what they thought and I suggested that they should look around the other syndicate boats on the Broads before making their minds up. I was somewhat shocked but delighted when Sean said they would purchase the share assuming we would welcome them to the syndicate. Contracts need to drawn up when I have all their details and countersigned by the current owner. They will be an added benefit to the syndicate now they are part of the Ranworth Breeze family. Two shares finalized in a week and at the moment none for sale. We said our goodbyes a little after 8.00pm and we had a bite to eat and Tan trounced me again at Rummikub, coffee and bed a little after 11.00pm (note to self this time is becoming an habit). Regards Alan & Tan Edited to add a picture

Hello Q. Thank you for your update. Regards Alan

Talks upon talks, maybe if they talk long enough the issue will resolve itself I noted some good comments after the article. Regards Alan

Hi Iain The facilities at the Oulton Broad Yacht Station were refurbished a couple of years ago. Regards Alan

Day 4 Thursday I awoke around 7.00am to a relatively bright day. Tan awoke just before 8.00am so we headed with our bags off to the shower block (they usually are open for 8.00am) the chap was a few minutes late which seemed ages to Tan who just had a coat over her nightdress. I asked if there was any progress towards the new toilet/shower block that was talked about a couple of years ago (this was going to be a code entry facility just for boat crews) the response was sadly the company were spending money on other enterprises. Showers, done back at the boat for breakfast and the old crosswords. Tan had weighed her porridge into small bags with added spices (cinnamon or nutmeg), all we needed to do was add stem ginger and a cup full of skinny milk, cereal for me with added fruit, raspberries and strawberries. Breakfast over, we walked into Beccles for some provisions and the odd bit of tat. We noted the sale at Beals, so had a look round, I wanted to look at mattress toppers, they had some in the sale King Sized but we wanted double, but the price of the king sized was good at £70. More fruit purchased, Tan’s Peoples Friend (she says she likes the stories, I think she is looking for haggis traps and the odd stair lift). The walk to and from the Yacht Station is interesting, the age of the buildings and their Dutch influence with the interesting gable ends and the building ties that go through several of the buildings is to be admired. On returning to the boat I started removing the canopy sides whilst Tan did the tidying up with Tan’s help we lowered the canopy top, with the mud weight lifted we set off back to Brundall at 11.00am. A fairly good trip we like the river leaving Beccles everything nice and green, I see that an additional building is being built in the grounds of that pretty house on the port side. The journey to get to the Waveney Centre seems to take ages but we are not too much in a rush. We had to wait a while with two other boats for the Somerleyton Bridge to open, one chap tried contacting them on channel 12 as posted on the sign but got someone else so it was down to the three long blasts of the horn and wait. We managed to go under the ReedhamBridge but guess the height board is slightly out because it registered just over 10 foot and we had less than 4 inches under the bridge (it was nearer 2 inches) our airdraft is 9 foot 8 inches with everything down. We plodded on keeping to the speed limits and trying to remain in the centre of the river so as not to affect the fishermen, all was good until we encountered one fishermen within a group after the Beauchamp Arms after the speed limit goes to 6 mph who was pointing down and saying keep your speed down, I said I was doing less than 6 mph, the next fisherman waved and I asked how the fishing was going, his reply was good. We arrived back at Brundall at 4.00pm. I wanted to take a section of the upper helm seating into Jeckells, so we set off for Wroxham. The sign on Jeckells door said closed but we arrived well before closing time and the door was open. I rang the bell and asked one of the guys if he would look at the seating for me which he did, they could remove sections to make it good but because the boat is used throughout the season we can not do this, so I asked if he could take a template and contact me next week with a estimate for a new section of seating. This long section was starting to delaminate at one corner and we have a few pink marks on the leather cloth because of mildew. A trip into Roy’s was required so we called in and had a look around, I managed to get a pair of Wranglers in my size that were reduced down to £24.99. Back to Brundall, Brian Ward’s were still open (8.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday) so it seemed an idea to have a word with Nick re the fender sock order, sadly their supplier could not supply for our type of fender in the make designed for them, Nick said he would do me a deal on a couple of new fenders, in the end I have orders some slightly larger fender socks after looking through their booklets. I bought a couple of new lifejacket activation kits and placed two more on order. Back to the boat in order to put the canopy back up before a meal in the Yare, Pizza and a side portion of chips for me and steak pie for Tan. Back on the boat Tan had her revenge playing Rummikub winning 3 games to 1, I guess I am loosing on the weekly tot up. Coffee and a couple of crosswords and bed at 11.00pm Regards Alan & Tan

Hi Roy, I was referring to the information pages on the NBN, here is the link:- http://forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com/forum/236-tide-tables/ Regards Alan

Hi Griff, We still use the manual pump toilets and have to make sure that only two ply toilet paper is used (the cheaper the better) so it does not clog up the toilets. Toilets that just work with a touch of a button are great assuming that nothing other than the two ply tissue, is used. Makeup, or other wipes just clog up the macerator, which as you say is a pain to clean out because the fibers of the said wipes get wrapped around the blades. We have encountered many of these toilets on our canal trips, we have never had any problems because our crew know the ropes regarding "if its not been eaten" it does not go in the toilet. Other issues with some of these toilets is the amount of water they use. On one boat it had two different toilets, one used twice the amount of water compared to the other, the result was a early pump out on that toilet. Pipework or routing can also be an issue with toilets, smooth walled pipe should be used. Regards Alan