Has So Much Changed In 2 Yrs??

[mickey123]

well just came back from the broads, the 4 of us had a smashing time, we all had a great time in our company.

.

I have always and always will give newbies a hand and benefit of the doubt, especially as they shout as mooring "I'm so sorry, we're new to this!", no big deal, you can assist when and where possible and normally all is good!

(PLEASE don't slate me, I'm reporting on issues that affected me on that week.)

I can honestly say, I've never encountered such rudeness from private boat owners EVER since I've been going for 20+ yrs. I appreciate that you own the boats and are not hired, BUT my issue was with courtesy, friendliness and the like........ we felt like we had an incurable disease that was so contagious it was untrue! (not just us that experienced this)

secondly, where are the broads authority? we saw one chap at 'Potter', that was it for the entire week.  When coming and going through Horning, we passed 7 boats full of stag parties, got loads of abuse as we were travelling at 3 mph, never been sworn at for doing the limit before, and the speed they were doing, they were racing up and down (cockshoot dyke where we were moored).

But in general, the speed of boats from HIRERS and PRIVATE boats was incredible.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a party pooper and I like to have a laugh, but its not the place for that? Or am I getting to old????

 

I choose this holiday for the purposes of a chill out week and I thought others did to. Has so much changed in 2 yrs????

We did have a good time but there seem to be so much that marred it this time which I've not encountered before.

Has anyone else noticed the change???

[Hylander]

I must say that we were on the Broads for the last two weeks of June and it was notable that an awful lot of people do speed passed boats and if there was a head count I would have said it was roughly 50/50.   Lots of hirers slowed down and we acknowledged this with a thank you.     One or two went past like there was no tomorrow.  Mainly huge ones from Richardsons , generally the really posh ones.   Unlike with the privateers, the bigger boats slowed down while the little ones seemed to be in some kind of race.   When I say little I mean from small fishing boats to small boats with outboards. We were well rocked about at times.

At no time did anyone swear at us, that is not good.       We stay mainly down South and if up North stay away from pub moorings.     The Rangers were out on all days.  May be we were lucky to see them so often.   When we moored at the Tea Gardens one moored and came along for a chat.    We were able to ask him about the boat that was breached in the reeds , he said just in case he would double back and have a look for himself.   

Has anyone else heard anymore about what happened.     We wondered if the chaps steering had failed.

 

One plus OUR OLD LECCY CARDS WORKED.

 

Despite the weather we had a really good time and are as brown as berries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by riyadhcrew
spelling

[Hylander]

[mickey123]

i agree, def was both parties for hirers and privates but this is the worse I've seen. Also to point out we were sworn at by the stag boats not privates. But still not nice when you have two 70 yr olds on board and thought it was a relaxing holiday! Still shouldn't have happened. 

we ended up doing more bank moorings than normal which was a shame, as me personally, I like to talk to people and see where they're going etc... Just the norm really. 

We were going to moor at Wroxham and the bloke stood on the front and said "I hope you're not stopping next to me". We just abandoned and moved up. Totally unnecessary. Maybe I should take as a compliment that they think we look like 18 yr olds!  And party animals (Nice thought). 

[Hylander]

 

I will say from a different stand point, we are ex privateers and when we got into a bit of a chip eight at one spot , the only boat moored was a hire boat and did they come out and help two oldies , did they heck. I tell you we really were struggling and if the boot had been on the other foot we would have been helping where we could. So it is swings and rounderbouts .

 

 

 

[vanessan]

One Saturday afternoon we were moored on Barton Broad. (It is always interesting to see the hired boats coming from Richardson's and you can usually tell the newbies and the 'old hands'.) On this particular afternoon I saw two oldish centre cockpit cruisers come across together with 7/8 lads on each and I can honestly say that I have never seen the bows of boats so low in the water. The water was almost over the bows they were going so fast and they were quite close together. You can imagine what the wash was like I'm sure! I hope they would have slowed once getting on to the main river but somehow I have my doubts. Heaven help anyone moored at Irstead or How Hill. I have been moored on BB like this many times but I have never seen a BA launch on patrol. What an ideal time to have a quiet word with these crews before they get too far into their hols and spoil other  peoples' trips.

I don't think much has changed in the last two years but it has over the last decade I think. Whilst some helmsmen are very considerate (both private and hirer), some have no thought whatsoever for other river users and some haven't got a clue what their wash is doing. Boats are getting larger and I suppose engines are more powerful than in the past. Sometimes it does seem that most people want to rush along and get to the next stop rather than enjoying their cruise. 

It is a shame that mickey123 suffered rudeness, particularly from private boat owners who should know better! It would be interesting to know how the rudeness manifested itself, even if only as a learning exercise.

[Hylander]

We had an experience when coming down from Stracey to Gt Yarmouth, a Brinks boat passed us and one of the male crew decided to expose himself as they went past. What if my grandchildren have been on board. Stupid ****.

 

 

[Maxwellian]

1 hour ago, mickey123 said:

 We were going to moor at Wroxham and the bloke stood on the front and said "I hope you're not stopping next to me".

