SPEEDTRIPLE

Hi Mark, one of the reasons we don`t moor at Oulton is because they took away the fixed pier, so now there`s no "breakwater" effect, and if the broad has a slight chop in high winds, and boat traffic, the floating pontoons just float up and down with it, whereas with the old pier, with boards down to the lake bed, it would be flat calm in any weather. Unfortunately Karen is fine on a moving boat, but if it starts bobbing up and down while moored, it makes her feel "slightly queezy", or it did thew last time we moored there. It was so bad, we had to up sticks and move on to Beccles, which is much more sheltered. If the pier was still there, it would`nt have been a problem. Having said that, we`re attending the Spring meet as Johns guests, so we`ll be staying on Friday Girl. Should be interesting?. I know exactly what you mean regarding getting on and off the boats though, and i completely agree with you on that, so the best of both worlds would be a sort of "twin floating pontoon affair, with some form of breakwater type boarding in between the two, so you can still get on and off the boat easily, but still have flat calm water inside. Easy in an ideal world is`nt it? . Regards to all ...............S3

Well, i`ve always said, "You can`t have your Pike and eat it"

Hi Clive, Id fully agree with that in an ideal world, but ive seen, and fealt, the results of accidents that some, and only some, hire skippers have caused. One of the big problems is a lack of experience in stronger southern tides, which i have witnessed a number of occurrances. Most of the hireboat skippers that have had accidents are apollogetic, but it still a concern for somebody who spends hundreds of hours and thousands of pounds to have their boat looking immaculate. Regards to all ............... S3

I completely fail to see why people say that?. It`s very wasteful to have a cake (and any other food for that matter) and NOT eat it. I mean, is`nt that the soul purpose of it?. No, i think that with just a few more hire fleets on the southern rivers, it might, and i mean just might help some way to keep pubs and shops etc going. Also, we`re not talking about hundreds of extra hire boats, i doubt if this will amount as much as a couple of dozen, but it will give hirers a little more choice, and hopefully help with southern based buisness. The only down side i can see is that with a few more hire boats on the southern rivers, the private boat owners might have concerns over more possibility of accidental damage done to their pride and joy, which IS in my opinion, quite justified. Regards to all ................ S3

Hi Mark, i doubt many of the Salty crew would get their boats under Gt Yarmouth bridge. Possibly even Acle either?. What you need is a few spare berths on several bathtubs .

There must be some demand Dan, as if you were to stand on the road bridge at Breydon, every day, you`ll see large numbers of hireboats making the trip across Breydon, and you`ll also se the majority will be east to west at the begining of the week, and west to east at the end of the week. That`s a lot of boats coming from the North to the south, so the demand is there, i honestly think it`s possibly nothing more than coincidence that a lot of southern yards have closed. Another way to gauge it, is the number of southern yards adding to their fleets, and the fact that Brooms are back in the hire fleet buisness. Also, when boats have come down from the north and see just how empty the southern rivers are, if those crews return, they are likely to hire in the south. I don`t think Andy at Freedom would have gone to the expense of re-locating south if it was a financially risky buisness. Time will tell, but as i`ve said before, when Karen and i stayed south for the last couple of years, we really fell in love with the peace and quiet of it, and it`s very likely others could do exactly the same. Give it time, and let`s see how things pan out. Who knows, you might even see other yards getting back into the hire industry. There`s a lot of yards that used to operate hire fleets that are still around, they just don`t hire anymore. Regards and best wishes to all .................. S3

Even Southampton has been reducing in quantity of exibits, but then we are in hard times. However, i`ve thought for some time that the Southampton boatshow is far better, and more of an event than the London one. I don`t think the London boatshow evr had the same appeal once it left Earls court. We went to the first one in the Excel centre, and was disappointed then, as the venue lacked things like a decent selection of food outlets, the best we could find was a downstairs sandwich bar, whereas Earls court had several restaurants where you could get a proper meal, as well as hot dog/burger stalls around the outside edge of the hall. Shame really, because i used to go every year, and have many happy memories. Regards to all ............... S3

We`re actually booked on their new boat "Kingfisher" for a week in mid-late June, so we`re really looking forward to it. I knew about Kingfisher back in late October, but i was sworn to secrecy untill everything was settled. She`s a bit different from the old Kingfisher though, but she does have a lot more space. Regards to all .............. S3

Whatever`s happening, it`s good to see Hire boats and bases back in Thorpe, and good for the southern rivers. I`ve heard about several criticsms of the fact the Northern rivers are getting too overcrowded, that`s one of the reasons why Karen and i have stayed south for the last 2 years. So having a couple of hire fleets coming back to the southern rivers will take a little bit of the strain off the Northern broads. That said, we`ll be heading north this year, but only for the first half of the week. I`ve been seduced by the quietness of the south, and have become aquainted with areas such as Rockland, Langley Dyke, Geldeston and St Olaves all over again. Now all that needs to be done is to see a hir fleet back in Beccles, andl see the re-introduction of a fixed pier at Oulton Broad yacht station, rather than the floating pontoons?. Regards to all ................... S3

You posted that just as i was typing it Dan.

Here are some of them. http://www.waterwaysholidays.com/detail/cbcaprice.htm http://www.waterwaysholidays.com/detail/cbcamero2.htm http://www.waterwaysholidays.com/detail/cbhopes.htm Very interresting?, Dan SHOULD know, he`s normally got his finger on the pulse?

It could be, but then don`t forget, MV Agusta make a triple too?

Hi all, while looking through the "Waterways holidays" website, i noticed some of the boats from DRL Marine are advertised as being based in Norwich, which i assume means Thorpe. I know Freedom boating have transfered to Thorpe, but have`nt seen any of the DRL boats on the Freedom website, so unless their website is in the process of being updated to include them, then somebody else has taken over the DRL boats, anybody in the know?. Regards to all .....................S3.

Hi all, John told me about their new boat back in October last year when i phoned up to book Swallow, so we booked Kingfisher instead for our week in late June. He specifically asked me not to mention it anywhere untill everything had been finalised. Regards to all ...................... S3.

Hi all, here`s a quick one question quiz. Who am i?. The clue is in my screen name, which should give it away immediately, if you like the same things as i do .