Brinks Royale - Day Two

I had thought about heading to the Southern Broads since I was up for a week before I had taken the boat over, but the previous evening I had made firm plans checking the tide times for Yarmouth and had decided a good place to go would be Beccles.

As those regular boaters will know Womack To Beccles is not a short cruise by any means, and it would mean an early start - and so it was that today began at 5:45am.  It had rained a lot through the night and the usually quiet dyke leading to Womack Water  had been stirred up a bit by the wind meaning the planning hull of Royale caught the small wavelets and meant a noisy night of 'bow slap' come morning I was not as well rested as I would have liked and the dull cooler conditions were so completely different to that of when I picked the boat up the previous day.

Perhaps it was this sudden change in weather from blazing sunshine and hot to cool and wet, or perhaps just a reaction with some kind of plant or Norfolk itself but I was feeling rather stuffy and puffy eyed.  Good job I had brought with me some anti histamine tablets which soon got me feeling more myself and after a strong coffee and some Corn Flakes I was ready to face the world - which by now had decided to turn very wet as the rain began once again.

It was 6:40am as I left, with low water at Yarmouth of 9:26am.  It takes roughly 3 hours to get from the mouth of the Thurne to Yarmouth Yacht Station according to my time calculation sheet - being helped by the ebbing tide should mean lower revs and better fuel consumption, but to begin I still needed quite a few RPM to do 4 MPH and only half way in to the journey could I ease up and maintain a steady 5 MPH.

On the lower Bure I came across one of Barnes Brinkcraft large centre cockpit boats aground, with a large Faircraft Loynes Alpha 44 trying to give assistance - at first I thought they were far from the port bank, but found they seem to have strayed the wrong side of one of the navigation posts on this stretch of river after all - they were certainly stuck fast however.

It had rained pretty much all the way and my windscreen wiper began to play up, the arm of the wiper assembly retracting in and thus the actual wiper wiping less window area

- I slowed only to be caught up by another boat who proceeded to stay behind me.  I then had to turn into the outgoing tide near to where there is a water outflow and made up mooring/quay heading (currently a small sailing yacht is moored there) and he was still floating so came to a stop with the wind and tide working together pinning me nicely on the quay heading.  I then could get safely round to the side deck and replace the wiper and make good the arm to stay in position - this is why it pays to bring a spare wiper with you.  I left the impromptu mooring back with the outgoing tide and soon was coming into the outskirts of Yarmouth.

I had timed it well with over 9ft clearance under the bridges I could sale on through - though the boat really was a pig to handle when the current was going under it and the wind would gust from the left or right and I would suddenly find myself almost going sideways this way or that - this would not be the first time I wished I had a displacement hull under me.  Soon the yellow post came into view and would have preferred to have been a little more to the left as I past it, but  all was well and I turned on to Breydon Water and opened up the Throttle.

Royale 1 responded well and soon we were at around 2,700 RPM - however one could only maintain this rate of speed for about 5 minutes before the temperature climbed alarming fast and past 90 degrees Celsius - this meant the actual top cruising RPM without getting above 85 degrees Celsius was 2,200 RPM. It did not take long before Fair President the imposing 46 foot long bling machine effortlessly overtook me and I could only following in her wake.  I decided there and then that I would not worry about getting anywhere 'on time' and instead would settle in for a long haul and so eased back and went into fuel saving mode.  From then on until Beccles I don't think I went above 1,700 RPM and averaged 4 MPH.

With Breydon Water behind me I was now on the Waveney and St. Olaves was the next land mark, but not far past Good Child's Marine I thought I was witnessing a major incident, there appeared maybe 15 or more personnel in high visibility jackets, a Rangers Launch together with Spirit of Breydon with blue lights flashing and another boat with an orange light flashing - people on t e bank in blankets - however it turned out to be a full on drill to be as real as possible.

Upon approaching St. Olaves bridge I checked, then checked again the height and I was confident of not having any issue in getting under, however pretty close to the bridge it dawned on me I had two cameras outside on tripods that were about 6 inches higher than the top of the boat. There for the boat effectively had an air draft of 9 feet.  Too late to try and get the cameras off the roof as I risked not being in control of the boat so I could only slow down and hope for the best - the resultant footage on the Captain's Blog shows how close the cameras  got to getting destroyed.   Safely through the bridge next was Somerleyton Bridge.

Somerleyton Bridge was easy to get through, it was swung in t e open position which was handy and I really felt I was making progress now .  It had already been many hours at the helm, but I enjoyed it - from listening to the radio to having my music streamed to my phone via Spotify - I was even able to show my girlfriend where I was in real time over a 'Face Time' call (a video call) as she had a break from working,.  All this technology and communication was made possible by my onboard WiFi thanks to Three's excellent coverage and my mobile dongle unit.

By the time I passed the Waveney River Centre I knew the journey was in its later stages, I was pleased too the fuel gauge had moved such a small amount from full and despite taking things easy and not getting up to the speed limit on much of these rivers of 6 MPH I felt like I had been doing well with the time.   This part of the Waveney is so beautiful and a very different feeling river to the Yare and well worth the time it had taken to come to.

Finally I arrived at Beccles Yacht Station, the 'Harbour Master' telling me t moor on the other side - which to where the toilets are etc - and despite the crosswind it is surprising how handy bow thrusters can be, and how one adapts to their use with such ease too being able to reverse and turn and control with a few presses of a button and slight use of the throttle - yet one feels a 'cheat' when performing such manoeuvres otherwise not possible without their use and making things look so easy.

The rain had stopped too and when the sun made an appearance its heat was intense and sudden - I got to taking in cameras, and making the boat all tidy and again, I planned to head into Beccles for a bit to eat and a few drinks in the Weatherspoon - and very nice it is too, good selection of drinks, good prices and unlike many the food actually was cooked properly.  However I needed to call Barnes Brinkcraft as I was concerned at just how quickly the engine had got so hot and the weed filter on this particular boat was a type where one required tools to remove it and see if it was blocked or not - not to mention the shower pump did not work and the alternator belt was slipping at times.   Back to the boat to meet the engineer, Ben - a y9oung chap who got stuck into the job.

Let me tell you, some things can go wrong - I know this but the fact he had come so far, and after over an hour had installed a new shower pump, found the drain pipe to be blocked in three places  (don't wash dogs in boat showers people it causes problems with fur) had the entire floor up, the seating in the saloon and various panels to get to parts and left very much more dirty and smelling of bilges deserved a medal.  Well done Barnes Brinkcraft for your service. The alternator belt was tightened too and I could get on with the rest of my late afternoon .

I had maiantianed an average speed of 4MPH and had been moving on the water for a total of 8 hours and 19 minutes, so while a long day at the helm I was now in another beautiful part of the Norfolk Broads and tomorrow I could take a leisurely cruise to Loddon.  For now however it was time to have a nice evening walk around Beccles and probably end up in the pub for refreshments again.