BroadAmbition

JM - You nearly got a broadside from me there until I checked what the date is today. Good one - Well done Griff

I've ticked off quite a few of mine already, I have been proper lucky. To name but a few in no particular order:- Got our own Broads Woody, took her to sea with HMS Explorer, Met the queen (Twice) and introduced my wife to her, Saw ELO live in concert, Got 'My' personalised registration plate, Swam with wild dolphins (Twice), Sat and chatted with an astronaut, Had tea n biscuits with Prince Charles, Own and ride a Triumph Tiger, Became a Grandad (Twice), Sailed around the Greek islands as a Skipper. Achieved the gold standard in both down hill and X country skiing, Regular game shoot. There are t'others but that will do for now I try to set realistic targets on the bucket list, next two are a fast taxi ride in that Lancaster bomber in Lincolnshire and a flight in that twin seater Spitfire. To hit 25 straight at my local clay shooting ground on three disciplines, DTL, S k e e t and sporting. (Done it before but at other locations). Go for a full six months between dental appts without any issues, Have a weekend afloat onboard a Brooms Admiral, Retire before I reach 65 and be able to afford it ! What else - Oh yes, world peace of course, and a weekend onboard 'B.A' with Kelly Brook - easy! Griff

Friday - Working day onboard 'B.A' Saturday - Continue wall tiling / grouting a kitchen Sunday - Clay shooting 0930 - 1230, that is assuming the rain holds off otherwise we will be sat in t clubhouse watching the rain Sunday afternoon - actually having time to catch up on stuff around the house and in t office, however have to go and do an estimate and silicone seal a kitchen up Griff

Sorted. Mysen and Bro' took a flying visit down to the wet shed today, left home at 0530 and not one set of roadworks on t road. The upper deck in now proudly showing off it's new 'Dek-King' to match the well deck I applied about 4 x years ago. Still need to deep clean the Stbd side, and fit fender plates plus dress the top application of sealant. The s/steel borders for the aft hatches also need ordering too, all this for another day. We also tended to a few other items whilst onboard. Whilst in the shed I met the owner of Admiral VI a Brooms woody from a bygone era. I have yet to meet his Admiral but have told him when I get a moment I will dig out some photo's of her that we have when we had her out on hire. Departed Wet Shed at around 1930, home for 2230 including a stop, which is what a normal journey time should be. Now of course I have to work tomorrow to pay back the day I pinched off them today A few photo's, Griff

add inexperienced boaters who have never come across a large group of people in the water.It could go very wrong. And what about 'Experienced' helms come to that? I can't ever remember facing that amount of swimmers in the water on a river at anyone time ever. Maybe the odd few now and again in Malthouse or Barton (On the way down to Coltishall springs to mind but they are always over to one side) I certainly would not relish coming round a bend in t river to be faced with that lot coming at me from opposite direction. As for hugging the bank? I'd probably head straight up it! Griff

We have a road up here that makes tractors go magic. Only t'other day I was following a magic tractor on said road and it turned into a field! Griff

Grendel - I hope to do just that, get the original plans reduced / enhanced so we can display them. You will of course be sent a set Griff

MM - you are exactly correct. I didn’t realise I should have explained the whole 9 months prior to the invitation being issued for the point I was making in my previous post or for the benefit of RH so he could dissect or derail yet another thread Griff

