The Adventures of Orca

[JawsOrca]

It was a lovely Yard Iain.. If they want to sell for a quid (with no debt) I'll take it off their hands if I have to lol   

 

That mooring port side seems ok and there was a reserved sign for starboard on at the hotel although it's only about 25 feet wide so you wont get two boat back to each other.. the port side there was also a sign saying "No motorised craft" (or similar) so it looks like it's not really a mooring spot

 

I bloody hope mum and dad would buy one but no thats seriously to expensive.. It needs doing so it maybe credit card job lol..

[ZimbiIV]

Hi Alan, liking the tale but you are putting me off the wild side!

When I had an outdrive found reversing it like a car worked better ( lies ).

Dingies are for kids and not for towing.

We sometimes moor early but that because of the need for a liquid lunch and NO driving after that.

Tell ma & pa we are down bank holiday Sunday for 2 weeks so hope to see them, we had intended going to the dark side but now!!!

paul

ps bow thrusters are like power steering no need until you try use it.

[BroadScot]

Without nicking Alan's thread, I was anti toys till I had on a boat three years ago, now I will find it very difficult not to hire without them fitted on my hire boat. For us older folks who are not as nimble as once were, they are a god send IMHO.

 

 

Iain.

[JawsOrca]

Hi Paul. 

 

Don't be put off by the wild side.. I think as others mentioned its too easy to explain the bad bits and neglect the obvious good bits.. we still had a brilliant trip and only had a few dodgy days! 

 

I'm finding any close up helming needs to be done in reverse as it keeps the bow under control.. She really is too light and there's certainly been times where a bow thruster would have got me out of trouble.. I've never used one too (apart from this year on a hireboat that I stole for 5 mins to show them how to stern moor) and said I'd never get one fitted but Orca's a bit different and just too light I really think she needs one.   We need to come up with a way to put the dingy on the swimdeck but next year lol 

 

I'm not sure when the folks are up again.. I think they are up in september though so if you are lucky you will see them then

 

[BroadScot]

Hi Alan,

 

Turn your bow into a seacrete hull. toss in a few cwt/kilos of concrete ballast that will stop you swinging round 

 

 

Iain

[Chelsea14Ian]

Hi Paul we will be up bank holiday weekend, staying south for the weekend then going north

Ian

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Alan,

 

Looking at your pictures especially the transom I think if I were you and Dave, I would fit some stainless corner strips to help protect the rear and side of the boat. I know the rear is protected by your swim platform but the corner is still vulnerable.

 

Iain may be correct you need some more weight in the boat, there was a topic about this some while ago, someone suggested bags of scrap lead, but you could use concrete commons or sandbags.

 

Bow thrusters are somewhat expensive for what is basically a lorry starter motor with  a 90 degrees gearbox and a small or dual impeller.

 

Loving the story.

 

Regards

Alan

[ZimbiIV]

Alan go for the thruster but check your battery power.

Not really frightened by the wild side but at 8ft 6in canopy up ( it's a pig to take down ) not many places to warrant 12 hours travelling up and back.

As for Alan's advice of more weight just turn the hull into a beer and wine cellar, maybe even a keg of Wherry on tap.

paul

[Hockham Admiral]

Brill read, Alan, as per!

 

Our first boat was a home-built (by me) wood affair and proved equally as difficult as you describe Orca to be, except in reverse.

Dick at Buccaneer Boats, solved all out problems by taking up the internal boards and filling the spaces with concrete slabs. She sat a good 6 or 7 inches lower in the water but the handling problems disappeared.

[JawsOrca]

Hi Alan, Good Idea, but  I'm finding the stern is probably the safer bit as I can easily see that and control with the sterndrive so I shouldn't do too much damage there. But will certainly considering the idea of adding some protection

 

Thanks Paul, I understand (From advise from Alex on Braveheart) that the bow thurster normally has it's own battery so we would certainly look into that. To be honest though we will probably get someone to do the full install for us as I don't want to be spending the winter working on it and would rather as if my Magic have someone else do it (We also know we have no experiance of this (And I've never inspected one fitted) so best to give to someone else )

 

Hi John,  The bottom of the boat are erm pretty full of erm liquid supplies already! lol But we have slowly been adding more ballast (we have been using Pig iron) although I think does need a bit forward which will be a bit tough to get ballast into. I don't want to make her too heavy though it's just a matter of playing.  We will get there in the end

 

[JawsOrca]

Tuesday 21st July

 

Although a lovely quiet mooring last night, I didn't really sleep, it was a windy and wet night and I was worried about the the boat (I never sleep when it's really windy though so nothing unusual).. I think I was worried about the swimdeck breaking even more considering it was a stern mooring. 

