Friday 29 May
Saturday 30 May
Sunday 31 May
Monday 1 June
Tuesday 2 June
Wednesday 3 June
Thursday 4 June
Brundall to Rockland St Mary
Rockland St Mary to Surlingham Broad
Surlingham Broad to Polkey's Mill
Polkey's Mill to Worlingham
Worlingham to North Cove
North Cove to Oulton Broad
Oulton Broad
returns to top of this page
We had arrived in Brundall late yesterday evening so this morning was spent getting everything ready for our trip. Dave R had kindly procured for us a second hand 22kg mud weight, which was waiting for us on the side deck. Line and shackles were organised so that we would be ready deploy the mud weight later on the trip. Anchors are not good at gripping in the soft mud prevalent on the Broads but a mud weight sinks well in and is held in by suction – the hard bit is getting it out! More on that later.
After giving Starry Night a wash and brush up, we nipped into Brundall for perishables, had lunch and then we were off. Just a quick hop of 45mins to Rockland Staithe. We were fortunate that there was a small space left that we could moor to “alongside”, and made ourselves comfortable. Though sunny, the wind was quite chilly. More boats arrived in the afternoon and by pub opening time there were no spaces left.
Huge amounts of blossom have been falling off the trees that line the dyke that runs up to the staithe, and it is being blown on the surface to form a white carpet round Starry Night.
Our blossom carpet at Rockland St Mary
A litle corner of England!
We went for a walk to the bird hide overlooking Rockland Broad, ever hopeful of seeing something. Apart from a kingfisher and a jay, there was not much of note. No water birds!
We had expected the pair of boats moored alongside and plugged into the electricity point to have gone by the time we got back, as we had been reliably informed that they had already been there at 10:00 the previous day. So their 24 hours on the mooring had well expired. They were still there at 2.00pm when we left, making themselves comfortable for a long stay! We were somewhat narked as we had intended to snaffle their mooring when they left, and plug in ourselves for a few hours.
We then headed back up river to Surlingham Broad and picked a spot between two other anchored boats to stop for the night. The mud weight was carefully deployed which involves lifting it up over the rails (the hard part) and dropping it in (the easy part), of course making sure that it connected by means of a stout line to a secure point on the boat (the essential part, but sometimes forgotten). 22kg is HEAVY!! We were now attached to Surlingham Broad. We spent a lovely afternoon swaying in the breeze and watching the boats come and go.
Being a cautious chap, before we went to bed, I set the anchor alarm on the GPS, just in case!
Mud weighting on Surlingham Broad
We were in no hurry to set off and settled into our books while keeping one eye on the comings and goings. It was another glorious cloudless day. It was instructive to watch how the other boats retrieved their mud weights when they departed. Most had mud weights instead of an anchor and were using their manual or electric winches over a bow roller - easy. We still have our anchor connected to our winch, along with loads of chain, for use elsewhere. Quite a few boats were using an anchor and not a mudweight, though we have been reliably informed that only a mud weight would hold us in a strong stream condition out on the river if we had a mechanical failure. Cleaning the mud off seemed to be a major hassle for most boat owners, though one skipper had a crew member hanging over the side hosing the mud off his chain and anchor as it came out of the water – very efficient – must talk to Maureen about this.
When it came time for us to leave, we hauled up our mud weight with three turns of the line round the capstan on the winch. The mud weight was certainly well glued to the bottom. The hardest part was getting the mud weight back over the rail and onto the deck without getting mud everywhere; this last stage had to be done manually by human heft power (Mike’s!) We succeeded but with “nil point” for elegance! Next time the mud weight and rope end will be lowered into a bucket of water for cleaning, not directly onto its flower pot saucer where it normally sits.
We headed out of Surlingham Broad back down the Yare with the anchor alarm insistenly telling us that we were more than 0.01nm from where we had dropped the mud weight! Memo to self - remember to turn it off before leaving! Then it was through Reedham and onto the new staithe at Polkey’s Mill. We had this isolated mooring to ourselves for the whole time we were there.
