Broads01

The bow and forward well reminds me very much of a Horizon 42. Coincedence or a deliberate 'retro' design decision?

Clive. Always like receiving the Richardsons brochure as well. With or without the soring and autumn savers, the prices on your website for 2012 tend to be less than Hoseasons anyway - Petite Gem £259 for a week in late April - fantastic value.

Hmm - so what's the point in swapping one Bounty 27 for a slightly newer one? Wouldn't it have made more financial sense to refit Swift (a la Royall Courier perhaps)?

Yes those Broadsman pics look fab, especially the full pager near the front of the brochure. I too was irritated by the lack of labelling on the interior pictures. Take Richardson's Jamaica for example, good interior pic, sat near the exterior pic but the exterior is actually Monte Carlo. But there's an exterior of Jamaica itself elsewhere on the page! Staying on the Richardsons subject interesting that some of the pricing has shifted a bit. One or two boats have taken a big drop in price, Contessa now only £965 in peak season, Broadland Mercury well under £800 in line with Major Gem. Cmon Clive, get the Richardsons brochure out! (Even though I've booked Jamaica already)

Received my Hoseasons brochure yesterday. I've always loved getting new brochures, especially the Hoseasons one. I love those bright boat pictures that can cheer up a grey November day. In the pre-internet days it was the main means of hire boat information of course. A few thoughts on this year's brochure: The layout is a mixed blessing I think. I was never a fan of the previous layout which separated the boat plans from the photos and this one is much clearer and easier in that respect. However, the boat photos are ludicrously small, especially when set against the comparitively oversize marketing-mans piff paff photos that sit alongside them! The boat plans are practically microscopic - thank god I'm blessed with good eyesight. Take page 29 for example - large photo in the top right of models posing as a family driving a boat which is around 6 times the size of the photo of Bronze Emblem sitting next to it. There are some nice shots of Broads scenes mixed in, but still frustrating nonetheless. Good to see a few examples of the new Alpha 35 centre cockpit, e.g. Amber Emblem - likely to be nice boats I think. The expected departures have happened of course - no Whispering Reeds or Topcraft. The return of Buccaneer Boats (after around 20 years I think) to hiring cruisers was a surprise! Not sure they're going to be impressed with it being hidden away in the houseboats section though. 2012 early bookings - 'Save up to £50' - what the heck does that mean? Is it £50 or £5 - there's no way of telling! Surprised to see Le Boat Somerleyton not included - I wonder if it came too late to include in the brochure. I thought maybe Waveney River Centre would be there as Horning Ferry still is but that's not the case. Retaining Blakes as a kind of sub-brand makes sense I guess if they want to retain Blakes loyal customers. From a new customer point of view though I think it could be confusing as they might wonder what Blakes represents and why they're differentiated. If you're thinking about booking DRL's Flowing Time on page 100 bear in mind that the photo is of a completely different boat!

I always wondered why Emerald Gem was the only Horizon 42 with that layout because it seems the best. I always thought the more common layout like Clear Horizon with the 2 washrooms right next to each other aft was very odd.

You may well be right Trevor and that doesn't surprise me. Just had a look on a Hoseasons search though and no Blakes yards came up - am I looking in the wrong place?

DRL Marine have added some additional craft to their choice. There's now two Safari 25s which look to be ex-Highcraft from the photo. They also have two evidently ex-Richardsons larger forward drive craft (Emerald Gem and a Bahama Major I think). They look good value, especially with the 10% discount if you pay in full by the end of the year. http://www.drlmarine.com/our-boats.php

Faircraft Loynes have added two new luxury 2 berths for 2012, being a sedan Fair Jubilee and a centre cockpit Fair Prince. Rather gorgeous looking the pair of them I have to say: http://www.norfolkbroadsdirect.co.uk/cruiserlist.asp?page_id=2

Good stuff. Funnily enough, the only time I've ever moored at Ranworth Island overnight it was August and lovely and peaceful until 9pm. The staithe was busy but there was just room enough for a fleet of 4 boats together to fit in to the various gaps and completely spoil it with their noise. It's put me off that spot ever since which is a shame because it's a lovely location.

Not the worst brochure in the world, but not the best either. The photos are too small and they need far more interior pics. Ignore the prices and get at an online quote which is often totally different anyway - just allow for very inflated fuel and parking charges based on my experience! The one way thing could work very well for a one week cruise, although I'm not clear if all boats will be available from both locations.

