News from the Eastern Region

Norfolk Broads Toll Hike

Boat owners on the Broads face an 11 per cent hike in tolls this spring following further cutbacks in Government support for the Broads Authority. This compares with a 12 per cent increase demanded by the EA and a 13.5 per cent hike by British Waterways in its inland river, charges. Charges for visiting yachts will rise by the same amount.

Lights go out at Bradwell

Nigel Harmer, the Blackwater River Bailiff tells us the lights at Bradwell Power Station have gone out! The lights in the Bradwell Site Reactor Boiler House buildings were switched off in February. Work to reduce the potential hazard of asbestos from the four boiler houses had been completed, and the decision was made to cut off the working lights, however the access and security lighting will continue.

Many night time users of the estuary had been using them as a makeshift 'guiding light' in the dark. Nigel says: “So if you're coming up the Blackwater in the dark...bring a candle!”

New Cromer Lifeboat

Sailors and yachtsmen who get into difficulties off the N and E coast of Norfolk are assured of even faster help from the lifeboat service, with the delivery last December of a new Tamar Class, 16m 32-tonne lifeboat at Cromer. With a top speed of 25 knots in even the atrocious conditions and a working range of 250 miles, the new boat, to be officially named The Lester in the spring is the eighth of her class to go on station. Each boat costs £2.5M.

A Row over Lowestoft Developments, but the new Lowestoft Marina is making Progress

A row is brewing between 1st East, the Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth urban regeneration company, and yachts clubs and local businesses on the banks of Lake Lothing, Lowestoft. Campaigners have formed the Lowestoft Harbour Maritime Businesses Group, (LHMBG) which consists of 22 businesses around the Lake Lothing shoreline, many of them on the old Brooke Marine site.

The developers want to clear the Brooke Marine site and build executive-style waterside homes overlooking a marina of private berths, along with additional traffic and pedestrian bridges across the upper harbour. LMHBG argues that such development will kill the burgeoning marine industry in Lowestoft and seriously affect its role both as an East Coast yachting centre and as the gateway from the sea to the Broads.

There are fears that a proposed low-level cycle bridge across the mouth of Lake Lothing will mean sailing yachts and boats with a fairly high air draft will be unable to reach the upper marinas or the Broads entrance at Mutford Lock. The organisation says the bridge should be high enough for 34 metre high masts to past under, as a minimum.

There is also concern that the Excelsior Trust yard and slipways, the Esso Terminal quay and slipway, along with Lowestoft Cruising Club berthing and the newly redeveloped Newsome’s Slip will be adversely affected as the new development would so badly constrict the waterway that anything other small boats will not be able to get through to them.

Progress being made on new marina

The first pontoons for the new £1/2 M, 46-berth yacht marina in Lowestoft’s Hamilton Dock have been towed into place. The new marina will be run as a satellite to the existing 150-berth Lowestoft Haven Marina sited in Lake Lothing. It will be closer to the town centre than the Haven Marina, and will save visitor’s having to wait for the swinging road bridge to be opened. The development and its expected future expansion is being backed by the local district council which is keen to see Lowestoft become a key centre for yachting on the East Coast.

Sea Safety Scheme covering the Deben, Orwell and the Stour

A local RNLI Sea Safety Team is being formed covering the Deben, Orwell and Stour to encourage yachtsmen to be more safety conscious at sea and so reduce the number of lifeboat call outs to leisure sailors.

“Every year volunteer lifeboat crews respond to 8,000 or so incidents, many which could have been prevented with simple safety precautions,” says team leader Terry Corner, Sea Safety Officer at Harwich lifeboat station. “Over half these launches are to leisure craft. We believe that more lives can be saved, with fewer lifeboat rescues needed, if leisure craft users are more safety conscious.

"We have seven areas on the Deben, Orwell and Stour where the yachting fraternity gathers. We would like to have someone in each area who can keep us abreast of developments. We are looking for people with boating knowledge, with or without qualifications and an ability to talk with people, who might be interested in joining our team. We are looking for power and sail cruising people, sea anglers, dive boat users and personal watercraft users,” he explained. Members of the group will be equipped with a range of presentations and literature for giving talks to clubs or groups. This last winter the emphasis was on lifejackets.

During the spring RNLI Sea Check advisers will talk with individual owners and boat crews on safety equipment advice. “Yachtsmen contribute three per cent of the RNLI membership income yet call outs to yachts uses 50 per cent of expenditure. Many people happily belong to a motoring organisation, perhaps they should support the maritime rescue service in much the same way,” suggests Terry.

Terry Corner can be contacted on 0771 157 6843, e-mail corner.pt@tiscali.co.uk, or by post to Terry Corner, Upway, The Street, Washbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP8 3HR or finally via Harwich Lifeboat Station.
 

Yachtsmen Win the Day at Ramsholt

After a formal application to the East of England Regional Government Office, by a group of river users lead by local landowner and yachtsman Robert Simper, the rights of leisure sailors to use the hard at Ramsholt have now been confirmed and the local estate cannot now apply charges as previously threatened.

It’s the latest stage in a long running battle between water front users and the landowners, the Bawdsey Estate, which owns the surrounding land and the famous Ramsholt Arms pub on the waterfront. Eight years ago the Estate introduced a £100 a year fee for local boat owners to store their tenders in a compound ashore. An attempt to bring in an annual increase was successfully defeated by boat owners. Then the Estate wanted to charge people to land on the old barge quay and slipway and walk along the foreshore.
 

The Excelsior Trust is 25

The Excelsior Trust is 25 years old this year. Set up by John Wylson to look after the Excelsior, the last working sail trawler built in Lowestoft in 1921, the Trust aims to raise the funds to re-engine the vessel, and to refit the Excelsior Yard as a historic marine heritage centre.

The Trust maintains her in full working condition and employs her skipper and crew. Two years ago, to increase her use, the Excelsior Trust linked up with the Cirdan Sailing Trust.

Excelsior is a Lowestoft fishing smack with a gaff ketch rig, 33 metres long (including spars) with a beam of 5.9 metres. She worked as a commercial fishing trawler until 1936, when she was converted to a motor coaster and sailed around the fjords of Norway until John Wylson bought her in 1972. Excelsior was fully restored in 1989 and is widely acclaimed for its unique standard of authenticity. Excelsior is one of a small number of traditional sailing trawlers remaining in the UK, the only sailing trawler that can still tow a traditional full size trawl.

Since 1989, Excelsior has operated as a sail training vessel providing off-shore voyages for young people; since 2005 under the flag of The Cirdan Sailing Trust, providing a greater number of young people with the opportunity for self-development through the experience of living and working aboard a traditional sailing vessel.
 

Rubbish Clogged Rivers

Dumping of building and domestic rubbish on country lanes is a major problem in parts of south Essex. The problem has got so bad it’s affecting some of the local waterways, such as the Roach and parts of Crouch; one particularly nasty area is along the causeway to Wallasea Island. According to the Roach Fairways Conservation Committee, this adds to the amount of flotsam in the river, much of which is non-degradable and washes around the creeks indefinitely.

The committee is calling for a cohesive policy to stop the rubbish being tipped into the rivers.