Broad Ambition - Underway on the H2O

[Siddy]

A good write up & some great pictures, Shame I now need to re plan our 1st night stop since they've dug it up on the bend.

 

[BroadAmbition]

Saturday 12th   Up early and out float road - I was catching, although not breaking any records at least it was producing.  We sailed mid morning back to base then home

 

A new wet-shed? - seems so, with new bank work and a slipway too, looks the biz, it is situated round the back of that small island as you approach Womack Water. Someone has got some brass (Or did have!) not to mention getting the permissions to do so.  Not that I'm jealous, for me it is missing the adjacent house with large gardens

Griff

 

 

[MikeO]

Griff,

Good to meet you in the White Horse on Friday!

The new wetshed is part of Hall Common Farm, so the adjeacent house and gardens are there but just a bit out of sight!!!!

Mike

 

[BroadAmbition]

You too Mike and thanks for the info, as a result I am now officially Jealous!

----------------------------------------------

There were two 'I don't believe it' moments over the seven day sortie.  One was the afore mentioned Bittern.  The second one happened Friday evening as I was preparing to Lock up 'B.A' prior to going to the White Horse with Jason.  I dropped the bunch of keys onto the galley deck, well it happens, picked them up, put the relevant key into the galley doors - strange the lock is not operating. took the key out only to find one of the large tooth pegs has been damaged when landing on the deck, was now missing and inside the lock AAAARRRRGGGHHH         You couldn't make it up.  So I was unable to lock the galley doors, just pull them too and set the alarm.  What are the chances of breaking off a key tooth in a lock because it had landed just spot on on the deck then?   We have a friend who lives in Stalham and has a spare set of keys for 'B.A'  I had to visit him to go and get another key cut in Stalham High st on the Saturday, then strip the lock down to get the tooth out of the way.  Oh the joys of being a boat owner eh?

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Onboard last night, a cold grey morning. Visit to Tesco's needed, ran out of rum to put coffee in - disaster

[JonC]

Dramatic sky this morning, we spent last night at Neatishead. Picked up a mini cask of St Peters beer to keep the cold at bay.

[BroadAmbition]

The wx is all over the place.  this morning at Acle we had hail followed by snow then sunshine. Yes dear reader snow on the 24th April. Now at P.H, showers, sunshine with strong wind gusts. Looks like Womack this evening

[BroadAmbition]

Back home, 25th April and we have the central heating on - just what is occurring with our wx and temperatures then?  It was great to be afloat for the weekend, but I reckon we used more diesel through our Mikuni heating system than we did the Beta.  13 Hrs on the engine counter from Friday morning to this afternoon, 40 x Ltrs consumed.    I didn't leave the heating on overnight but maybe should have done on a couple of nights, at least one for sure.  The only time we took 'B.A's canopy down over the four days afloat was to go under Wroxham bridge and back again.  At least I know our new battery bank and electrical system is working fine, not once did I plug into shore power as I wanted to give the system a good test - which it passed with flying colours.  The most amps used between shutting down the Beta and firing it up was 110ah, which left about 550ah in reserve.

Places visited - Ludham Bridge, Malthouse Broad, Horning, Salhouse Broad, Wroxham, Wroxham Broad, Acle Bridge, Potter Heigham, Womack Water, St Benets, How Hill and of course Stalham.  Macie dog went swimming in Salhouse off the beach which she was determined to do come rain or shine.  We had dinner at the Bridge Inn, Acle, top class service / quality as is the norm, went for a quick ONE in the Kings Arms at Ludham, which developed into four as we watched Leicester beat Swansea 4-0 on the TV.     V. much enjoyed the weekend afloat, didn't take many photo's, saw plenty of wildlife but no otters or Bitterns this time.  Far too cold for wearing shorts, deck totty in short supply too!   Bro' his MrsG and friends due to be afloat from this Thursday night.  As for me, counting down the days again

Griff

[grendel]

its just snowed here in Essex (at work)

[BroadScot]

Gorgeous day up here, sun wise, but, positively Baltic outside!

[Polly]

Sunshine and hailstorms here. Argh.