 

Although I woke up a bit later than usual so once up thankfully we was still moored up and the swimdeck was all good. I noticed a chap hireboat from summercraft was sitting beside his boat, so I asked if it was last day.. Surprised to hear "No First day", I had a good long chat giving them some tips  on where to go and what to do, they was newbies and had a Hampton style boat so could go everywhere.

 

Thankfully we got out of the mooring with no problems, the river was very very busy and we had to pay attention following lots of day boats.  Needing a walk we stopped at the Wroxham broad nature reserve, it was a nice day and we had a nice slow wander round. As we headed back to the boat a large hireboat had got the basic of mooring against the tide (But they was getting an icecream and it was windy), it was a load of lads and eventually we got them moored up, although a couple of times the helmsmen ignore me when I said no throttle, so much so in the end I told him to keep his hands where I could see them!!  Spotting a gap in the traffic we quickly departed reversing into the wind and like a pro spinning her around (I do love the way she spins around!!).

 

We had a really leisurely cruise down past Horning, thankfully although busy everyone was being sensible. The plan today was head to Stokesby this evening ready for an early morning crossing south tomorrow.  It was about lunch time so being in rush we decided to head down to south walsham and mudweight and do a bit of fishing.  All the public moorings where full with fisherfolk so looked like a we in for some good fishing! 

 

It was getting again and as we approached the broad and turned into the broad the steering jammed up and I couldn't steer out. Slightly panicking I eased off the throttle and managed to force the steering around. Dave was up on the bow getting the mudweight ready. I gave him the toot on the horn and he dropped it at a good spot.. I relaxed for a bit and then tried the steering with the engine off, thinking the jam could just be something to do with the prop wash but it was jamming up even when off so indicating something was up. Now annoyingly all of the running gear was replaced apart from the steering because it seemed ok, although over time there was a wobble on the hub so we wanted to get it replaced this winter thinking it would be ok and is just wear. I told Dave and was getting really worried, so much so I couldnt relax and fish and Dave agreed we just take it slow and limp the boat back to it berth down south. 

 

Remembering Russell marine was here I said to Dave, lets see if they these chap have a spare hub. The wind was really strong and it was an on shore wind which meant it would be very hard to moor up without losing control.  Ideally we wanted a spot in the basin but there was a (small) boat already there (taking up three berths!), so the only one left was side on one. I realised the only way to keep control was to keep the sterndrive pointing into the wind and gently edge towards the quay, in the end I did so with the engine and in reverse and then going to neutral once dave had steped off from the very front of the bow.. but all in no damage (for once!).. I ran in found someone, dragged them out, and yup they condemed it saying we need to replace it all and no easy job etc etc.. Dave thought it was just the grease had thicked or departed so WD40'd the end thinking that would do it (Yup we know you shouldn't do this but it just had to get us home).. thankfully that worked and the steering was working really well.. So we left again heading straight for Stokesby!

 

