BroadAmbition

Ah yes that sea trip from Whitby to Newcastle onboard HMS Explorer (Home port - Hull Marina - she is still there too). That was a particular bad one. Normally with that forecast we would not have sailed but we had orders to rendezvous with our sister ship in her home base at HMS Calliope and if were a day or so late it would have knock on effects. This trip was for an annual yearly inspection of the Ships company / ship, operational readiness and all that entailed so not many trainee officers onboard for a change. Whilst serving in the RN there was the little known and rarely used facility of requesting to serve with a sibling. Bro Howard was serving onboard one of the Tridents that was alongside in Faslane for an AMP for about 3 x months. I managed to get it swung for him to be loan drafted to us for a couple of months. Apart from our onboard loanee Chief Tiff submariner which was memorable enough, (Howard out-ranked our resident 1st Lt !) it was also memorable for Howard having a 'Yak' and the 'Voice Pipe / 'Binoculars' thing. P2000's have an old fashioned voice pipe between the flying bridge and the wheelhouse. Pointless really as you could just stick your head round the door and talk direct into the wheelhouse. I told our MEO to kneel on the helms chair in the wheelhouse, get his orrifice right next to the voice pipe and when he saw my hand appear round the door let out the loudest roar he could muster. Me and Bro up on Flying Bridge. I pointed out the voicepipe and told Bro' we never used it, however if you lifted the lid and put your ear next to it you could everything that was being said in the wheelhouse. Bro duly lifted the lid, cocked his napper so his port listen out was in the pipe, I waved, MEO roared, Howard levitated himself and nearly dissapeared over the side. Oh how we larrrfed. Then there was those binoculars . . . . . . Griff

That small clip was taken from Shore (Grendel I believe) on the Sunday. That was the day we transited from Brighton to Ramsgate - Er, I mean Dover. By the late afternoon / early evening the sea conditions has worsened Griff

There wasn't an exact date / week as I remember. My first time on the Broads was 1960 with Mum / Dad / family / friends. I was only months old. Thereafter every year so I just sorta grew up with it. I too as a young lad was most upset when we had to hand the boat back, so upset it ached. Spent the next 50 odd weeks wishing my life away for the next fix. 'My Dream' was to one day have my own boat and get rid of that ache, it took me 47 years to do it mind. It was due to the Broads that I joined the RN as I was just hooked on boats, the RN seemed the obvious choice as in those days (70's) they had plenty of em Griff

'B.A's crew now confirmed. Mysen / Laureen, Howard / Linda, Robin / Sheila and Macie dog Tks, Griff

I have forwarded the link for this thread onto the Peel Ports Manager at GYA - Whether or not he will read this thread - I knowest not. Even if he does, I doubt he will comment on it directly - but may drop a line to me. We will see Griff

Well FaitTmiddlin, great post was that un. Most interesting, a gripping read. Hope the Port manager sees it! I’d quite like a grand tour mysen Griff