Located within a stone’s throw of the staithe are the Reedham Marshes Mills, a complex of mills and pumps covering the transition from wind power, through steam and diesel power to electric drainage pumps. There are three windmills on the site – Cadge’s mill in use until 1941 when it was replaced by diesel power; North Mill built in the 1830s and last used in 1900, now completely derelict; Polkey’s mill, which is now restored, and had been in use until 1941. Polkey’s Mill originally had cloth sails but these were converted to patent sails which adjust automatically, and is unusual in that its sails turn in a clockwise direction, whereas most mills turn in an anti-clockwise direction.
There is also a steam driven pump house built in 1880 to contain a single cylinder horizontal steam engine built by Richard Barnes and used to power the Polkey’s Mill turbine when there was no wind; it was in use until 1960. There is a pumping station with two Ruston and Hornsby diesel engines which replaced Polkey’s and Cadge’s mills. And of course there are the current automatic electric pumps installed in 1984. The whole complex has been nicely restored using lottery funds.
We decided that on Tuesday we will make the trip down the coast to Southwold and the arrangements to pass through Mutford lock, reservations, passage plans and so on are in place.
The isolated Polkey's Mill Staithe on the River Yare
Cadge's Mill with the derelict North Mill in the background
Diesel engine pumping station
Polkey's Mill and the steam engine house
We departed Polkey’s Mill so that we would arrive at Somerleyton swing bridge at low water and avoid the trouble of getting it opened. We slid under with plenty of spare headroom, and continued on our way, arriving at Worlingham Staithe on the Waveney, in time for late lunch.
The final manoeuvre to get alongside Worlingham Staithe involved a U-turn to face the now rising tidal stream, followed by a short burst of reverse to apply the “brakes”. Except the engine just revved away with no reverse thrust, and then did the same in forward, and did the same from the lower helm, and, oh by the way, the rudder was jammed to port! Luckily this had been a slow speed approach and the bump wasn’t too hard. The chap in the only other boat at the staithe rushed out to help us moor up, partly in defence of his own boat no doubt. In the melee Mike’s sun glasses dropped off the top of his head into the drink! Luckily no damage was done to anything apart from pride! Time for a cuppa – stronger stuff to follow later!
An engine room inspection revealed that the prop shaft had slid out of the coupling – the whole of the key way and the end of the shaft were visible. It’s supposed to be held in by a taper locked collet with enough grip on the shaft to transmit the fore and aft propulsion force. The collet, tapered ring and locking ring all seemed tight but the shaft was detached – very strange. When I went into reverse, the reverse thrust on the prop pulled the prop and its shaft back and presumably they were brought to rest by the back of the rudder, hence the rudder being jammed. Clearly we were going nowhere and needed professional assistance.
A phone call to Waveney River Centre resulted in a very prompt promise for someone to come out and look at the problem by the end of the day. Steve, the boat-shed manager, appeared as promised and after spending some time doubled up in the bilges, pronounced that a lift would be necessary to fix the problem as the prop shaft could only be re-inserted by the application of a big push from the outside. He said they would come next morning and tow us back to the Waveney River Centre with a couple of their hire day boats.
Arrangement for Southwold were duly cancelled and a bottle of wine opened!
Safely tied up at Worlingham Staithe in glorious sunshine
The prop shaft disengaged from the coupling, showing the taper ring and locking ring still attached to the taper collet.The full length of the key is visible. The hole is at the end of the shaft for who knows what purpose.
At 09:45 the rescue crew arrived, and quickly had us hitched on. One boat to tow us and the other tied alongside to provide steering for Starry Night to counteract the port helm from the jammed rudder. After a cup of tea all round we set off. The whole process of getting the tow started was very efficient and the chaps from the Waveney River Centre new exactly what they were doing. We were impressed. We managed quite a reasonable straight line most of the time, scared the odd hire boat, and were juggling Starry Night into the lifting dock within an hour.
