Confessions from the past

[Retsub]

Hi

I hired a number of boats during the early to mid seventies and recently became interested in The Broads again, mainly as result of watching videos on you tube.  Maybe the time has come for a comeback, but I thought it only fair to tell the tale of my first trip to the Broads.

let me start by saying this is not a story to be proud of, especially in a community such as this where its I obvious that good manners. Correct river etiquette and a community spirit prevail.   I hope by way of this confession, I will be allowed to contribute to your friendly community

Sometime around May 1971 a group of 6 sixteen year boys, myself included, somehow managed to hire  a boat for a week via Hoseasons.   We collected our boat from Burgh Castle Marina on a Saturday and after a short training lesson, we were let loose on the Broads to spread havoc.  Now we may have caused a number of the problems that I will tell you about now, but hopefully, the hirers learnt their lessons and nowadays would not permit hiring to a group of teenagers.

The boat in question was called Lady Sandria 3.  A six berth boat with front and back cabins and a central sliding canopy.  Being just south of Breydon we decided to head south for our first evening.   We eventually passed a pub with moorings and decided to turn  the boat around and moor up at the pub.  Unfortunately this ended with the boat aground front end in a bank of reeds.  Two of the crew were thrown overboard to push the boat back afloat.  Although we succeeded, the two members were left aground unable to get back aboard.  Two very muddy and very unhappy lads staggered into the pub sometime later.

the next day we somehow managed to traverse Breydon Waterand found our way to the Northern Broads.  We were obviously very inexperienced and naive about etiquette etc and although we managed to avoid damaging anything, I do remember a few angry fists being raised at us, particularly from the sailing community.   Quite how it happened I can't remember (I suspect just being naive). We somehow found ourselves passing successfully under Wroxham Bridge.  It wasn't until we moored up that one of the crew pointed out the plaque on the dash stating that the boat would not pass under Wroxham or Potter Heigham bridges.  I can only assume we must have been very lucky with the tides because when we attempted the return journey we became stuck under the bridge.  We somehow managed to push her through mainly by manually pushing against the underneath of the bridge.   By the time we cleared the bridge a decent crowd had gathered and we were told that the police had been informed .  We beat a hasty retreat and spent the next few hour terrified we were criminals on the run.

On one of the broads we attempted our first stern on mooring, which we somehow achieved.  However a helpful soul at the mooring suggested I threw him the mooring rope.  Unfortunately I dropped the end in the water and it was consumed by the propellor.   

We we then headed south and moored up sideways on, on the river just outside Oulton Broad.  We walked into the town found ourselves a watering hole and proceeded to drink 3 or 4 pints.  A considerable amount at lunchtime for 16 year olds.  When we returned to Lady Sandria we found her sitting much lower in the water than all the other boats.   She was in fact being kept upright by the mooring ropes and appeared to be sinking.  The inspection hatch for the engine compartment was afloat and we were clueless what to do.

Four of the crew were assigned to bailing out duties and myself and a friend, ran into the local Hoseasons office in Oulton Broad.  From memory it was quite a jog and we arrived totally out of breath.  We gasped out our story to the office manager dressed in a 3 piece suit.  He drove us to a boatyard where we met with a mechanic and the four of us headed out on a small dinghy with an outboard.  All the way out to the stricken vessel we told the two guys of the valiant efforts of our friends to keep Lady Sandria afloat.  Unfortunately when we caught sight of her, they were all tired and wet and had decided to relax on the top deck.. Not good.

A Pump was set up and was manned by three of us.  The Hoseasons manager was working the pump,  I was holding the hose and my friend was holding the end of the hose over the side of the boat.  The mechanic had adorned a snorkel and was head down in the engine bay trying to investigate the problem.  It was at this time that a truly funny sequence of events occurred .  You really had to be there to see how funny this was.  My friend  holding the end of the hose had decided to place his finger in the end of the hose and squirt some bugs floating in the river.  At this moment the mechanic surfaced slowly removed the face mask and uttered the unforgettable line" what do you think you are a xxxxxxxx fireman".  One by one we all roared with laughter.

if I remember correctly the rope I had dropped onto the propellor had damaged the prop shaft and water was seeping in when the engine wasn't running..we spent a day or so in dry dock before returning the boat to its home dockyard the next day.

just to put icing on the cake as we attempted a stern mooring, we hit the bank to hard, and the two bolts holding the sliding roof in place to shear off, causing the roof to slide off.  Needless to say we lost our security deposit.

this was nearly 45 years ago and it's obvious that we should never have been allowed to hire the boat in the first place.   Hopefully we didn't cause too much distress and it's probably a little late, but belated apologies to anyone who may have been affected by us.

i did return to the broads 2 or 3 times after and am pleased to report much better behaviour.   

So so my sorry tale ends and I hope one day to once again enjoy the beauty of the Broads.   

 

 

[smellyloo]

A most enjoyable tale ..... reminds me of my first hire experience on 1971 with a group of eighteen year old lads. We, unlike you, were a group of angels .

 

Happy days.

[LondonRascal]

The most damage I have personally caused to a boat happened when I was 8 years old – I remember it so well because of how frightened I was of being found out not only by my mum and dad but also the boatyard.

It was the first boat we had hired on the Broads, a DC30 ‘Saucy Gem 5’.  As we passed St. Benets I was in the galley and thought it might be an idea to open the window, but I could not quite reach, so I opened the cupboard door to use the shelf to stand on to reach up – as I touched the window latch it promptly fell off the window, then hit the side deck and bounced off into the river.

