Dan's 2011 Holidays

June 2011 Viscount 1, Richardsons of Stalham:

With Miss Louisa up for sale & not licensed we ventured off to Richardsons, enticed by the great value & perfect layout of their recently added “Viscount” class.

We were not to be disappointed. The class had been fully refitted so she was like a new boat inside & looked great outside, having being freshly painted in smart colours.

I was off with my Mum and Dad for a week so we headed South and enjoyed a cruise up to Norwich, Beccles and then back up to Horning and Stalham. I especially enjoyed the river around Brundall and the attractive run from there to Norwich.

We had just one day of rain, when we crossed Breydon Water, we managed to get through the Yarmouth Bridges with the canopy up and also without re-shaping it! The weather wasn’t bad and it was nice to have the whole week aboard.

The layout was ideal for us with one very spacious sleeping cabin forward and a smaller double cabin aft which was quite a luxury for myself. Both cabins were en-suite and at 35ft great use of space had been made. The sliding canopy was also superb, nice to be out enjoying the weather, and the engine noise was much less intrusive with it down too.

The boat had been nicely refitted and it looked as though we were maybe it’s first trip out. Great holiday!

October 2011: “Broadsman 1”. Richardsons of Stalham:

Richardsons had started moulding again! As a regular customer of theirs this was exciting news. Good to have more designs of craft on the Broads and see heavy investment going into building new craft for the fleet.

Having followed the production process it was good to get aboard for a luxurious and spacious (if a little budget busting!) week in October!

We were not to be disappointed. She handled well, with both bow & stern thrusters making turning round in tight spaces really quite good fun! Clearly a lot of thought and expense had gone into the fitout. Expensive flush toilets were a luxury and attention to detail on items like the lighting, light switches and co-ordinated bedding and fabrics really finishing her off to a great level.

With a steady number of new designs planned over the coming years I can see a lot of temptation coming my way!

August 2011. Capri (TS) 14. Le Boat of Benson:

A holiday in August was a rare treat, but the draw to hire a Capri TS class had become too much!

These are great boats built by Broom in the mid nineties and I have had my eye on them for some time!

We had never hired from Benson though I have long liked the base, and we started off in brilliant sunshine, with the riverside cafe at the base absolutely packed to the rafters!

We cruised to Oxford and also enjoyed overnight moorings in Abingdon and Wallingford.

It was good to be on the Thames again, I always think it is a great waterway and we had another brilliant holiday. It has so much to offer. It always saddens me that the number of hirefleets and hireboats is a small fraction of what it was thirty years ago.... If you’ve not yet tried it then you really must!

It had been almost three years since my friends and I had all been boating together, so mindful of the fact we mustn’t let it get to four years we were off to Horning for three days aboard “Fine Freedom”. We’d been hoping for sun and to have the canopy back but checking the forecast had resulted in a few tears!

We had a nightmare journey after an inconsiderate lorry had set ablaze en-route so it was then a quick supermarket sweep getting the essentials of vodka and coco-pops and onwards to Horning as quick as possible!

The weather was pretty impressive, and we were relieved the forecast totally wrong, the canopy spent most of its time back and much fun (and alcohol!) was had. Hopefully we’ll all be able to get together again for more frivolity aboard next season!