Ooooops...... Why Try It ....

[Guest]

I would suggest they did have a  "plan A" and it was; don't hit the bridge.

 

[Victoryv]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

it is very easy to criticise, but how many of us read the bridge heights before we drive under them, I have owned a 10 foot high vehicle, and had a few close calls through forgetting, I have seen a car with a pushbike on the roof go through a car park entrance with height barrier, (the bike was wrecked as was the rear screen it was forced through). if you arent thinking about it, you just drive up to a bridge assuming you will fit.

yes, I know you are warned, I know the height is printed on the dash board, but if you are relaxing - on holiday, and dont happen to see the height marker, these things will happen - it could have been any of us.

So this is why we dont name and shame here - because one day it might be you, and you will be embarrassed enough as it is without us piling it on.

I don't think that is an excuse when you are in responsible for fellow crew, and somebody else's substantial investment.

I agree we should not name and shame, but if it was a fancy private boat stuck under the bridge, how many would be more than happy to gloat.

Tends to focus the mind when your own money and hard labour have gone into a boat.

[Poppy]

1 minute ago, Victoryv said:

I don't think that is an excuse when you are in responsible for fellow crew, and somebody else's substantial investment.

I agree we should not name and shame, but if it was a fancy private boat stuck under the bridge, how many would be more than happy to gloat.

Tends to focus the mind when your own money and hard labour have gone into a boat.

Well said!

[deebee29]

The thing that gets me about this is the Trial by Forum attitude 

None of us know anything about the situation and how they ended up there yet this guy has been branded with names like idiot and stupid. 

Just doesn't feel good to me

 

 

[Gracie]

Well said Dave

I think most of us make mistakes and can get caught out when we least expect it, please let's not resort to name calling

Grace

[ranworthbreeze]

As already said by a number of forum members, we do not know the facts.

Most of us know however that the current is very strong at the St Olaves Bridge and the moorings for the Bell Inn, great care needs to be taken both at the bridge and the moorings, especially the moorings where it can be difficult to moor and more so to get away from the moorings, the current can push you towards the bridge.

With all bridges you tend work on a safety margin, in the case of Ranworth Breeze we suggest to all of owners allow for 10 foot at all bridges (we have an air draft of 9 foot 8 inches with the canopy and masthead down).

Skippers are not the only ones to get it wrong, we have had bad advice from both Reedham & Yarmouth in the past, so I tend to do my own calculations and pay close attention to the height boards.

Regards

Alan

[addicted]

I think that one of the reasons that an incident like this evokes such outrage is that many people myself included see a boat as something to be revered and loved and not just an inanimate investment. And to see one treated cavalierly really offends. If some one damaged our boat the money she cost to buy wouldn't even cross my mind, however I'd be incandescent with fury if it was carelessness and not a genuine accident I'd have trouble dealing with it calmly even if it was the latter.  Owning a boat is very personal to the owner, well it is to me anyway and I find it absolutely great the way some of you  feel about the boats you have hired so it obviously isn't just owners to whom it's personal  and that's brilliant.

 

 

Carole

[ZimbiIV]

The last time we were at WRC, I got talking to the family on the next boat. They had hired for years but I still had to explain why the ropes should be slacker and to always moor against the tide. This was because it was their 1st and last venture to the south side and were scuttling back north the next day!

It can be extremely tricky on the south, especially the Reedham/St Olaves/Yarmouth triangle area.

So anyone with years of experience can get caught out by the southern tidal flow.

How many have been caught out when leaving the New Cut towards Reedham and the boat has put the brakes on suddenly or you are approaching take off speed?

paul

[Broads01]

I take back my earlier statement that there could be no excuse for this situation. I can imagine an inexperienced hirer, hurtling towards the bridge from Great Yarmouth direction on a strong ebbing tide and, never having visited before and never thinking of the possibility of insufficient clearance, realising late in the day and making an attempt to turn around close to the bridge. Being inexperienced, when attempting to turn they under-use the throttle and the rudder and the tide sweeps them sideways before they know it. 

Alternatively, it's possible they could have been negligent as my first post suggested. We may never know. 

[Regulo]

Tide had nothing to do with the chaos at Ludham on Sunday morning. Following a Brinkcraft upstream, it was obvious he wasn't going under the bridge - but that wasn't stopping him getting within 2 feet of it before backing out! Cue a convoy of stationary craft while he turned round. Then a small cruiser coming through from upstream decided to stop with their nose actually under the bridge before taking the aerial off the roof. What is the matter with people nowadays? Course, I've never made a bridge boo-boo in my life. My radio aerial isn't straight, you say? Dunno how that could have happened! 

[grendel]

perhaps he went to press the horn button and shut the engine off in error, we know that happens to the best of boats.

Who knows, we are all idly speculating as to the cause.

[BroadAmbition]

perhaps he went to press the horn button and shut the engine off in error, we know that happens to the best of boats.

Bro' did exactly that at Ludham Bridge recently, 'B.A' calmly sailed through under her own inertia - No harm done

Griff

[Hockham Admiral]

4 hours ago, deebee29 said:

The thing that gets me about this is the Trial by Forum attitude 

None of us know anything about the situation and how they ended up there yet this guy has been branded with names like idiot and stupid. 

