BroadAmbition

Heyup Tiny, welcome onboard, Me - Sparker 76 - 2000, You? Griff

5 hours yesterday from Donny to Gourock and it’s only 270 miles. Better not take me that long this morning. Leaving for Donny in 5 mins Griff

I've taken the odd break mysen so I can understand her position. Something to look forward to when she returns then Griff

They stopped selling newspapers for the same reason at the shop at Ranworth staithe earlier this year, although I think recently they have started to sell them again. Not selling them at Stokesby and Stracey is proper inconvenient. The only time I actually have time to read a newspaper is whilst afloat Griff

Unfinished Projects? I got a few Un-started ones. First there is 'B.A's dinghy, brought that home about five years ago for a facelift - Not done a thing on it yet. Then there is a Honda 400-4 I brought back from Gibraltar in 2000 - Not done a thing on that one either. Then there is my Dutton Phaeton, that went off to a mate for him to sort out and get back on the road. It has got the better of him so I need to find storage come the spring for that one too. My trouble is I need more time to get these projects done. There is of course ongoing outstanding items to attend to on 'B.A' as well. Work keeps getting in the way Griff

Yeah proper cuddly

Dave has a ponytail, Yes he has but for gawd sake don't look under it! Griff

As the angler in me, I agree with what Kingfisher66 posted. I strongly hope that the closed season is maintained Griff

Also, what would happen if you just pulled up and tied up for the night at GYYS moorings in November til April?. Would the police or some council bod come and untie your ropes, or tell you to push off?, and can they "force" you to cast off if you refuse?. Also, WHICH months officially constitute "winter months", One eyed stag - or - No Idea. I admit I have stopped there whilst the moorings have been 'Closed' no one came to cast us off. it wasn't an overnight stay though Griff

There are also plenty of private boats that are denied the whole of what GYA has to offer for whatever reason they might want to visit due to the Ba closing those moorings. Imho it is either selfish, ignorant or an attitude of its my ball and I’m taking it home coz you ain’t paid a mooring fee Griff

You could be right there but some yards may allow regular returning clients to transit Breydon. Before now H.W’s have never stopped our annual Lads Week going over Breydon traditionally in October even when we once hired in November (that was an experiment that wont be repeated) Griff

The full size ‘B.A’ has the capability of recharging batteries to save you having to bring too many Griff

We have and will continue to transit Breydon / GYA in the winter months. I too have often wished they Ba would leave the moorings open in the winter but with a sign stating something like 'Not Manned'. Effectively at present during the winter months one cannot stop at GYA due to the moorings being closed. This is a real pain if you have to wait for the tides / bridges and / or want to visit Yarmouth even just for provisions. Yarmouth is losing a lot of potential revenue from boaters for 5 x months of the year if not longer due to the moorings being closed. I agree with EastCoastIPA, there are plenty of other moorings that can be difficult due to state of tides but they are left open, it should be the same for GYA. Surely it should be the skippers choice whether to attempt a 'difficult' mooring evolution or not. The hire yards could also make potential winter clients know that the GYA moorings are not manned and extra care should be taken due to heights / flow etc. I would advise skippers / crews to read their onboard skippers manuals, then employ the tried and tested method of using ones port and stbd lookouts combined with common sense. As for potential unmanned visitor moorings at Marina Keys - Yes please and I for one will be grateful. Oh and BTW - Before anyone goes along the lines of 'Yes Griff, but you have the experience / knowledge to cope with it' - I would say so do hundreds of others including lots of hire boat skippers Griff

Boaters are getting a bit fed up with the bridges not opening so we are turning off the phones so we don't have to listen to them Many a true word spoken in jest Griff

We have two 80w tube heaters installed via a thermostat set to +2c. That is all we do for our winterisation each year, is switch them on around October to April. Works for us and no real noticeable increase in elec costs over the winter months. Being in a wetshed helps of course Griff

Wishing you a favourable outcome. You have my support Griff

Roofs off? I said to only blow the bloody doors off! Griff

Well that's me failed plenty of times and a rule I strongly disagree with. Can you imagine being on the Mighty Tiger at speed, then a deer / dog / badger etc appears in the road, I check mirrors, yes nowt behind me then don't slow down or swerve to avoid it? - Result 999 and off to sample hospital food at best. And why not slow down / swerve in a car if the road is clear and no one is tailgating ? Hitting wildlife tends to kill it, or worse maim it not to mention cause damage and expensive repairs to vehicles - A daft rule imho Griff

They would have to dredge a whole lot more than just the Marina Keys moorings to restore the water levels at PHB, but as the saying goes - Every little helps Griff

If the water freezes anywhere, we are stuffed Griff

We had a pair of Detroit Allisons onboard HMS Attacker. They were two stroke diesels, V configuration. Each engine had a turbo and supercharger - They sounded awesome Griff

Finances are not a restrictive issue where the models are concerned, Grendel is just 'Doing his thing', Now what that exactly equates to I'm not sure, I suspect neither does he either! Griff