[ranworthbreeze]

Sunshine, hail, snow and more sunshine, the joys of spring

Regards

Alan

[BroadAmbition]

Frost on 'GriffTile' van windscreen this morning

Griff

[ranworthbreeze]

Like Griff, frost on the soft-top this morning but the sun was out and the temperature was up to 9 degrees so the roof had to come down for the journey into work, an improvement on yesterday sunny but only 3 degrees.

Regards

Alan 

[BroadAmbition]

'B.A' overnighting tonight at Stokesby Ferry.  Bro' reports the signs 'No all male crews' no longer apparent. Group of lads drinking in the bar.  Food looks good with sizeable portions, Maybe now we'll put this venue back on our itinerary for our lads week.. Sadly no lap dancers in evidence.

Griff

[BroadScot]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

Sadly no lap dancers in evidence.

Griff

Perhaps our Sussex correspondant could train one of her ex Hen party group to oblige for your viewing, Griff!  Eh Gracie?  

[Gracie]

Don't know about lap dancing but have been to a couple of pole dancing lessons, trust me when I say it aint sexy not the way me and my hens do it, anyway lol, ended up in heaps on the floor most of the time

Great to here the pub is letting all male groups in, about time......if they put a pole in, I'll give it a go just for you Griff, you could be sorry, very, very sorry

Grace

[trambo]

On 29 April 2016 at 10:24 PM, BroadAmbition said:

'  Food looks good with sizeable portions, Maybe now we'll put this venue back on our itinerary for our lads week.. Sadly no lap dancers in evidence.

Griff

We went in last Monday to give it a try. It was quiz night and the atmosphere was good. However the food was dire. Poor quality and a very limited menu. Derek ordered a pulled pork burger, when it came there was no burger just pork. When he complained that there should have been  the waitress just looked bemused.  Will give them another go as this really is one of my favourite moorings but will be looking at others plates before ordering any food. Looks like we may have gained a pub but lost a decent eatery.

Fred

[BroadAmbition]

Ok here we go.  This weekend 13 - 15th May,  -    'B.A' has some clean but old and tatty fenders we hang off her bow whilst she is at rest on her home base berth.   It is a cardinal sin to set sail out on the rivers before the said items have been removed and stowed ashore. All the four skippers know this. To date only our Capt Chaos has sailed with them still in place (Which to be honest was kinda expected sooner or later) Now dear forumites,  we have a new miscreant, by his own admission Robin sailed with one still in place. So here's the challenge (With a prize).    First forumite to post a photo of 'B.A'  out on the rivers over this weekend with the offending item in place on view (It's blue btw) will have a couple of days afloat onboard 'B.A' with me over a weekend, and you can bring up to five crew with you too.   Ball your court

Griff

[kfurbank]

Last seen heading North through Wroxham bridge yesterday afternoon if that helps the bounty hunters

[Maxwellian]

Unless this is a set up he will have it well stowed away by now!

[LondonRascal]

Friday 13^th May:

So an eventful weekend afloat but none the less most enjoyable.

As you are aware I did commit the cardinal sin of leaving our berth in the Wet Shed with one of our old blue fenders in place. I’ll explain how this happened (ok try and give a good excuse) as to things.

Shiela and I work in very different parts of London, so it was arranged to rendezvous at Liverpool Street at 7:00pm which would give time to grab a bit to eat before our train departed at 8:00pm. I arrived first and within 10 minutes alarms were sounding and an recorded announcement “Would Inspector Sands please report to station reception” which I know to be a sort of code for wither a fire alert or something else and in past years I know has been followed by a full evacuation. You can imagine I was now worried this would happen now and scupper our plans.

Fortunately after about 10 minutes of this going off it was stopped – Shiela arrived and we got some food.  Before long we were on the train, which was a couple of carriages shorter than usual and packed. However because the train was shorter, it was lighter and we made better time between station stops than usual and were in Norwich at a couple of minutes before 10:00pm.

Off the train, into a cab and to Stalham – we got here about 35 minutes later and began ‘prepping the boat’.  Water tank filling underway, and Sheila asked me is there anything she could help me with?  I said to take the ‘shed fenders up’ she did a couple and walked along the side decks to me and I told her where to stow them while I went to collect the other three.  I had grabbed two when my phone went. It was Daniel, a friend of mine joining us over the weekend who was driving up and was lost somewhere between Sutton and Stalham – once that was sorted I took the two I had been holding back to the locker and of course completely forgot about one left dangling over the bow! 

