The Start Of Our Week On Ranworth Breeze

[ExSurveyor]

Hi Alan,  

We are up at BGM,  last one on the river. 

The functional Topcraft and the pretty Broom Scorpio,  both with forum burgees on. 

You looked busy both times. 

[ranworthbreeze]

On 7/11/2016 at 5:36 PM, psychicsurveyor said:

Hi Alan,  

We are up at BGM,  last one on the river. 

The functional Topcraft and the pretty Broom Scorpio,  both with forum burgees on. 

You looked busy both times. 

Thanks Mark, 

I will look out for you the next time we on the boat.

Regards

Alan

[ranworthbreeze]

Day 7 Sunday.

 

We were awake fairly early up by 6.30am in order to get ready for our next visitors.

 

So off to the showers and back for breakfast, Tan suggested that we had time to do a couple of crosswords during and after breakfast.

 

Tan did the pots whilst I put the pots whilst I put the table away and did some tidying up.

 

Training Day 2.

 

Ian & Diane arrived at 10.00 am, we had showed them around the boat last year and they bought into the syndicate in November, it was good to catch up with them again, more legless donkeys later we started refreshing them of where everything was and what it did. I had left all the engine checks for them to see what we checked, oil level, water reservoir and raw water intake.

 

Everything shown on the boat we showed Ian & Diane how to take out sections of the canopy and how to roll them for storage. All sections rolled & stowed behind the masthead light we proceeded on the letting the canopy top down, this is taken from the two front frames by unzipping the zips and Velcro, the loose sections of the canopy can be folded over and rolled up onto the back section which folds over like a prams hood, all secured with bungee cords we were ready to head for the river.

 

On getting to the river a number of those flappy things were passing the entrance to the marina so we stopped until there was a break in them, “left-hand down a bit” it was sir! We did not want to get involved with a number of yachts heading towards Brundall. We did a few manoeuvres so Ian could  get used to the boat, he managed well but handed the boat back to me after going down the narrow cut into Rockland St Mary, he didn’t fancy the tight reverse mooring into the staithe.

 

We called into the New Inn for some lunch, all the roasts had been ordered but we managed with baguettes and chips and a beer, Ian had a lime and soda because he would be driving later.

 

There were loads of vintage sports cars going past the pub with some calling in, so there must have been a rally somewhere close.

 

Back on the boat with Ian at the helm we headed towards Brundall and we practiced a port side on mooring at the Broom’s fuel station ( fuel still £1.01 per litre).

 

Onwards and upwards for more mooring practice at the Waters Edge and at  WhitlinghamCountyPark the other areas such as Commissions cut were full, there were quite a few boats moored at the Ferry House Inn on those new moorings.

 

Ian was satisfied with the mooring practice so we headed back to the Marina to try getting back to our berth, it went reasonably well with some tips from myself and use of the bow thruster.

We went over how the canopy is put up and the sections put on. More legless donkeys later Ian & Diane left the boat and headed home.

 

We used up some of the food onboard and played a few games of Rummikub, I held my own today, a DVD later, coffee and bed, dirty stop ups  not in bed until after 11.30pm.

 

Regards

Alan & Tan

[ranworthbreeze]

Day 8 Monday.

 

No rush today so I decided after breakfast that I would go into the engine bay and pump out a bit of standing water under the engine, this section does not drain into the bilges for obvious reasons.

 

That done I moved onto proofing the canopy side sections. Jobs done for the day we called into Wroxham for some lunch at Greys and then went into Roy’s for a few items, we wanted a mattress protector and a new toaster (the one on board was showing signs of overheating on the outer casing, at Roy’s DIY we picked up some wiper blades for the boat. All done we called into the petrol station to fuel up for return journey back to Sheffield.

 

Wiper blades fitted and some cleaning of the boat, we got as much off the boat in preparation for our hand over tomorrow. We had a light meal and played games before going to bed again around 11.00pm

 

Day 9 Tuesday.

 

Up early, breakfast before starting to packing the car ready for our journey, most of our items removed we finished cleaning up the inside of the boat. A little after 9.20 Peter & Jackie came to clean the outside of the boat for us, usually I do this myself on Monday, but we were training Jon & Barbara when they arrived, we had a little time before they arrived so went for a shower and left Peter & Jackie to it.

 

Getting back to the boat we chattered a bit until Jon & Barbara arrived, they had also bought into the syndicate late last year but this was their first allocation, we met last year at the AGM in November so it was good to renew our acquaintance. The internal and external walk through completed and daily checks completed we headed for the river, we decided not to fuel up yesterday so Jon & Barbara could get used to fuelling up and pumping out the boat. Needless to say there was already a boat on the fuel station, so we went around a few times until we were beckoned to moor up on one side of the fuel station jetty, port side on so they could easily get to both pump out outlets. Fully pumped out and fuelled up I asked Malcolm to replace one of our gas bottles. All done we paid and Barbara bought some of the Broads Authority electric cards (I noticed these have an expiry date of 2017).

 

We headed up the river Jon at the helm again; we practised a mooring at the 24 hours moorings opposite the Ferry House Inn and again at the Waters Edge where we called in for lunch, as usual very good.

 

We put the top section of the canopy up after looking at the dark skies above us, Jon hardly needed any training he has his own boat elsewhere so just needed to get used to Ranworth Breeze. We ran in front of the rain for a short while but decided to  head back to the marina which is jut as well because the heavens opened as soon as we were back.

 

It was time for a brew and we went over the boats two boat logs. We chattered away for over an hour but the weather got worse, by 4.00 pm we had to make a dash to the car or we would never get home.

By the time we came off of the bypass the rain had stopped, another Broads trip almost over we headed for home. All was good until we hit standing traffic, I decided to take off at a junction and we went along several narrow roads keeping the Power Station in view so we could rejoin the main road before the swing bridge, I recon we saved about 4 or 5 miles of standing traffic. After going over the bridge we kept going until we came to the truckstop café. Whilst having our meal we were watching a peacock who kept jumping up onto one of their open bins in the back car/truck park, it kept at it for about10 minutes or so, we are easily amused!

 

Back on the road again we arrived home just before 9.00 pm, Michael was at home so he helped me unpack to car, the car groaned in relief.

Tired and ready for bed by 11.00 pm in our own bed, bliss.

 

Regards

Alan & Tan

[BroadScot]

Hi Alan,

You will require another holiday to recover from all the work you have done this past week ! Chill out!

Iain