Wroxham Bridge bash

[RayandCarole]

Ah Speedtriple I enjoyed your rant, no I am not using a Gopro just a normal digital camera, a PC how retro Ipad all the way.

And at the moment I actually have nothing better to do, due to Caroles recent serious illness and hospitalisation she is not mobile enough to use the boat so we had to cancel our planned boating trips and booked a last minute break at the bridge so there is someting to watch and do and she can just about manage to walk to the hotel before becoming breathless. NOT LOOKING for sympathy we are living with it

I Am not trying to humiliate only post pictures which could be of public interest to forum members like yourself who obviously likes to read these posts and comment accordingly

As for you final comment if you wish to post pictures of my occaisional c*ck *ps thats fine with me at least you will recognise me from my avatar,  I am not hiding behind an anonymous one

Mods if you feel this thread should be deleted thats fine with me

enjoy the rest of your week end

Ray

[RayandCarole]

Broad Ambition on its way back down the river

Ray & Carole

[RayandCarole]

Well so far today no bashes observed, most people using the pilot, at lunch time a mad rush like the motorway stack, boats every where waiting to go through and only one pilot working.

 Ray & Carole

Edited August 23, 2015 by Tangara

[SwanR]

Having caught up on this thread I do have one suggestion to make. Foolish as it may be, the cost of the pilot is bound to be a factor in the decision of some hirers to try going through Wroxham Bridge themselves. I know it does feel like quite a lot of money when you've already paid quite a lot of money to hire the boat. And then had to pay extra for car parking in some cases, and as yet don't know how much of your fuel deposit you may or may not get back.

However if all the yards could agree to add £20 to the cost of every week's hire and use this to fund the pilots then the service would appear free to holidaymakers and they might be more inclined to use it without any hesitation or second thought. Given not all hirers would even want to go through the bridge, it might not even need to be more than £15 per week's hire to cover the cost.

I just think as a hirer that I wouldn't notice this small amount added on to the basic cost of my holiday where I would feel that the current fee could be quite a lot extra to find out of my spending money.

[RayandCarole]

Hi Jean

Do they actually have to pay at Wroxham ? I was under the impression it was free and only fee charged at Potter, butbcould be wrong, we cant get under either 

Ray

[SwanR]

Hi Ray,

So far we haven't used the service but are hoping to perhaps next year. I have looked online and it would seem it could be as much as £10 each passage? I'm sure someone else will know. But paying an extra £20 or more to get through the Bridge and back is one of the reasons we haven't done it.

About 20 years ago we took Gracious Girl through ourselves. On the return journey we decided there might not be sufficient headroom and moored on the Coltishall side of the Bridge instead and waited to come through on a lower tide the next day.

[riyadhcrew]

We used the pilot recently on a Richo's boat and the cost was 12 pounds return. I don't know if there are different costs for other yards.

[Hylander]

Sorry but I would be most miffed if i had to pay £20 on top of all the other 'additions' to the hire cost when may be we didnt even want to go through the bridge.      I cannot see much point anyway when it is so busy.

 

Plus for someone who is stuck indoors and not on the Broads , thank you for the photos that are wonderful.

 

[SwanR]

We used the pilot recently on a Richo's boat and the cost was 12 pounds return. I don't know if there are different costs for other yards.

Thanks for clarifying that one Eric - much as Google will give me all the details of the hours and the service, do you think I could find cost stated anywhere?! 

I happily stand corrected.

[riyadhcrew]

You're welcome Jean. It was also payable to Richos on handing the boat back and not paid to the pilot.

[BroadScot]

It is indeed £12 at Richardsons IF you use the pilot at Wroxham. So Jean gonnae leave it at that please  not INCREASE it to £20!!! Perhaps, we the hirers should get a rebate for WAITING time! Just a thought.

 

Iain.