Evening Y'all, Update with regards to my communications with the Port Operations Manger at Peel Ports GYA who are responsible for maintenance and operation of Haven Bridge. I would like to state that right from the off the said Port operations manager has been quick in replying to my comments and questions and at no time tried the trusted but tired old excuse of time wasting, not being able to contact staff etc. Nope he was on the ball right from the word go. Some points of my statements / questions we were never going to agree on, Yes I could have forced the issue by getting signed statements from the Tuesday morning Independence crew, but I needed to put this in perceptive, it was not a murder investigation. To condense it down and not bore you all with every little detail and all the exact questions I put to him, the outcome is as follows. Copied and pasted from his replies:- The reason the operators were unable to lift the bridge on the Monday at 16:15 was due to a fault with the PAWLS, which were not locking into place, and it would have been unsafe to lift as the safety controls in place were not giving a safe indication of the PAWLS being locked in position. If the bridge had been lifted and closed again with the PAWLS in an unlocked position then the bridge would have been unsafe to cross and potentially a catastrophic failure could have resulted in the bridge sections failing and falling into the River. The reason for the fault was not given to Robin, as at that time the engineers could not ascertain the route cause other than what the indicator was saying. It is not normal practise for us to give details of the fault as the outcome is the same i.e. it is a fault that has stopped us from lifting the bridge for vessels to safely pass under the bridge. If Robin had asked for more details we may have given the above details but Robin did not ask for any specific details. The engineers that were responding to the fault had recommended that the bridge may be out of action all night while the investigation was undertaken (The bridge is of 1920/30’s construction and the lifting mechanism is original and so we have to treat her with a considerable amount of care and attention). At this time the bridge crew would also have been unavailable the next morning due to our requirement to give them a compulsory rest break under the working time regulations i.e. if we had kept the bridge crew as far into the evening as possible, and the bridge was not fixed for the morning, then we would have had the same issue of not having sufficient resources available. If a night opening of Haven Bridge (Breydon Bridge does not lift at night) is planned in advance, then this can be scheduled to offer this service, but short notice requests are obviously more difficult to accommodate. The fault was still evident from the engineers feedback at 07:00 when the operators met them on our site which is 10 minutes from the bridge. The fault had unfortunately not been rectified by 07:30, and this is why no lift was made available to any users. The bridge booking at 10:15 was arranged at approx. 09:15 following the conclusion of the fault with the Bridge and prior to the Pilot boat requiring access. We are also the operators of the Pilot Boat service at GY and this passage was requested via telephone from Pilot Boat at approx. 09:45 which allowed him to pass through at the same time as the booking at 10:15 i.e. the Pilot Boat was in the same situation as yourselves, but communications are made internally by telephone and not via VHF for this booking. The Duty Officer was unfortunately travelling into work at the time Robin called and was unable to safely answer his phone. However, as soon as he is in the office, the out of office diversion is transferred to the person who answered your call at which time his focus was on dealing with the bridge lift issue raised in the voicemails, by which time you had made contact with the office who advised you of the status and then latterly contacted you to say that the bridge lift was hoping to take place at 10:15 (which thankfully it did). The manager also stated:- The crux of the issue seems to be around the morning communications . On the comment about the treatment of River leisure users, we feel that we have a very good relationship with the groups that frequent the port and so I am disappointed to hear this. Therefore, yourself or any other leisure user for that matter, are more than welcome to attend our marine liaison meetings that currently include the following parties, and where your views would be more than appreciated. (He goes onto list names / positions etc) I will also make sure that we take any learnings from these unfortunate events and again I thank you for your honest feedback and again, I pass on my apologies to yourself, Robin and the crew that were inconvenienced on this call. I do hope that the above answers your queries, and we again apologise for the issues experienced at GY for the vessels visit. So I am leaving it at that. I have thanked him for his timely remarks and he did his best with interviewing his staff, even though imho they were being economical with the truth. No need to flog a dead horse. Robin is of course aware of the communications I have been carrying out. I have invited said operations manage to have a read of this thread and make comment if he wishes too. If nothing else, I would hope that me getting onto Peel will hopefully sharpen up the staff that operate the bridge into being somewhat more on the ball and not taking us leisure craft for granted, otherwise they will suffer yet another internal investigation. Eventually some mud will stick. There isn't and never has been smoke without fire. Yours Griff

And welcome to the NBN 'Our Young Un' That's half of 'Team Indy' onboard now, plus Robin of course. Do I tell em about that memorable but horrendous trip from Whitby to Newcastle onboard HMS Explorer? Not the sea sickness thing, I was more thinking of the voice pipe and the binoculars dits. Griff P.S - Hopefully Howard n his wife - Also a MrsG which is a bit weird - Will be joining us at Salhouse in May

I've seen her out on the rivers twice now under hire. Been onboard for a nosey when in H.W's too, I donated them an oak control knob as well (I paid the forum funds on their behalf) I'll have some photo's of her somewhere or t'other. We did briefly consider her for our annual Lads week but only sleeping four was impractical for our number of crew Griff

Cure for seasickness? I was told years ago and it makes sense to me - Seasickness basically is two of our senses disagreeing with each other, the brain then can't decide which one is correct, trips a fuse and the result is being ill. Below decks or anywhere where one cannot clearly see the horizon in a rough sea, the inner ear responsible for balance is informing the main frame that we are in an unstable environment and all over the place. The eyes are however telling said main frame that nowt is moving relative to anything else and all is stable and in place as it should be. The main frame cannot decide which is correct, trips the fuse and it's off the the big white telephone shouting Huey and Ralph. The obvious cure is to get out in fresh air and view the horizon and try to enjoy the ride. Some folk can literally think themselves into being ill by concentrating too much on the motion they are experiencing, get your mind off it, get busy, get your attention on another task in hand. There are some though of course than can be ill in a shallow bath - No hope for them poor souls who have my sympathy Griff

Ricardo, no matter how much you harp on about the term ‘Crabfat’ it is not derogatory. If you insist on trying to re-write history and make it a derogatory term then fill your boots. You will be knocking your mapper against a bulkhead for a good while yet Griff

