Norfolk Broads - Bronze Gem - Day 2
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Cruising from Malthouse Broad to Wroxham where I attempt to defy the rules and take the boat through the bridge without the use of a pilot, get seen and boarded by the Pilot and given a telling off. Then it is on to meet Shiela, and take a slow cruise to Colitishall.
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA W1D5 | Fall | เก็บแต้มของจริง คือวันนี้](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EciIAlCXg5k/mqdefault.jpg)
Rob, this blog is brilliant. The banter between you and Sheila is so good. So, Sheila wants a personalised ship's wheel. I think you can get one from Nauticalia.
You & Peter painted the hull....gosh I did 1.5 days painting it amongst other jobs free & its you & Peter that you say painted it...grrrr
You are quite right! At the time I recorded this, sorry that I did not include you because you also did a great deal of Antifouling and varnishing among other things.
I have my own boat on the Broads and don't use the pilot at Potter Heigham or Wroxham. The phoenix fleet pilots very kindly showed me the technique and I've been proficient for some time now. Wroxham bridge is a doddle in comparison. It just requires a little confidence and common sense.
Sheila is such a star! 😂😂😂
Maybe for the toll of getting under these bridges they should move with the times make them bigger. With rising water levels taller boats that cannot make it through businesses are hurting. If people want to keep the old bridge at potter I say action each brick off & let them take a piece of it home with them... Some of the bridges got upgraded from lift to swing & vice versa I don't see why this cannot happen at wroxham or potter.
Good vlog as always Robin
Gotta disagree with you on this one..
If it was down to me, I would indeed 'get with the times' and build boats completely incapable of passage under even Ludham Bridge, but ensure their standards were very high so far as design and fit out. Why have a 'make do' sun pad and outside seating area and still try and get the boat under a bridge? Either do it properly or not at all. people would still hire them.
Likewise, there are new, well fitted boats that can and do passage under the likes of Wroxham and Potter bridges - so if you want to explore these areas, try hiring one of those styles.
Bridges like Potter Heigham are basically owned by the Crown (Queenie) and are subject to listed status. So you won;t find much luck in trying to move them. But there is some stupidity. In the late 1960's Wroxham Bridge was declared unsafe a 'temporary' bridge was superimposed on the old stone structure, pending the building of a town bypass, which never got built and here we are in 2017 and the steel 'temporary bridge' which holds all the weight is still there.
But that is not the stupid part of this, you see one day something will be done - a new bridge will be needed - but even if the new one is slightly higher, and less 'hump backed' don't rejoice at the idea of taller boats getting under, since the separate pedestrian bridge was built not so long ago it is effectively the same height as the old stone bridge so it will still be the main barrier to the upper Bure regardless of what may happen to the road bridge next to it.
There is nothing wrong with Wroxham bridge. What's all the fuss about? Any sensible Broads cruiser can get under with a half competent helmsman. It is a doddle! Bridge doesn't need replacing, but if it did, I would replace it with one more like Potter Heigham. Awesome bridge is Potter Heigham, love this bridge I do.
Belaugh rhymes with Sheila. 👍
Don't really know how to spell Sheila's name but hope I spelt it correctly but anyway, i think the videos are much better when Sheila is involved just my opinion though.
I take it then that it makes no difference how much boating experience you have on the broads you have got to stop for the pilot
Yep - unless you've got your own boat, but if you hire you gotta use Pilot..If you do not and go through, and are seen to have the Pilot will make a note of it and the hire yard will charge you. Each day the yards get a copy of what boats have passed up be it using the Pilot or others that have not been taken through but are the other side of the bridge meaning the hirer took them through themselves
When we hire from Richardsons I thought that the fee to go through the bridge was all in the cost of the holiday. Is that not so. If you have to pay as a hirer then that is something else to consider.
No, if you choose to pass under Wroxham Bridge then you pay the fee when you return the boat at Richardson's - of £12.00. You can choose to have this deducted from any fuel deposit you are being refunded.
Herbert Woods on the other hand do not pass the fee on to the hirer, but at the end of the day it is swings and roundabouts as their boats cost more to hire to begin.
Thank you. We are hiring from Richos in March and I will make sure that I account for the £12 when allowing monies for moorings etc etc. I like to know where I stand.
The pilots are from Broads Tours and have nothing to do with the Broads Authority much to peoples surprise. In fact the oldest pilot has managed to hit our boats not once but three times so in my opinion it is a cash cow as people still get stuck underneath in hire boats quite a lot..Entertaining video too..
