An Adventure Of Mystique

[CambridgeCabby]

31 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Love your photos. I’ve been watching a vlog on the southern rivers and thinking that I really must get back there. Problem is I want to hire on the south rather than bother crossing Breydon. That would just be additional expense for a 10 or 11 day hire from the north so as to have a week on the south. Problem is there’s nothing that suits us from Pacific so it might have to be Brooms.

Keep showing us your photos and that will do me for now. 

You may well find that an 11 day hire from a Northern Yard such as Horning Pleasure Craft (other yards are available) may well equate to a weeks hire from Brooms , that way you can venture South and enjoy the Breydon journey .

[SwanR]

16 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

you can venture South and enjoy the Breydon journey

Strangely enough I was watching another vlog this morning that was someone crossing Breydon. Really not sure I will ever want to do that. I don’t even like Barton Broad. But perhaps the channel is less confusing on Breydon. Just need to remember not to head for the North Sea!! 

[Troyboy]

It's years since we went over Breydon water. We used to go south every other holiday when we owned our own boat. I loved going over Breydon water. Never had a problem with it. 

[Broads01]

Wednesday 2nd August

This morning we needed a pump out so first destination was Brooms (I did phone Swancraft but couldn't get an answer). Service was quick and it was cheaper than I feared at £25 with free drinking water thrown in. We pootled in to Bargate Broad next but then rather wish we hadn't given the amount of weed I could see. Almost as soon as I'd spotted it we slowed to 1.5 mph without me touching the throttle. Fortunately, a few bursts of forward and reverse cleared it. I thought it was about time we got on with some miles as we were returning north today. We opted to break the journey at Reedham Quay once again and had time there for a relax and a dog walk. We set off later on the outgoing tide and zinged along at 6mph with very few revs. As soon as we arrived on Breydon I could see a hire boat beached well outside the channel. Fortunately I think they were OK as the boat was laying completely horizontal on the mud. As usual, I over-estimated the time it would take from Reedham to Great Yarmouth and we arrived an hour before low water. Consequently, we plodded through the Yacht Station at 2.5 mph on full throttle and it took a while to pick up. The Yacht Station moorings were completely full - so this is where all the boats had gone. I think Mystique may be a tad under-powered, because I kept full throttle on all the way to our Stracey Arms destination but never managed much more than 4.5 mph and had 3 hire boats easily overtake me. We arrived at Stracey at 6-15 - I was knackered! Mel doesn't helm and it's a long old way when you're flying solo. We had a quiet, relaxing evening. 

[YnysMon]

You poor wee doggie needs a better vantage point!  But then, we are used to Seren who just has to keep an eye on where we are going. 

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, SwanR said:

Strangely enough I was watching another vlog this morning that was someone crossing Breydon. Really not sure I will ever want to do that. I don’t even like Barton Broad. But perhaps the channel is less confusing on Breydon. Just need to remember not to head for the North Sea!! 

You need to do it sometime Jean, you might love it. I wasn't looking forward to our first crossing, but nowadays I feel a bit cheated if the tides prevent us from doing the crossing. As long as you pay attention to the advice about tides and keeping within the marked channel it's a doddle. Just turn right at the yellow post once you've passed the yacht station and not left toward the sea!

[Broads01]

4 hours ago, Troyboy said:

It's years since we went over Breydon water. We used to go south every other holiday when we owned our own boat. I loved going over Breydon water. Never had a problem with it. 

I've always loved Breydon too and I enjoy the challenge of negotiating Great Yarmouth. I like the contrast of North and South Broads and I think it works well to split the week. Having said that, I do find those 7 miles of the lower Bure tedious (but I think everybody does).

[Smoggy]

The lower bure is shower rotation time, that way you all get clean and still have a tank of hot water when you moor up so no need to annoy everyone running engines at moorings and you miss the boring bits.

[Troyboy]

That is the worse stretch of the Norfolk broads imo. From Stracey windpump to Yarmouth. It always seems to take ages to travel it.

[NeilB]

I think Richardsons do actually restrict their engines a little to reduce speeding hence the underpowered feeling.  Some yards do and some don’t.

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, Troyboy said:

That is the worse stretch of the Norfolk broads imo. From Stracey windpump to Yarmouth. It always seems to take ages to travel it.

