An Adventure Of Mystique

[SwanR]

Looks like most of the ones in your photo of those not on hire are the ones they bought in second hand. As for those Ideal 45s ... some of those have been up for sale for a while haven't they.

I know that NBD's yard has looked as if they have more boats out this week. It's been other yard's boats that have lined the car park.

[Captain]

Hi Simon, great holiday tale.

I see plenty of Ideal 45s still for sale 5 of 8 after nearly 2 years clearly the larger boats are harder to shift. Whilst the smaller premium boats appear to be harder to shift on hire in August. I notice Broadway 7 is one of the craft still available, this being brand new and the first built by Silverline.

Neil 

[vanessan]

13 hours ago, Broads01 said:

For us since Wednesday evening it's been flies to deal with, I'm wondering if it was the Stracey moorings which started it.

Definitely! We crossed Breydon on Monday and stopped overnight at Stracey. 16 flies were despatched in the morning and many more over the next 24 hours 😠. Nippy little flies too, always seemed to see us coming at them!
We cross Breydon 4/5 times each year and I always use the long stretches to do some cleaning, change bed linen and prepare/cook meals. As well as a share at the helm of course. I’m always thankful when we reach the Waveney, Yare or Bure however as I’m always conscious that ‘things can happen’!

[Broads01]

Thursday 3rd August. 

Overnight at Stracey we'd inherited some unwanted flies. We seemed to spend the day attempting to swat them and being successful about 1 attempt in 20. I don't know if they're anything to do with the livestock there?

Final destination today was to be Wroxham with a couple of stops on the way. First destination was a bright but windy St Benets. A group of artists were set up with their easels and paints - I know the Abbey is a popular view. We chugged on a short way then to South Walsham Broad where we might have mudweighted had it not been so windy but opted to return down the dyke as far as the moorings on the bend. We had food aboard there, plenty of folks speeding past taking no notice of the 4mph limit whatsoever. We then proceeded directly to Wroxham, it turning in to a warm and pleasant afternoon. At Horning there was sailing activity going on but most of the boats were tied up by the club, so not much saily negotiating to do - shame, I quite enjoy doing that. At Wroxham, we moored on the Barnes pontoons and then went for a drink at the Wroxham Hotel. It's not cheap there - £13 for a cider and a gin and lemonade - but we like the view. For dinner we opted for the Indian Spoon for the first time. Inside there it feels a bit like being in a shipping container, there being no windows but the food was lovely and good value.

[Vaughan]

9 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Overnight at Stracey we'd inherited some unwanted flies. We seemed to spend the day attempting to swat them and being successful about 1 attempt in 20. I don't know if they're anything to do with the livestock there?

Sounds as though someone may have spilled fishing maggots in the bilges, and now, a few days later, they are hatching out.

[Broads01]

Friday 4th August

Early morning at the Barnes marina was full of activity, hirers packing their cars up to hand boats over. It was our last full day and so we were Stalham-bound but not before a stop at Ranworth. I remembered from my visit in April how we'd arrived before 10 and just squeezed in but then the moorings emptied out in time for the 10 o'clock "kicking out" (aka get going or you'll be fleeced another £5). This time we left Wroxham in time to arrive at Ranworth just after 10 and it worked a treat - we had loads of spaces to choose from. We picked one on the front on the far side of the dayboat dyke. The moorings filled up by 11, including the dayboat dyke where the rangers were turning boats away. We had a gentle stroll with Suzie, a coffee at the Granary and just enjoyed watching the comings and goings. We were impressed by how well the Granary has been done up inside and I'd be tempted to return for an evening meal. After some lunch aboard I lowered the screens in readiness for Ludham Bridge which was necessary given there was only 7 foot 6 showing on the gauge when we got there (clearance was undoubtedly far more though). The Ant wasn't especially busy (nowhere has been), given it was a Richardsons changeover day and we were soon back at Stalham. We chugged up to the Staithe on the off chance there might be space for the night there but no luck, so we returned to Richardsons and picked a spot around the corner from Kingfisher Quay. The best moorings at Richardsons in my view are the side-on ones on the left just as you enter but unfortunately these were occupied by folk who insist on leaving a post or two's gap between themselves and there nearest neighbours, so no space where there should have been. We had a table booked at The Swan for our last evening meal. I had the Sea Bass from the specials menu and it was lovely.