We had a few visitors over the previous three days. Some were new berth holders in the wet shed as per the norm. One chap that had made a sort of appointment was a veritable mine of information of the Broads, yards and boat building in particular. He was an apprentice in Jack Powles yard as a 17 Yr old when it closed down. Some of the stories he told us were fascinating. One bit of information resulted in ones eyebrows doing a double six - Read on:- Some of you will no doubt remember that once the custodians of 'B.A' back in 2011 knew that we were invited to take part in the Queens Diamond Jubilee 2012 we decided that we just had to bite the bullet and get a Powles bow badge made up for her. I had been searching the interweb and asking around trying to find one since around 2003 with no success. There was no way we were going in front of the Queen not to mention they eyes of the world with 'B.A' improperly dressed. So bite the bullet we did. That missing bow badge took around six months and cost us over £2k So back to said visitor, after he had looked round 'B.A' he asked me if I wanted an original Bow badge for her as he has got one up in his loft and we could have it for free! - AAARRRGGGHHHH - I turned down his kind offer as we have no use for a second one, wish I had met him before 2012 though, that's for sure. He also told us that every class of boat both private and hire that Powles produced, that a scale model was made. He has no idea what happened to them though, well I had him trumped on that one thanks to our very own Grendel. Now here's a little secret that I'm going to share with you all. This one is the best of the lot too, to us it is kind of Earth shattering TBH - He is more than confident that he has the original, and I do mean original plans in his possession of R641 Star Supreme 1 - our very own Broad Ambition and very soon they will be our property for keeps Now just how good is that! We all know that R641 was the plug for the Bourne 40 hull (And the cut down 30/35ft too) and I will soon have the plans! Anyone out there fancy a new Bourne 40 or even a new timber constructed Star Supreme class? Griff

Robin seems to have pretty covered everything. It was a time consuming three days that's for sure. We did not manage to complete the fitting of the Dek King to the Stbd side, another half a day should see it finished, then it needs a deep clean, sealing around the edges. It's a pig of a job to apply this gear, it really is, goodness knows how the professionals get on with it. I wouldn't mind being on one of their shoulders having a nosey to see how they get on, there must be a quicker way with many tips that I don't know of. Both the Stbd water deck fitting and the diesel deck fitting had to be removed, which necessitated in dismantling most of the seating in the saloon as per the previous photo, sounds nowt of a job if you say it quickly enough Once the decks are completed, then fashion a new cant rail all round. The forthcoming deck lights are hugely labour intensive to get sorted. Both side decks had to be routed for the cable runs, then soldered joints, run the cables inside above each water tank, then follow wiring looms to bring them round to the helm area for connecting at a later date. We have the 8 x LED deck lamps in stock but I will have to fashion teak backing blocks for them to be mounted angled slightly downwards, that will be another job for sometime later. I will have to fit in a flying visit even it it's just there and back in the day to complete the Dek King and sealing. Both aft deck hatches will then have to go off to the s/steel fabricators for new edging strips around them, which means temporary hatches will have to be put in place We still have around 10 x items to attend to on the maintenance list and about 14 to do on the upgrade list. I need to book myself in for another visit, looking at work diary this won't be till the end of June now Griff

Drive home nearly as frustrating as the drive on Friday (That was a four n half hours God dammit). Departed Norwich train station at 2200 having dropped Robin off. First road closure on the A47 before I had passed Norwich proper - resulting in a diversion back into Norwich again Second road closure / diversion at E. Dereham - that one took me around the countryside for miles just to end up at Swaffam The third road closure I got away with over the bypass bridge at Kings Lynn as only the east bound carriageway shut although I did divert around a bridge. Then just one slight hold up with resurfacing on the A17 but not much traffic backed up. I got home for 0124, normally driving this late at night I should have been in for 0045. Mini write up of what we achieved onboard to follow, Griff

Welcome onboard - Nice Rag-n-Stick, that is one impressive shed btw Griff

Now onboard as of 0400. Departed home at 2330, nightmare of a drive, roadworks and diversion galore. Maintenance weekend commences if I ever wake up, it’s nearly pointless going to bed! Here till Monday afternoon Griff

Great thread Socrates btw. Keep it coming and thanks for sharing Griff

Force 14 in thick fog? That's nowt, sometime I will tell you when I took 'B.A' outside of the marked channel on Breydon where we promptly came face to face with the legendary but rarely seen Breydon Kracken Griff

Ravalak / Brava - Ditto as above exactly. I use genuine turps for the thinning (Which is a tad expensive too) not the substitute stuff Griff And edited to say that no doubt I am also doing it wrong according to 99% if I was to ask those that 'Know' too

