The Last Post

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, Bound2Please said:

Maybe a grid reference JM ????

True, Google Earth & so on but all parties need to sing from the same hymn sheet, and have that hymn sheet available. 

[JennyMorgan]

40 minutes ago, vanessan said:

That’s ok for those that know. I think that a lot of the boats that try to find a mooring late in the day are new hirers or visitors who expect just to be able to stop and moor up. They are new to the area and want to spend as much time as they can enjoying being on the water and exploring the Broads. Ask a newbie what a rhond anchor is and you would probably get a very strange look! For my money there is nothing better than a quiet solo bank mooring, as long as there is somewhere to walk the dogs though. 

Dog walking, that's information that our guide could include. I always feel some sympathy for newbies that are thrown in at the deep end. I know that it is all a big adventure but knowing where to moor, and alternatives if a back-up is needed, would take some of the worry away.

[Paul]

This is one of my main bugbears, especially on the Northern Rivers (running engines on moorings being the other). Once upon a time you moored next to the boat next to you (if that doesn't sound like double dutch). The next boat in did the same to you, usually using the same post you were moored to. Enough space to allow the boats to move and not touch. That way, if one of the boats alongside you moved you didn't have to keep moving backwards and forwards, you were still next to the boat the other side and the boat that had moved on left a gap of whatever size for someone else to moor into. Occasionally we would look and think that as other boats had moved and perhaps different sized ones had come in then moving up a bit may free up a space for someone, so we did. It takes two minutes and doesn't need doing very often. It is not the drama some people seem to think it might be.

Would I move a boat back then? Not normally, it was rarely necessary as people moored with greater consideration so there was not the need. Occasionally we might ask someone on board if they minded moving up a post or two to make a gap. Such is not limited to last minute hullabaloos either. I think that's just a convenient excuse. You could quite easily arrive at a popular mooring at any time and find a gap not quite big enough. When asked, almost without exception people were happy to "budge up a bit". They would help by taking you ropes and hold on to them until your crew were ashore. You'd have a chat. On many occasions such led to sharing a tinnie or two or a bottle of wine

Nowadays? Sadly the consideration for others is sadly lacking. It effects the Broads as it does all other walks of life. It is more common now to see a boat moor in the middle of any available space than close to another boat, boating is not social as it once was. So one boat moors in the middle of a big gap thinking "I'm not doing any harm". The next one does the same and so on and so on until you end up with a mooring "full" of boats with fifteen foot gaps between them. The attitude is not unique to the broads, it is indicative of society as a whole. 

Would I move a boat now? Absolutely not, I would think twice about asking one to move up a bit either. Sadly you cannot always rely on a polite response. 

As for the OP, Last Post? We love them too. Would always be my first choice on any mooring. 

 

[ranworthbreeze]

When mooring up we tend to moor as close to the next boat as safely allowed so we leave a gap, if stern on mooring, a small gap is usually sufficient  to allow us to get in.

Most owners will  come up top to see if you need some help walking you in.

Regards

Alan

 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

True, Google Earth & so on but all parties need to sing from the same hymn sheet, and have that hymn sheet available. 

how about using google earth, putting in a placemarker, then using the snipping tool (found under accessories) to cut an image of the location map, then paste the map into the file or whatever you are using to display the results.

[TheQ]

Having seen a day boat trying to anchor mid broad using a rhond anchor I dread to think what would happen it mooring mid Broad were the normal status..

[Guest]

There were no last (or even first) posts, but a favourite mooring place, during the seventies, was at the very upstream end of the moorings at Acle bridge (port side, going upstream). It was a five or six hundred yard walk, from the Bridge Inn and most boats would moor a lot closer to the pub. But we always had acoustic guitars and harmonicas on board and tucked away at the very end, we never got any complaints. In those days, the use of rhond anchors was more common than tying to mooring posts... The end of the field, on the opposite side of the river to the 'Woodfarm Inn' was another favourite, where the rhond anchors were used. There were lots of moorings like that, in those far off days and they were all free too...

[JennyMorgan]

2 hours ago, grendel said:

how about using google earth, putting in a placemarker, then using the snipping tool (found under accessories) to cut an image of the location map, then paste the map into the file or whatever you are using to display the results.

That all sounds horribly complicated but thanks all the same! I shall have a play, you never know, I might get my head round it.