As we headed down towards the main river though we spotted one of those pesky rag boats tacking on the bend by the public moorings and in a good breeze, thankfully though they was moving nice and slowly though so I wasn't worrying, so as they tacked I steered to go past (they was tacking towards up), to my surprise though a rocketship decided to turn towards us and head at some speed to the same gap. But yup, there wasn't the room for the both of us so I sounded the "Get the out of my way" horn, expecting them to bear away, ease down and get back onto their side of the river, yup they didn't infact the speed up so I rammed Orca into reverse and drifted (with the wind behind me) into a thankfully empty mooring spot! A chap in a mooring spot ran out as he thought he was about to get rammed by a container ship! The pesky rocketship helmsman said some lovely words to me, at which point Dave headed to the back of Orca and politely asked "Where was we meant to go" (remembering we are approaching a sailing boat coming towards us and this boat was on "our" side) their response was "On the other side of the river... you should get out of my way".. Dave ironically said "There's a sailboat that side though that's why we are on this side".. (He was actually calm and polite, he can be a bit abrupt so he can be hard work to control but he was ok! Leaving it as that we carried on.. Although the chap on the moored up boat managed to laugh and shrug his shoulders as in "Normal for Norfolk"... [Ok for newbies, Once again the boat overtaking another boat, whatever that is sail or power, should keep clear of that vessel and other vessels, you can go on the "wrong" side of the river but only if it's safe to do so, you certainly shouldn't expect a boat on the other side to get out your way, just like in a car you shouldn't make another vessel take aversive action and you should hurl abuse if you make a boo boo!]

 

Thankfully the trip down towards Stokesby was nice and peaceful. We spotted the hireboaters which we met in Ranworth all moored up but all other moorings were taken. But we noticed they had a big spot with a reasonable mooring infront of them so I said to Dave, I'll spin round and ask them if they can pull back a bit so I can get in in front.. Spun round, it was a strong tide and wind.. Getting close the chaps said they can't go back any further as no points to tie too and trusting but they said the spot is big enough for us anyway and it kinda looked it.. So spun round a bit further up and came back against the tide  as I approached though it was clear it wasn't quite big enough and the wind started pushing us into the boats so I gave up.. Waved goodbye and gave hand signals saying too small Hoping Stacey arms would be empty. 

 

As we approached Stacey we spotted a boat right at the end but thankfully it was largely empty.. It took a few attempts to work out which way to come in as the wind and tide was pretty much cancelling each other but eventually I just threw it in but not doing any damage!  I don't think we have ever overnighted here so sadly was a bit disappointed but we planned to do a BBQ anyway so wasn't too concerned spending the last night without a pub. 

 

We wondered into the shop to grab a few bits and spotted they do DVD rental so grabbed a Harry potter DVD! BBQ on.. Whilst I was preparing food, Dave screamed "Some dude just tried killing his wife!", "What the" I ran out and noticed a hireboat doing doughnuts and a pissed off women sitting on the concentrate. Dave spotted the chap accelerated whilst his wife was on the shore with the rope in her hands (but moored with the current, the wind had dropped and the current had increased), we ran over firstly I checked if the wife was ok .. Clearly shaken she was ok and promised she was. Dave helped the chap moor up although he was in full reverse (Thankfully his wife naturally threw the line back on the boat) and sitting there.. Dave gave him quite a telling off although and told him what to do and what not to do it seemed to go in one ear and out the other but I guess he was worried about his wife. I made sure again she was OK.. sadly she sat there all day so I guess he learnt from such mistake but it could have been much worse.  [Newbies, Simply.. moor against the tide, if the boat comes in uncontrolled or started drifting sideways then turn around and try again, Never accelerate forwards if the crew are on the shore, mak sure you know where they are and where your lines are before accelerating and take it slow, it you are at full throttle something up ].

 

BBQ was nice, as was the sunset and I got some pics before we watched the Movie (although Dave feel asleep half way through) 

[Gracie]

Stunning pictures Jaws, especially the feet lol

 

Grace

[Baitrunner]

Cracking Wallace!!!

I had a similar experience with a private mobo overtaking a saily on my side of the river that required evasive action his reaction was power gives way to sail which confused me as he was in a mobo on my side!!!

Hence I want to get a camera fitted.

[JawsOrca]

Thanks Grace.. that's Daves  

 

 

Cracking Wallace!!!

I had a similar experience with a private mobo overtaking a saily on my side of the river that required evasive action his reaction was power gives way to sail which confused me as he was in a mobo on my side!!!
Hence I want to get a camera fitted.

 

Lol I probably didn't explain it that well but it was just like that.. I think they was both drunk and first day out but surely you would just hold you hands up and go "Sorry not sure what I'm doing but I'm learning" instead of saying something random.. God only knows how I didn't put someones windows through though.. 