More than. Have a look in the for sale section: Click Here Griff

I have a fair amount of 14mm soft 8 ply in blue for sale Griff

Maybe you could find out the prop / size / pitch etc. Changing to a 4 x blade slightly 'overpropped' will increase load / running temp and make her more fuel efficient too Griff

Monday 05th Feb Even with the high walls around the Marina and the water level low at 0400 we could tell it was blowing a hooley. Robin, the Master of Indy has made his decision and would meet us at GYA. No problem we had our secret weapon onboard who has participated in tall ships sea going stuff so no issues with being light on crew numbers. Preparations for sea were done in the normal manner. Paper charts, electronic wizardry, almanac, vhf checks, nav lights, radar, etc. Bring Indy’s two main engines up to warm, generator on, shore power disconnected, secure internally for sea. The crew were well versed in securing for sea. Check the wx forecast, Yep as we had expected, force 8 predominantly from the East with a sea state of rough with a short swell – Just fine and dandy. I took mysen off for a five minute spell in a quiet area before we slipped Indy’s lines. I always tend to do this, check the wind strength / direction, tidal flow if any, other hazards be that pontoons / craft / buoys etc and get it in my head how best to carry out the evolution. In this case it was to turn Indy about in restricted waters within the marina, proceed out of the channel into Dover Harbour, then deal with getting out to sea proper. It was obviously still dark, cold and not inviting but we had made our decision to go. Crew were briefed in the normal fashion, that being safety and MOB procedures. This was done every morning before sailing, especially if new crew members had joined. Then it was onto ropes / fenders and the need to communicate loud and clear with me on the helm, that would have been better if the upper helm had been in operation but we would deal with it as it was. We slipped Indy’s lines then brought turned her on her main engines (No need for ***** buttons), the deck crew busily stowing ropes / fenders. Exiting the channel into Dover harbour was a lot less stressful than the night before but I was still somewhat apprehensive due to the wind in close quarters and bearing in mind this was only my third time on the helm. A call to Port control, we had to wait for a ferry to come in, then we were clear to proceed out of the East exit and commence our journey proper. Howard on the Plot then asked me ‘Did you shut your port light’? - Chuffin eck – NO! We were clear of the breakwater, Indy was already tentatively starting to feel the swell. Brian onto the helm, me go forward to shut the port light – Tooooooo late, about 2 x gallons of water was in the recesses by the window and the flat storage cupboards. Ten minutes later all secured and mopped up. What a schoolboy error, I was that busy organising everything / everyone else I omitted to organise mysen – Humble apologies all round. Auto pilot engaged, sea state increasing by the yard. Bring rpm’s up to about 2000, 14kts SOG-ish (We had a long way to go.) check radar / AIS for contacts, up to flying bridge, use MK1 eyeball for contacts etc. It took about 1 x nautical mile for the Auto pilot to start displaying weird information, about a ¼ NM later and it was getting worse than weird, I took the decision to disengage it before it packed up altogether and leave us with the possibility we would not be able to regain manual control. Shortly afterwards it died completely. Brian was on the helm at the time just monitoring so of course he got the blame for breaking it!. We would just have to commence watchkeeping on the helm, 30mins about would do it, following a course on the magnetic compass. About the same time that we lost the auto pilot we also lost our blue water sailor, swift exit aft to the aft heads where ‘Huey and Ralph’ were summoned and that was him done for, for the rest of the journey. The green ginger or whatever it was he swore by was now being sworn at and consigned to the old wives tale bin. The sea state was just as bad as the evening before. That in itself was not an issue as I knew both Indy and the crew could manage this. What was an issue was that we were only too aware that the sea state was forecast to increase, especially as we sailed through the Thames Estuary area as we would be well away from land. We also knew that although at present the swell was hitting Indy on her Stbd bow, we would soon have to alter course to port putting the increasing swell on her Stbd side. I would have to keep a close eye on those wing fuel tanks and balance them accordingly as best as I could. Sea state yesterday was around 8ft or the tops of the waves the same height as Indy’s bow / foc’sle. We were already at that, this meant reducing