Hello.

[Norfolk_Matt]

Hello everyone,

I thought I should introduce myself as I am new to the forum. My name is Matt, I'm 48, I live in North Norfolk with my family, not far from North Walsham and Aylsham. Work for the NHS at the NNUH.

I've been interested in boating for a long time, since my great uncle sat me in a Topper (he was a great sailing man, was skipper on the RN Yacht Adventure for the Round the world yacht race in the 1970s)

I've sailed a but, done the odd boating holiday and hire etc, but I am now considering purchasing a small (maybe 15-20ft?) fishing boat that I can use inland as well as in the sea (inshore stuff, possibly off Wells, Moston, Blakeney area)

But I need to pick much better brains than mine about practicality, safety, legality etc as well as generally chewing the cud and such.

So that's a brief hello.

Cheers

Matt

 

[johnalison]

I know nothing about your area but our son-in-law is also NFNN. Boating is easy, whatever the type, and if you can sail a modest fishing boat won’t be hard. The difficult bit is dealing with the externals, which may involve permits, licences etc, as well as maintenance. The other factor is that while boating is 99% fun, Neptune is under contract to gather several dozen corpses each year and has a habit of calling on those who don’t give him enough attention, or possibly libation. Safety therefore is not just an add-on but has to be part of your thinking from the start.

 

[GEM43]

Hi Matt,

The north Norfolk coast isn’t a great place to cut your teeth in boating, it can be a bit hairy out from Wells/Blakeney, shallow water and exposed coastline, very few safe places to run to. Might be better to take your first trips in salt water on the Suffolk/Essex rivers? They maybe offer a more gentle introduction to sea boating.

 

[Norfolk_Matt]

Hi Matt,

The north Norfolk coast isn’t a great place to cut your teeth in boating, it can be a bit hairy out from Wells/Blakeney, shallow water and exposed coastline, very few safe places to run to. Might be better to take your first trips in salt water on the Suffolk/Essex rivers? They maybe offer a more gentle introduction to sea boating.

Hi,

This is just the sort of information I need, thankyou. I mentioned those places because they seem perennially popular and are local to me, but I am open to other suggestions if that is safer, especially for my first seasons.

Is there such a thing as a chart of where particularly difficult areas are? For instance, does the sea get more "friendly" towards the Horsey/Sea Palling end?

Wonder if it would be better to go out from Oulton Broad via Lake Loathing?

 

[GEM43]

Hi,

This is just the sort of information I need, thankyou. I mentioned those places because they seem perennially popular and are local to me, but I am open to other suggestions if that is safer, especially for my first seasons.

Is there such a thing as a chart of where particularly difficult areas are? For instance, does the sea get more "friendly" towards the Horsey/Sea Palling end?

Wonder if it would be better to go out from Oulton Broad via Lake Loathing?

Charts that just identify the “difficult areas” don’t exist but there are plenty of nautical charts available, both printed and electronic. The difficulty with any chart in your part of the world is that because of the wind and tidal effect on the water the sandbanks are perpetually moving meaning that a chart which is 6 months, or even 6 weeks, old may be completely misleading. This is particularly so in the entrance to Wells and The Wash and other such shallow, sandy exposed coastlines, the deep water channels are constantly moving. The Wells harbourmaster moves the channel marker buoys as the channel moves so when navigating in to Wells one must navigate by the channel markers - not the charts. Indeed I believe that the harbourmaster will often lead boats in to Wells as local knowledge is often essential.

I don’t know the Oulton Broad area that you mention or Horsey, but alas my comments are generally applicable to the entire Norfolk coast hence my suggestion of the salt water rivers further south, the Orwell for example, a good place to start, gain experience, knowledge and confidence. I’s also recommend doing a night school RYA theory course this winter, it’ll give you a good start for next season.

