BroadAmbition

Jamie Campbell has just recently written an interesting article, he kindly gave me the ok to post it in here:- Broad Sheet has just landed on the doorstep. The front page is BA propaganda on dredging and flooding - with predictably round shoulders. I'm sure that we are all aware that the whole river system has been subject to structural alterations for centuries. We might like to bear in mind that the Waveney didn't always join the sea at Lowestoft and Lykeling Fleet was straightened to produce Oulton Dyke (sections of the old Fleet are still visible) I have some figures for the amount of 'fall' of the River Waveney. Surveys report a fall of 20m between Hoxne and Beccles, a distance of 25 miles. The fall between Hoxne and Great Yarmouth is recorded as 24.25m. We therefore have a drop of 4.25m in the 25 miles of navigable waterway between Beccles and Great Yarmouth. The 'fall', without allowing for tidal effect is only .17m in every mile. Six inches of silting in a mile can take away the natural flow of the waterway entirely, at which point it becomes purely a tidal inlet and there is a notable reduction in effective draining of the hinterland. I don't know the level of fall on the north rivers and for the point of this discussion, I'm not interested in salt incursion. I'm sure we are all fairly familiar with the range of alterations made to the course of the various north rivers within that system - but I'll list them anyway. Like every other Broad, the River Ant didn't flow through Barton Broad, (the turbaries would have flooded). The Ant was re-routed to flow through Barton, presumably to create a fishery. The old course of the Ant re-joins the current river around Crome's broad. The Ant used to flow into the Hundred dyke (near St Benets) and then joined the Thurne at Coldharbour. The combined rivers then flowed in the opposite direction, along Sock Drain and out to sea near Horsey. This was the mouth of the river that was reopened by the 1953 floods. When rivers are persuaded to flow in the opposite direction, there really cannot be much fall involved. The monks of St Benets cut through their own causeway (leading from the Abbey to St John's Chapel or Hospice in Ted Brewster's garden) and re-routed the Ant a short distance into the Bure. They also straightened the river past their dock (the old course through South Walsham marsh is still just about visible). The Bure then flowed into the sea to the north of Great Yarmouth at Grubb's Haven or Cockle Water (roundabout the Greyhound stadium). The Yare once reached the sea just south of Corton - the peninsula has been continuously shortened in an attempt to produce a tenable harbour for Great Yarmouth. In short, the entire navigation has been b&ggered about for centuries. I wonder if we are all not trying to be too clever. Water is lazy - it only flows downhill. On an impervious and level surface, it'll just sit there - which may well now be what happening on the Thurne. Stokesby to YYS is nine miles and it would be interesting to know the drop per mile on these reaches. Certainly dredging the lower Bure would help water escape the system - but its got to want to get itself down there too. A natural gradient may be required in addition to a tidal gradient. Thought for the day.

Recently, while taking a flight we realized both pilot and co-pilot were women My mate said he wouldn’t feel safe with two women in charge.” I told him - How old fashioned and sexist his attitude was, After all it wasn’t like either of the girls would have to reverse, or angle park the damned plane! Griff

Is that an 'S6' ? I really wanted to hang onto mine but they (The RN) were most insistent I handed it back in when we said our goodbyes Griff