[grendel]

the snipping tool is like printscreen, but a lot easier to get a smaller area.

[JennyMorgan]

6 minutes ago, grendel said:

the snipping tool is like printscreen, but a lot easier to get a smaller area.

Now I am confused 

[Paul]

Are the rights to Hamilton's still owned by a certain Loddonite?

[JennyMorgan]

Just now, Paul said:

Are the rights to Hamilton's still owned by a certain Loddonite?

I believe so. I have long thought that an on-line Hamiltons would have a lot to commend it. Great shame that Mr Campbell let it go but then Bill did have great plans for it. If I were a younger man, and less of a computer Luddite, then I might have gone and smiled very nicely at Mr M, clutching a suitable bottle of sherbet. 

[SwanR]

12 hours ago, BryanW said:

How about this one?  This was Commander (not Commodore as in previous picture) second week of June.

They had moored in the early evening when most people were in the pub but give them their due they left just before 08:00 the following morning so didn't give anybody a problem.

 

I would have been seriously unimpressed if someone had done that to me and spoiled my view. Maybe they didn't cause any problems as they were gone early the next morning but it depends what kind of attitude they displayed. Our experience at Sutton that evening was that the hirers were determined to be where they could get to a pub and just didn't care about the boat or about anyone else.

The next morning we left very early to go back to the yard, probably about 6.30am. I genuinely hit the horn by mistake but we wondered whether they got woken up and thought that we did it on purpose. :)

[Regulo]

On another "moorings" gripe - why have BA put safety ladders in the middle, or not at the end of moorings? On short moorings, there's no logical reason to put them anywhere other than the end, but where some are, completely puts out of use a good mooring space.

[wombat nee blownup]

It doesn't really matter where the ladders are or if the last post is free. You approach a mooring now and you can see from a distance that there is only one boat moored there and you're thinking great! we can moor there, get along side and bosh!!! a row of anglers all with their cars backed up so they can fish straight from the boot. I've even seen a fisherman plugged in to the leccy post making a brew."

[Paladin]

2 hours ago, wombat nee blownup said:

I've even seen a fisherman plugged in to the leccy post making a brew.

10 out of 10 for initiative!

[Maxwellian]

54 minutes ago, Paladin said:

10 out of 10 for initiative!

 

That is what I was thinking. 

[ranworthbreeze]

Next it will be plugging in electric blankets to keep warm during overnight fishing

Regards

Alan

[vanessan]

3 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

Next it will be plugging in electric blankets to keep warm during overnight fishing

Regards

Alan

I bet there’s at least one angler seen that and gone off to Argos! 

[SteveO]

Last post? I thought someone else was flouncing off for a  moment. 

[Meantime]

You should be so lucky.

[Meantime]

Anyway, it's far too hot to flounce anywhere thank you!

[JennyMorgan]

6 hours ago, vanessan said:

I bet there’s at least one angler seen that and gone off to Argos! 

Wouldn't be Argos, got to have the right label and it's got to be in cammo!

[Siddy]

I used the last post at Ransworth in May, it was hot so went for the impossable and pick up a ice cream.

The main mooring full and day bot section was full and the small section to the left was full and others were waiting so then noticed the last post where it goes to the houses. So spun round port stern tied up no wind so had the bow thurster ready & Kaz was away and back in no time and away we went.

I said before there should be a short time mooring to pick up supplies and help keep the shop going. Once closed it can be used over night.

 

[Paladin]

9 hours ago, Siddy said:

I used the last post at Ransworth in May, it was hot so went for the impossable and pick up a ice cream.

The main mooring full and day bot section was full and the small section to the left was full and others were waiting so then noticed the last post where it goes to the houses. So spun round port stern tied up no wind so had the bow thurster ready & Kaz was away and back in no time and away we went.

I said before there should be a short time mooring to pick up supplies and help keep the shop going. Once closed it can be used over night.

 

Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, at a honeypot mooring like Ranworth, such a ‘short time’ mooring would simply be filled by someone who has no intention of leaving any time soon. 

Let’s suppose the time limit was 30 minutes and the restriction ended at 6pm. Would someone, arriving at 5.30pm and looking to stay for the night, wait until 6pm? Of course not. They’d moor for their 30 mins supply-pickup time, then stay on.

It’s all very well imposing restrictions, but, unless there is someone there to enforce them (as there used to be), they have little or no effect.