 

[RivalRedwing]

If you don't already know it then the YouTube site 'keepturningleft' has got some wonderful videos made by a former pro cameraman, sailor and participant in these forums - Dylan Winter. It includes Wells, Brancaster, the Orwell etc - imbibe and enjoy

 

[GEM43]

This is a useful resource, just spotted it on the other “Wash” thread hereabouts.

Sail the Wash – The Official Guide for Sailing the Wash

 

[Alpha22]

Anywhere from the Wash to Gt Yarmouth is tricky for a beginner. Oulton and Lowestoft are far friendlier.

Ipswich/Harwich even more so.... where you can have lots of good coastal experiences without actually going out to sea.

Things to consider... Boat on a trailer and launch/recover each use. Great flexibility and low cost. But limits size manageable.
Boat on a mooring and afloat all summer.... more expense, but easier to use. Could be practical for Wells for day use, but limited by tides.

You don't need any qualifications to drive a boat that size, either inland or at sea. Inland you do require a licence to use the waterway and probably a Boat Safety Scheme test (every 4 years) and insurance. You don't need any of that at sea. (A harbour may require insurance and there may be launch fees at a slipway to pay each time)

I hope that helps? Feel free to ask questions...

 

[Norfolk_Matt]

Thankyou so much. That's really helpful. I think my priority needs to be to get time on the water in as safe a way as possible. Oulton looks ideal in that I can build experience and it's reasonable for access. I'd probably be going out of season to avoid crowds so I think trailer would be best.

I was looking at a 17ft Starley Sea Nymph with a 6hp outboard, which looks reasonable for a family potter around or a days fishing, with some estuary/inshore potential later?

 

[johnalison]

Thankyou so much. That's really helpful. I think my priority needs to be to get time on the water in as safe a way as possible. Oulton looks ideal in that I can build experience and it's reasonable for access. I'd probably be going out of season to avoid crowds so I think trailer would be best.

I was looking at a 17ft Starley Sea Nymph with a 6hp outboard, which looks reasonable for a family potter around or a days fishing, with some estuary/inshore potential later?

I know nothing about boats of that sort but something that struck me when I used to sail to the Channel Isles was that all the many small craft of that type would have two outboards, one full-size, and a smaller back-up one. Clearly, their waters have obvious hazards and strong tides, but I myself would not want to venture into the sea in your area without a reserve of some kind. Your motor sounds OK for the Broads but small for offshore work, but it's not my area of knowledge.

 

[WoodyP]

With a small fishing boat l would be happy to go out for the day in N Norfolk. Just make sure that the weather forecast is settled. I sailed out of Fosdyke for many years and only had one scary moment when a gale blew up from a forecast force 5.
I used to go out fishing from Thornham on a small boat and that is a bit tight. In those days we would get mackerel, flatties and tope.

 

[Sailing steve]

If you don't already know it then the YouTube site 'keepturningleft' has got some wonderful videos made by a former pro cameraman, sailor and participant in these forums - Dylan Winter. It includes Wells, Brancaster, the Orwell etc - imbibe and enjoy

Just bear in mind Dylan films in very mild settled conditions - because that's really all anybody can film in from a small boat.

If he could film at dusk in the pouring rain with a NE F5 wind over tide off Harwich then I'm sure he would. But that wouldn't be quite the pretty viewing his films always are.

 

[PeterWright]

Hello Matt and welcome aboard,

The questions you ask in your post make it clear that you appreciate the need for care and safety in the boating world.

Strange though it may appear to a non sailor, beaches are not boat friendly places. When the weather turns rough, the transition from land to sea, and vice versa, becomes unsafe. Beach fishing craft, now becoming a rarity are strongly built and have a pretty special shape, but a bad weather beaching is still a dangerous manouver.

For this reason, sailors take note of ports of refuge, this is a port which you can sail or motor into in almost any weather. None of the Washmports are safe to enter or leave in a NE gale. Under these conditions, there is no safe port between the Humber and Great Yarmouth, and the Humber is not an easy estuary with it' s big tidal currents.

