Boat snobbery

I have noticed recently that on the forums and Facebook, there is an unsavoury element of “boat snobbery” creeping in at times!

                   

We all know that wood is good, traditional and warm but carries constant maintenance costs with it and some owners of wooden boats have been stung by boatyards when having repairs carried out. Not everyone has the financial means to be involved in the sometimes large charges involved in maintaining a wooden boat.

A number of wooden boat owners carry out maintenance / repair work themselves and those who have the facilities and capabilities to replace planks and rub down and re-varnish are indeed lucky.

However, for a large number of people who want to get on the water, the only option is a “plastic” boat.  There is no reason why a grp boat cannot be kept clean and well maintained but I don’t agree that they should be sneered at because they are not wooden. 

It started with a rainbow …

Actually, it started before the rainbow, with a rain storm of enormous proportions, which followed us up the river and arrived as we moored at Thurne.

All was safely battened down and waterproof and I must congratulate the weather forecasters on a reasonably accurate forecast – they said the rain would come through at lunchtime and last for three hours – it came through around 3pm and lasted for around an hour and a half!  Pretty fair forecasting we thought.

As the weather front started to clear, with blue sky appearing, a glorious rainbow developed.  One of the occasions when I longed for a wide angle lens to snap the entire rainbow.

However, I wanted to catch as much as possible so the skipper started to open a window for me to poke the camera out but as we both moved to one side of the boat the water on the roof started to pour down the side so he rolled up a towel to catch it and enable me to keep the camera dry.  I stood in front of the navigator’s seat with the camera at the ready and he leaned over with the rolled towel.  Unfortunately, the folding back of the seat folded at that point and he fell forward enough to knock me off balance.  There was nothing I could grab and in a freaky accident I went backwards, not just on to the floor, but down the steps into the saloon of the boat!

Steps to saloon

Total shock was my first reaction, followed by concern for my camera and then pain from so many parts of my body that I didn’t know which to worry about first!  The skipper rushed down to try and get me up but I told him to leave me whilst I assessed any damage.  My initial thought was that I had cracked a back rib, followed by a dislocated shoulder and a ripped ear!  The skipper examined my ear closely and proclaimed “no blood” and my shoulder was moving in the socket so the rib was the main concern.  To cut a long story short, severe bruising was the only problem, thank goodness – I’ve discovered a few more bruises today, two days later, on legs and buttocks!

A decision was made to cut short our weekend and head for home, for a hot bath and medication, which was the right move, although we did miss a glorious day on Sunday!

I did recover enough to take a few snaps of the rainbow and, hallelujah, no damage to the camera - it landed on a seat cushion - which is where I should have landed!!

Rain cloud rolling away

Sunset after the storm

Traditional visit south

Well, it’s that time of year again, when we travel “south” for a couple of weeks on the beautiful southern rivers of the Norfolk Broads.  It’s becoming a bit of a tradition and we look forward to it.

We travel down one weekend and back two weekends’ later. This year the low tides were at slightly awkward times for us, being very early morning or early evening.  It meant either an early start or a shortened journey the other side of Breydon Water.  After some discussion, we opted for the early start but decided to travel halfway on the Friday evening, to leave at 04.45 to do the rest of the journey, aiming to go through Great Yarmouth around 06.30!!

We arrived at Lady Louise early Friday evening, in pouring rain and having loaded enough stuff for a siege, set off.  As we travelled down the River Bure, the rain cleared through and, although there were still large black clouds around, it became a reasonable evening.

Travelling at the maximum allowed speed limit we reached Stracey windmill just on dark and quickly moored up away from other boats so as not to disturb them with our early start.  Supper, a glass of wine and early to bed which meant, of course, that I couldn’t sleep!

I managed to doze for a couple of hours until the alarm on my mobile phone buzzed at 04.15 and we struggled out of bed.  First job was the kettle, then have a look outside but it was still very dark!  Checking every five minutes it started to get light but the skipper wasn’t confident enough to travel safely until about 05.15.  When we set off, the sound of birds singing in the reeds was amazing – I should have recorded it.

I have to admit we did break the speed limit a bit on the journey down – our concern is not travelling against the tide but the height under the poxy bridges at Great Yarmouth.  However, there was a lot of mud showing at the sides of the river and the tide was still running out so we felt fairly confident.  The first height board read 10ft and we needed 9ft 3ins so we went through with no worries and turned by the new yellow post to head across Breydon Water.

(Photo taken on a previous trip I did in August, with a friend)

The sun was just coming up behind us and silhouetted Gt Yarmouth with Breydon Bridge looking quite spectacular.  The trip across Breydon was magical, almost flat calm with the glorious morning light reflected in the clouds.  Only a couple of other boats were making the crossing, going the other way to us.  Brilliant!

The trip up the Yare went without incident – not a lot of wildlife, or other traffic, about at this time of the day but some interesting clouds.

