Wacked and wacked again and again

[Poppy]

We all complain about this behavior, the minority spoiling it big time for the majority, but how do we stop it?

Soundings,

It will stop itself (or economics will do it for us). As the Euro weakens against the Pound the booze cruisers will once again depart for 'Ibeefa' and 'Magaloof', where the sun always shines, the lager is cheaper and the birds are' looser' (Not that I have personal experience of the latter )

[Soundings]

Hope you are right Poppy for if things stay as they are we will certainly move from the Broads (probably will give South a try first). We certainly did not buy our boat so it could be wacked nor did we invest in the Broads on the basis it would become something of a no go area

[loribear]

Unfortunately a drawback to the broads but unlucky to get hit that many times Paul.

I work on only once or twice a month on the southern broads. Bad enough when the people on board the hire boats are civil about it but people wonder why hire boats are treated with suspicion until they have carried out a manuovre with a degree of competence in view of you.

We all had to learn but I would like to think that most of us were and still are apologetic of our mistakes.

Could have been worse, you could have been up north but if BA are serious about attracting more visiting boats to the broads then something has got to be done about the general standard of instruction before hirers are let lose to smash up private boats on the broads.

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk 2

Hi senator, i'm afraid i have to agree with you there, you see that many strugling with some of the

big boatsthat it makes you wonder why they hire them when they can't handle them, because when you think about it, if they were on the road they'd actually be driving an hgv lorry when you look at the size of some of them boats, & i think if it's their first time on the broads with a big boat then they should have a proper test drive, i'm afraid just taking the boat up the river for a quick test is not enough. Lori

[senator]

I can understand why they hire them, if there are 2 familys then a big boat makes the holiday cheaper.

If they are first time hirer's they will have no ides as to whether they can handle them or not and the brochure says if you can drive a car you can drive a boat, and to be fair that is probably the truth but I expect they had more than 10 minutes tuition before being let loose on the road by themselves.

No issue with the idea of hire boats, I am sure many private owners, me included, started with a holiday on a hire boat but I know I got in trouble a few times on my first hire, fortunately only hitting other hire boats but I would put my issues down in the main part to insufficient instruction prior to being let loose. I can remember a sense of blind panic as the yard left the boat after the 5 minute spin up and down the river, hadn't got a clue what to do in any situation but assumed I must know enough as the man was happy to let us go. Would definitely have appreciated another 30 minutes of instruction.

Very much a learn by your mistakes situation, not really fair on those who's pride and joy lies in the way of one of those mistakes.

Probably the majority of second time hirers are fine so the yards only have to make sure that the newcomers get a bit of extra time. Surely it can't be hard to set up a central data base for the yards to confirm where and when the customer has hired before and also if there were any problems, which could also help with the anti social behavior issue.

[littlesprite]

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02230/bridge_2230300b.jpg

[loribear]

in all the years that ive been hiring on the broads which is about 12 years ive only ever been asked once to take a test & that was with richardsons, & we've hired some quite big boats, the biggest one was sand couger which i think was about 38ft long, &i must admit it did take some handling but we never banged it once, we were alw ays careful as we always are with other peoples property. Lori

[minor2011]

We have just returned from a week on the broads & we were hit several times, but in each occasion it was a private cruiser that hit us. One was extremely hard. We weren't hit once by another hire craft.

So bumping into things isn't just a problem with lack of hire training, both richardsons & Herbert woods gave very good training.

[Soundings]

I have never believed it was just hire craft. There are many reasons why these contacts happen, overcrowding being one as with crowded moorings and rivers impact is almost invitable at some stage.

[Hockham Admiral]

We have just returned from a week on the broads & we were hit several times, but in each occasion it was a private cruiser that hit us. One was extremely hard. We weren't hit once by another hire craft.

So bumping into things isn't just a problem with lack of hire training, both richardsons & Herbert woods gave very good training.

Where were you, North or South?

[minor2011]

We did both but all the bumps were off the northern rivers, probably as stated because they are busier.

I somehow don't see that as an excuse though as even at the busiest spots I never hit anything, well a slight push to part the bows of 2 hire craft @ ranworth who's bows had drifted together. But this was done @ very slow speed.

[Brigid-Mary]

Guess What, All 3 whackees have now denied all knowledge of hitting me!! unbelievable!! especially as I have witnesses to all three incidents,

The boat yards involved are ranging from being a little concerned to outright rude and diabolical. The Whackee at Reedham denied even being there despite the fact of a reliable witness, and the yard have told me very rudely, I must add, that he couldnt have been at Reedham on the Thursday lunch time as he was back in Wroxham on Friday, dosnt take a mathmatician to calculate that 34 miles at five MPH will take as little as 7 hours.

In the words of Victor Meldrew( which is what my wife calls me) I dont believe it.

Paul

[Jupes]

We were hit last weekend and not by a hireboat. The person(s) reversed into our bow (hard) and then went forward and left sharpish without stopping or anything. I did get there No and we do know who they are and were they moor.

[minor2011]

Sorry if I offend anyone but I was just wondering ( not being an owner myself ) would you prefer ( I use that term very lightly ) to be hit by a hire craft rather than a private cruiser. Hire craft are more easily identified & better chance of getting the damaged repaired?

[NorfolkNog]

Hi Paul

Very sorry to hear about your experiences. Also very sad that the yards concerned were not holding their hands up.

We did meet you both briefly in the Berney on 19th May, my apologies, I didn’t realise you were a forum member!