I have to agree their mooring skills are not based around 'slowly does it' more 'throw caution to the wind' and when the wind causes the boat to hit another, 'oh well' - not what a 'professional' skipper should be showing to holiday makers but hey ho...
Hi Robin ;Shiela looking good.
Was the £12 pilot fee for passage up to Coltishall and back down to Horning .
The £12.00 fee is simply to take you under Wroxham Bridge and back only. Be it you go under and moor up just the other side and return in an hour or come back 3 days later after spending some time fishing upriver.
Hi rob, if I was to hire a boat with an air draft of about 6"9-7"0 would it be able to get under Wroxham bridge?
I mean I get told a number of different things on which can get through and what can't?
Yes, a boat with a typical airdraft of 6' 9" to 7' 0" would be able to pass under Wroxham Bridge, but as I had said in a previous comment, this bridge is getting a bit like Potter Bridge whereby there are times whereby boats normally able to pass under cannot due to the river levels.
richardsons have free wifi on there boats?!
Yes - built in on every boat with unlimited downloads for upto 5 devices.
Sorry did u say £12 to get under bridge? How many times does he do that in a day.... (Sounds like money for old rope😩)And if you are an experienced driver why shouldn't you attempt it on your own. I loved Coltishall, there's a great Chinese restaurant in village opposite the church if you fancy something different. Happy boating 😜
£12.00 is the 'return pilotage' so very reasonable really, and you do not pay the Pilot - he (there are more than one) are employed through Faricraft Loynes and contracted to supply the service for the Boatyards who sign up to the service, as members of the Hire Boat Federation.
In short, it means that if something happens it is not the fault of the hirer (since they used the Pilot) and any damage suffered to the hire boat can be paid for from the indemnity insurance that Faricraft Loynes have taken out and to which the Pilots are subject to.
There has been great debate about this - how in years gone everyone (hire or private) would take their boat through, but to be fair the average height under Wroxham Bridge seems to be ever less - and it is becoming another 'Potter Bridge' whereby even boats that should be able to go under all day everyday find that in certain conditions they no longer can.
The Captain's Blog very interesting.. When you put it like that it makes sense, I think holiday boaters think they are cash cows for the broads, paying for moorings, pilots etc but when you look at the bigger picture it all goes back into the broads making it the place that it is. £12 return not bad I guess. Looking forward to day 3.
Is this car share on the broads
Whats the story about the pilot? he boarded you? why? they dont have a right to stop you do they?
He had every right to stop me for I was breaking the rule of taking a hire boat, that required the use of the Pilot at Wroxham Bridge, through the bridge without using one.
I was explained this at handover, there was the plaque on the helm stating I needed to use the Pilot not to mention in the Skippers Manual - fair and square I was taking a risk to save £12.00.
In fact, he did me a favour, for now I learn if you are spotted taking the boat through or even use the Pilot upstream but not downstream this is relayed to your boatyard and upon your return to hand back the boat expect some trouble.
Well that's a new one on me. the cynic in me suggests a bit of fleecing going on ;-)
As I explained in a previous comment, the Pilot is not paid directly - he (there is more than one) are employees of Faircraft Loynes. They are contracted to carry out the service, and Hire Boat Federation yards can then entrust their boats to the safe passage under the bridge with the Pilot.
Should anything happen (e.g. Pilot crashes boat into bridge) Fair Craft Loynes insurance would have to pay up to cover the damage. Some yards, like Herbert Woods pay the £12.00 for each of their boats to make a piloted passage, but do not hand the cost on to their customer. Other yards like Richardson's do pass the cost on the customer.
What does the £12.00 return get? Well it employs a couple of chaps through the year, pays for the insurance premiums, and pretty much guarantees that the boats will not be damaged on their passage under bridge. Since the fact the charge has not increased year on year since introduction, I'd say it was fair value and no fleecing is afoot.
The Captain's Blog The last time we went up to Coltishall, was in 08 I think, the year Moores were bought out, and my grandad took it under the bridge, (the boat was Craigmoore still in full Moores livery) and unbeknownst to us Barnes had, made an agreement for the pilots to take all their boats under the bridge, and when we got back to the yard, we got a right telling off, now I was young so I can’t remember the whole contents of the argument, but it had something to do with hire terms, (Bering in mind we had booked under the Moores hire terms) they were wanting us to pay for not using the pilot, (we didn’t have to because they never sent out the hire terms) but we haven’t been under since.