Just doesn't feel good to me

Which is why the the Guidelines prohibit naming and shaming, David.

"The NBN does not subscribe to 'naming and shaming'.  i.e. pictures or descriptions of accidents where either the boats or people are recognisable". 

If peeps wish to post such pictures then we ask that any identification is removed in order to comply with the above.

In future any such threads posted without removing identification will be deleted.

 

[JennyMorgan]

I was at the boatyard next to St Olave's bridge the other day. Top of the tide and a hire boat approached the bridge at a fair old lick, with three children on the roof. There is a notice on the bridge telling folk to lower canopies and windscreens and to ensure that no one is on the cabin roof. I suspect that they had easily gone under the bridge at a lower state of the tide and expected to be able to do the same on this occasion. Much screaming as the children threw themselves flat on the cabin roof. I really do not think that there were many inches between the heads and backs of the children and the bridge. 

Anything, including shaming, that alerts people to the hazards of bridges, especially in tidal waters, surely is justifiable.

[dnks34]

I dont see it as naming and shaming or trial by forum.

I see it as educating others.

If you do something stupid and someones there with a camera, I think thats called tough luck! 

Without a bit of healthy speculation what would we have to talk about! 

We are only human after all! 

 

[thingamybob]

No doubt the bridge height markers were ignored. Once a boat is turned in a current it is difficult to get the bows pointing upstream. One trick if this happens is to nose the bows gently into the bank and the current will do the rest for you and bring the stern around. I know in that area there is a lot of hard quay heading but it can be done with careful use of the throttle.

Unfortunately there is not enough time to teach hirers these little tricks on handover. 

[Wussername]

9 hours ago, thingamybob said:

 

Unfortunately there is not enough time to teach hirers these little tricks on handover. 

In some instances (not all I hasten to add) the person taking the trial run is not aware of situations which occur  on the southern rivers if he has been confined to the north.

I joined a boat at Horning together with a group of other people last week. One member of the party asked how far we could get during our days hire. The trial run driver was informed that we were going to stop at Ranworth for ice creams and then carry on to Womack and return. Would we get back by 5pm.

"Dunno" he said. "Where's Womack"?

Edited August 30, 2017 by Wussername

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, Wussername said:

"Dunno" he said. "Where's Womack"?

Wassermann raised a good point. (That's how the forum spell checker spells it, so there you are!)

You might be surprised how many yards don't let their staff take a boat out for a cruise with their family unless they hire it! I am afraid Le Boat is one of these, and First Choice even employs  a "staff holidays manager".

It seems ridiculous to have someone telling you all about where to go on your Broads cruise if they have never done it themselves.

Staff on any yard I have ever managed have always been free to take a boat out with their families in the off season and they didn't even pay for diesel. All they had to do was bring back a list of all the things they had found wrong during their cruise, so that they could be put right. There are so many problems on a boat that you will never see on a Saturday turnaround. You only find them when you go out and live on it. Something I learned from my father.

Staff holidays are not a privilege : they are an essential part of staff training.

[ranworthbreeze]

How true Vaughan.

It is only when you operate everything on a boat that you find out any problems. 

Take for example our canopy it was renewed in 2010 using the original fame.

Sadly the company that made it (I will not name them) it is doubtful that they have ever had to remove sections out of a canopy. The leading edge of the zips on both rear side sections are directly behind the fame poles, this makes it very difficult to put the zip in, Tan really struggles with these, so it is down to me.

If the section had been made an inch to either side of the pole it would have made it so much easier. The rest of the canopy is perfect.

Regards

Alan

[Hylander]

Judith of Acle  did a wonderful job on our back canopy.    That was altering an old canopy and making it more useable.

[ranworthbreeze]

1 minute ago, Hylander said:

Judith of Acle  did a wonderful job on our back canopy.    That was altering an old canopy and making it more useable.

Hello Monica,

Yes Judith was great, she made our curtains a couple of years ago from material we managed to source.

Sadly after their move to Acle; Judith after her husbands electrical business took off in a big way decided to help her husband in the company rather than the excellent work she did on canopies and furnishings.

Regards

Alan 

[Hylander]

Oh that is a shame ,  she was a one off,  didn't matter what you asked she could manage to cope and made a darn good fist of everything.  

[Wussername]

55 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

 

Staff holidays are not a privilege : they are an essential part of staff training.

Another young girl fell into the river a few days ago whilst mooring a boat at Reedham. Her recovery from the water was assisted by the girls father and the quay assistant. 

Boats are hitting bridges, getting stuck under bridges.

These current issues prompts me to ask if anybody knows if trial run drivers themselves actually receive formal training. If so what form does this training take.

[JennyMorgan]

At one time Jimmy Hosesaon insisted that owners spent at least two days and nights aboard their own, new boats. Staff too were expected to take boats out in the off season.

[Vaughan]

13 minutes ago, Wussername said:

These current issues prompts me to ask if anybody knows if trial run drivers themselves actually receive formal training. If so what form does this training take.

In my case, I would get my staff together on a big boat and take them out for a trial run, to show them how I did it. They were then welcome to ask questions and have a go themselves. If there were a new young staff member just joining, I would take him out with me on a few runs and explain to the hirers that he was there to learn, just like they were.

It's not rocket science!