Are Pacific in the market fopr expanding their fleet more then? They've got very limited space at their yard unfortunately. I know they get round that a bit by splitting the start days but they've got to put all the boats somewhere out of season.

Blimey - best book quick for next year whilst I still get 2011 prices then! Actually I always think Broads hire prices are reasonable when you set them against self-catering accomodation in the UK generally, especially when you think of the huge overheads yards have to bear.

Corvette looks interesting. My sort of boat in many ways but I don't like the hybrid look of it. Clarion looks really good value. At £329 for a week in October it's priced very keenly. Now where's that loyalty card of mine...

Clive - I've got one stamp on my card so far (from October 2010) and I shall get my second stamp when I come a month from now. The Terms and Conditions on the card say 'Participating holidays must ne taken over a 2 year period starting from the date of the first holiday'. Am I right in thinking I'll have to take 3 holidays next year (which will be going some!) to qualify for a discount?

It very much depends on how many hours cruising you like to do. I love the south and north, but I've never done a south only week because that would probably be a bit too leisurely for me. I like doing 4-5 hours cruising a day and that means you can see the whole south in 3-4 days. Plus I love doing the GY Breydon thing! An Acle start would give you the best of both worlds and give you the option of coming back North for a while if you wish.

There were some unusual tidal conditions last October though Allaboard. When I was boating 22nd to 25th Wroxham Bridge was closed completely. I'd be interested to know if your experience with President has happened to others at a different time. Bet it's cold that high up in October as well!

Wow, you very keen person, good luck with it. Not had Emerald Gem myself but very good value for money I think. It's a big old boat to handle by yourself though. I'm solo myself in October as well, 3 nights on Crown Gem - that'll be big enough for me!

Heck, my worst nightmare if I was hiring! Again, there's absolutely no excuse for that. I've been hiring for 20 + years and I think the latest time a boat has been ready (big yard or small) is 2-30pm. Incidentally I wrote a complaint email after my Thames holiday about the fuel charge but I've never received a reply - utterly abysmal.

What I'm sad about is that Oulton Broad will from next year fall into the same category as Beccles, St Olaves and Thorpe as south Broads locations empty of hire fleets having at one time been full of them. Clive's Oulton Broad list of yards illustrates.

Hi CalamityJ4ne. I was already very disinclined to hire from Le Boat ever again but after your post I'm totally certain now! I can't believe how disorganised they were in making you choose between a lengthy queue for a fuel check or going home. Richardsons have far more boats than Le Boat do and I've never known a problem like that. The engine hours means of paying fopr fuel is a horrible rip off. How ever many hours you've run the engine for, whether it's 15 or 115 in a holiday, the relationship between that number and the amount of fuel you've actually used is not fixed because it depends how much throttle you've used in those hours. Totally unfair and biased in favour of the hire operator in my view.

I think it all depends on how many hours cruising you do and how heavy you are on the throttle - just like with the car really. Diesel charges vary as well. With Le Boat earlier in the year they ripped us off £1.60 per litre. However, just spent a week with Summercraft and we were charged 90p per litre, getting £13 of our £100 deposit back. That was from a fairly energetic week down to Geldeston and back then most of the North Broads.

Hi again Calamity4Jne. I'm intrigued to know why you need access to your car 24 hours a day whilst on your boat! I'm always really pleased to wave the car goodbye as soon as I'm away and boating.

Hi there. I hired Capri from Le Boat on the Thames in May and I really liked the design of the boat. I think being built by Brooms they were well screwed together when they were built and the fittings are very nice. The Thames example we had suffered a bit from lack of attention to detail as there was a big tear in the helmsmans seat, an ill fitting cupboard and a cigarette burn on the sofa. No major issues with the boat though. Ask Le Boat what they charge for diesel - on the Thames it was £1.60 per litre which I thought was way too high. I think you'll be fine at Ludham unless there's a sudden change in tidal conditions. Don't forget Siesta is Stalham based and presumably Richardsons would have made it Acle based if they thought 8 foot 6 was going to be an issue. In my experience the height gauge at Ludham is on the cautious side and there's more clearance than what it says. Keep in mind also the tide range on the Ant is only a few inches between high water and low.

Really like the look of Astral Gem. I love the super high steering position and the interior looks good. At £921 in peak season it's very good value I think. Do you know what the bridge clearance is Clive?