How about this then? - Copied from another thread:- For those of us that can cast our minds back to the sixties and seventies when the then Gt Yarmouth Port commissioners looked after the Broads, (Six staff in the office - Dozens out on the rivers) there were a pair of large tracked cranes on each side of the Bure below Acle Bridge. They were there all year round on permanent duties of dredging the Lower Bure. The method used was the time honoured grab bucket and chuckit onto the bank system. The cranes did not operate 365 days a year but some of it and they were on station ready to commence action, they especially concentrated on the bends of the rivers. Hardly did one see a barge to transport the mud to another location. Now the above paragraph is not my opinion, it is not a theory it is plain and simple fact, one countless visitors and locals have witnessed and accepted as the norm Over the years I have talked to quite a few genuine 'Broadsmen' (And yes sometimes Women too) that work and live around the Thurne / Bure system. They have been on and around the water for decades, not just a few years. They tell me that in those days passage under Potter Heigham bridge was the norm and only exceptionally high tides stopped craft from making the passage. Indeed the two side arches used to be boarded up to deter attempts from dinghys and the like attempting using the side arches. This also is not my opinion, it is not a theory it is plain and simple fact one countless visitors and locals have witnessed and accepted as the norm Then the Blessed Authority came into being. The two regular crane dredgers disappeared from their normal work stations. Slowly but surely over the years the Lower Bure has silted up, especially on the corners. You can witness this with your own eyes This also is not my opinion, it is not a theory it is plain and simple fact one countless visitors and locals have witnessed and sadly had to accept as the norm It's a 'happy coincidence' for the Blessed Authority that the then fairly new topic of global warming and rising sea levels came to their rescue. Now they could and did and still do blame less head room at PHB on rising sea levels, this in their eyes 'Gets them off the hook' with regards to dredging the Lower Bure. But because we have lost the power of the system being flushed out strongly enough like it used to do we witness silting in places like Hickling Broad, and even more so in GYA, even opposite the yellow posts and that hardly ever used to happen. Coastal ships used to moor there regular. Those 'Broadsmen / Ladies' I mentioned earlier state it is not rockets science, dredge the Lower Bure and the balance that the northern Broads enjoyed for decades will return. I for one agree with them. And here's a thought. Why not just dredge the Lower Bure, silted bends, Marina Keys, under the two bridges and opposite the yellow posts just the once. Do it properly. Then if it doesn't have a positive effect on the Upper Bure / Thurne, those Broadsmen will go and eat their hats and I'll join them. Oh but hang on a moment, the cynic in me shouts that the Blessed Authority know full well what will happen if the Lower Bure is cleaned out, it will show up shallow water all over the Northerns that they should have been maintaining way before now and expose them to howls of complaints and derision from owners / hirers, anglers, Local dwellers, businesses etc etc - the whole shooting match and the Blessed Authority does not want that, they could not stand the heat. The last thing they want is to act on maintaining what we have. Nope, they want expensive follies like that proposed at Acle that the good Dr P. can have his name on a brass nameplate for time immemorially (Big Word) There are still some that say, even possibly believe that ceasing of regular dredging of the Lower Bure is no proof of higher river levels at PHB. Incredulously they even state there is no proof that ceasing of regular dredging of the lower Bure reducing the scavenging effect has caused the silting at Marina Keys, and down to the yellow post turning area. However to add balance - There are still some that believe that a pair of Penguins walked from Antarctica to the middle east to board an Ark too, not to mention the flat earth society that meets every year travelling from around the globe Here's the killer question for those who think / believe dredging the Lower Bure will have no positive impact on the Upper Bure / Thurne systems:- Why did the Gya Port Commissioners spend year after year after year with dredgers on site ready to go when silting started to occur on the Lower Bure especially on the bends. Just why did they do that if it would have had no positive impact? If there was no positive impact over the years and years of experience / knowledge gained they would have stopped doing it would they not? Your Honour - My case is rested ! Griff

Agreed and if the BA were honest and up to date then they need to 'suddenly' change the headroom listed to what today's average headroom actually is at HW. 6ft 6" it is most definitely not Griff

I wonder which would be cheaper. A canal from near Phoenix day boats round to the sheds between the two bridges including a lock to keep ebb and flow as is, and a swing/lift bridge, or even a standard bridge the same height as the main road bridge. or regular dredging of the whole river Thurne and the Bure from Thurne mouth to Breydon Water. IMHO - Most cost effective would be dredge the lower Bure, especially on the corners, + through from Marina Keys to the infamous yellow post. Just like the Port Commissioners used to. This would get rid of those navigation posts on the Bure that seem to increase further up stream with less chance of grounding as has been happening. The actual ebb / flow speed would reduce back to what it used to be and best of all? the tidal range at PHB would increase giving us back the headroom we used to enjoy from years past. But the cynic in me says the Broads authority know this only too well and it would reveal just how shallow parts of the northern Broads have become through lack of maintenance / dredging Griff