That would have been a challenge to me. I would have moored next to him even if I didn't want to. Costs nothing to be polite.

[mickey123]

In my work life I'd agree, to the 'challenge' but I'm on holiday and I have enough of that on a day to day basis so the thought of mooring next to someone who's made it quite clear we were not welcome was not appealing. 

Maybe was just a one off. (Hopefully) 

[dnks34]

Threads like this i try not to let bother me as I find it depressing that these things are still going on but Hylanders exposure I would have reported to the police. If that had happened anywhere else the person probably would have spent some time in a cell.  

What makes these idiots think they can get away with acting like this is beyond me, or even think the behaviour is appropriate, high jinks is high jinks but when a person ends up being reported for exposing themselves to a 6 year old girl on another vessel, imagine the implications of that. 

Bookings must be down forcing yards to be taking in anyone again but you can bet that most of these people in thier every day lives wouldnt dream of doing such things on their own doorsteps. 

Is it much wonder that some privateers seem to be a bit off with hirers at times, I know its not the right attitude to have but it makes you wonder what these folk may have encountered in the past.  I remember one year witnessing a right old blazing row between a hirer and a privateer, the hirer was scraping his hire boat alongside a private craft trying to get himself out of a cock up all along telling the privateer to get over it using to much engine and causing damage  to the private boat with its big thick rubber strakes most hirecraft have.  

rant over for now :-p

 

[TheQ]

I've a feeling you've just picked the worst week, " the Lads" are having their weeks out just before the rates go up for all the school children and families to come on holiday.

I have a feeling that with the vast increase in boats when the children are holiday, more BA boats will be out.

No excuse for the " the lads" behaviour though, sadly more of this may occur if the pound keeps going down and holidays in the UK instead of costa del... become the cheaper option.

[riyadhcrew]

I would go one step further Q. I think IMHO, that all the terrorism abroad and the recent attacks on civilian aircraft has also been a deterrent to brits going ''foreign''. Moreover, without the cost of flights, people can afford to book a higher class of boat, as can be seen by the hire cost of all the new boats being built and being quickly booked up. 

[TheQ]

Riyadhcrew, I'd agree,

 Also watching a programme this morning, it was pointed out the open skies agreement in Europe and to the USA dies when Brexit occurs. So defaulting to the previous British - Europe - USA deals. Which for instance mean  flights to the USA from the UK,  would be controlled by two USA and two British airlines.  With the lack of competition flight costs would seriously go up.

[vanessan]

53 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I've a feeling you've just picked the worst week, " the Lads" are having their weeks out just before the rates go up for all the school children and families to come on holiday.

I have a feeling that with the vast increase in boats when the children are holiday, more BA boats will be out.

No excuse for the " the lads" behaviour though, sadly more of this may occur if the pound keeps going down and holidays in the UK instead of costa del... become the cheaper option.

The Q -

This was not any recent week, in fact it was probably about 6-8 weeks ago. 'The lads' have their weeks throughout the season these days. My point was that the BA could probably nip some of these situations in the bud if they were to patrol places like Barton Broad on a Friday and Saturday afternoon and have friendly, quiet but firm words with these people before any harm is done. Mudweighting on BB and watching the new crews come out is quite enlightening and they are certainly not all young lads, some older folk grow horns when on the loose too!  

[Matt]

I believe Broads Beat visit all male crews before they depart the boatyard.

they are often tweeting how many they visit. There are a lot. I doubt the Broads would survive without them.

[JennyMorgan]

44 minutes ago, Matt said:

I believe Broads Beat visit all male crews before they depart the boatyard.

they are often tweeting how many they visit. There are a lot. I doubt the Broads would survive without them.

Perhaps on the other hand 'lads' deter others from taking Broads holidays. Long gone now but Hampton Boats at Oulton Broad operated a no one sex party policy and, in their time, was the most successful yard on Oulton Broad, their boats always immaculate. Johnsons at St Olaves was another yard with a no 'lads' policy. Clive at Richardsons has long justified letting to all 'lads's groups but personally I feel strongly that they do more damage to the reputation of the Broads as a 'family' destination than is worthwhile. Just my thoughts on a subject that has been discussed in the past and will probably be discussed in the future.

[dnks34]

Putting it in perspective for us at least some of the lads groups we see can be rather intimidating with thier behaviour, especially if they are tanked up swearing and shouting at other river users and exposing themselves, surely they would be better off in Magaluf where the beers probably cheaper, the girls more plentiful and theres less risk of drowning!

But there are those groups that can visit the broads, still get tanked up, not shout and swear or expose any unpleasant body parts, not damage or upset anyone and go home with all the fingers and toes they set off with.  

Its just a shame some people leave all common sense and good behaviour at the door when they set off on holiday! 

[Gramps]

3 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Perhaps on the other hand 'lads' deter others from taking Broads holidays. Long gone now but Hampton Boats at Oulton Broad operated a no one sex party policy and, in their time, was the most successful yard on Oulton Broad, their boats always immaculate. Johnsons at St Olaves was another yard with a no 'lads' policy. Clive at Richardsons has long justified letting to all 'lads's groups but personally I feel strongly that they do more damage to the reputation of the Broads as a 'family' destination than is worthwhile. Just my thoughts on a subject that has been discussed in the past and will probably be discussed in the future.