if dredging to alleviate flooding would cause major saltwater incursion, why was this not a problem in the past? It wasn't. It was never an issue other than exceptional tidal surges that the Broads have been dealing with since the Broads came into being, these rare events were considered normal and were dealt with. This 'Saltwater Incursion' theory (And it is only a theory cooked up by themselves) is plain and simple an excuse to add to the weight of argument not to dredge and maintain back to levels we enjoyed up to the mid eighties, thereby saving a fortune Why can we not simply stick to the dredging regime used historically? Simply put the Blessed authority used their coffers to power base build, increasing office staff from six to over the hundred we see today, plus all the extra departments, vehicles, secretaries, pensions wages etc etc etc the millions spent on the National park lie, the failed vanity projects, the planning department defending court actions, the list is huge, all that has lot to be paid for, the funds have to come from somewhere. Easy answer - reduce dredging to an absolute minimum, spend less on leased moorings, spend less on maintaining moorings - again - etc etc. The Blessed Authority are fully aware that they have let the northern Broads get in such a state through lack of river maintenance that if the lower Bure was ever to be dredged back to what it was when they inherited it, then there would be thousands of boats left high and dry around the Northern Broads - Mind you PHB would be back to over 7ft4" at low tide and Wroxham over 8ft, Ludham? Rag n sticks - Happy days. They have brought this situation on themselves and have only themselves to blame. In the meantime business / land owners / private housing / farmers / boaters both private and hire and the like bear the fruit of their own priority financial spending plans I read the EA is responsible for dredging re flood alleviation - Correct What is also correct is that the Blessed Authority are responsible to maintain navigation. The two go hand in hand. IF the Blessed Authority had maintained river depths to what they inherited we of course would have less flooding as the excess rainfall and the like could flow out to sea, at present it is 'Tide Locked' due to a silted and chocked up Lower Bure - The new Herring bridge will not have helped either I read reports elsewhere that the historically strong ebb on the Lower bure is now a trickle and you can transit upstream against the ebb tide on tickover and still make headway. That with all the excess rainwater upstream is just not right and it doesn't take a rocket scientist or have computer models to work out why. I have also read elsewhere that there are more boats going aground in the Lower Bure nowadays than on Breydon. Draw you own conclusions Griff

Sat Nag indeed The term is ‘Nag Nav’ Griff

we discover that dredging is the responsibility of the EA. Not entirely correct The Blessed Authority is responsible to maintain navigation to a sufficient depth to enable actual navigation Of course they have failed spectacularly with more boats now being grounded / touching bottom at low water than ever on the lower Bure (Pre the current flooding levels of course) Griff

You are planning to use '034' for the entire hull? That's gonna be expensive - but it'll certainly do the job, 034 being harder wearing than 037. We were advised to use '037' below the boot topping then '034' for the actual boot topping and have been doing so since 2007. In our case every two years - Outa the oggin, jet wash, repair where necessary, underwater primer on the repairs (Two coats) then re-apply 037, two coats (Three on repaired areas) 034 applied to the boot topping. With you going 034 throughout then you should be able to go much longer before having to do it again When underneath 'B.A' rollering on anti-foul it's the only time I kinda wish that she was a lot less than 40ft That aside, I always get a lot of satisfaction from carrying out and completing the finished job before she goes back into the oggin Hope you do too - Enjoy Griff

It'll be interesting to see what the national inflation rate is come April this year. Last year we when we 'Enjoyed' that 13:1% hike in tolls, the inflation rate for April 2023 was 1:2%. Since we first tolled 'B.A' in 2007 the annual toll percentage increases up to and including 2023 = 147% The bank of England inflation rates for the same periods (April) = 43:6% Or 2007 - £275:71, 2023 - £680:80 This year I shall be doing my own small protest in the way of on April 01st buying a 30 day visitors toll. Thirty days later I will buy a full yearly toll, less the cost of the thirty day toll already paid. I did this last year and it cost me not a penny extra but kept a large proportion of funds in my account for a month rather than the Blessed authorities account. Its perfectly legal too Griff

how long is it before Wrotham bridge is like potter It already is and has been since October and we are now in March Griff

Well that worked. I've been asking MrsG for the past few months to SORN her Q5. Ended up nearly issuing a direct order evening of Feb 29th so she did so, on line via her phone. Then the DVLA website informed her that she couldn't re-tax it for 5 days on-line but had to use a post office if she wanted to do so (Why?). Yesterday I downed tools, collected her as I was working local and drove her to a nearby post office that had the capability of taxing vehicles. It was a simple process and took only minutes MrsG got a refund of around £290 - the portion of months of tax unused when her car was sorned Re-taxing the very next day for the whole year cost around £212 (Now that the Q5 is over 5 x years old) Plus she has avoided the increase in road tax duty that is coming our way on April 01st ----------------------- However it wasn't all good news 'I've been robbed in broad daylight your honour' Not sure how this happened, the sorn refund goes straight into MrsG's account. Somehow at the post office I found mysen paying the £212:00 for the new road tax How did that happen then? It takes a Jock to fleece a Yorkshireman Griff