In shock at this chain of events as I stepped back I caught a coffee cup which fell to the floor and broke the handle off of.  I think this was the only time the rattle of a BMC was welcome to disguise the noise of breaking china from my parents – I then swiftly put the cup right at the back of the shelf out of sight – out of mind. 

Later my mum pondered at the fact the window was open but appeared to have no way of being able to be kept closed – I of course kept quiet throughout the conversation and if I remember rightly some kitchen paper was used to make a wedge to keep it closed.  Clearly nothing too bad had happened upon return of the boat but to this day I think somewhere on the river bed at St. Benets will be a window latch from Saucy Gem.

[Retsub]

Smellyloo 

Your Name reminds me of another story from our trip, but probably not suitable for this forum.  

 

Rascal

i am honoured.  It was probably your video's that I stumbled across that got me interested in the Broads again.

[BroadScot]

Welcome to the NBN Forum Retsub 

 

 

Perhaps its time Robin replaced that broken cup to Richos! You hooligan 

Iain

[JawsOrca]

Lol brilliant story.. It kinda reminds me of our first trip.. when I was 17

(I know I've said before so sorry all..) Here's some highlights.. Almost tboned reedham Ferry, Three of use stood of the bank at reedham holding the bow lines whilst the boat worked out which way it wanted to moor up lol, Got it stuck sideways across the enterance to Herbert Woods basin. Did the ropes up too tight at Oulton broad it lifted out the water lol .. but geez sounds like we got away lightly!! 

Thanks for sharing! Certainly agree Clive needs to go at get that cup back from that london rascal! 

[Baitrunner]

Lets hope WildFuzz doesn't still have that incident open on his books!!

Not sure I would have been much better to be honest at 16, but I hadn't found the love of boating back then.

Good to hear an honest account of what sounds like was a busy week of calamities for you and your mates.

Welcome aboard and glad you aren't as mischievous as you used to be

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello Retsub,

Welcome to the NBN forum from Tan & myself,

We have all done something when we were younger.

Years ago not a lot older than you were, four of us hired a Caravan at Dennis's near Scarborough, the chap in the next caravan to us  couldn't start his car so we offered to tow him in my mates Land Rover, we attached his tow rope but the chap had not unlocked his steering lock and we ended up pulling it into the caravan he was staying on.

Life was a bit frosty that week from the neighbors.

Regards

Alan 

 

Edited August 12, 2015 by ranworthbreeze

[BroadScot]

Why you blokes could not have been angelic like me, I will never understand I was soooo well behaved on cricket tours.....honest!

 

Iain

[Hylander]

Confessions, it isn't Saturday is it. Flaming Norah have we all got fess up, don't like sound that.

[Retsub]

Guys thanks for the warm welcome and nice to hear I am not the only one to have disasters.

Not knowing the characters on here I am a little concerned that WildFuzz may still have the incident open he/she sounds scary lol

[Bound2Please]

A warm welcome from me and the Wench (some call her Inge) now she can be scary.

 

Charlie

[Hockham Admiral]

Welcome aboard the good ship NBN,  Retsub, from us.   

[Polly]

Loved the story! I have memories of a drunken day boat outing on the cut. Going to the pub was fine, coming back, the boat kept bumping the bank, no idea why?.

[Hockham Admiral]

Guys thanks for the warm welcome and nice to hear I am not the only one to have disasters.

Not knowing the characters on here I am a little concerned that WildFuzz may still have the incident open he/she sounds scary lol

A suggestion for your avatar pic, Retsub!

That's if your name is anything to do with an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate?

[Retsub]

Thanks to everyone for such a warm welcome.  To be honest I wondered if I would be made to walk the plank after sharing my story, but interestingly a lot of people seem to have gone through similar apprentiships.  Of course time is a great healer, if this had happened yesterday I would no doubt have a cutlass at my back.

when you are new to a forum its sometimes difficult to know if you should refer to people by their names or by their forum name.  So in this case I will respect rank and thank the Admiral for the avatar which I will gladly use once I work out how?   I should point out though that Retsub is the name of my old pet Labrador sadly no longer with us in reverse... Buster

 

[Hockham Admiral]

Buster, Hi

Right click and save the image as.. then drag it from where you've saved it into your avatar pic on you profile page.

[Gracie]

A very warm welcome aboard from me, I nearly choked on my coffee laughing at your story 

There were a couple of incidents on our hen party Boat that I am not sure I should be owning up to  we dropped the tv aerial over the side (sorry Clive) there was this really nice glass that I just had to have from a certain riverside pub and we mooned at a miserable old so and so who had a go at us for being a tad noisy (it was only early afternoon, honest) I can only hope it wasn't any of you guys on here lol. They are the things that we are not so ashamed of and I am saying no more 

 

Grace

[BroadScot]

A very warm welcome aboard from me, I nearly choked on my coffee laughing at your story 

There were a couple of incidents on our hen party Boat that I am not sure I should be owning up to  we dropped the tv aerial over the side (sorry Clive) there was this really nice glass that I just had to have from a certain riverside pub and we mooned at a miserable old so and so who had a go at us for being a tad noisy (it was only early afternoon, honest) I can only hope it wasn't any of you guys on here lol. They are the things that we are not so ashamed of and I am saying no more 

 

Grace

Looks like we have been hoodwinked guys, we have a potential troublemaker here after all. The shoes are just a smokescreen! 

 

Iain

[Bound2Please]

So Grace you have been a horay Gracie in your time have you? Nout wrong in that grinssssss think most if they are truthful have been in some way or another.

 

to you

 

Charlie

[Retsub]

Thanks Admiral

Avatar installed.  Had to google it to see what it was!  Very impressed.

Grace, sounds like you had fun as well