Wroxham Broad - The Weedy End!

[Nickwaiheke]

Hi a newby to the broads and slowly exploring with a Cornish Shrimper (small sailing boat) 

I was very surprised to get caught in the growth at the Wroxham town end of the broad, of course I should have been watching closely but was too taken with the new area.

Slightly surprised there are no markers 

I presume its commonly known?

thank you 

[grendel]

I think weed is common in some areas on the broads,  it may depend on the underwater layout of your boat as to whether you get caught up, a lot of the broads sailing boats are designed for shallow draught as in places the depth can be as shallow as a couple of foot, the ones who race the broad will know exactly how far they can push their boats for the best racing speeds, but otherwise its just pot luck, Wroxham broad is a private broad, so I guess that the owners have not bothered to mark the shallow areas.

[TheQ]

Shrimper 17 /19/21? with or without cabin?

Over the last  40 years they have gradually cleaned up the waters of the broads and weed is now growing everywhere, I know of no area that is marked for just weed on the broads and it's spreading even down the river sides.

 The owners of the broad , have nothing to do with the running of that Broad as Wroxham sailing club rent the entire broad and the land surrounding the clubhouse. ( I seem to remember Trafford estates as the owner But I might be wrong)

Your draught is a bit deeper than most broads classes, at 4 ft (or 4ft 5in for the 21), most of the boats you'll have seen moored at the club there are around 3 ft +- a couple of inches or so.

Yes the club members and those of us from other clubs who have sailed there do know the shallows. It doesn't stop us pushing it a bit too far trying to get an advantage during a race and going aground!!

If you go to Hoveton Little Broad (AKA Black Horse Broad), your keel when fully down will drag the mud thoughout the broad. At the start of a sailing season even the local sailing boats leave a brown trail in the water..

Barton broad inside the broad edge markers is not too bad,

Hickling broad is very shallow outside the channel markers, but you will see the locals from Hickling sailing club going all over the broad as they know where the odd deeper water bit is. Saying that when running it's quite safe  to up boards and rudder and cross the shallows with 18inches of draft , I've done that in the past.

 

[Vaughan]

I agree with TheQ.  Having much better water quality on the Broads is going to mean a lot more weed, as it grows in the sunshine which gets through the clear water.  In the 50's there were weed cutters all over the Broads and the weed in the upper reaches was cut at least 3 times every season.  This is obviously something which will now need to be done (and paid for) more often.

A good tip on Wroxham Broad is to stay within the area bounded by the racing buoys (unless there is racing in progress!)and don't go too far outside them, especially at the Wroxham end.

[Nickwaiheke]

thank you very much, it's just getting use to the nature of the area so local expert tips I'm very grateful for!

It's a Shrimper 19 btw TheQ