2023 Salhouse Meet - Hampton Safari Boat Club

2023 Salhouse Meet

Events > 2023 Events

The 2023 Salhouse Meet event was held on Monday 19th June. We had the maximum complement of boats (24) sign up in advance of the meet to fully occupy the Salhouse No2 moorings, our favourite spot! 😎👍

Arriving at 10:30am to check everything was ready we were greeted to the welcome sight of a fully reserved No2 Mooring with Robert and Elaine (Minnow) ready and waiting in the middle with a welcome cup of coffee ready for us...The Rangers excelled this year!

Crews tended to naturally form into smaller "chat groups" this year in contrast to the huge circle that appeared naturally previously. The smaller groups were well received especially by crews attending for the first time.

On the day, we had a total of 21 of 24 boats attending as,due to circumstances beyond their control, Clive (Dungraftin) rescheduled NHS procedure, Pete and Pat (Sunny) - boat repairs had to cancel and Geoff & Judi (Moonshine) attended by car/on foot instead of by boat.

Bty late afternoon, all boats were accounted for except "Just Bobbin" which hadn't arrived, but their place had beens taken by a fortuitous visit by "Blue Tit". Did not realise until Diane & Pete put me right after the meet (that Just Bobbin = Blue Tit but the name has not yet changed on the boat) 😀😀😎...

Crew Names	Boat Name
Dave & Trish	Free Spirit
Geoff & Judi	Moonshine
Ted	Wild Thyme
Elaine and Robert	Minnow
Pete & Marrianne	Doris
Kathy & Gary	Lady Muck (Guest)
Les + 1	Hyperion 3
Colin and Linda	Queenie B
Dave	Regal Safari
Alan	Maudie
John and Mel	Tight Lines
Claire and Lawrence	Opal

Crew Names	Boat Name
Mark & Miranda	Mara
Jim and Lin	Absolute Bliss
Alan & Moyra	Xena
Liz & Tony	Veyatie
Clive & Debbie	Dungraftin
Debbie & Steve	Sparcol
Dave	Shnnon
Mel & Shirley	Sapphire
Keith & Zoe	Lanson
Peter & Pat	Sunny
Diane & Pete	Just Bobbin
Jim	Chiltern Lady (Guest)

The meet followed the usual informal format catching up with old and new friends, viewing boats, discussing latest "boys toys", customisations and problem solving. Hot topics this year included bow thrusters, saloon table options, wonky impellor shafts, intermittent pumps and broken fridge to name a few! 😀👨‍🔧👍

The day stayed sunny and very warm into the evening which always helps! Several crews even managed to stretch their legs...and go for a walk...as far as the Fur & Feather for a bite to eat and/or a "cooler" or two...Others took advantage of the warm, dry evening for bank side barbeques and grills and al fresco dining....

Mel and Miranda were a little disappointed at the lack of bunting displayed this year unlike on previous occasions, so we resolved to rectify that at next year's meet and may combine it with resurrecting the outburst of fairy lighting from a few years back, and/or introducing a new fun based boat dressing challenge (at their request)....more details in 2024...

I was also reminded that I had mentioned a CIC from Salhouse to Ranworth/Malthouse Broad on our joining instructions but had not thought any more of it! Some hasty planning took place, and the CIC plans were roughly outlined and communicated to anyone up for it the following morning....

Waking up and looking outside on Tuesday morning revealed a very different damp and dismal looking day!

Some boats and crews had to leave early or were heading in the opposite direction to the CIC for their return journeys so around 16 boats took part in the trip to Ranworth...

Boats circled around Salhouse Broad while everyone got off the moorings, leaving the geese and bystanders on the other Salhouse mooring wondering what was going on.

Once everyone was ready we headed out towards Ranworth via Horning at a steady 4 mph with little other river traffic to cause any concern...it was quite a sight!

The attempt to line up at the end in Malthouse Broad had not not been discussed previously with the crews (🙈🙊) and the steady side wind pushed the first few boats together a little too quickly 😱🙈. To avoid damaging each others boats the attempt was abandoned confusing one and all (see the video below) 😲😳🥴.

(Note to Self: Next time line up head to wind not across it!!) 😵🥴🤐