[LondonRascal]

So...I learnt something new, and wonder where is the Wroxham Broad Nature Reserve and walk? Be nice to have a look sometime.

[JawsOrca]

I might have explained it wrong Robin.. two secs I'll google...

 

Yup sorry it's actually "Hoveton Great Broad nature trail" (Wroxham Hoveton.. both the same!) Access is via the mooring opposite Salhouse island moorings. It's not as long as How hills walk but it's still really good and easy to waste an hour.  

[Poggymale]

Agree with Gracie re the photos - the feet one has to be a must for the photo competition - it's great! Have a lovely day all.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Maxwellian]

Lovely Photos Alan, enjoying the tale. The walk through the nature reserve is excellent.

[JawsOrca]

Wednesday 22nd July.

 

So that pesky cheap annoying alarm was set to go off at silly o'clock as I released the tide wasn't at 10.30am which I thought it was but just gone 8. So 6.45am I wondered down to the shop to drop off the dvd rental at the shop.. Yup no chance the shop was shut. So back to the boat for some breakfast. 7.30 the shop opened up and we both wandered down and dropped the DVD off. The goats were already awake and wondered over to say good morning as we approached the bank we noticed some people stepping off, and without thinking about it I pointed at them and said to the goat.. "Look tourist".. yup the goat quickly trotted towards them and yup the crew ran for the cover of the boat lol I quickly reassured them he's tame and probably lick you to death if anything.. they didn't look convinced lol

 

Back on the boat we headed off but slowly at 4mph as we had plenty of time and I wanted to take the steering gently as at this speed I shouldnt need to steer much.. it was a nice clear morning and we was only overtaken by a couple of boats and all doing a gentle pace. Yarmouth YS was busy and all double moored which was a surprise, I've not seen it like that for many years. Under the bridges with no problems. The tide was flowing into breydon and the chief engineer gave me permission to apply some power. We got up to 9.5mph but I eased her back down to 2400revs and she cruised comfortably at 8.5mph which felt nice and comfortable, at this speed to the steering is nice and light .. We overtook a lot of boats.. One boat though was on the far right side, slowly overtaking another so I had to come back to 6mph but once they saw me I powered back up.   The trip back to the marina was nice and easy.  We had wanted to take the back into Norwich but sadly we was worried about the steering and as we had to be in Beccles for Saturday it would have been a bit tight with lots of helming.. So we decided to go back to the yard and use the land yacht!

 

So in the car into the big city.. Norwich feels like London in places but still good.. Dave wanted to see the castle so we went there first, I thought I would be just the castle but surprised that it's a museum.. I must admit the castle bit was the best bit but the museum was interesting. Off for some shopping, we grabbed some mustard obviously and gifts for people back home. We did a few geocaches before heading back via the river walkway. At norfolk YS we spotted the family from Ranworth and we had a good chat.. they really did well to get here considering we saw them in Stokesby last night but they said they just got here.. Sadly they had problems with the throttle on the  boat but Faircroft did a good job at fixing it .. although they lost a day.. Eventually we wished them well and hoped to see them again soon!

 

Sadly it was now rush hour and geez norwich in rush hour is just like london! It so needs better roads! Eventually we left and we fancied a chinese, thinking there was a Chinese restaurant in beccles we headed there.. nope... closed, the smart phone then suggested Lowestoft which we did and thankfully found a nice restaurant there.. (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g190775-d6223152-Reviews-Emperor-Lowestoft_Suffolk_East_Anglia_England.html)  After a nice meal we spotted a nearby geocache which was apparently near the "furthest easterly point" having down the furthest southern point we had to see as it was a walk away! Yup it certainly was we spotted a little extra bit so carefully wandered out and get some pics. Back to the boat after a nice afternoon out with the car.

 

 

[JawsOrca]

Thursday 23rd July

 

A nice lay in! Our yard is so peaceful in the evening.. I've always said I don't understand stay aboard in the boatyard but I must admit I get it when the yards so peaceful! Certainly no other places close by.