Perhaps it was jinxed being Friday 13^th? Anyway, we had planned to take a night cruise a short distance to mud weight on Barton Broad – but the wind had picked up, the moonlight which was meant to be there was very much hidden by clouds and so we decided to stay put. A few drinks and some chatting later we were ready for our berths.

 

Saturday 14^th May:

Up bright and early I was pleased we had not sailed the night before – decks and cabin tops were covered in fine rust particles (these drop from the roof girders and is just how it is) so a gentle sweep with the broom was in order but as we were going to be out to the NBN Forum meet I thought things should be made a little better so out with the cloths and polish it was.  Of course despite all this going on and mopping decks and so on, I never did bother to look over the bow and our trusty blue shed fender remained in place.

I also had removed the Yorkshire Rose and as a surprise for Shiela put in place the flag of the Philippines – perhaps the first time in history such has flown from a vessel on the Broads, and if it broke any conventions – so be it she was happy and it looked pretty smart too. 

Our aim today was simple – go to Wroxham, collect my mum and a friend of hers go to Roys to get provisions and then head to Salhouse for the Forum meet. We departed the Wet Shed and while it was not exactly warm, it was bright and getting better so we had the wheelhouse sides down.  Daniel has been on the Broads several times over the years so is familiar with the area and soon was on the helm of BA with a great smile on his face.  It was an uneventful cruise down the Ant that was until we reached Ludham Bridge.

Here, not one but 5 hire boats were coming through Ludham Bridge as if on a parade each waiting their turn almost to make their appearance on the stage to show off their own take on how this should be accomplished.  It was interesting to say the least as the stiff wind blew across the river as it so often does at this location. However we were having to avoid drifting too close to the left bank, where a number of boats were moored and the boats that were coming through the bridge up stream were passing, and to our right a large yellow bath tub – I cannot remember it’s name, but the couple onboard this boat were taking pictures, indeed perhaps video too of BA and me manoeuvring her – and naturally our wet shed fender in the process. It seems these people are not a member of this Forum or any Facebook Group for thankfully this footage has not surfaced. 

The last boat came through the bridge and it was time for us to head on through ourselves – 8’ 3” was showing.  Then to the mouth of the Ant, right onto the Bure and Wroxham Bound. 

I took BA onto Wroxham Broad and Shiela took over and slowly cruised along the Broad in the direction of Wroxham – I did this because we needed to get the Wheelhouse canopy, screens and so on all down ready for Wroxham Bridge and there is a lot of space to do this on the Broad when you’ve got new crew to take though the process and not come on any pressure of passing traffic. 

The canopy was down, the screens too as was the mast but I had forgotten a key thing to remove completely – the radio aerial. This is a stout metal affair, but is very ‘bendable’ from just above the base and is topped with an ‘aerial topper’ in this case of the Nemo – from the Disney film ‘finding Nemo’. In short, it has a very bright orange fish on the top of the aerial so you can’t really miss it – I however did. 

Off of the Broad and back onto the main river before long we were passing Barnes Brinkcraft and before us the Bridge itself. It was a blustery day with the wind coming off the port bow and as such was nudging us to the right slightly. You can see the video below of the passage under the Bridge; the gauge was showing just about 6’ 8”.  I had to make some corrections so the spot lamp passed under the bridges key stone, and  should have done this a bit further out but not to worry I thought as the bow passed under followed by a distinct noise as the stern passed under followed by Daniel reporting ‘we’ve lost Nemo’.

 

Once moored up we had a few seconds to get ourselves mustered and putting the canopy etc up for it began to rain, pretty hard too – and then no more than 5 minutes later had passed us by and was dry again. We duly met up with my mum and Mair, her friend who had been on the Broads previously with us on White Champagne and hired a day boat or two from Wrexham with her family. 

We headed off to Roys – but first to the DIY shop since I knew in here would be the Nemo aerial topper – so yes, five people were ‘finding Nemo’ – the bemused lad on the till where we lined up and I handed over a single, tiny being Nemo was great. 