The key thing about weather at sea is that it can change rapidly, turning a beautiful sunny day into a gale or impenetrable fog which renders visual navigation impossible. Hence the emphasis by other contributors on settled weather.

The broads are a good learning ground but it would be worthwhile looking at some RYA power boat and navigation course before taking your family offshore in a boat. There are many training centres in Suffolk and Essex, e.g.

East Anglian Sea School - Yacht Charter, RYA Sailing School, Motor Boating, Powerboating, Dinghy Sailing, Suffolk, Levington, Ipswich, East Anglia

but I don't know about Norfolk. I believe the nav courses can now be done in line.

People from all walks if life manage boats of all sizes safely and happily and find it a great source of pleasure, i'm sure all the posts here are intended to be helpful, including mine, don't let yourself be put off by descriptions of the hazards, they are real but manageable.

Peter.

 

[Wansworth]

Tosomeextent taking on a new adventure in the widest sense gives you a chance to use your mind to sort new problems as an adult and enjoy new experiences,just start off slow and small steps

 

[Norfolk_Matt]

I am much heartened by the helpful responses here and there are some factors which I had not considered. It is, I suppose, easy to be lured by the sight of craft of all sorts pottering around on a lovely day, without appreciating the nuances and hazards.
I had not, for instance, thought about the issue of safe harbour and knowing how rapidly changeable our bit of coast is here, that's a huge consideration.
It always amazes me how perilous our seemingly benign coastline is here in North Norfolk. I guess Daniel Defoe had good reason to call part of it The Devil's Throat.
I'm planning on doing my RYA Powerboat Level 2 at some point, as well as hopefully my ICC. But all in good time. Walking before running seems sensible.
The next step, as far as I can see, is researching boat type, getting car etc prepped for towing, checking moorings etc for getting afloat on the Broads system. More than enough mischief to be had there, while I get my legs.
Thankyou all for your advice and guidance, every bit of it is gratefully received and appreciated

 

[Puffin10032]

The kind of boat you'd want for the Broads is very different from what you'd want for sea fishing - you'll need a lot more fenders for a start

 

[Black Diamond]

Welcome to the forum, Matt, and I'm in awe of your great uncle's circumnavigation, beating Eric Tabarly and Chay Blyth is no small feat, and if they'd have had an operational rudder for the Southern Ocean, your uncle's name would be far better known as the winner of the first Whitbread. What a beautiful yacht Adventure is




Back on message, if you have a smartphone, the Navionics Boating app is really useful, as it is constantly updated and lets you zoom in on where you are and want to go, and it I modestly priced at under £50 per year. Another tip is that if you're a ditch crawler like me, more often than not, Google Earth has low tide images so you really can see where you are, or at least where the channel was up to a couple of years ago, when the aerial photo was captured.

Happy boating

 

[snowbird30ds]

Lowestoft/oulton broad are a good starting zone, you can always bolt back into Lowestoft at any state of tide, most of north Norfolk is restricted times so once out you can be stuck out, the wash is not the big boating lake maps show but more of a soggy sandpit with some big tides.
Add vhf radio course to your list as it's the first safety net.
Hugging coast is not good on east coast, deep is always safer.
Weather forecasts with North or East in wind direction are rarely friendly on East Coast.

 

[ex-Gladys]

Navonics is "so good" Tillergirl has coined a new Acronym; NAG - Navionics Assisted Grounding. They are keen to add all the unverified user provided information, but can be exceedingly slow in adding officially published NTM's

 

[PeterWright]

Hi Gladys,
Thanks for sharing another example of TG's dry wit.

Navionics don't add the user provided information - they leave that to the users, which is why it's unverified. Really copying the supermarkets with their self checkout arrangements, just getting the customer to do the work and saving on labour costs. I suspect the cost saving motive also explains the long delays in responding to formal ntms.

Peter.