[C.Ricko]

Always try and get hit by a yard as they will fix it (if capable) without the need to wait for insurance. but will probaly investigate.

I cant understand why a hirer would deny an incident unless they had paid a deposit instead of a waiver...

[Hockham Admiral]

On the unfortunate times we've been hit either the yatd has cheerfully (yes, honestly!) repaired the damage or the owner's insurance has coughed up...

That's when we've been around to see it!

And on one occasion it was a hull respray by GCM.... not cheap........

[Guest]

These days I rarely hit anything on the river .... But if I did I would apologise to the people I hit & inform the yard about the incident ....

When me & my uncle was fishing in the well of diamond gem moored at bys a sealine insted of putting it in reverse gunned the single petrol engine riding up the bow of diamond gem they dint say sorry the helms men with his shades on looked at me gave me a grin & drove off .... I took down the reg & name of the boat phoned the yard got told to fill out the incident form .... When returning the boat went to the engineers hut on the quay told them what happen the black rubber chunk above the water line had been removed & a mark on the bow where she ridden up ....

I go prayzed by the engineer for doing it right getting the reg name of boat phoning the office filling out the report form which most don't do apparently .... But the lady in the office said she ding get no phone call from the owner of the sealine .... But she said there soon in a rush to call if one of our boats hits them ....

So in away I don't like to get in trouble but I like to be in the right if shite hits the fan but thankfully nothing that bad has ever happened to me...

Jonny

[Hockham Admiral]

Oh, Jonny............. if all hirers were as conscientious as you.................

[Guest]

Oh, Jonny............. if all hirers were as conscientious as you.................

John I see if from both sides if I was a hirer & smacked into a privert owner & done some damage then it's my fault & I should take resposerbility same goes for a owner hits a hirer or hirer hits a hirer .... If you drive on the road hit something your responsible for your actions same applies on the road so it should on the river .... It's common sense

Jonny

[Soundings]

Good man Jonny

[donnygeoff]

jonny,

As a hirer and a private owner, a quick question.

When you are out on the river in Lady L, or Curlew II (when you had her) did you get treated any different, by river users, than when you were in a hire boat.

In the hire craft do privateers look down on you, and in you own boat do hirers envy you.

As you have both sides of the story, it would be interesting to know your thoughts

And Jupes

I did get there No and we do know who they are and were they moor.

Who's getting the baseball bats

[Guest]

as a hirer i like showing off when i see a 30+ struggling to get into a 50 gap for a couple of mins i come in with one move & get in easy i do get some looks but then again ive had plenty of time to lear & privet owners do watch what im doing how close i am to there boats there thinking few he missed me ... but then again they have no fear i can keep a boat steady in the river less than a foot away from a boat without hitting it then again ive had plenty of time to learn but as im in a hire cruiser i get labeled & owners fear for there boats cause again im in a hire boat but when they see how i can handle a boat i think they carm down a little

but with curlew & ladyL my dad has worked hard to get the boat so if a hirer hit me & done damage of course i would note the date time place reg name of the boat if they stopped to say sorry ect i would respect them more for doing so but would still have to ring the yard to get the damage sorted same goes for if they hit me & just drove off ....damage is damage if your a hirer or owner respect & values go along way...

but i do look out for both hire yards boats on the river & also owners pride n joys if either get hit & they run off & i will note down place time reg name of boat get intouch with the yard the boat has struck to let them know if an owner is out i would let them know pass the details of the boat that hit them also give them my details to verify it did happen....

the reason i do the above is in the hope that if the same happen to me some other kind soul would do the same for me ... you would do it if somebody hit a car on the road who you have never met before that may have been out shopping ect....

doesn't matter if you have a house, car, mobile home, caravan, ect ect ect its somebody's property if your a witness do somebody about it IT COSTS NOTHING!!!

i may have not been blessed with a fit body of the brains or jobs that some of you have BUT COMMEN SENSE & MOROLS I DO HAVE THEY DONT COST NOTHING THEY DONT GIVE YOU RICHES IF YOU USE THEM BUT OTHERS WILL THANK YOU FOR HAVING THEM WHEN OTHERS DONT

Jonny

[donnygeoff]

i may have not been blessed with a fit body of the brains or jobs that some of you have BUT COMMEN SENSE & MOROLS I DO HAVE THEY DONT COST NOTHING THEY DONT GIVE YOU RICHES IF YOU USE THEM BUT OTHERS WILL THANK YOU FOR HAVING THEM WHEN OTHERS DONT

[Mowjo]

Tuesday at Ludham we got hit three time in less than an hour, not one said sorry and the worse part was the Mrs was cooking at the time, the wind was blowing boats into us and it didn't help that all three seemed as if they had forgotten that on forward steering boats the stern has a mind of it's own unless you watch it, but because I've been hit before I always have my cheapo trusty digital camera handy and the first thing I do is take a piccie of the offending boat, making sure I get the reg and I make sure I set it so the time and date show, then I take a piccie of the damage, that way whether private or hire I have a record of the boat and damage both showing the time and date, that way anyone would have a hard time saying it wasn't me or I wasn't in the area, luckily the ones that hit us at Ludham only scraped alongside us and did no damage, some may see me always having my camera ready as a bit over the top, my view is why claim off my insurance and have to pay an excess when it was someone elses fault, after all everyone must now have at least third party insurance so if they damage my boat they pay, if I hit them I pay,,

Regards Frank,,,,

[Broadsword]

'Always try and get hit by a yard'

Made me laugh...