Norfolk Boating Memories

[Happy]

We all have memories to think back on but my most memorable was being moored somewhere like Herbert Woods on the first Sunday morning with a number of other hireboats and all of us seemingly cooking our first egg and bacon meal on board with the smell drifting over the boatyard - magic!  

[Wussername]

There is nothing, absolutely nothing worse than working on a boatyard and having to endure that smell of the English breakfast knowing it is .not for you.

[Bikertov]

43 minutes ago, Wussername said:

There is nothing, absolutely nothing worse than working on a boatyard and having to endure that smell of the English breakfast knowing it is .not for you.

Or if you are vegetarian ...

[Vaughan]

16 hours ago, Wussername said:

There is nothing, absolutely nothing worse than working on a boatyard and having to endure that smell of the English breakfast knowing it is .not for you.

It gets rather better on trial runs in the afternoon, though :

The French will offer a glass of chilled rosé ; the Yanks get out the Jack Daniels ; the Germans - "Haf a bier!" ; the Austrians get fuelled on Slivowitz but the worst are the Danish who offer round a glass of Gammeldansk.  If the engine won't start, it will do that as well!

[Chelsea14Ian]

Then and now,the first evening and the thought  of time on the boat and places to visit.

[Gracie]

The moment you drive into the boat yard and see all the hustle and bustle, the engineers and cleaners doing their thing, the engines being checked and run.

The first step onto your chosen boat for a week or two and thinking to yourself as you do with all the boats you hire, this is the one I'm going to buy 

That first night aboard, sipping a glass of wine out on the bow as the sun sets, magical x

[BroadAmbition]

Gammeldansk

  

Horrible stuff - Should be made illegal

A NATO draft (Kolsas in Norway) it was a ritual that whenever a new person arrived for their tour of duty there, their first visit to the all ranks bar, they had to down half a pint of Gammeldansk.  Then two n half years on leaving the same thing happened.  Hate the stuff

Griff

[Broads01]

2 hours ago, Gracie said:

The moment you drive into the boat yard and see all the hustle and bustle, the engineers and cleaners doing their thing, the engines being checked and run.

The first step onto your chosen boat for a week or two and thinking to yourself as you do with all the boats you hire, this is the one I'm going to buy 

That first night aboard, sipping a glass of wine out on the bow as the sun sets, magical x

Yes Grace, I'm with you on all of that. I've been hiring for over 40 years now and yet the moment I see my chosen boat for the first time and then step aboard is just as exciting as it always was.

[Gracie]

So true Simon. That's why, when I'm asked what my favourite boat to hire is I really can't say because they have all been brilliant and I've fallen in love with each and every one. I remember the Sandmartin from Sanderson's Marine, sadly gone now but what an old wreck she was, I loved the aft cockpit with the canopy. The gorgeous fairly new (back when we hired her) Dancing Light from Herbert Woods, I could go on all day.

I think my favourite type of boat over all though is centre cockpits or maybe even the sedans with patio doors and big aft decks or even the bathtubs which I love....... see what I mean  x

[charlesa]

Stopping at the Elveden War Memorial on the A11 knowing that you were only an hour away !!!

[Happy]

14 minutes ago, charlesa said:

Stopping at the Elveden War Memorial on the A11 knowing that you were only an hour away !!!

Me too from Kent 

[Aboattime]

3 hours ago, charlesa said:

Stopping at the Elveden War Memorial on the A11 knowing that you were only an hour away !!!

And me from The Garden of England!

[Davydine]

I was about 18 months old when I first set food on a Broads hire boat (Wavemaster from Brooms) they made a cot side for one of the bunks so that I didn't fall out.

The thing that I remember and associate with holidays and happy family time is the smell of diesel exhaust! I know that is a bit weird, but I must have made the mental link as a child!

 

[Broads01]

6 hours ago, Gracie said:

So true Simon. That's why, when I'm asked what my favourite boat to hire is I really can't say because they have all been brilliant and I've fallen in love with each and every one. I remember the Sandmartin from Sanderson's Marine, sadly gone now but what an old wreck she was, I loved the aft cockpit with the canopy. The gorgeous fairly new (back when we hired her) Dancing Light from Herbert Woods, I could go on all day.

I think my favourite type of boat over all though is centre cockpits or maybe even the sedans with patio doors and big aft decks or even the bathtubs which I love....... see what I mean  x

What was hiring from Sandersons like? Was it actually an "old wreck"?

 

2 hours ago, Davydine said:

The thing that I remember and associate with holidays and happy family time is the smell of diesel exhaust! I know that is a bit weird, but I must have made the mental link as a child!

Not weird at all. Memories of smells can be powerful and marine diesel is distinctive in my mind.

[NeilB]

On 21/08/2023 at 17:14, Wussername said:

There is nothing, absolutely nothing worse than working on a boatyard and having to endure that smell of the English breakfast knowing it is .not for you.

Had that for 10 years!

As Vaughan said the trial runs often made up for it.  No booze for us but if there was an attractive crew spotted there was often an unseemly dash to ask them if they were ready for their trial run!!

[Happy]

12 hours ago, Davydine said:

I was about 18 months old when I first set food on a Broads hire boat (Wavemaster from Brooms) they made a cot side for one of the bunks so that I didn't fall out.

The thing that I remember and associate with holidays and happy family time is the smell of diesel exhaust! I know that is a bit weird, but I must have made the mental link as a child!

 

Especially on first start up in the morning!