Tabitha Rose - A New Adventure

[YnysMon]

We are due to travel to Beccles tomorrow as Dave (JanetAnne) has asked us to take Tabitha Rose from her home mooring in Beccles up to Oulton Broad on Thursday to meet up with the other woodies that are attending the wooden boat show.

I see that slack at GY is predicted for just before 5am on Thursday. Does that mean that the fleet travelling down from the North will arrive at Oulton super early or are they intending to travel down to Oulton on Wednesday evening? Given I haven't helmed Tabitha before, and unfamiliar with how she handles, I'm slightly nervous of trying to do a first stern mooring on her in Oulton YS with an audience of very experienced Broadsmen Broadspersons. An early start from Beccles might be in order.

Alternatively, I'll just have to swallow my pride if I mess up.

 

Very much looking forward to meeting fellow forumites for the first time!

[grendel]

I believe a 5am departure from Stracey is on the cards thursday morning (the BBQ is there wednesday evening), I too am arriving tomorrow about lunch time (11-12 am) and had planned to head off and see if I could get to stracey, but I was considering staying south overnight (maybe burgh castle)  and greeting the fleet in the morning, dont worry too much if there are people already there, just get somewhat alongside and they will grab the ropes and direct you into a spot (or if you arrive earlier than them, you can give them a hand, last year I reversed water rail  straight in and onto the pontoon (inside) and where i landed was where i had been aiming (truth be told i had got her turning slowly in reverse and just held it on until i got to the pontoon).

[craigmc67]

1 hour ago, YnysMon said:

We are due to travel to Beccles tomorrow as Dave (JanetAnne) has asked us to take Tabitha Rose from her home mooring in Beccles up to Oulton Broad on Thursday to meet up with the other woodies that are attending the wooden boat show.

I see that slack at GY is predicted for just before 5am on Thursday. Does that mean that the fleet travelling down from the North will arrive at Oulton super early or are they intending to travel down to Oulton on Wednesday evening? Given I haven't helmed Tabitha before, and unfamiliar with how she handles, I'm slightly nervous of trying to do a first stern mooring on her in Oulton YS with an audience of very experienced Broadsmen Broadspersons. An early start from Beccles might be in order.

Alternatively, I'll just have to swallow my pride if I mess up.

 

Very much looking forward to meeting fellow forumites for the first time!

 

[craigmc67]

I am bringing Hilda down from Beccles on Thursday morning. I too am a bit nervous as I’m new to this boating lark so your not the only one 😬😬

[grendel]

you will soon have a fleet sailing from Beccles as well as the one from the North.

[YnysMon]

55 minutes ago, grendel said:

you will soon have a fleet sailing from Beccles as well as the one from the North.

That sounds just brilliant.  

[kpnut]

Can someone tell me what is the best day to go to Beccles(by land transport) to see all the boats and crews? I’m on the rivers (north) from tomorrow and am considering catching a train to Beccles for the day. 
Bet you’ll say Saturday - the day of the train strike!!!

Many thanks in advance

[YnysMon]

Yep, Saturday! I gather that’s the ‘official’ day. Though I think we’ll arrive on Friday and depart Sunday. Not having been before, I’m not sure what to expect. 

[BrundallNavy]

1 minute ago, kpnut said:

Can someone tell me what is the best day to go to Beccles(by land transport) to see all the boats and crews? I’m on the rivers (north) from tomorrow and am considering catching a train to Beccles for the day. 
Bet you’ll say Saturday - the day of the train strike!!!

Many thanks in advance

Most boats should be there at around 2pm on the Friday until Sunday morning so anytime between then. To get there by train you would have to catch a train from Norwich to either Lowestoft or Ipswich then change for Beccles. 

[grendel]

Kate the boats are leaving Oulton around 11 am Friday, so arriving at Beccles just around lunch time, they should all be dressed in bunting, so friday afternoon is also a good time to come and meet the crews and see the boats, saturday is show day, where we have open boats to the public, and all that sort of thing, but I am sure if you ask nicely most people will be happy to show you around.

[YnysMon]

Oh flip! I don’t have any bunting! 