Yes I agree. I think it's difficult to know where exactly you are, so that's why it seems to take so long.

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, NeilB said:

I think Richardsons do actually restrict their engines a little to reduce speeding hence the underpowered feeling.  Some yards do and some don’t.

I didn't know that, Neil. Two Barnes boats overtook reasonably easily but then one of the newer Herbert Woods absolutely steamed past. It could just be this boat but it's not a major issue.

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Yes I agree. I think it's difficult to know where exactly you are, so that's why it seems to take so long.

Follow your progress on the Aweigh app or using Google maps.

9 hours ago, NeilB said:

I think Richardsons do actually restrict their engines a little to reduce speeding hence the underpowered feeling.  Some yards do and some don’t.

We hire a Sheerline 950 from Royalls in 1996 called Royal Sceptre.  It had its own built in limiter as the position of the throttle wouldn’t allow full movement of the lever, restricting maximum revs to about 1600.

[Gracie]

I agree about the stretch from Sracey to Yarmouth, we have also used that time to shower etc. I still don't like missing a moment when I am on board though. 

I would love for you to give it a try Jean, when it's beautiful weather Breydon is like a mirror and so peaceful, magical in fact. When the weather is not so good it gets a tad choppy, I love that too. When the boys were younger they thought they were going to sea  You will of course if you don't go the right way 

Sorry Simon for thread drift, loving your holiday tale and photos, thank you x

[Smoggy]

Don't let breydon put you off heading south, just use the recommended times and follow the channel and there's absolutely nowt to worry about (apart from those pesky sea monsters), even if you do go the wrong way it's still a fair distance down to the entrance and plenty of time to turn around once past haven.

[NeilB]

2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Follow your progress on the Aweigh app or using Google maps.

We hire a Sheerline 950 from Royalls in 1996 called Royal Sceptre.  It had its own built in limiter as the position of the throttle wouldn’t allow full movement of the lever, restricting maximum revs to about 1600.

We used to try and position the throttle lever like this when I worked on a fleet, restricted top speed but still had full reverse!  Unscrewing the **** gave a little extra or just carry a set of allen keys to move the lever, which of course is not recommended and something I've never done.... 

 

We hired San Francisco one year and it struggled to reach 6mph with no tide, yet Fair Sovereign went like a rocket! 

[grendel]

Water rail has the bulkhead behind the lever carved out to allow an extra half inch travel for both forward and reverse .

[kpnut]

Sorry, Simon, nearly missed you. I was in the middle of removing a spider that was running all over the dashboard!

 

[YnysMon]

14 hours ago, NeilB said:

I think Richardsons do actually restrict their engines a little to reduce speeding hence the underpowered feeling.  Some yards do and some don’t.

We haven't hired from Richardson's but hired both Fair Regent 1 and Fair Regent 3 from NDB and had very different experiences. I can't remember exactly which was which, but on one we struggled to achieve the 3mph speed limit but had lots of oomph at higher revs. On the other we could pootle along at slow speeds quite nicely, but the downside was we couldn't get much power out of the engine to fight against the tide on the southern broads. I can remember turning out of the New Cut and having to retreat to St Olaves moorings to wait for the turn of the tide before proceeding up the Waveney. 

[grendel]

56 minutes ago, kpnut said:

Sorry, Simon, nearly missed you.

does that mean you actually hit him? 

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, grendel said:

does that mean you actually hit him? 

Oops, better be more careful what I write. I’m not in the habit of bumper cars. 

[Broads01]

8 hours ago, kpnut said:

Sorry, Simon, nearly missed you. I was in the middle of removing a spider that was running all over the dashboard!

 

No worries, Kate. For us since Wednesday evening it's been flies to deal with, I'm wondering if it was the Stracey moorings which started it.

[Broads01]

Anybody want to hire a Richardsons luxury cruiser? All these are empty and  it's August, in case you hadn't noticed.

[Broads01]

Or perhaps you'd prefer to buy an Ideal 45?

[kpnut]

7 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

For us since Wednesday evening it's been flies to deal with

You haven’t left a tub of maggots to mature?😂

I remember one of the lads at richos showing me the sofa layout on a boat that had just come back in on turnaround that morning. The whole boat was full of bluebottles. He did curse, as they only a few hours to find all the remaining maggots lurking in the crevices!