There is one point that a small few in here are missing. The same point is being missed by a lot of more but not all of them there salty social sailors over on the YBW. I have obviously kept up with this whole thread. I have read the YBW thread from start to finish only today. Now tell me I'm wrong (I'm sure someone will take great delight in doing so) but exactly where has Robin ASKED for advice then? As far as I'm aware, he hasn't. So how can some gloat / criticise when 'Their' advice has been ignored? Can someone explain that one to me? I do geddit when someone thinks their way / knowledge is paramount above everyone else's, posts up their holy advice - it gets ignored (As it was never asked for in the first place) - Result? said poster throws teddies because his god given holier than thow advice has been ignored! Robin now and again does ask for advice, he tends to do that face to face and is a good listener. What he is really good at though is doing his own research then making a decision on what he gleans from said research. That's his way and it works for him. What he has also done is have an idea, then a dream then turned it into an adventure, then the Captains Blogs and took the whole lot of us along for the ride FOC. He has not done this for personal gain either monetary or fame, what with his camera gear it has probably cost him to do it. (I know it cost me as I ran out of data and had to spend £15 to top it up to keep everyone updated whilst we were out at sea) He has done it because 1) He wanted to and 2) he was capable of doing it. I for one like the majority of forumites are pretty glad he did to. So when the salty (And some fresh too) know-it-alls start banging on about how he has ignored their advice, just agree with the statement, don't rise to it like I have done and reply with just one question, it's a very easy question, it fact it has only just one word and it goes like this AND? And FWIW - Robin was never lucky with his crew. It was planned that way PPPPPP. The crew - I can set that one straight too. Hand picked by yours truly Myself - Well you should all know by now so not going to start banging on about my previous life or current quals. Howard (Bro') - Chief Tiff but originally a MEM(L) that means marine engineer with heavy Electrics then qualified as a nuclear watchkeeper on Polaris then Trident propulsion / generation etc 24 Yrs in the RN. Experience on FPB's 54 years as a Broads sailor, 11 of which owning 'B.A' A red hot navigator although not officially qualified Brian - 27 years as a Crabfat, only experience at sea is fishing trips and the Indy trip, but plenty of Broads experience. However being ex-military knows how to step up to the plate in the face of adversity and when instructed to do a task, does just that and won't stop. (He is also an retired policeman too) Pete (Wizard) Has his own sea fishing fast launch runs out of Grimsby (Well two of them actually) oh yes and a canal boat too. Plenty of Broads experience as well. Pete knows the sea and how to respect it And as for half the crew going down with sea sickness - Makes it sound like there were only two of us operating - It didn't happen like that, you will have to wait and see for my write up. But if we had been down to just two of us, we could have carried on quite safely too. So to the doom mongers and those so badly hurt because Robin did it his way and ignored their advice he never asked for (Mainly over on the YBW) I have a grown up response Griff

Three posts from t'other thread srping to mind which I thought were really very good and excuse me if they are not word for word. Two cures for sea sickness:- Go inland 4 miles and sit under an apple tree - Sound advice and should wok every time Jam Sandwiches - Doesn't cure sea sickness but tastes a whole lot better on the way back up - Classic and sound advice And the priceless one that made me LOL I'm still not back to normal, went for a bath and felt sick - Now that really is a cracker. Brought humour to the proceedings and being able to laugh at oneself is an admirable quality - BZ Griff

We or I, just would like to hear about the last part of the trip (Dover onward) when Robin wasn't on board from someone who was. Robin will be along in due course no doubt. He will be putting together his blog in the normal manner. Once he has done that and got us up to date I will do a small write up on the Dover to GYA section. It'd be no good me jumping in with it just now as that would put the thread out of sequence. Besides as I've stated before this is Robins adventure which he has kindly / generously taken the lot of us along with him, I am just one of the normal guests along for the ride Hope you understand Griff