[kpnut]

Hum, I’ll look at trains on Friday, coming back in the evening. Don’t think it’ll be easy on saturday with the train strike and doesn’t sound like it’ll be worth it by the time I’d get there in Sunday. 
Thanks all, might see you. If not, have a great meet. 

[grendel]

I may have a few short bits to spare you can use

[ExSurveyor]

I have just checked onboard, looks like it got taken home after the Jubilee.

[SwanR]

5 hours ago, grendel said:

the BBQ is there wednesday evening

I sincerely hope there won’t really be a BBQ … please. 🙁

[ExSurveyor]

Hemsby Lifeboat station is having a BBQ Saturday and Sunday.

Brooms also have one scheduled.

The danger is from disposable units in fields and wooden quays not off the ground gas units.

[grendel]

18 minutes ago, SwanR said:

I sincerely hope there won’t really be a BBQ … please. 🙁

its being run by the staff at the Stracey Arms, so properly done, last tear it was very well organised, with the majority of the cooking being done in their kitchens, then just finished off at the moorings

[Meantime]

There is nothing wrong with BBQs, even disposable ones, just the people that use them irresponsibly. If I use a disposable BBQ when boating it gets placed on a couple of bits of wood on top of an aluminum fold up picnic table. When the whole lot has gone cold it gets placed in a bag and put back on the boat and the table folded up again.

[kpnut]

As much for anyone else who may be thinking of going as me, the bus service from Norwich to Beccles is quicker than the train (and won’t be on strike on Saturday). Buses from Wroxham or Acle to Norwich link in well with the one to Beccles. There’s a route planner on the First Bus website. 

[JanetAnne]

This is about to appear elsewhere but I'll pop it here as well

 

Beccles Wooden Broads Cruiser Show

10th - 14th August 2022

 

Tuesday 9th overnight: Salhouse pre event Get Together. Salhouse moorings are not pre bookable but I believe some of you are going to get there early and grab some space!

 

Wednesday 10th Cruise from Salhouse to Stracey Arms followed by evening bbq on the Stracey Arms quayhead. It will be the same format as last year with burger, chips, salad and a cold drink followed by cake. Dawn has asked for numbers so if you can text, email, phone, shout etc as soon as you read this then we can get everything in place. £12.50 per head

 

Thursday 11th Early start from Stracey for a cruise together through Gt Yarmouth, across Breydon and all the way to Oulton Broad. Just how early is open to speculation so I think we will have a chat on the day and decide. Slack water is approx 04.41 though there is a bit of variation according to who's prediction you use' Last years pontoon mooring arrangement at Oulton Broad Yacht Station worked out really well so we have arranged the same for this year.

 

Thursday 11th Mid afternoon. Gathering at Seans. Sadly the people supplying the 70's buffet have pulled out and so, with time so short, we are going for tea and cakes. Bring your mugs for the tea! As usual we are looking for a couple of volunteer boats as 'water taxi's' (Lovejoy?). There is powerboat racing on the Thursday evening to look forward to as well.

 

Friday 12th Our spectacular Cruise from Oulton Broad to Beccles. A provisional start of 11.00 but we may bump this back or forward a bit should the weather dictate.

 

Friday 12th evening. “Back by popular demand finally (after two years of covid getting in the way) we have the bring and share meal”. I set myself up for this one didnt I. As many of you will know, Maxine organises the bring and share meal for us. Sadly, this year Maxine is not going to be there (something about missing engines and oars being too short) to bring it all together for us. Mitzi suggested I do a list of foods and get you all to volunteer to bring something off the list but work just isnt letting me find the time (I'm typing this in a hotel room in Bradford!). Its been one of those years... Instead I think we will do wine and cheese. If you can all bring your favourite tipple, glasses, plates etc I will sort the rest.

 

Saturday 13th Show Day... yay!!

 

Yes we are back to a proper unrestricted show day this year, its going to be fabulous. We will, of course, have our usual fun competitions going on throughout the day.

 

Sunday 14th Tims boat jumble.

 

A chance to clear out all that tat you have been hoarding to make space for all the tat you are going to buy to fill your newly acquired space.... Yup, we all do it!

 

Entry List Confirmed-  and subject to change!