rpm’s to match the sea state, which was the last thing I wanted to do with regards to our eta at GYA but it had to be done, no use pushing her too hard or making life overly difficult for the crew The sea state picked up as we progressed, now it was getting proper rough. Again I had to reduce rpms and try to balance the speed to the sea state, this of course is not laid down in any marine manual of sailing, it is more a seat of the pants thing. We duly altered course as we rounded the Eastern end of Kent with the sea on the Stbd side. The wave height was now topping higher that the saloon roof, if the rollers had been spread out it would have been easy but they were short and sharp. We were now experiencing solid green water on both wastes as well as the foc’sle. There is one opening window on the Stbd side and it was leaking when a particularly large rogue wave caught us. The sea water was landing straight onto a 240v socket that was conveniently sited to receive it. Our Wizard cured that one using paper towelling and gaffa tape but the damage was done, we lost 240v throughout every system onboard. Great, no microwave or kettle for the foreseeable then. I ventured down into the engine room again to investigate but nothing seemed untoward, the generator was running quite happily, gauges all showing within parameters but no 240v was being delivered to the main switchboard. The switchboard itself was showing everything was in order. I would have to get Howard down here in t engine room, this was his speciality Work on the helm became just that, hard work. The only bonus of being on the helm was that one was sat down, hanging onto the wheel so you at least would not fall over or get thrown around the saloon. The rest of us just had to hang on as best as we could. We dare not go any slower as we needed the helm to respond smartly when dealing with rogue larger goffers. I made numerous trips to check on Doug, update him and reassure him that all was to the good. I of course considered bailing out and seeking a safe haven, they were many to choose from but this would have made life awfully difficult for the crew to get home that evening, not to mention Robin getting to us. Besides, Indy was coping with it and I knew that once we got up to around Sizewell that the sea state was forecast to calm down to a moderate as per yesterday. We pressed on. Brian our resident Crabfat was starting to succumb to the conditions, mentally his was as strong as ever but eventually the violent motion got the better of him and off he went at the rush. Great - I’m thinking, that puts us down to three operational crew. Then the Wizard made an announcement. The way he pronounced it certainly lightened the mood. Unexpected, out of the blue in a sort of surprised voice and more of a revelation to himself rather than to the rest of us - ‘I’m feeling seasick’! and off he went too. Never, I thought, just me and Bro’ left standing, this was going to be somewhat taxing. I had my own responsibilities to attend to and so did Bro’ this was going to be a very busy trip for the rest of the day with just the two of us. How wrong was I? Both Brian and Pete, although visiting the heads as and when required, both squared their shoulders and carried on regardless – Much respect to them both for managing that, that takes grit, determination and immense mental strength. On one memorable occasion, Pete shot aft to the heads. On his return he explained that Doug was cuddling the porcelain telephone and Pete was snookered. So to the galley sink he did dance, tap on, Stbd digit used as a macerator on the plug hole and he managed just fine – Clever lad! The Williams Rib was making groaning noises, this necessitated me visiting the flying bridge via the aft monsoon deck to keep checking the straps and doing my look out thing at the same time. Bro’s visit into the engine room nearly finished him off. He reappeared in the saloon hanging on to the overhead rails not speaking but taking long slow deep breaths. After he had composed himself, he said just two more minutes in the engine room and he would have been yakking in the bilge! (I could have slept down there!) He could not see anything wrong, so I shut down the generator. Talking of sleeping, Brian actually did fall asleep for five minutes stood up leaning on the back of the helms seat! That’s the thing with being in these sea conditions in a boat of Indy’s size, the amount of physical effort just to stay upright, move location or do a set of rounds etc is immense, it really takes it out of you physically. It was during one set of engine room rounds (This was one of my regular duties) I noticed water on top of the s/steel escape ladder rungs, just how the hell had water got there then? Doing the taste test I was surprised to discover it was salt water to. Now I was really perplexed