Brinks Belmore | The Big Tour - Day 4 (Part 2)


As the journey continues I reach the Yacht Station at Great Yarmouth – but no time to stop it is straight through.  A quick check of the bridges shows about 9ft 2" clearance – plenty enough – and Belmore is quickly though them both with the current behind me I know once I turn right at the yellow post, things will suddenly slow down.

As I have been on approach to Breydon a motorboat is waiting on Breydon Water for Breydon Bridge to lift and has been in communication with the bridge on VHF.  As luck would have it, just after turning at the yellow post the bridge signals for the boats to proceed and it lifts – all captured on film which was a first for me.

I saw the boat pass to my left, with ‘trade plates’ on it clearly off out to sea to be delivered somewhere and I felt jealous of the journey they would be having, but for now I was now heading on my own to Oulton Broad. Belmore has a larger engine and prop (or perhaps a high pitched prop) than Belmore TC and together she has a real turn of speed and power – alas little of this can be used for any length of time for anything at or above 2,000rpm and she begins to overheat quickly passing into 90c and above so realistically the most revs you can put on is about 1,800. However for a few minutes you can ‘put your foot down’ and her bow will lift slightly the steering becomes feather light and everything comes to life, along with a nice growl from her engine.

I was surprised to see Amethyst an ex Connoisseur Cruiser now in private hands, flying along. Despite being on hydraulic drive, these things sure can shift now in private hands and the engine unrestricted.  She made a great bow wave, but equally a colossal stern wave (drag) was not helping her economy. I thought it would be good to ease right back and ‘play with the wash’ which I did, only to turn around and see a small spec with a lot of white froth around it approaching fast from behind.  Bullocks to the ex hire craft, let’s turn about and go through some proper wash.

I did and it was great, real smile making stuff and the Princess 30 hull on which Belmore is moulded took it perfectly, very little spray her chines on the hull deflecting almost everything out and down – but it got better, for moments later the high speed craft, turn and came back for another run – two opportunities to go thru some nice wake. I was a happy man.

In part three the journey continues – deciding to avoid the Yare and take a risk to continue to St. Olaves and head under the bridge there – would we have enough room or would I need to double back after all?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brinks Belmore | The Big Tour - Day 7 (Part 1)

Image
As the morning went on other boaters had departed and the Staithe began to empty, what is rather odd is how tidal the river Chet is, and now being high water the stern of Belmore was well above the quay making it possible to simple ‘walk off’ an almost level platform.  Time for a top up of water and a walk into the village. I popped into the small store and got some bits and had a wander and wondered what a place this may have been in the late 70’s and 80’s when of course there was a lot more boatyard’s here trading - but these days it seems to be smart homes and moorings, but if you wish to begin a holiday from this quiet and beautiful location Maffets and Princess Cruisers are two very nice yards to consider. I had a late breakfast and before long it was time to plan my day – I knew I had to go over Breydon, but where should I be headed? I ‘pencilled in’ Acle and thought it would be nice if I was able to pop into the Bridge Inn – now here is an honest point for you, I am onl
Read more

Brinks Rhapsody - The Review

I think I will leave it to the video review to let you decide what your impressions are of this new cruiser on the Norfolk Broads, but I for one have been one over by it's sheer luxury and innovation. Yes it is a premium boat, attracting a premium price but unlike other boats for hire, this is a boat without compromise.  There is no need to worry about brining a high powered appliances with you because it has the capacity to run them - and of course the power generation onboard to keep them going. A domestic electric induction hob cooker, fan assisted oven, electric kettle, toaster and domestic sized fridge and separate 24 bottle wine chiller - then there is the thermostatically controlled individual heating to every cabin - heated toilet/shower compartments with heated towel rails, premium flat screen televisions in each cabin with the ability to play DVDs, CD's and play Movies saved to USB drives coupled with a Radio/CD player with an MP3 input option a
Read more

Brinks Belmore | The Big Tour - Day 6 (Part 1)

Image
And so after some time we are ‘back on course’ and the Captains Blog continues, now onto the sixth day.  What you don’t see in the Blog is the fact I woke up at about 5:30am at a very odd angle, and knew exactly what the problem was as I lay in my berth looking up at the cabin roof – we are stuck on the bank as the tide fell beneath the boat’. I dreaded this happening, in fact I even removed a fender from the boat, tied the end to the ring of a Rhonde Anchor and thus secured the fender between the quay heading and the boat to ensure the side of the boat would stay away from the heading as the tide dropped. I got out of my berth, and the first thing was a trip to the loo – this is on the starboard side of the boat and here comes a bonus of being a ‘large lad’ for clearly the boat was only on the quay by a whisker resting on the lower rubbing strake – a light boat and a heavy Rascal meant it ‘gave way’ and slipped off – rather a spectacular thing to happen when you’re in the sma
Read more