The Most Memorable Boat Trip Ever.

Just for you H..

As the advert says, "I saw this and thought of you" A nice new piccie. Wouldn't want you distracted from your writing, now would we H.

Eagerly waiting for V7
 
Having just completed our first year afloat on the 'Broads', this post brought back memories of our most memorable voyage. We set aside a week in September for our only 'week' aboard instead of the usual weekend. Thought we would venture across Breydon and see what the northern Broads were like.

Shame about the weather, in Potter heigham it turned into full blown gale( well, it seemed like a gale to us), cold, wet and windy after three days we had had enough. We had to sit out most of the day waiting for low tide to pass through Yarmouth. Still got it slightly wrong, tide still running out, but we made it without mishap. Not so the young couple, with a small baby, high and dry against a stout steel post, I think he had tried much earlier when the tide was really moving.

The wind was really cutting across Breydon, neither of us is the brave type, but we both enjoyed the experience. Looking ahead we saw a boat cutting through the waves, boy, was he moving at great speed towards us. Full credit to him, as he got close he dropped off all speed and went past causing no problems.

Time was approaching 17.00 hrs, as we turned towards Reedham the clouds were becoming heavier. Question time. 'Shall we moor here or push on to Reedham'? Big mistake, 'We can make it, still got couple of hours light left'! Oh no we hadn't, the clouds effectively took away the light, an hour and a half early, and we were pushing against an outgoing tide.

To cut it short, we were moving through Reedham in pitch darkness ( thank God for nav/lights), nowhere to moor, slowly made way towards the chain ferry and as we came to the pub, we saw that there was just one space left. My wife is not the most confident person when it comes to moving about on the boat, but she does not let this stop her. As she stepped off the bow, she disappeared from sight. The wooden staging was slippery, and she finished up on her backside. Wife or boat? I thought no contest, I flew off the boat to find out what had happened to her. Relief at finding her on dry land, I grabbed the mooring rope and threw a few turns around a post to secure the boat, which by now was swinging out with the wind. My leg, through a weak piece of staging, it was quickly becoming a farce.

Some holidaymakers came out of the darkness and helped get the situation under control. I still have cold shivers down my back as I imagine what could have happened if my wife had slipped down between dock and boat, the tide in Reedham is deadly.

We had the most enjoyable meal that evening, in the pub.

Moral?

Do not try and beat nature/clock. Stop in plenty of time, there's always tomorrow.

Do not pick and choose when to wear life jackets when mooring, water is always cold, my wife was wearing hers.

Sorry to go on, but you did ask for the most memorable.
 
Set the scene,

ne ver been to sea before, boat, a Princess 33 1980 2 80 hp mermaids, trip, Broads to Boston , lincs, Newark.

Left Brundall, tied up Great Yarmouth wall Thursday 25th June 1992.
Set off 0600 for 110 mile trip, bear in mind, no gps/decca, nothing but the good old way, not a good idea for first sea trip as we learned later.
About 5 hours out, 45 miles on log, ticked off most buoys that we saw, next one about 10 miles, this is when it all goes wrong, 2 hours pass no buoy at all, see one and make for it, Called East Dudgeon, look at chart, buoy not even on chart, call CG, for help, ref almanac, now make new route to get back on track for freeman channel, all ok but time and fuel running out.

Will we make lock at Boston in time as at low water theres nothing but mud, arrive just in time props just catching mud but ther safe and sound.

Later found problem, vhf was too close to compass, compass more than 40 degrees out, sending us way out to sea all the way up the east coast, will never forget first trip to sea, it was also my late Fathers 60th birthday, one he never forgot either.

Paul js

Merry Christmas to all you lot out there.
 
Re: Humble at Windsor

As a lad I worked on the boats at Windsor ,it was love a first sight for me and still today my passion for boats has just got worse .
Can you imagine starting the day polishing the brass with the sun glistening on the water .
Humble was 40 foot long wonderful lines ,centre wheelhouse with a bmc 1.5 .
There was plenty of brass to keep clean and I really enjoyed the morning clean up .
Ginger was the captain ,he was a real character standing on the promenade bellowing out :boat trips your boat trips :.They could hear him from the coach park and would come along at some point in their day trip.
There were many great days out on the Humble but this one was better than most

We had a party of welsh women to take out ,oh my what a bundle of noise and excitement they were .I don't know how they could all get in on the same conversation at the same time but they did ,and the Welsh accent seemed to keep things at a frenzy .
So off we went ,now at that time there were the last remnants of the Windsor pop festival ,the hippies were every where, camping any place that the police had not got to yet .
Ginger was going through the speal routine about local history but was trying to keep the ladies attention to the left . When he had finished one sentence and before he could start the next I piped up : and on the right we have another local sight all the women turned to see three hippies starkers having a wash on the bank of the river .
SMACK right across the ear ,Ginger was livid and my ear was burning ,but it was worth it HA HA .
The welsh accent ooohhhhh look at that ,followed by loud screams of laughter and lewd comments .That set the theme for the rest of the trip I'll leave it to your imagination .
Ginger was still pretty mad but couldn't help him self and joined in with the banter .

Just below Boveney Lock the engine cut ,I had to grab hold of some branches to keep the boat from drifting into trouble ,we were lucky because Ginger soon had it running again so off we went again .
As we rounded Cluer Point just up stream of Michael Canes residence the engine cut out again .This time I had to run to the bows to hold us off with the pole .
Guess who was home ,guess who was having tea on the lawn by the river .
The Ladies were having a wale of a time trying to flirt with Mr Cane who looked really quite indignant at this interruption ,and how much worse can you get, a boat full of welsh women heckling and inviting them selves for tea .
So after a little bleeding the engine fired up and off we went again .
The ladies had had as they put it a very enjoyable trip and such fun .
Me I even got a few tips
Mick
 
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