 

Broad Ambition

Admiral Jack

Water Rail

Honesty

Chloe Jane

Silver Lady

Ruby

Papaver

Lovejoy

Missouri Star

Tabitha Rose

Broadland Grebe

Star Glory

Judith M

Lady Helena

Seraphina

Kingfisher

Bollysnigh

Chameleon

Silver Emblem 2

Hilda

Queen of Light

Moorhen

Merlin

Raisena

Buccaroo

Phoenix

Brookwind (only on the northern bit sadly)

 

 

Looking forward to seeing you all on the event.

 

[YnysMon]

We arrived at Beccles rather later than planned yesterday (Wednesday 10th) having taken a detour en route to Malcolm's (Mouldy) place, NE of Thetford where we had coffee. The route that Malcolm advised us to take from there, joining the A47 to avoid the A11 roadworks, didn't quite work out as we hit stationary traffic which crawled along until we passed the site of an accident. I assume it was an accident anyway, there were lots of police cars and an ambulance blocking on carriageway.

So, it must have been well after 1pm before we got to Beccles and then we did a Lidl shop and popped to the cashpoint in Tesco's before making our way to the Yacht Station. 

When we got there we met Peter (Grendel) who had cruised Water Rail down from Oulton Broad to Beccles earlier and was moored up next to Tabitha.

We were able to park the car temporarily behind the disabled parking spaces to unload and then moved the car to the car park that's further down Fen Lane. 

I had intended to take Tabitha Rose for a short trial run this afternoon, but Peter told us we'd only just missed seeing Dave, and that Dave would return later with some crockery for us, so I didn't want to miss him a second time!

We had a good nosey around the boat, plugged into shore power but couldn't work out how to plug in the small fridge, so I didn't unpack our food just yet. Instead we got a couple of baguettes from the Quayside cafe for a late lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in our picnic chairs in the shade and chatting with Peter.

Dave turned up late afternoon with the crockery and sorted out the fridge...there had been a cable missing. 

We then unpacked our stuff and then walked up Ravensmere to Oakfired where we sat in the beer garden and shared a funghi pizza between us. Very nice it was too.

By the time we got back to the boat the sun has set, so we got ready for bed. I managed to ask some fellow boaters for the toilet block code, so we were able to use those facilities. There is a loo compartment on Tabitha, but the sink is tiny. 

I'm glad that we'll be moored up further down later in the week as the only downside to where Tabitha is moored is that it's right next to the cafe block, opposite the gateway that leads to the cafe and other facilities, so once it was dark the lights of any cars that turned down Fen Lane shone right into the boat. Still, the traffic soon settled down and we had a peaceful night. 

Sorry about lack of photos. I didn't take any today.

[ChrisB]

I sometimes use a disposable bbq but have a stand. I think it came from Force4. Here it is being used on teak garden furniture, such is a stands effectivemess.

However. the danger with non gas is windblown embers. It only takes a spark and a sea breeze.

[PCL023]

These Camping Gaz grills are great bits of kit. Been using this for the last 4-5 years. The blue bowl at the top gets filled up with water, this keeps the whole thing, apart from the grill cool, the water also catches the cooking juices. Gas canisters last an age and are cheap. Very easy to clean. It also packs away and has a frame bit for pans or a kettle etc. The next one up from this one has a lid, that if you turn upside down can be used a a wok/pan. 

If anything did go wrong, it would get kicked over the side. 

Cheers 

Paul 

 

[Mouldy]

8 hours ago, YnysMon said:

We arrived at Beccles rather later than planned yesterday (Wednesday 10th) having taken a detour en route to Malcolm's (Mouldy) place, NE of Thetford where we had coffee. The route that Malcolm advised us to take from there, joining the A47 to avoid the A11 roadworks, didn't quite work out as we hit stationary traffic which crawled along until we passed the site of an accident. I assume it was an accident anyway, there were lots of police cars and an ambulance blocking on carriageway. . . . . . . 

Sorry! 😕 (Hangs head in shame!).  There are two ways to go from here avoiding the A11 (without resorting to the lanes). Just my luck that the route I suggested was blocked!

[Mouldy]

Just get a Cobb!  Brilliant bit of kit.  Can be used on the boat if necessary and can even be picked up and moved when in use.