John, the engineer, had determined that nothing was damaged and that all we required was a quick 2hr “survey” lift (much cheaper) to give time to reinsert the prop shaft and tighten up the coupling, and the job should be done.
Once Starry Night was up in the air and we had made the customary inspection of the underwater areas, we left John to get on with it while we had a cup of tea at the nearby pub (see picture) from where we could observe.
We were just settling in when John came running up in an excited and agitated fashion wanting to know who had installed the prop shaft onto the coupling and when. Answer….. a boat yard on the Thames experienced in steel boats and Stevens cruisers in particular, about five years ago (at the moment, no name - but you may guess). Well, John said, I know why the coupling came apart and it’s a miracle that it has lasted so long; the taper ring was installed back to front and there was no proper grip! He had only noticed when he came to retighten the coupling.
We gulped and thought of all those occasions when we had had to apply lots of reverse thrust to stop quickly for a whole variety of reasons, or to manoeuvre in close situations surrounded by who knows how many hundred thousand pounds worth of gleaming fibreglass. The coupling could have come apart at any time.
John drew diagrams to show me what was wrong. I was half way up the ladder to climb up onto Starry Night to see for myself when Steve told me that while Starry Night was in the lifting slings I couldn't go on for "health and safety " reasons - no insurance coverage. So Steve kindly went up and took a picture to show me. Then they pulled the prop shaft back out, a bit further still, so that the taper ring could be removed completely and turned the right way round. Finally the prop shaft was re-inserted into the coupling by whacking the end with a BGH - for the second time. Looking at the reassembled coupling you can see that the taper ring (and locking ring) are much further up the collet taper now that the two tapers are parallel rather than opposed.
Back in the water we went for a river test with lots of high rev reversing followed by a check that nothing had moved. All was well. All we had to do was pay and be on our way. The whole thing was sorted less than 24hours after the problem had occurred. Nevertheless I shall be painting some tell-tale white lines on the coupling so that I can see that nothing has moved.
I am now in dialogue with the yard what done wrong, and we will see where I get to. Will they get a 2009 Rusty Anchor Award, or redeem themselves and earn something better?
We headed back up river and stopped at North Cove Staithe where we spent the rest of the day relaxing, and planning our trip down the coast. The weather looks quite promising for Thursday and Friday; the forecast is for less wind on these days, and a smooth to slight sea. We have decided to go via Harwich to Woodbridge on the Deben.
The complicated tow down the Waveney
A cup of tea while the work goes on in the background
Prop and shaft reversed out and hard up against the rudder
Use of BGH and a block of wood to reinsert prop shaft
Back together - a much snugger fit compared to previously. see technical pages
The morning was spent at North Cove, and then after lunch we headed round to Oulton Broad Yacht Station for the night.
The obligatory wander round Jeckells chandlers was followed by some basic shopping at the rather basic Spa, then back to Starry Night to read the paper and catch up on the latest round of political goings on.
The final preparations for the sea passage were made in the afternoon, routes loaded onto the GPS and plotter etc.
Why you should check the weed filter daily. This is what was under the catch basket in the feed pipe! There was even more in the basket. No good for salad - too smelly!
Here at Oulton Broad Yacht Station is one of the little ships from operation Dynamo in 1940. Named Letitia she is a Bawley Cockler built in 1938 at Lea-on-Sea. She would have been just two years old when she went on her mission to evacuate our troops from the beaches at Dunkirk. Built of utile planking on oak frames Letitia is only 28ft long with a 10ft beam. She looks in a lovely condition.
This evening, being Thursday, was power boat racing night on Oulton Broad. Fun in small doses, but it was alomost too cold to enjoy properly. There were some exciting moments such as when four boats all arrived at the Wherry turn together - only three managed to continue and the fourth one sank! Then there was the power boat that headed down the back straight with the turn marker balanced on its front end. And some very exciting finishes due to the handicapping system used.
Little Ship Letita LO220, nestled in a corner of Oulton Brad Yacht Station
Power boat racing on Oulton Broad
Copyright © 2010 Mike Hawkridge