Bit of a sweeping statement there JM , Some all male or or female groups are "family" there are many reasons these days why a family holiday group may be single sex including where a female member is disabled or where the holiday makers are part of a single parent "family" or where the holiday makers are in a civil partnership. Myself my sons and grandsons regularly holiday as a all male party (as does Griff aka BA) and I can assure you that Richardsons have never had a reason to be concerned about our behavior.

Ron

[Hylander]

Just to clarify.    We immediately rang Brinks to report the incident.     Unfortunately we did not get the number or the name of the boat as it all happened so quickly and on a part of the river system where you do not turn around as the tide was running too fast.     Naturally we were not expecting this to happen so no camera to hand either.      I dont mean to use this as a pun but in a flash it was over.

I have to say the lady at Brinks was horrified when I told her on the phone.     It is hardly the fault of Brinks at the end of the day,  they cannot control what some moron with the mental age of 12 is going to do.    I repeat stupid ****.    I would have said he was in his late 20s may have even been older.

 

[SwanR]

We were out for the first week of the new fishing season and did see a lot of boats with all male crews - that wasn't a problem at all as they more interested in their fishing than anything else.

But there were also a lot of mixed groups of young folk on larger hire boats especially over the weekend. Before we left Richardson's I asked the very nice chap who did our handover whether he had any tips for which moorings to head for on a Friday afternoon. He advised that they had quite a few large parties going out and that How Hill would be a good bet as they were less likely to stop somewhere like that with no access to a pub.

So we did indeed head for How Hill and had a peaceful first night ... apart from being able to hear an outdoor charity auction going on nearby in a large marquee ... did anyone bid £500 for a helicopter ride?!

Anyway ... we certainly saw parties of two or three larger older hire craft from Richardson's that were clearly together. But to be honest whilst some of their antics looked a bit daft, they mostly found places to wild moor all their boats roped together and we didn't encounter them at any of the moorings. We wondered whether they were out celebrating the end of exams or graduation or some such thing as it was the middle of June.

We were overtaken by a couple of boats from Ferry Marina on the Sunday morning ... twice. They were clearly trying to keep together coming up the Bure from Acle. Then when we were somewhere around St Benet's Abbey they overtook us again. So probably in the time it took us to get up there they had already shot up the Thurne or down Fleet Dyke and back out again and wanted to get past for a second time in a hurry. Not our idea of what the Broads is all about but each to their own.

[Wildfuzz]

It saddens me to hear these tales as I know that the BA rangers and Broads beat do sterling work to prevent these sort of incidents. The meet & Greet of same sex groups is a big part of this but it is hard to quantify how much anti social behavior these chats stop.

 

All I can ask is that "every" incident id reported to either the BA or BB as without the "statistics" there is no ammunition to target patrols or increase activity to prevent further episodes. So no matter how minor call it in, get a reference number from the authority and report the boat number and locations, if there are hot spots they can be targeted, if there are culprit yards they can be educated, and the hirers or owners can be "educated" We are the eyes and ears on the waterways so feed back the information and it can be acted on.

 

And where's my Avatar gone?

[BroadScot]

10 minutes ago, Wildfuzz said:

And where's my Avatar gone?

Oh errr ossifer someone has half inched it !  Not guilty m'lud

Iain

[Hylander]

No doubt he did this to other people thinking it was funny and most probably being egged on by others on board.    To this day I can still see the incident ,  I think that is because I was so shocked.     I have two sons myself both in the late 40s one has little girls,  can you imagine if that had happened to them as a family.

I am pleased to see these matters are logged.     I could only report it to Brinks at the time.

 

Monica

 

 

 

[Cheesey]

 Yes, I noticed an enormous difference after a 10 year break.

Its a bit like Blackpool. You loose the families and become a party destination as the cost shared make it a cheap weekend.

As to the speed issue, I maintain the diminishing mooring situation is feeding that background panic that your not going to get a mooring anywhere near where you want.

Old ground I know but take a look at Wroxham. The so called capital of the broads is a nightmare to moor. This I know as a fact because we met a first time couple in May who was so disappointed that Horning and Wroxham was effectively wiped off the map for them and instead cruised around their home yard of stalham to resupply. They wont be coming back.

I strongly believe that access is getting harder and less new comer friendly.

[Matt]

10 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Perhaps on the other hand 'lads' deter others from taking Broads holidays. Long gone now but Hampton Boats at Oulton Broad operated a no one sex party policy and, in their time, was the most successful yard on Oulton Broad, their boats always immaculate. Johnsons at St Olaves was another yard with a no 'lads' policy. Clive at Richardsons has long justified letting to all 'lads's groups but personally I feel strongly that they do more damage to the reputation of the Broads as a 'family' destination than is worthwhile. Just my thoughts on a subject that has been discussed in the past and will probably be discussed in the future.

Possibly not the two best boatyards to choose to back up your point given they no longer hire............but I do understand your point.