We reached Reedham Bridge, checked the height marker, which stated 11ft 3 ins under the bridge.  We needed 10ft 6ins with the radar arch up so had no worries so you can imagine our surprise when the top of our anchor light grazed one of the bolts in the underside of the bridge.  I leapt out on deck and watched with bated breath as we cleared the remainder of the bridge without touching – not sure if we were lucky enough to go between the remainder of the bolts or whether the bridge ‘slopes’ a bit but the height board is not to be trusted!!  We’ll make sure everything is lowered for our return journey!

We arrived at Cantley around 09.00, feeling as if we had been up for hours (which we had!), moored up and had a leisurely cup of coffee and late breakfast.  It was sunny, but very windy and one or two brave sailing boats were out.

We tidied up the boat then relaxed, watching the river cruisers arrive for the Cecil Howard Memorial Race the next day.  Quite nice to have a race named after you I think.

About 6.30 we strolled down to the Reedcutter pub and met up with some friends for a drink and chat before having supper, which was very good!  I couldn’t keep my eyes open by about 9.00 o’clock so we walked back to Lady Lou and crashed out.

Waking next morning about 07.30 we looked out to see the morning mist just clearing and the sun coming up to greet another good day.

There was plenty of activity on the moorings with boat owners preparing their sails and generally chatting with friends.  Friends visited us and the kettle was kept boiling for a couple of hours, on and off.

Eventually sails started to be hauled up the masts and the first set of river cruisers got ready for the start.  There were five starts to this race with a good entry and we enjoyed seeing them crossing the start line and heading off up river.

After a while, we decided to set off ourselves and see if we could catch them up and after a gentle cruise in the sun we caught up with the tailenders nearing Brundall and Coldham Hall, the finishing point.  The wind had dropped by then so the last leg was a bit slow but they all made it to the pub for lunch.

We motored on to Surlingham Broad and dropped our mudweight amongst the other boats enjoying the day but after an hour or so had to close everything up as a thunderstorm came through!   Around 5.30 pm we set off for Trowse, where we had been allocated a mooring for the week and were met by another great sunset.

Can’t wait for next weekend – the Yare Navigation Race!

Once in a lifetime trip on MTB102

I was given the opportunity last Friday to take a once in a lifetime trip aboard the motor torpedo boat MTB102, which was the first MTB of the modern era and is now in a Trust.  More information can be found here http://www.mtb102.com/

The trip was supposed to have three people who would act as crew and six passengers.  I put my name down as a passenger but said I was willing to act as crew if required.  Not being sure what crewing entailed on this large boat I was a little apprehensive!

During the week, we were advised that new propellers and shafts were being fitted to the boat and by Thursday morning these had not arrived, so until the last minute the trip was in jeopardy.  However, they did arrive and the team worked almost throughout the night to install the new parts.

As the MTB was on the sea side of the Broads on Lake Lothing, Mutford Lock would have to be negotiated as would the swinging railway bridge, so some organisation was required.   

The original timing was that the MTB would go through the lock at 10 am and we had to be there by 9.45 but this was then put back so we duly arrived at the boatyard at the newly appointed time of 12 noon.  The boat was on the slipway but it was fairly obvious that she couldn’t be floated until the tide came up.  Richard Basey, who runs the Trust and skippers the boat, told us that high water was 3 pm but he would try and float her before then.  We anticipated the long wait and settled down on the bank to talk and eat our lunch.

Crew and passengers

Around 2.15 Richard and his usual crew asked us to move down to a nearby pontoon in anticipation of boarding and they went on board, started the engines and tried to power the MTB off the trolley but she was stuck fast!

Engines started

 No amount on rocking, pulling and shoving would budge her so again we sat and watched the tide creep in until eventually, with one roar of the engines, she was afloat!  We all cheered and clapped!

And she's free!

Having twin engines, she can turn on a sixpence, which she did, and came alongside the pontoon where we clambered on board, Richard hoisted the flags, signalled the railway bridge and lock keeper and off we went.

I hadn’t been through Mutford Lock for many years and only in small boats previously so was very impressed with the handling of the MTB through the confined space.  It was all hands on deck with fenders until the water levels adjusted and we were able to make our way out on to Oulton Broad, to the cheers of the boat owners in the marina!

The idea of the trip was for MTB102 to lead a procession of private and hire boats down to Beccles where spaces had been booked in the marina, for a weekend of fun and frolics!  As we went across Oulton Broad, the fleet formed behind us, many of the boats decked out with flags and bunting.  There were cameras clicking and flashes flashing everywhere and we felt extremely privileged to be on board this historic vessel.

It was quickly clear that most of the small boats in the procession were struggling to keep up with the powerful MTB so one of the engines was shut down which reduced the speed thus allowing the procession to keep together.  There was one intrepid sailor who managed to keep up with the leaders, under sail, for about a third of the journey which was very impressive.  I think when it came to tacking the skipper thought better of it and resorted to the engine! 

The fleet!

The trip took almost three hours and we were cheered and photographed all along the route. 

I'll give you 10 seconds to drop that camera!

The MTB had taken part in the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations on the Thames so had quite a high profile and as she isn’t seen too often on the Broads these days, it was a momentous occasion.  One I certainly enjoyed tremendously and the memories will stay with me for a long time.