as to the source. Until another huge goffer rocked Indy over onto her port side, salt water spray was finding its way past the baffles on the port side and into the engine room. Good - panic over then. On we pounded, our latest eta was 1730, we got word from Robin that the latest the bridges would lift was 1615. Not a prayer of making that in these conditions. Right then Team Indy - let’s give it a go shall we? Can we make Robins deadline of 1600 at Haven Bridge? This was no jolly trip, we were delivering Robins pride and joy, he had set us a target, Indy was capable, were we? I was damn well going to give it a go. We had nowt to loose and could always admit defeat and slow down again. I nudged Indy’s throttles up a gnats knacker sack, waited for five minutes then gave her some more in very small steps. My thinking being that if I did it in insignificant increments, then Neptune wouldn’t notice. I mostly got away with it too. Had to throttle back now and again, but the sea state eventually did abate slightly, by Sizewell I had them donks singing at 2’500rpm and we were flying sometimes making 18kts SOG, through the water probably more. I could have opened them up even more by Southwell but 3000rpm is flat out, that puts maximum strain on the donks, g/boxes and gulps fuel and would have been pushing her to the limit, besides the sea state was still far to sever for any more. After a few miles I calculated our new ETA, Bro did the same with the electronic wizardry and were in sync, our new ETA was now 1600 at the bridges, we would make it! At this news we felt like we were already there! Bri and Wizard had found their sea legs again, Doug was still living and breathing down aft so all was to the good. We passed a commercial small ship about 500 tons or so, she was on a potential collision course with us, we were the stand on vessel, Rules of the Road applied, she altered course in plenty of time, no drama and we passed safely. I remarked to the lads, just look at how she is getting tossed around, are they bonkers coming out in these wx conditions in a ship of that size? The looks I received from the crew in the saloon said it all! We arrived at Town House Quay at 1555-ish. Doug generously assisted us with the upper deck gear, he still looked fragile but was determined to assist. Alongside, Robin stepped onboard, Indy’s master was back where he belonged. We had made it! Job done. Mission accomplished Sir. And that was as far as we went that day due to circumstances beyond our control as reported previously in this thread. Personally I ached everywhere and was physically shattered, even my earlobes hurt! Myself and Bro got set to, to fathom out that 240v issue. There was a 45amp breaker that had tripped due to the ingress of salt water on the socket. What should have happened was just the ring main in the saloon tripped, but nope the 45amp breaker was taken out. Thing with that was, there was no tally or information of there being a 45amp breaker onboard anywhere. It was only Bro’s technical eye that decoded the wiring diagram that discovered it on paper. Finding it was a Sherlock moment, but find it I did and all was restored to the good. Robin now knows where it is located for future reference. I can safely predict that Independence will never again go to sea in anything like those conditions at all ever. And if she does, I can also safely predict that I for one will not be onboard either! Was I worried for Indy herself? No - We had done sea trials, knew what she was capable of, never got to her limit, nor did I want to push her to her limit either, that would have been reckless, not to mention life threatening. The crew limits, well they managed just fine. Robin made a very brave decision which turned to out be 100% correct and he has my admiration for cajones big enough to make that decision. Doug learnt a lot about himself (And green ginger too). Brian – Said he would never do it again but what a determined sterling effort, especially for a Crabfat, huge respect to him. Wizard – apart from muttering this was the worst sea conditions he had ever been in on a vessel of this size and that if he had been on his sea boat he would have cast a spell or failing that called the RNLI ! You need to remember he is a genuine Wizard after all, we would expect no less from the likes of him. Bro’ – Howard – when his mindset is on the job, then all those years of looking after nuclear reactors / generating plant etc onboard Polaris / Trident submarines in sometimes very taxing conditions, meant he was never going to be beaten by this delivery trip. That memorable sea trip from the Thames to Lowestoft onboard ‘B.A’ was in my eyes far more dangerous that this one on Indy. Indy is a Cat A built to withstand these conditions, ‘B.A’ most certainly is not. Me? – ‘Just another day at the office’ Griff

