What did you get a boat?

Your stories all sound so sentimental & romantic, probably full of wonderful nostalgia. I have to confess, for us, it was a Sinsail brochure that came through the letterbox. We'd just come back from yet another beach holiday, having spent days looking down at gorgeous, empty beaches that could only be reached from the sea, when we realised a boat could reach those little gems of paradise. So at the ripe old age of 25 we ventured out on an adrenaline pumping "villa/flotilla" holiday. What a great decision we made - and it's brought us so many great boaty mates :)
 
jfm said:
Nope, never been to the Norfolk Broads in my life! I started dinghy sailing aged about 12 iirc, and did that for years on Marine Lake in Southport. Mirrors, Enterprises etc, then a Laser for years. My dad and I built the Mirror from the kit you could buy - I'm sure lots of people remember those kits. And at roughly same time my folks bought a 4m inflatable (late 1970s, before RIBs largely replaced inflatables) with a 20hp o/board which I thought was the biz in terms of top speed :-)
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Bloomin eck, lad. I have some childhood memories of rowing around that place, 73/74 ish.
 
my best friends granddad had a caravan right on the river Avon near Stratford on Avon. He had a small rowing boat so mate and I were off, aged 12 making dens, fishing day and night, exploring all by boat. We spent many summers cycling down to Stratford messing about on boats. Years later SWMBO and I went on the norfolk broads aged @ 35 and saw a few Broom Oceans moored up at Yaremouth. I didn't know such things even existed. Said to SWMBO I want one of those one day, thinking another 20 years or so. Later on the holiday I bought a boat magazine - six weeks later we bought an old princess 37.
 
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Mine was simple act of jealousy, went camping in Cornwall, where they had their own slipway, everyone was getting their boats out each day( the day when the weather was fantastic). so i booked us in the campsite that day for the following year and also booked a boat pitch, so i had to have a boat, as i have paid for the pitch, i will keep to that excuse all my life
 
We started out on the Broads. Hired boats for a couple of weeks at a time for five years on the trot then decided it was time to take the plunge and buy our own. Have had Naughty-Cal for almost five years now and have never looked back. We thoroughly enjoyed taking NC to the Broads in 2011 and are thoroughly looking forward to taking her back this summer for a couple of weeks.
 
Yep,My dad took up there for a week in the 70s,I was about 12.

I drove, he slept,I was hooked!
 
I started coming to the broads yearly about 30 years ago and at the time I owned a 16ft Microplus with a 20hp Chrysler on the river Lea in Walthamstow London , I brought her down the Thames from Fry's Island (stupidly ignoring the red boards because I only had two days) but got fed up with going from lock to lock (Tottenham and Bow). Then six years ago I decided to move to the Broads at Oulton Broad and I've now bought a Shetland 2+2 out of my pension and intend to spend as much time as possible fishing and cruising the Broads. And I can go to sea via Lowestoft if I want to (only one lock). It's the best move I have ever made.
 
Snowbird said:
Then six years ago I decided to move to the Broads at Oulton Broad and I've now bought a Shetland 2+2 out of my pension and intend to spend as much time as possible fishing and cruising the Broads. And I can go to sea via Lowestoft if I want to (only one lock). It's the best move I have ever made.
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That sounds great, I'm pleased for you. :)
 
ricky_s said:
You often read that people have their first boating experience on the Norfolk Broads, that's how my interest started and I always wanted a boat after that. Though I didn't get my first one until I moved to the coast as an adult.

How many of you started out via a broads holiday?
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Me too!! Norfolk Broads, Great Glen and sea fishing......25 yrs later bought first boat, and loving every minute.
 
Never been to the Broads yet, although gradually working towards getting there one summer.

I've always had a fascination with boats, although very fussily only motor boats.
As a young lad I used to go and stay with my grandparents down in Eastbourne where they had little motor boats you could hire out for 20mins or so on Prince's park. I used to pester my Grandad to have a go (25p if I remember right) and used to spend hours on there going round and round whilst he sat on a park bench reading his paper.

The motor boats were lovely little wooden things, with an upright steering wheel and 2 speeds adjusted by a throttle pedal: idle or full (probably only about 1100rpm!).

Occasionally we'd take the train to Hastings where they had the same sort of thing but the boats were marginally quicker, so I just had to have a few go's on them as well. A real shame they don't seem to have them anywhere these days, I loved 'em.

My father was heavily into sailing and had a succession of dinghies but I hated sailing with a passion. Endlessly being severely tipped about, dodging head-hunting booms, frantically pulling one rope after another - er no thanks, no pleasure there. The only times I enjoyed it were when he strapped the outboard on and we went on proper trips for days out.


As a young adult I went on multiple narrowboat holidays with friends and had a whale of a time. Latterly with my girlfriend, who became my wife, and then we decided we'd done all the UK canals we'd try France instead. Our first experience on a wide beam motor cruiser in France was a revelation and had me hooked, and we bought our own a few years later once the mortgage was paid off. Never looked back since, and even have plans for a BIG trip one day...
 
