Broads Authority staff get sailor's view of the Broads
Seven senior Broads Authority staff took to the water on the Broads in two vintage wooden yachts to get a sailor’s eye view of how improvement work will affect river traffic.
The officers, who all privately either sail, motor boat or canoe sailed in blustery conditions aboard two traditional yachts from the Hunter Fleet at Ludham which have no engines.
They negotiated the smallest bridge on the Broads at Potter Heigham, at high tide, before beating up Candle Dyke in Force 5 winds and across white horses on Hickling Broad to the Pleasure Boat Inn.
Director of Waterways Trudi Wakelin, who has very varied boating and sailing experience, said:“This was about ensuring my staff, who have a variety of boating backgrounds from paddling to motor cruising and sailing Broads yachts, understand and appreciate the problems which beset small craft in an area where lots of improvement works are planned.”
Adrian Clarke, Broads co-ordinator with the Environment Agency’s flood defence project, was exhilarated by his first sailing experience.
He said: “It definitely made me appreciate what the issues and problems are for the larger sailing boats like tacking in narrow channels where piling has become dangerous with protruding metal plates and how the piling removal works are improving safety for sailing. It also brought home to me how much of an affect tree cover has on the ability to sail.”
Waterways Strategy Officer Angie Leeper who owns a Broads motor cruiser, said: “I didn’t appreciate how quickly the trees and surrounding features dramatically affect sailing. Being sheltered by one tree is like an instant block. While I was aware of many of these issues there’s nothing like getting first hand experience. Our skipper, too, was very informative about problems facing the Hunter fleet and this experience has given us several ideas about how to improve things for sailors.”
Also taking part were Rivers Engineer Robert Savage, who is responsible for dredging and has experience of ocean going yachts, Steve Birtles, Head of Waterways Strategy and Safety, who owns his own Broads river cruiser, Dan Hoare, Waterways Conservation Manager, and Rebecca Callister, Senior Navigation Ranger who sails, windsurfs and motor boats.
On leaving Womack Water the team identified opportunities for where to preserve informal moorings and where to remove piling in Womack dyke, thus marginally widening the channel. They looked at the possibility of removing tree and scrub on the right bank of the River Thurne.
At Potter Heigham they inspected the condition of the four 24 hour moorings and the possibility of improving the availability of moorings for yachts lowering and raising their masts for the bridge, below the bridge pilot office.
Once through medieval Potter Heigham Bridge they inspected the derelict dyke in Bridge Green with a view to either creating a new slipway there or piling it for visitor moorings and considered how they might improve the function of the dinghy park above the new bridge, which is not being used by dinghies.
Along the way the crew took the opportunity to check that work on private properties was being properly carried out and that boats were appropriately registered and licensed. They took account of the adjacent waters in the area and considered how best to communicate in the future with the owners.
In Candle Dyke they looked at the options for dredging disposal and opportunities offered by Duck Broad, as well as the extent of the regression of the historic reed swamp and how to reinstate it.
The team looked at the condition of aging channel markers on Heigham Sound and Hickling Broad and decided to renew the marker posts when appropriate plant is on site, hopefully later this year.
They also inspected the state of aquatic plants on the broad and the condition of the Pleasure Boat Inn, which was being renovated, and its moorings.
Trudi said:” The sail achieved everything I thought it would in giving a greater depth of understanding of issues facing sailors, as well as other users.”
13/07/09
