Lads, Lads, Lads

[Davydine]

Gretzky's recent post about being hit by a bunch of lads got me thinking about my first experience of hiring a boat on the Norfolk Broads. Yes, we were a bunch of lads, no, we didn't hit anyone!

I thought I would share my memories of that first trip, hopefully to raise a smile!

I should say that I wasn't new to the Broads, I had been 14 or 15 times with my parents, starting on Wavemaster from Brooms when I was about 18months old, but this was to be my first hire in my own name.

To set the scene, 4 of us at school had just turned 18 and completed our A levels, we were all heading off to different corners of the country and wanted to celebrate the end of one phase of our lives and the start of the next. We didn't have much money but we decided on a trip to Norfolk, so we started browsing through the Hoseasons brochure and decided that Swiftway from Richardsons was within our budget and would suit our needs. Forms were filled, cheques posted and the confirmation letter soon landed on the door mat. I read the terms and conditions from cover to cover. One clause stood out, something to the effect of “we reserve the right to refuse to hire if we think you are unsuitable “ 

We were seriously excited, our first holiday as adults, no parents, just the four of us, boys on a boat and Beer, quite a lot of beer. We were nervous too, what if we got to the yard and they took one look at us and sent us on our way?

The day came and we set off on a 5 hour road trip from Cumbria to Stalham, got to the yard and got checked in at reception and paid our security deposit (no damage waiver in those days). “Go and unpack and someone will be along shortly to show you the ropes” 

We unpacked. The sun was shining, we filled the cupboards with food and filled the fridge with essentials (beer), we went off for our trial run, everything was going swimmingly and we got back to the yard, all set to be released on the unsuspecting pubs of broadland. “I will just show you how to light the fridge, it runs on gas you see...” that's when it happened, clunk,clunk, clunk, clunk, the sound of a dozen cans of week American lager dispensing itself out of the fridge and rolling across the cockpit. Silence, nervous glances all round, this was it, “if we think you are unsuitable” Laughter from the engineer showing us round. “I see you have worked out the fridge”. “Don't drink and drive gents, the river police will pull you over and you can be fined”

That was it, the start of one of the best weeks ever, the end of childhood. Maybe it was fear of losing the security deposit, maybe we just weren't bad lads, but we had an amazing time and didn't manage to upset anyone or break anything.

Nearly 3 decades later I came back, with my family and some friends, the welcome at Richardsons was just as welcome and the Norfolk Broads are still a special place. Happy Days!

[Gretzky]

No mobile phones to take your "selfies" while driving in those days instead on looking where you were going? :D

[chrisdobson45]

Davydine's post rolled back the years to July 1987 and a holiday on the Broads after graduating before six of us (three couples) went our separate ways. We booked a six berth centre cockpit cruiser from Aston in Beccles. I had been on the Broads about a dozen times with my parents prior to then so I was put in charge...

I was allowed to borrow my dad's car (Volvo 340GL in metallic brown) for the journey down from Nottingham, me, the girlfriend and a car full of her luggage, despite warnings of lack of storage.

We successfully arrived in Beccles after five fraught hours on the road, the others in the party having taken the train to Norwich and then Beccles.

The first problem was that the boat had a twin cabin and a double cabin, the second double being a converted sofa in the centre cockpit / lounge. We drew lots, I ended up with the fore twin cabin, not the worst place to be...

Guess what? about 75% of the clothes that my girlfriend brought with her stayed in the car.

We had a week of glorious weather, however, the couple who slept in the lounge didn't get up until late so we missed every early morning that week.

The boat was well past its prime, however, it was cheap. We didn't hit anything or break anything. We took it through Wroxham Bridge without a pilot and managed to see most of everywhere.

Memories are like old Polaroid photo's, somewhat faded around the edges but reflective of a gentler time...

 

 

 

[Davydine]

1 hour ago, Gretzky said:

No mobile phones to take your "selfies" while driving in those days instead on looking where you were going? :D

Nope, good old fashioned film, 36 exposures and the excitement of picking them up from the chemists when they have been processed!

[grendel]

well when you compare it to the current grumpy old gits  Lads week in october, what do we do, we head from pub to pub, play darts , shove ha'penny etc etc, we take great care of the boats most of them are returned better than they left the yard, upgrades such as led lighting courtesy of Robin, and a complete snagging list of faults we didnt get round to fixing on our return (sticky door handles and the like),

we have a good time, but are courteous to other boaters and apart from minor things (such as the dinghys rudder breaking in our hands last year - to be fair the previous screws into rotten wood and gaffer tape repair the boat yard sent it out with - failed)) we treat the boats well too.

[KatieR]

Grendel, if you do upgrades and fix bits of issues in the course of lads week, I'm sure you don't need to hire from anywhere, there may be a queue of us offering our boats up for you - now, where did I put the to do list.....