Apocalypse Now but with statins not LSD.
There’s a strange but pleasing phenomenon when boating on the Norfolk Broads. It’s when you get there and you’re on the water you immediately forget all of the agro it took to get there. The alarm clock, the rushed breakfast, the traffic, did I mention the traffic, the diversions, and then the interminable route into Wroxham with the breakdown truck on it. Then you see the bridge, you go over the bridge, turn right, see Anthony Landamore, you’re on the water, puff (not the John Inman type, the abracadabra type), aaahhhh.
The Norfolk Broads are magic, it’s why the masses flock there in their thousands, but not on a Monday. We fooled them. We had the place nearly to ourselves.
A very good turn out today, seven boats, some familiar, some new. And some new faces too. This is great because these events are as much about the people as they are about the boats.
From Landamores Wharf we got to the main thoroughfare and turned right to go through the town and under the bridge and beyond. Previously, I’d only poked my nose up this stretch of the river before and had no idea how much I’d missed out on. It’s totally unspoilt and a great place to go if you like looking at trees. Imagine Apocalypse Now but with statins not LSD.
Our destination was Coltishall, and specifically the Kings Head, a little about that later. The journey there was very pleasant, and much of it was spent chatting to folk on the other boats. This is the beauty of electric boats, we can gently pull alongside another boat and chat away like people on a park bench. It’s such a pleasant way to catch up with people that you haven’t seen for a while and hear their news.
The Matriarch of the trip was the Wagtail (see Winter 1997 EBA Magazine). This is a boat that travelled one hundred miles over twenty fours. A veritable task of endurance particularly with Kevin Desmond onboard. (Our President, living in exile in France). Wagtail looked beautiful having been maintained by Landamores and currently owned by John Puddefoot.
Keeping in Landamore land, Anthony Landamore was in fine form on a Mayfly built by Landamores. Andrew Wolstenholme, who actually designed the boat, was at the helm. Anthony was in a party mood and equally well prepared handing out nibbles and wine to anybody who came within arms length.
Every day on a boat is a learning day, and on this day on the Norfolk Broads I learned the origins of Tilly Mint from the owners of Tilly Mint, the electric boat, The Howards. It is a pure term of affection, even when used to gently scold or put someone in their place, it’s deeply rooted as a warm affectionate nickname and it is what Mrs Howards father called her.
My learning continued on google: Many women growing up in the north, particularly in Liverpool, were called Tilly Mint by their family. The most widely accepted historical theory is that “Tilly Mint” (short for Matilda Mint) was originally the nickname given to the women who sold fresh herbs—specifically mint, sage, and lavender.
Tilly Mint is a lovely boat too. A towable 18-plus foot cabin cruiser and a perfect boat for many occasions including overnighting or entertaining.
Always fun to see is the little boat Primrose. Onboard are owner Jeff Kenworthy and John Fitz-Hugh, they’ve known each other for years and both, wait for it, are nuclear physicists, but to me look more like Dick Dastardly and Mutley up to their old tricks as they sit side by side in their vessel. Fortunately there were no signs for them to turn round to misdirect us or for that matter any sightings of Penelope Pitstop.
At the tiller of a boat called Olive, was Emma. It’s her boat. Some people look at home on a boat and she is one of these people. Then I found out her family name is Broom. And the penny drops. Broom is a very famous name around these Norfolk parts and indeed around the UK as boat builders and a wide variety of other boat related services. Olive is a 16’ Mayfly.
Bringing up the rear was Suzy and Robyn Palmer in a Mayfly 21 that they were trialling after a little accident on their own boat. This Mayfly 21 is a very elegant little boat with a counter stern and a shade canopy covering the aft part/picnic area of the cockpit. Very graceful she was too. 1
And then there was me in the Edwin James having to look at Iain Sommerville, trying to look cool. He’s a very talented software engineer and yachtsman, but fashion icon no. Still, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad as Meat Loaf put it. Interestingly Meatloaf would do anything for love but he wouldn’t wear those trousers.
As we chatted and admired each other’s boats we effortlessly advanced towards the Kings Head. On arrival, mooring was straightforward and we made our way to the pub and ordered what turned out to be a real treat.
The Kings Head is an excellent pub, the staff were very accommodating and although we were a large party of over twenty we were able to sit comfortably at one long picnic table outside. We enjoyed very fine cuisine and conversation about this, that and the other with a light seasoning of electric boat.
I made a short speech about what a terrible secretary of the Electric Boat Association I was, everybody agreed. I took the opportunity to talk about a few of the initiatives that we’d like to undertake, like for instance a kit electric boat for schools, or special dispensation for pubs on rivers and canals to have electric charging points. Again, everybody agreed and ordered another action eliminating pint for the trip back.
We gently ambled back to our boats after lunch, not that we could have gone any faster and if the weather was lovely on the way up it was positively balmy on the trip back.
I’d suggested to the software designer that he might like to travel back in Anthony’s Mayfly 16, which gave me the opportunity of travelling back with naval architect Andrew Wolstenholme. You’d expect a naval architect to like boats but from the conversation with Andrew you get the feeling that he really loves boats. His enthusiasm has spilled over into success and the evidence of this is in all of the boats that he has designed in and around the Broads as he pointed them out to me. I was envious of his ouevre.
The software designer also had a great trip back with Anthony who regaled Iain with his mothers sailing stories including sinking in the middle of the Pacific and sailing back from Australia at the age of 80. Its no wonder Anthony has a passion for life.
As so often happens the trip back seems faster and all of a sudden our day on the broads came to an end. Boats were loaded, hands were shaken, kisses exchanged and we all came away much better for a day out on electric boats on the very tranquil Norfolk Broads.