Saturday 5th August

We had a two minute chug in pouring rain around to Swan Quay. The refuelling staff were togged up in proper wet weather gear and they needed to be. We'd used £116 worth of fuel (72.5 litres) which was in line with my expectations. We set off on our long drive back to South Wales and the journey was reasonably painless this time around.

Overall we had a really enjoyable trip and everything went as we'd wish. We covered plenty of miles and really enjoyed our cruise all the way to Norwich and back and all the contrasts of scenery and activities that brought us. We still had time the last 2 days though to see some of the north Broads and the weather, whilst far from summery some of the time was kinder to us than elsewhere in the country. 

[vanessan]

5 hours ago, Vaughan said:

Sounds as though someone may have spilled fishing maggots in the bilges, and now, a few days later, they are hatching out.

I’m pretty sure these flies were from the livestock at Stracey. As I posted earlier, we had the same problem the evening before. We have three farms where we live and summer brings these horrible little flies out in their hundreds (or even thousands!) 

[SwanR]

Really enjoyed your tale. I’m seriously considering a trip on the southern Broads for next year. I think the ability to get moored at Ranworth if you time it right will be a benefit of the new charges.

[CambridgeCabby]

The charge of £1.60 a litre sounds very reasonable for a hire yard , well done Richo’s

[DAVIDH]

Very interesting write up Simon. You certainly got around, and Silver Mystique still looks a top boat despite it changing hands to a mass marketeer. Great tip about the time to visit Ranworth by the way. 

[oldgregg]

On 04/08/2023 at 20:48, Captain said:

I see plenty of Ideal 45s still for sale 5 of 8 after nearly 2 years clearly the larger boats are harder to shift. Whilst the smaller premium boats appear to be harder to shift on hire in August. 

I get that the focus has shifted to smaller 'family' boats rather than those which suit big groups, but I can't help thinking that it might have been better to leave the Ideals in the fleet and sell perhaps one or two a season.

I'd have hired one of them for this September, instead we've had to settle for Diamond Gem.

There were a crazy couple of seasons in 2020 / 21 and I think yards experienced more problems than usual with the boats traditionally associated with stag parties, but I think things have calmed down a lot and it might have been an overreaction to defleet them all in one go?

I'd argue the same with the Entrepeneurs, though I think those boats probably needed refitting. The original build was more like a static caravan fitout and given that you'd end up with a boat that still handled badly then they weren't worth it. Ricko's of 20 years ago would have set about it, but their model is very different now.

[MauriceMynah]

I don't think Richardson's have got it quite right on which boats they sell and when, but then again, I don't have their expertise. 

I'm not keen on the Ideal 45, but I would agree,  selling them one at a time seems a better route.

The larger 8 to 10 berth boats are selling quite well but the greater demand for the 30 to 35 footer exists for both the hire and the private market.

I bought a 10 berth though never having the intention of having that many on-board at any time.

One needs the space for the decanters, ice buckets and other essentials for entertaining.

[grendel]

I think I would need at least 2 ten berths to fit my workshop into.

[Ray]

When you walk into the Dentist's waiting room and no one else is there... that is the nirvana of space... where no one can hear you scream 😂😂😂

[MargeandParge]

Where no one can hear you scream "HOW MUCH " Regards Marge and Parge 

[Broads01]

I think I'd have enjoyed hiring an Ideal 45 as a one-off because it's so different to anything else. It's such a bizarre design though, with the only access being those tiny side doors that look like they were made for children. I would imagine the central wheelhouse-saloon is a bit of a greenhouse on a hot day.