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Another Gets Caught Out Cutting The Corner At Yarmouth

MY littleboat

By MY littleboat
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cause i think it cost the hirer £100 to get towed off in my book is fair if they cant take the time to read the skippers handbook when they take the boat over then its there own fault plus put money into those small yard that have to tow them off...

Jonny

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MY littleboat

MY littleboat

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Fair point in a way Johnny, although I have to say getting caught outside the posts on Breydon is pne thing, but I really think this is alot more obvious. Surely a couple of big arrows would help? I really am sure that it isn't anyones intention to deliberately get these boats stuck just to put money into the pockets of the recovery fleets!!

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Guest

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If several boats are caught out there is clearly a problem.

It should be remembered that most holiday hirers are not used to following pilotage rules as are our salty brethren.

Being hit with a £100 rescue bill could ruin a holiday.

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Antares_9

Antares_9

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On our foray to the Emerald Isle we were quite impressed with the channel markers on the Shannon, mostly made up of “pass this side†arrows, not exactly IALA bouyage I know, but simple and effective and probably more fit for purpose on a navigation used by those unfamiliar as ponkylav rightly points out, why make it any more difficult than it needs to be.

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goodall_m1

goodall_m1

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Instructions on passing through Yarmouth are usually well described in the "boat manual" on hire boats (or have been on the ones I've hired) but like "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink", you can't ensure that the hire skippers read them.

Other hire skippers will go browsing for data before they arrive and end up on the forum, which is how I found it.

By the time they get to the post your first time skippers are already under stress.

They have survived getting through the Bure bridges,

they know they have to turn right to go up Breydon,

they know they have to drive on the right...

I agree with the original post on this one, that shallow could be marked in a more obvious manner.

(And anyway where does a wonky yellow post with another vertical bit welded onto it appear in the Admiralty 5011?)

It could of course be marked with cardinal marks, to make it completely obvious to all knowledgable mariners, but would that help the hirers, no way!

An arrow or two or a sign saying "Shallow Water, keep clear" would make it simpler for them.

After all the bridges have signs about "navigate between the arrows" which I can't remember being officially recognised pilotage marks!

(Also look left as you emerge from the Bure and there is a big sign saying "No hire Boats beyond this point" to stop them heading down to the Haven bridge)

Of course even if the Port Authority did that (this section is under their control not the BA) we would still have those who go the wrong side of the lines of posts on Breydon...

If Broads hire boating is to continue to help support the economy of the area we will always have "first timers" to contend with, and many of those will have little or no previous boating experience.

Reading the manual when you take over the boat is something that should be done, but what with the crew to get sorted with where things go etc, and the guy from the yard asking "are you ready for your demo?" it is easily put off until later, and then forgotten (after all he has gone through everything with us...).

Some yards do email copies of their "skipper's manual" to their hirers (providing they booked online)

which gives them more time to read about things before they arrive to take over the boat.

There is a fine line, however, between the "don't put off the punters" and trying to make sure that they know what they will need to.

Personally I reckon giving all hirers links to the various Broads information sites (and I would include this one!) with their booking confirmation documentation could help.

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Dan

Dan

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Rod is right, it is already reasonably obvious, it says pass yellow marker before turning.

I think it is just a class case of however obvious you make you can never totally remove human error and/or sillyness or stupidity. Not intended a dig at anyone as even the most intelligent person has lapses of concentration or the ability to make a mistake!

However, I would think the responsibility for such decisions on changes will be with the BA, so the hirefleets clubbing together might not help relations or quite be the correct way of doing things?

Dan

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Oddfellow

Oddfellow

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I can't help but agree with everything that's been said.

If it were possible, I would be happy to contribute towards some additional signage for the yellow post. The only time one of my cruisers cut the corner, they put a 15 degree bend in the rudder shaft and didn't like the huge charge we made to tow the boat home, lift it out of the water, straighten the shaft and put the boat back.