Dad started with a Shakespeare speedboat which we launched from Twickenham when I was 10, then on to a Seamaster 813 at Penton Hook as Mum wanted something to sleep on! They progressed on to a 42ft which we would spend weeks on going to France/Belgium and Holland in the summer and on the Thames. My first boat was a bright red Broom speedboat I fixed up at 22 when I could afford something myself and then it all continued from there.

Now I am even learning to sail.....
 
Trundlebug said:
I've always had a fascination with boats, although very fussily only motor boats.
As a young lad I used to go and stay with my grandparents down in Eastbourne where they had little motor boats you could hire out for 20mins or so on Prince's park. I used to pester my Grandad to have a go (25p if I remember right) and used to spend hours on there going round and round whilst he sat on a park bench reading his paper.

The motor boats were lovely little wooden things, with an upright steering wheel and 2 speeds adjusted by a throttle pedal: idle or full (probably only about 1100rpm!).

Occasionally we'd take the train to Hastings where they had the same sort of thing but the boats were marginally quicker, so I just had to have a few go's on them as well. A real shame they don't seem to have them anywhere these days, I loved 'em.
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We used to holiday regularly in Hastings when I were a lad, and I also felt the pull of the mobo's on the sea front, and also the rowing boats in Alexander Park. The mobo's had little 2 stroke engines IIRC. They used to chuff a bit of smoke. The trick was to watch and pick out the fastest number, then time your session for your hot pick :)
 
I started boating at about the tender age of 4 when my dad and our neighbour built a 14' Poole canoe married to a Seagull 100+ with clutch on the back then off we went fishing.....pretty much every weekend. I lost count of the nights I spent fishing from the boat moored under Poole's old lifting bridge whilst dad and his mate went to the pub :eek:
When I was about 9 dad bought a beautiful (to me) 18' cuddy boat that was made from shiplap planking with a 45hp Scott McCulloch outboard on the back. Well the scottie hardly ever worked for very long so that went and in its place a brand new 20hp Blueband Mercury slower but more reliable.

Like all hobbies you fall in and out of love with the ups and downs and cant imagine how well off I would of been if I hadn't followed this hobby but that's just money, boating gives us a different kind of richness :confused: :cool: if that make sense. I have hardly been without a boat since my youth and can't imagine life without one now.

Now the Broads is something I have never done but can imagine myself on a floating caravan :) maybe or then again?
 
All I can remember was that one day I was kissing the girls and smoking cigarettes behind the bicycle shed at school.....and then the next day I was being dragged out the back of a 4 tonner by some hairy %8rsed Chief Petty Officer at Raleigh !!. Within the week I was thrown onto a saily thingy at Jupiter Point and was told to get it round to the Barbican.......they called it a Sailing Expedition........Jaguar 27 I think it was..........and I thought.......this is alright for a job....and I get £19 a fortnight!!. Joined various ships and saw the world after that......loved being at sea.
It went a bit pear shaped 31 years ago tonight when the Grey Sleek Warrior of Death sank beneath me......but thankfully HMS Yarmouth was close enough to jump onto...........the rest is history!!!!!!. QE2 brought me home safely. I remember walking past the Princess Yard many times ( normally very drunk!)on my way back to the Dockyard from Union St and thinking.....one day I'll have one of them shiny boats.............and the dream came true.

Thank you Royal Navy for making my dreams come true.............but can I have my Canon camera back from the bottom of Falkland Sound?? ....it was a birthday present!!........and my loon pants with the six button waistband!!
 
Grew up in St.Ives amongst fishing boats, Lifeboats, surfboards and a whole lot of time on the Beach so did a fair bit of boating, but only ever with engines. To this day sailing still appears something of a black art. Left home at 19 and did no boating whatsoever until the age of 41/42 when the urge to get a boat reappeared.

Now it's a bit like being a kid all over again.

(Good thread by the way).
 
My Mother was paranoid about water and despite living by the sea we were kept well away as kids. Due to her ailing health however we were fairly self-sufficient by the time I was 9/10 and being a Pieces, the draw of the sea was inevitable. I spent all the time I could around the local harbours or elsewhere along the coastline, tourist boats etc dreaming of what might be and wishing I was there! It wasn't until 2009 that I got the boating bug properly however when a friend brought a project boat back from his parents in Pembroke to do up. He wisely decided it was too much work and was going to take it to the tip... Never one to shy from a challenge, I purchased said project and thereafter hemorrhaged cash from my bank account until I got on the water - at which point the bung was removed from the overdraft. So now there are two 'projects' in addition to all the work needed on the house etc and I'm guaranteed to be poor, exhausted and deluded for the foreseeable future. :p
 
ricky_s said:
You often read that people have their first boating experience on the Norfolk Broads, that's how my interest started and I always wanted a boat after that. Though I didn't get my first one until I moved to the coast as an adult.

How many of you started out via a broads holiday?
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Me too, at the age fo 12 or 13.
We were there for several years, until went cruising in the netherlands, which is much closer for us. "Our" boats were "Skipper" or "Sealord", which we chartered at Broom in Brundall.
One of my favourites was the "sea-commander". ;)
I loved it there!!

Chris
 
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