[RayandCarole]

Ah well Tangara ll wont get under the bridge anyway so we just have to enjoy the games when we can

Ray

[DAVIDH]

Taken from the Coltishall Parish Council website at http://www.coltishall.org.uk/?page=11031
Makes interesting reading regarding the numbers traversing and the method of charging for passage through the bridge at Wroxham

Regards

David

PS Ray, I too am grateful for the images. I guess many people are eyeing up a stay at one of those apartments looking at your brilliant vantage point.

BRIDGE PILOT SERVICES ON THE BROADS

Historically, the only bridge pilot service offered had been that at Potter Heigham Bridge and for many years this was operated by Phoenix Fleet Ltd. for Potter Heigham Pilots Ltd., a company owned by Hoseasons and Blakes.     All hire craft of a design able to pass under the bridge at favourable states of the tide were required to use the Pilot Service which was provided free of charge to the hirer, funded on a cost per passage basis by the hire operators and administered by the agencies.    Until about ten years ago well over 10,000 passages were made each year, providing satisfactory income to meet the costs of premises, facilities, staff and accounting services.

In recent years this situation has changed dramatically.   The numbers of hire craft have more than halved;  boat designs have changed so that less will pass under the bridge;  and water levels have generally been much higher.   This has resulted in the number of passages per year being reduced to under 2,000 in the last two seasons.   Additionally the agencies are no longer involved in the administration and accounting.    But the same facilities and staff have to be provided to continue the service.   Therefore it has been necessary for 2009 to increase the cost per passage to £10 with that cost being shared equally by the operator and the hirer.    Private boat owners can also take advantage of the service at the same cost - £20 per return trip.

These charges are not unreasonable when taking into account the fact that the pilot service has to be provided 7 days a week, carries insurance costs of over £1000 p.a. and is now subject to new corporate Health & Safety regulation.   Additional pressures include answering 20 to 30 ‘phone calls each day (asking for advice on the bridge – tidal conditions – the weather forecast – the price of a meal at the fish and chip shop! – etc.).   Staff also give advice to visitors in person on the tides, when to go through Gt. Yarmouth, and help out when boats, private or hire, get into difficulties at the bridge.

As far as Wroxham Bridge was concerned, there had been much less concern about the ability of hirers to pass under safely until a few years ago when damage to boats increased and a number of operators required their hirers on certain boats to use a Pilot Service provided by arrangement with Wroxham Launch Hire, the cost of which was charged on a per passage basis to the operating yard.     Hirers from many yards, however, were, and still are, allowed to take boats through without using a pilot.

At Wroxham also the number of passages per season had been reduced for similar reasons to those at Potter and operation of the service at the rates previously charged was not commercially viable.    However, Norfolk Broads Direct decided that, as a service to the hire industry, they could operate the pilot service for Wroxham Bridge at a charge of £5 (+VAT) per passage invoiced direct to the appropriate participating hire operator.   Of course, their own boats from Faircraft Loynes at Wroxham and Herbert Woods at Potter Heigham are taken through the bridge without any charges being necessary.    The service is also free for hirers from many of the other yards in the scheme although it is understood that some do charge the customer on return.

Other Wroxham based hire operators pilot their own craft through Wroxham Bridge when considered necessary or on request from their hirers.
 

[RayandCarole]

DavidH

Valid points but as we cannot pass throught the bridges its largely irrelevant to us, but of interest non the less

as in my response to SpeedTriple I am not being vindictive just trying to post a bit of public interest to members of the forum, it does make an interesting afternoons entertainmaint which i actually prefer to F1

but of course nobody is obliged to read the posts

Ray

[ChrisB]

Wroxham Bridge is not built at 90 deg to the river. I agree with what has been said before re: standing in the middle but if you approach by keeping well over to starboard, both going up and down stream you will find lining up on the bridge keystone much easier. This is especially important if you are a long vessel as you often see the bow and about 60% go through before a loud and often expensive crunch as the rear end catches.

[Baitrunner]

Love the pictures and don't see this as being nasty in the slightest. I read these out of interest as to how people can just be so belligerent and often not care. 

Crikey there is a web cam for goodness sake.