Off now to the food hall and bought some charcoal, meat some more meat rice, salad, booze – yeah you know the score it is us trying to pretend it is a hot summers day and at some stage we are going to have a BBQ and not complain about the chilly wind. Food duly bought back on the boat and the more tricky approach and passage back through Wroxham when heading downstream accomplished (with aerial removed) but of note the shed fender still in place and unbeknown to me – because we had stern mooed at Wroxham I still had not seen our bow.

I think it was most unsatisfactory that no photo has been provided of our arrival of this Forum’s meet showing BA with her shed fender in place – but perhaps someone did and is yet to be back home to upload the evidence. It was only when moored at Salhouse and went to put the mud weight down, I spotted the bloody thing hanging there. 

Onboard BA we have a tin that we collect change in and when full is handed over to the Museum of the Broads so after writing up the error of my ways in the boats log, I contributed more than some change to the tin.  The Forum meet was marred by the fact the wind was now very biting and getting increasingly strong so people rather than out and about and sitting in the sunshine, retreated to their saloons – none the less it was well attended and later on in the evening things certainly ‘hotted up’. It was Mike’s birthday and he had most kindly paid for a hog roast for us all which was delicious and his birthday cake too.

I wandered along and got talking to Lorna, who loudly proclaimed my mother was in need of a G&T – I fetch a suitable tumbler from BA and at this point also decided I would bring the meet into ‘disrepute’ and grabbed a pair of small, battery operated speakers to plug my phone into – well once Lorna had heard this, it was only a matter of time she was wanting me to sort some kind of disco out onboard Braveheart – back to BA and out came the disco party lights (Sorry Alex I know your forever woe the day she saw these and you need to get them yourself) and so my mother, her friend Mair, Shiela and I  got the party going – with blow up musical instruments and much fun (and drink) being had, as the sun set other stragglers  made their way along to the ‘party boat’ but the most surreal moment was when I was joined with Dan and John – with Robbie Williams blaring out the speakers and disco lights flashing – there we were looking at 1990’s old boating brochures by torch light at the helm of Braveheart! Only this could happen at an NBN Forum meet! 

Back to BA I found Shiela munching on pork crackling listening to a far more chilled out Reggae beat and Daniel reading through the book showing BA’s restoration from wreck to beauty. My mother all parties out having been subjected to Lorna’s idea of a single measure, was sipping coffee – Mair long since crashed out in her berth – it had been quite the evening.

 

Sunday 15^th May:

We departed Salhouse and headed for Ranworth, with Orca behind us – More eventful times ahead as a Ranger stopped us and warned of a sailing race ahead from Horning Sailing Club (which had not got underway so we were ok) but me then spotting Melody (I am unsure of your name, but you did say hello at the meet) had cruised from Salhouse to Horning with the mud weight down. I slowed BA and my mum called out and again and then he realised what was the fuss, as I looked ahead to see one of the bright orange buoys used for the race looming towards our bow – quick blast ahead and hard starboard rudder saw us pass it without incident.

At Ranworth Staithe we moored and decided since the sun was not out and t-shirt weather once more, we would get the BBQ out.  I managed to cook everything just right much to everyone’s delight  and we spent the afternoon eating, drinking and generally feeling just fine with the world. 

We left Ranworth and headed for Sutton Staithe and the boatyard, having called Robert and found he was open Sundays’ usually until 5:30pm.  It was a lovely afternoon, bright sunshine, warm and not actually very busy at all on the rivers.  I wished we had longer but alas it was time to head home.

Our weekend cruise, some heating use for the softer crew members and a pumpout came in a very respectable £37.00 thanks to his low fuel prices. Once departed Sutton it was a shot cruise back to the Wet Shed and time to put the old girl back ready for her next outing.

[Regulo]

I thought you WANTED the blue fender on the front, otherwise I would have screamed about it to you! We passed you on Barton, and very neat and tidy BA looked, I must say. But does she never look anything less than magnificent?!!

[grendel]

surely Robin should have spotted it as he left, as BA always sails with the fenders on deck.

[Regulo]

Can't trust the junior ratings.