So you can see the bridge you can't get under for longer..... Amending that to 'BridgeS' Griff

Received an email from the Blessed Authority this morning. (I immediately replied pointing out the fact that they are STILL LYING calling the Broads a National Park) Anyroadup after blood pressure reduced slightly - Up it went again:- The 2024 River toll demand was right there, after last years 13% increase we are now facing an 8:5% increase, that's 21:5% increase in two years The toll payers both private and hire are yet again being used as cash cows - Getting fleeced once more Griff

But Griff you're a bloody Yorkshire man, you have balls the size of Guatemala, you can repack a stern gland in the water have a vax handy and pre cut the packing around the exposed shaft (ooer Mrs.) and it don't come in that fast, it saves the cost of a lift out. Correct on all accounts However we are due out this year for our normal bi-annual AMP so thought we would do it then Griff

I'm more of a fan of .177 PCP for a more permanent solution! I nearly commented the other day when you said you'd stay in the wetshed. Too nice a weekend for that, so good to see you got a bit of a run out, however brief. Griff

Of course this is a permanent solution to the damn pigeons, my favourite gun a :22 BSA Airsporter, its mint too both inside and out. That would sort out the wetshed 'Depositing' issue if I ever decided to take it down with me Griff

A planned maintenance day, Me and Howard arrived onboard at 2200 Fri 23rd Feb. Considering there had been no one onboard since late November, she was surprisingly mould and damp free. The Fwd bilge was dry to the pump, The aft bilge had some water in but not too much, the main source of river water ingress is the shaft gland which is dripping too fast, we cannot nip this up any further as the packing needs replacing (Out of water job). The Planar heating was immediately fired up, tv on and lights out by 2359 Saturday 24th – The main issue to be sorted was the batteries not lasting overnight without the voltage dropping as reported back in November. Howard was tasked with this. Each battery was removed, cell lids off to 1) check the electrolyte levels and 2) to eyeball each cell during the drop test load. We have some deionised water in the locker to top the cells up if needed, a few did, none of them were below the minimum markers. Every battery passed the drop test with flying colours. (The batteries were installed in Aug 2019 so they are now 4½ years old). Then he found the issue, the negative pole cable clamp on the Stbd bank, first battery in the line of three was loose – way too loose this was causing that whole bank to not accept a proper charge or be able to discharge correctly. Attempting to tighten it up was failing, the solution was to cut a small notch in the battery box (Had to take it out completely) and allow the lay of the cable to sit better – this sorted the issue. We are therefore confident during JT’s trip out next month there won’t be any electrical issues and the system can be proved. Plenty of Henry hoovering was carried out in and around the engine bay. Talking about Henry Hoovers, that reminded me I had to recently replace my works tiling Henry as it got married - Stopped sucking The sacrificial anode on the aft end of the heat exchanger was replaced too and a good check round of the Beta, g/box etc Meanwhile I was engaged in the welded on bird crap on the foc’sle, you can see from the photo just how bad it was yet again. The b&~#£&$d pigeons are either sitting on the wetshed roof cross member or on the varnished woodwork and seriously depositing. This is not the first time either. It took me ages to get it removed, you dare not go at it with scotch-brite (Green pad) or it will damage the varnish. The only way is copious amounts amount of warm water and microfibre cloths. I ended up leaving wet cloths on it to soak it through, took hours and hours. I used some visqueen with a length of copper pipe as a weight against the wind and have made a rudimentary cover for the bow, this will need to be removed along with the shed fenders each time we sail and put back again when tucking her up before going home The galley got a thorough clean – All to the good. We took ‘B.A’ out for a few runs up and down Barton Broad then turned off the Beta