 

Today's idea was to head into Yarmouth, we've not yarmouth for many years really and I remembered again the time and tide museum was good.. I remember now we actually went here just before I went to uni in 2002!! scary! So in the car, yarmouth was close by, a bit of head scratching looking for a spot to park..eventually we found a multi-story but erm yup tiny parking space and no signs, not the best start considering I wouldn't say I'm a huge yarmouth fan. Once outside we headed towards the museum, spotting a geocache was on the way we grabbed that but reading the info page on the app it was really interesting.. it was the spot of the first zepplin attack on the UK during WW1.. We found the museam against what looked like a council estate but the museum was really good (http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Time_and_Tide/index.htm).. just like castle museum it was huge and took hours to wonder around.. the best bit though was about the "Rows" (narrow row of houses) shame there isn't any left as Yarmouth would be really cool to wonder around.

 

I then fancied fish and chips and we found the revamped Harry Ramsdens.. Yup yummy.. Finally the rock shop for bits before back to the car.. It was getting late and I hoped to get to Oulton with Orca and watch some powerboat racing but I think we missed that.. By the time we got back to the boat the sun was already setting.. So it was engine and Nav lights on But we had a magical trip down with the sun setting right behind us and Dave grabbed some nice pictures. I wanted to mud weight as we've only done it once and noticing the depth was only 6 feet we spotted a good spot by the houseboats.. 

 

Tomorrows plan was to head down to Geldestone and spend a night there but we got a few concerned messages advising a storm was on the way and strong winds and heavy rain.. but I didn't believe them looking at tonight's sleepy skies.

[JawsOrca]

Friday 24th July

 

Again I slept really well.. Probably being back on the peaceful southern broads It was also nice a dry with light cloud so I grinned knowing the forecast was rubbish! So I decided to run over to Oulton (we owe them a nights mooring fee) it was a bit busy still and there was no spare spots on the floating pontoon so I had to spin around gently and stern on.. as I was spinning though a dingbat on a brooms hireboat decided to just pull out instead of waiting and we had to stop and get out of his way.. Oh joy.. [Newbies.. Don't be impatient, If there's a boat mooring in a basin, sit and wait until they are out of the way ] Moored up, the harbour master wasn't about. Now I have a geocache hidden somewhere here so we thought we would go and make sure it was still there.. Hmm sadly no sign it's been stolen (yup it happens) balls! Sadly also the it started to drizzle so back to the boat no sign of the harbour master but we spotted the bridge opening again, which was opening which was what delayed us before. So we gave up. Dave said he wanted to do some fishing so suggested stopping for lunch at the dyke moorings. 

 

Off we went.. Strangly the dyke moorings where empty but thats all good as we could moor on the floating pontoon It was a strong tide so it was a pain to moor but I got her all moored up.. Just as Dave started to fish the rain came oh well so the weather was right. I reluctantly checked the weather on my phone.. Hmm yup.. weather warnings left right and centre so geldeston was off.. At this time my parents were spotted on the horizon.. in a bizarre moment I waved and they motored past?! Although we noticed/heard their exhaust was dry and called them up on the VHF and had a quick word.. Dad wasn't worried so carried on. We stayed for a bit but the rain and wind started getting heavy so we decided just to run for the cover of the WRC.

 

The WRC was empty so we just moored side on, checking with the marina chap there all was ok. Which he confirmed all was.. We ran into the pub for some refreshments and booked a table for a bit later. Back to the boat to get scrubbed up for dinner. Dinner was OK. (I had lasagna which was ok but I'm not a huge meat fan but fancied something different).. Just as we finished we spotted Steve and Debs which was a bit strange as we thought they was in Beccles getting ready for tomorrows meet up. We grabbed a bigger table and Steve mentioned he had been a complete dingbat (   ) and left his tablets in the car  and had to motor back    to grab them (You could have called Steve and we would have driven them over!!) and spotted us moored up so decided to come and keep us company

 

Sadly a band started to play (It seemed they was meant to be outside but came inside so it was a bit crammed and loud) so we went back to Orca to continue.. Erm yup we got a bit carried away and called it a night at about 2am lol.. but good evening nice to have a good chat!

[LadyPatricia]

Keep em coming mate.