Not wishing to drift the 'Independence' thread off course, I have started off a new one here To start with, my own experience of sea sickness. The first time for me was on a ferry from UK to Brittany in 74, I was 14 and on a school trip for a fortnight. I spent most of the journey in the heads and not happy at all, fortunately the journey was not that long - I survived the experience but can easily remember it. Second time (And the last!) 1977, I joined HMS Antrim alongside in Rosyth. She was my first proper RN Ship I was drafted to as ships company. I was 17 n a bit, fresh out of training from HMS Mercury, scared to death of my own shadow. HMS Antrim was a county class guided missile destroyer, a big ship by white ensigns standards. 6'850 tons laden 522ft x 55ft with a draft of 20ft and a crew of around 500. She was a 'Proper' warship built to warship standards of course, She could take anything we could throw at her and then some as I found out We sailed on a three week JMC exercise with many other nations warships, - straight into a storm force 12 it went on for ever, well it seemed like it to me I was that sick there was many watches I just could not operate, which of course meant I was a passenger, not crew and letting down my mess mates. The mess deck I was allocated to was '4E' that meant only four compartments back from the bow, it was the furthest fwd messdeck, which meant we got the full force of pitching up and down and also of course the smell of cordite from the fwd twin 4.5's as an added bonus. The older salts were of course offering me much 'Sea Daddy' advice, some good some not so good, some just plain down right ridiculous. I purloined a pussers standard black bucket with some 10mm rope tied to the handle. Me and that damn bucket became inseparable. we went everywhere together, bunk, shower, heads, on watch, off watch, dining hall, upper deck (Never saw much of that) action and damage control stations (Saw plenty of them) - the lot Having that bucket tied to me meant I could operate in a sort of fashion. Mealtimes were the highlight. Eat a mouthful, swallow it down 5 seconds later transfer to bucket and so it went on. It was relentless. The wx did not improve but incredulously and all painfully too slowly - I did. One memorable occasion I actually ate a whole meal in one sitting and actually made it out of the dining hall before the bucket collected its now standard wares. Next mealtime - made it out of dining hall and nearly got to 'My' office. This progressed / improved until at last my 'Euraka' moment. I went from one mealtime to the next without using the bucket! then a full watch completed - No bucket and a full off watch in my bunk - no bucket. I took the rope off said damn bucket, put the lot away and never used a bucket ever again for sea sickness. Nor have I ever been sea sick ever again - it doesn't happen. Yes I have been in far worse conditions is smaller ships / boats but no sea sickness. I can to this day remember how horrible and debilitating I found the whole experience and have not the slightest inclination to repeat the exercise - ever Griff

Just read the whole thread over on YBW - Need to go for a lie down in a dark room now. Oh hang on though, MrsG is in the shower. I'll just jump in there with her - much more fun! but the result will be more of or but definitely Griff

Griff, could you post your take on the delivery here I'll have a look see as you request. As for posting my take on the delivery - This thread is Robins adventure not mine. Yes I will do some sort of mini write up and comment on a few points made but it will be here in the NBN first. I am also mindful of this 'Cult' thing and 'Legend' been there before, it doesn't sit well with me to be honest, but is out of my control. I always said in years gone by that 'Broad Ambition' and all her crew were the stars - not me. In this Adventure it's just the same, 'Indy' and all members of her crew are the real Legends. I'm more of a Leg-end to be honest Griff

If he thanks me once again you'll not be gettin another Guilty as charged your honour (But at least I posted it in brackets) I was always taught you keep the weight as far back as possible and nice and low to stop the bow digging in In that sea state we were in? the only remote chance of stopping the bow digging in or the rolling we experienced would have been to put Indy 4 miles inland under an apple tree. Which would be kinda impossible as there is no apple tree big enough for Indy to get under! Besides as you said, we had you in the aft cabin keeping the weight as far back as possible Griff

am unable to make the meet myself as out of the country, You sir are warming the bell or another way of putting it AWOL and it's just not good enough! Griff

and we will do it first thing tomorrow." - only they didn't after telling us they would do so Or even " Have you seen the size of that tub coming up by the grain quay?" "Yeah, bet it's full of gin-swilling, Tory-voting toffs, shall we decamp to the Dukes 'ead?" - A fair assessment That's pretty close to my assessment of the situation from the beginning. - And from the answers to date of my questions from Peel Ports GYA, In a round a bout sort of way - Mine too Griff

Polly - Please put 'B.A' down as now attending. I can't confirm crew names / numbers as of yet but will do so when I know mysen. To date two crew confirmed being Griff and Robin. That is likely to a be complemented by a plus five and one Macie Dog. Arriving Saturday forenoon, departing Sunday afternoon - Thanks Griff

let Broads Control know what we were up to. I'd be wary of doing that nowadays. They would be straight onto us for a risk assessment, public liability, Elf-n-Safety issues and goodness knows what. None of their business imho Griff

I’m still not back to normal, I got sick having a bath this morning Doug is the only man I know that spends time and money travelling from Norfolk to Ramsgate, then onto Dover. Once arrived partook in an Indy evening dinner at Wetherspoons (Thanks for the drinks btw Middlin). Has an early start at 0400 and what does he do for the rest of the day? Spends the day doing an impression of a spirit level in the master cabin that's what! Still, it was good to have you onboard all the same, you came in very handy when we were mooring up at Town Quay Gt Yarmouth! xx Griff

Snowy - Sorry, I missed it. Usually if you add an aptly chosen emoticon thing or two then the mods will obviously know it's tongue in cheek / joke etc Griff

Got caught up again. Gripping stuff, Tks for sharing Griff