Mind you I have just fitted a stealth device to my boat so you wont be able to video me or record anything - Of course there is nothing to record with captain perfect!!

ps. Might change my avatar once I lose a few pounds.

[BroadScot]

Love the pictures and don't see this as being nasty in the slightest. I read these out of interest as to how people can just be so belligerent and often not care. 

Crikey there is a web cam for goodness sake.

Mind you I have just fitted a stealth device to my boat so you wont be able to video me or record anything - Of course there is nothing to record with captain perfect!!

ps. Might change my avatar once I lose a few pounds.

Steady please Mark, we are encouraging new members to this Forum, and do not wish to upset them instantly with your new Avatar now, do we?

Iain

p.s. I am sure you are Charles Atlas's double really!

[ZimbiIV]

Mr T keep up the reports, you wouldn't have a big enough memory card to record my bloopers! If someone is daft enough to go through when the boat will not fit then it should be shown as a warning to others, but then again you can take achild to school but not make it learn.

Paul

[Maxwellian]

If I want to go through Wroxham or PH bridge I am happy to pay. I personally would not dream of going through on my own. I would be very unhappy about paying for others to go through though if I was not. I do believe that there should be some for of penalty if you take a hire boat through without the pilot. How about a Credit Card swipe when you take the boat out, the same as most hire cars. Only used in case of negligence and going through without pilot. In today's age it would not be impossible to spot those going through without.

[Oddfellow]

Just a thought,  

The rise in staycation and increased advertising for the broads  have resulted in increase bookings for the hire companies.  Many,  if not most,  will be first time visitors. 

An increase in novices will lead to an increase of incidents.  

Regards

Mark 

Newbies are often not the problem. We gind the greatest worries are with people that have "been doing it for years,  mate"  who won't listen to a damn thing you tell them. Newbies are often all too aware of their inexperience. I have no allegiances to the CDW. We operate it because, simply, if we were the only yard to not and demand a £500  deposit,  we would lose business. We now take a £50 deposit on day hires though. 

[Maxwellian]

Maybe it is me, but I find the longer I have been doing it the more I realise that I do not know and the more there is to learn.

[Siddy]

However if all the yards could agree to add £20 to the cost of every week's hire and use this to fund the pilots then the service would appear free to holidaymakers and they might be more inclined to use it without any hesitation or second thought.

 

Good point but I'd be a bit fed up paying this way as I've hire 6 boats to get through the bridges and only managed 2 trips. I like he fact that all risk is taken out of your hands. 

But if it was built in to the cost would hirers tend to look at it as a optional extra to use the pilot

[Hockham Admiral]

Evidently the helm misread the height guage. Mistook the figure 6 for an 8.

The boat was severely damaged. may not be repaired in time for the rest of the season.

If you can't eyeball the difference between 6ft and 8ft then you really should have visited *pecsavers!

Or taken an all inclusive holiday. ..

[Hockham Admiral]

These Boats have gone through the Bridge without using a Pilot, no innocent error of judgement, most hire boats display on a plaque at the helm that boats must not go through bridges without using a Pilot, for whatever reason, be it saving the twelve quid or the "I don't need a Pilot" attitude, the Boats are not their property and should be treated with respect and as if it was. If you are going to blatantly flout the rules, in my opinion you have to deal with the consequences

Grace

I completely agree with you, Grace.

Well said!          

 

 

[Viking23]

Have the "Bridge Pilots" ever got it wrong?

 

They pay insurance to cover any damage, but something out of their control can give them problems.

eg steering cable or hydraulics failure.

Gear or throttle cable breaking.

Engine failure.

Or most common... some idiot turning close to the bridge after you have already committed, sometimes at both Potter and  Wroxham bridge, we have had a day boat appear from the side...

Many people never use a horn prior to transitting the bridge, and some that do, the horn is so weak you would never hear it from the other side of the bridge.

We use an air horn, however.... this then draws the attention of all onlookers in the area, so you can't afford to get it wrong. lol

We sometimes increase the throttle just before we enter as it straightens the boat up, more especially if there are strong side winds, or currents.