I'll give you 'dingbat'

[JawsOrca]

Saturday 25th July.

 

So the penultimate day of our holiday. I was awoken by the sound of scraping fibreglass which is never good. So I jumped up and ran outside. Geez it was windy and the rain was almost rain sideways. Thankfully the sound wasn't the bank side but the fenders we had were as flat as a pancake, I grabbed the spares and with all my (morning, half hungover) strength pushed Orca away from the bank side and put in two fenders in which did the trick.. I checked LadyP who was just infront of us and she looked all good.  Back to sleep for a bit lol I woke up an hour or so later, spotting we had two small leaks but Orca was doing well. Eventually woke up to notice that a  little boat had tried to come in but got blown towards us and the helman pretty much declared a mayday and requested to come along side.. Obviously no problems. They sat there for a bit to get confidence back before we helped, together with others to walk back and moor alongside behind us.  

 

At this point I thought we would be stuck here but the forecast promised the weather was leaving and it should be all calm. There was a large Broom on the entrance (we was on the corner spot) with this small boat just infront, thankfully the rain stopped, the sky turned blue and the wind died down enough to get out. So I said to Steve, this is the time, but it's still strong so it's still going to be hard work.. I said to steve we would walk Orca back to the entrance, then reverse out and suggested he did the same thing.  Just as we untied though a little sailing boat headed in and moored on that entrance spot. I walked over and said along the lines of "It's very windy and alot of boats have struggled to get out, I don't suggest you moor there", They looked a bit confused so I was a bit more blunt and said "In other words if you stay there I will hit you when I came out as will our mate behind you".. Lol poor crew they pulled the boat one mooring spot but they was in no mood to move. Oh well we had enough room I think/hope.. Ropes untied, Dave pushed the stern out and I rammed Orca into reverse as I needed to get as far away from the bank side as posible, the stern quickly span around, I saw Debs looking mortified, Thankfully it missed the bankside and quickly span around but pointing towards the exit but now pointing right towards this little sail boat (I told them so!).. Netural span the helm around, Reverse, Missed again, and gently blown out of the WRC under some kinda control.. The lady on the sailing boat looked back at me as in.. "You did tell me but did bloody well to miss!!"... I watched Steve and he did really well too lol

 

On the river it wasn't too bad..we let Lady P lead as they was having problems with the engine and we wasn't sure.. (Ok we thought it was head gasket!) Steve was keeping it slow at 4mph but that's OK. The river was thankfully quiet although we was crabbing down it most of the time given the strong sidewinds in the gaps of the tree. Half way down we spotted Charlie which was a bit sad as we hoped to say hello but we waved (charlie you need a burgee )  A bit further down we had a private boat approaching fast which is expected as we was going slow but they overtook and them erm stopped in front of us and turned towards us! Yup you guessed it AIR HORN! lol (Sorry Steve and Debs lol) (apparently Debs said to Steve that they need to get one!!). As we passed back a crew member gave us the looks and muttered something.. and the boat headed into the reeds, So ok seems like they had a breakdown (although they quickly moved off) and I felt a bit guitly to horn but I still had to take action to avoid them and in the side winds I didn't really have anywhere to go. 

 

A bit further down we also spotted another NBN flagged boat coming towards us (worring that the meet up had been cancelled now) but strangely they turned around and followed us. I quickly spotted it was Paul giving his new boat (Re-engined) boat a spin It felt brilliant to have three nbn boats cruising in company though! 

 

Arriving in Beccles I was really worried it was a strong cross wind and Orca was getting blown all over the place, I tried a stern on mooring but realised Orca would just slam into the other boat, Aborted. Tried again, I turned round and thankfully realised I basically had to get blown into the moorings and the spin around so the bow is pointing into the wind and then gently ferry glide onto a side on berth.. all went to plan and we gently arrived into beccles!! A really nice "Welcome Orca" from John.. (Ok sorry all as you will read a bit later you.. for some strange reason I've forgotten a lot of the next two days lol!!).