and drifted, the replacement sacrificial anode was weeping – Sorted, the drip tray was cleaned, the voltage charge was checked all to the good, the shaft gland was leaking like a goodun Then it was back to the wetshed – You can see from the photo that the trees adjacent to the river entrance are yet again impeding over the oggin, this makes it awkward to exit / enter. Since 2007 I have cut these back twice. Today was the third time – Much better The Horns are knackered properly this time, they have been serviced / repaired many times, they are now past it. They don’t owe us owt as we gottem for nowt second hand back in 2005 And goodness knows how old they were then. The best horns I have heard afloat are on ‘Bollysnigh’ whose owner came down went through her receipts onboard (And at home) but could find owt, a telecon with Jason Hatch revealed that he had bought them as a gift for them back in his days at LBBY, so no wonder she didn’t have any paperwork, nor did the horns have any makers stamp on them either. Jason is on the case to source us a set, they came via Brian Wards, he is confident he can track down the makers etc Tarpaulin issue – The tarpaulin is fine, no rips and looking good. However our neighbour onboard Missouri Star stated he had emptied out our water catchment bucket many times as it has been overflowing soaking through the rugs and timbers under. He also stated how impressed he is with our tarpaulin and the amount of water / crap rust etc it keeps off the topsides and he is going to have to bite the bullet and fit one himself - He suggested a square / flat edged bucket, then fasten a skin fitting half way up with as hose leading into the oggin, it will then become self-draining – Good idea – I’ll get onto it. We now have an impressive thicknessing planer in the locker – Getting in the way – Donated to us by Doug Starr, Bon Oeuf that he is. If we had been in my van it would have got taken home. We need to source an outfit that can refurbish it along with new cutting blades, drive belt etc, Research needed – ‘Planer Thicknesser W580 Charnwood’ Our neighbour Spark of Light has gone ages ago with no new neighbour as of yet The cctv camera upgrade didn’t get done (The gear is ready in the locker) as Robin was not in attendance The full internal clean through / windows didn’t get done as JT was not in attendance Departed for home at 1600 ‘B.A’ is now ready as per the norm in all respects to accept crews onboard and treat them in her normal fashion Griff

Needed wellies to get to t’other of the wetshed today. Flood water up to Richo’s engineers shed doors too Griff

Thanks for asking, No one has upset me - But its possible I have upset others - easily done (For me it seems) I've just been proper busy lately with a lot on various issues. I'll get up to date and explain mysen in due course Griff

Due onboard this evening through to tomorrow early evening. Maintenance items and staying in t wet shed Griff

Having a timber hull we didn't have a choice - Had to cut a hole in t hull. Its been there for years now with no leaks / rot and does a fine job Griff

Having watched most of the films that Jason Statham has starred in and now having just watched 'Beekeeper' It is somewhat of a surprise to me that if he (Jason Statham) went up against the hardest and coolest man on the planet, then said hardest coolest man on the planet, might, just might have to blink - Chuck Norris Griff

'Mooring The Boat For Great Yarmouth' Go on then - I'll state the obvious:- Great Yarmouth Yacht Station Griff

You paid the van insurance, paid HMRC and still had money left for boots? Truth be told - My daughter bought me some new work boots as in her words - I looked shameful - Not sure what that has got do wi new workboots - Anyroadup I will of course refund her %%%%%% In-ell My previous van insurer has just renewed my van insurance AND debited me nearly £600 despite me previously instructing them both via phone call and email not too I have rung them first thing this morning - What's worse is they now tell me it can take up to EIGHT DAYS for them to refund me, it didn't take them eight days to debit my account despite being instructed NOT to did it? Then to top it all off I got warned I may get reported for my attitude on the phone! I'll give em attitude, where one of my ? Griff