Robin came up for a word, could we alter our destination to Dover and get out of this sea state? Well yes, we could but there would be implications, a short term gain would mean longer term pain. I knew that the next day’s forecast was due to be worse than the present one today with a forecast sea state in Dover / Thames of moderate to rough, added to that it would make the last leg longer to travel. On the plus side we would avoid arriving at Ramsgate at low water, in the dark with a gale blowing. Then there was Robin himself to consider who really did need some respite from this scenario. Dover it would be then. Howard altered the navplan to suit, I was into the charts and the almanac. Now heading for Dover meant we could alter course further to Stbd to ease our passage with regards to the swell direction, then coming round to Port for a straight run into the West entrance. It made both transits longer but a tad more comfortable. The almanac stated that a pilot boat would guide us to our destination, this was a welcome nugget. It was now dark, rain and still that swell to deal with. Vhf call to the HM at Dover Marina confirming they had room for us, then a vhf call to Dover Port control. We didn’t have to wait and we could come straight in and to call again when ½ mile from the breakwaters. We were somewhat relieved to enter the west entrance, the sea state abated to a more comfortable level but still not safe for the deck crew to do their thing. Getting into Dover harbour was fairly straightforward, finding the narrow entrance to Dover Marina however was a tad more challenging. With Local knowledge it would have been a breeze. To us though it was most confusing, the light pollution was not good. I could see red / green lights but there was a huge wall between us and them, the charts and radar was telling us where we were and where the mouth was but could the naked eye see it? Sort of but not confidently at all. By now the deck crew had got the ropes / fenders ready in all respects. Robin was now with us and offering his eyes too, decision made, we proceeded - straight to a huge sea wall on the ships head! Nope - ‘Round again class leader’ then the vhf burst into life, it was Port Control. ‘Are you ok and do you need assistance’? To which I replied ‘Yes we are fine and your assistance would be appreciated’ (Just where was this ere pilot boat to guide us then?) With vhf assistance (The port control using their radar of course) we once again were faced with a narrow entrance to what looked like a dead end but was assured we should proceed, I was now helming one handed with my other hand hovering over the engine controls ready to go astern, dry mouth, port and Stbd lookouts telling brain this was not correct, but vhf assuring us it was, deck crew offering verbal advice, there was certainly plenty of information flowing - Voila! we could see at last! It became oh so apparent where the actual channel was, this was better. I helmed Indy in mainly using just her engines, we could now see our intended berth opposite the lifeboat but there was a yellow marker buoy in the channel slightly over to Stbd, no mention of it on the chart or almanac, no mention from the Dover marina HM either who could now see us apparently, so I took Indy to port of it which seemed the most obvious course which was the correct one as it turned out. Doug was there to take our ropes, then we were alongside and secured at last. What a day. We popped over to visit the HM, paid our dues etc. Back onboard Nigel and Pete were a welcome site. Shortly afterwards the lot of us trooped off to Wetherspoons for our dinner. It was over dinner that Robin declared that he may not be sailing with us in the morning but would make a decision in the morning. We discussed options, the wx forecast, crew numbers etc. Indy would sail in the morning come what may with the wx forecast in hand. The crew numbers would however be subject to confirmation. Back onboard, get tomorrow’s charts and electronic navplans ready. No dvd this evening, by around 2300 latest it was lights out, we would have to be up at 0400 for an early start and a very long day to have any outside chance of making the bridge lifts at Great Yarmouth Griff

There was, it was well stocked / presented and well used too. It was almost compulsory for crews to visit the shop before setting off on the start of their holiday cruise. There were also visitor moorings right outside the shop too Griff

The best? - Easy one, many hires of great woodies - The Admiral Class from Brooms in the 60's and 70's followed closely by the Supreme Commanders The Worst? - Tobago on a Lads week during a very cold October, the aft cabin was a shared two berth. I had the pleasure of listening to the very loud 'Tick Tick' of the heating pump all evening but no heating outlet, then there was the hydraulic drive system, proper noisy and more thirsty than Oliver Reed - Never again Griff