 

I kinda remember walking into Beccles and introducing Steve and Debs to Geocaching, the first was easy and steve spotted straight away (We had done this before), but they both was addicted and we tried downloading the phone app but Steves phone wasn't having it! So we went into weatherspoons to get a wifi signal...still it was painfully slow though! The next cache a bit of a walk away we hadn't found before so we was useless too! It was a tough one and took all of us to look.. in the end (I think) Dave found it.. Back to the meet up via Tesco's we decided to grab food for a bbq.

 

Arriving back at the boat we noticed the water was just below the cappings! (I've never seen it like this!!) and thank goodness we didn't try and go to Geldestone last night as we would be stuck! We had a quick chat to a few members here but we was a bit worried so went back to Orca and threw a mudweight over the starboard side to keep her away from the bank and put more fenders low down .. being a deep vee hull she would easy ride over the bank. Sadly this also meant we had to position our BBQ's away from others Thankfully though we spoke to a few members. My parents where there too and joined us for the BBQ.. We relaxed and chatted most of the evening (although at one Point our admiral John stumbled over a little tipsy ( ) and tried to take some pictures lol surprisingly he did really well though Jonzo rather stupidly gave us some business cards so a bit tipsy ( ) debs forced me  into putting business cards on the boats moored in the basin!!      

 

I spotted the clock just before falling asleep and it was another late one.. 2.30am lol!!

[Bound2Please]

Saturday 25th July.

 

 

Half way down we spotted Charlie which was a bit sad as we hoped to say hello but we waved (charlie you need a burgee ) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just this week we finally got Water Witch II dryed out inside, and on moday will be doing a permanent repair to the front 2 windows........... its never leaked until that friday night.

 

But yes we still need A burge the one we had up was a RNLI one. Still working on trying to get to sept meet mind...

 

Charlie

[JawsOrca]

Sunday 26th July. (Last day )

 

So last day of an epic holiday! I woke up to a headache!! and yup for some unknown reason I don't remember much of today!! I know a few people had already left or was leaving. I saw Steve and blamed him for my headache! LadyP then left and we left about 45mins later. Just outside of Beccles we noticed Duet 2 was up the bank and a private was tried to help. I yelled over "They are firmly stuck mate you won't get them off, get them to call the yard".. We caught up with LadyP just after the WRC and AIR HORNED to say hello lol (Yup the tablets where kicking in!). Somerleyton bridge soon appeared although the water level looked high. Before I could slow down our last rocketship approached at warp speed 10.. I told them to slow down with hand movement and indicating I may need to turn around thankfully they appeared to understand and ease back.. I noticed we had enough space so accelerated back to 5mph at which point they accelerated to warp speed 10 and tried to undertake us through the bridge.. I said to dave "What the do you think they are doing".. Dave advised them to ease off and overtake the other side and we entered the yard just as the rain started again!

 

Slowly the car was packed, Orca was put to sleep and we waved good bye to Steve and debs. 

 

(50 hours in the two weeks and about 50 litres of fuel - so just over £60 )

 

 

Last thoughts

 

So looking back now, we did have a good trip! It was our first 2 week holiday for many years (probably 10 actually!) and the first time up north during the school holidays for a long time too! I guess we have forgotten what the broads experience was like so we was a bit shocked.   As I've hopefully portrayed although we had a couple of unusual experiences the majority (as you will see from earlier logs)  was amazing and we spoke to lots of decent people really enjoying the broads experience so although it may read a bit negative it's obviously far too easy to focus on (even when being read) the negatives. I was trying to be 100% honest and frank about the trip and not gloss it over because this log should contain the highs and lows of which there will be both. But  I honestly don't want people to misunderstand  although e did a rough trip, in all the years we have been up here we have never experienced this and this was echo'd by the ranger..it honestly isn't the norm and doesn't happen.. the weather was a bit rocky so let's just put this down to the weather The broads are bloody amazing and truly unique.  

 

I think two weeks was too much and we should have spent more time down south to break it up (Although I did want to spend more time up there as it's unlikely we would return back this year). The boat was brilliant though and very comfortable and at no time felt too small, thankfully we didn't ever feel she was too small. Although we had the odd problem I was surprised we didn't have anymore.

 

Sorry to rush through this a bit towards the end but we are erm back up there very very shortly (as in tomorrow!!).