We've re-written our skippers handbook this season but we stil rely on Broadscaster for information on navigating Yarmouth / Breydon. We tell people to read and re-read this section if they're thinking about the journey.

There will always be plenty of people who apply the Jeremy Clarkson approach of "how hard can it be?" and appreciate that it's not as simple and it first seems. By the time this happens, though, they might be high and dry, or worse in quite some danger.

We can try to make things foolproof, but we can never fully appreciate the magnitude of some fools.

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diesel falcon

diesel falcon

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We came through Yarmouth at the weekend at low water and i must say the hight gauges coming south though yarmouth are about as clear as the water....muddy,surly in this day and age a lit hight gauge with an actual figure of the clearances could be made ...possibly with a laser ..after all you can measure a room with one why not an air gap.

On the subject of the "post" do you mean the none descript one which has a distintive lean to it and looks more like a discarded railway sleeper than a navigation marker then it,s no wonder the hire boaters get it wrong,get the sun behind it in the early morning and it dosn,t even look yellow.

will be writing to BA and or the harbour to complain.

Rant over!!

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G&A

G&A

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It does rather look to me like something thats been discarded, taken root and been painted.......in this day and age rather a poor excuse for a marker of any kind

........put an unmistakable cardinal marker there, fix a camera and fine anyone who doesnt have the thought to stick to the correct channel. No excuse either way.

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MY littleboat

MY littleboat

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My original post here could also be extended to Breydon also as not a single time that I have passed have I not seen someone stuck somewhere this year - clearly something is broken somewhere be it markers, manuals or whatever but on this occasion I have to defend the hirers as it is drummed into them that crossing Breydon isn't easy and maybe this leads to the mistakes being made

I see no reason why a bar joining the quay to the post at above EHW shouldn't be fitted as in other places - this at least would stop the numerous groundings there every year

Then there is Breydon, surely the tops of the posts could have lighting - solar charged? Just a few thoughts

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goodall_m1

goodall_m1

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I have to defend the hirers as it is drummed into them that crossing Breydon isn't easy and maybe this leads to the mistakes being made....

Then there is Breydon, surely the tops of the posts could have lighting - solar charged? Just a few thoughts

If it wasn't drummed into them that crossing Breydon isn't easy then wouldn't we have more problems.

Those that think it is hard will probably take more care to read the instructions etc.

If they were told that it easy to go through Yarmouth and up Breydon we would probably have a new spectator sport!

Lights on Breydon, not a problem for the hire-boats, they aren't supposed to be out at night! :lol::lol:

Personally I don't mind night passages on the sea but the thought of creeping up a Broads river in the pitch-black would terrify me.

How the private boats do it amazes me, but I reckon that there is a lot of them with spotlights that are almost searchlights on board to turn the night into day.

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andyg

andyg

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got me thinking this one :? i remember my dad hirering from paul craft, astons (at loddon) alpha craft, when we younger and one of the first things we would do on the sunday morning (saturday take overs were the only choice back then ) would be cross breydon for the push up north to horning wroxham etc. i cant ever remember loads of boats being stuck up on the mud run aground, so whats changed ? the marker post are about the same dont remember them being any different, the approach to yarmouth is more our less the same ( apart from the new bridge) but dont see how that causes a problem ! so is it the chanel is shallower or is it todays hire craft users just dont pay attention to what they have been told and what is clearly pointed out in the boats manual. really dont understand this one. iv seen loads of post and pics posted on this and other forums re this subject. is it the owner of maffet craft that has a rescue boat moored on the southen side of breydon ? i know that richos list a price in their boat manuals for recovery if run aground of £130 :o wow that a lot of coppers to loose whilst on your hols.

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Guest

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got me thinking this one :? i cant ever remember loads of boats being stuck up on the mud run aground, so whats changed ? the

Not news worthy and no forums in those days to tell us that people had gone aground.

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