Apollo
26-07-2011, 09:54 AM
As some of you know, a few of us just did a trip to the Swains on the Norval. I am doing the trip report in two stages. One being the fishing trip side and the other being on the Norval and their operation. Below is the Norval side. I have no affiliation with the Norval or its operators and the opinions expressed below are my own and may not reflect the others aboard.
THE PRE TRIP DEALINGS WITH THE OWNERS:
I must admit that I am a bit of a serial pain in the arse with regards to hounding the owners with question when I am organising a trip, so given a previous bad experience with another company quiet a few years ago, I haven't changed my ways with this trip. The shore based support for this trip by the owners were first class. All questions were promptly answered by email or phone and this made them a pleasure to deal with. Cassy/Treacy were a big help and very eager to assist in anyway they could. Ron, the owner (Cassy's dad) was an older bloke who had been around and keen to build the business after he bought it two years ago. He came along for the trip (we requested it) and was great to have aboard.
Rating 10/10
BOAT:
The Norval is about 40 years old and 60' long. Although she has some age to it, the boat is in generally very good condition and well looked after. It has stabilisers which certainly smooth out the ride and when at anchor/drift, however they can get in the way when drifting in a decent sea and the boys fishing in the middle of the boat did have some issues and I donated 50m of braid and a big fish to being sliced off by the stabiliser. The boat rides in a decent sea very well and is quiet comfortable. The 10 bunks for passengers were in a 2x4 and a 1x2 combination and all air cond making them comfortable enough. There are two showers aboard which are tight but provided a nice hot shower when needed at the end of the day. There is also two toilets aboard which are electronically flushed. Unfortunately, one packed it in halfway through the trip and the last one died 48 hours out which made for interesting last couple of days. Losing both toilets on the one trip is near unheard of, but talking to the owners afterwards, they are planning to add a portapotty aboard to be stored in case this ever happened again. Seating in the lounge area is comfortable, but only seats six, so meals are in two shifts, which really isn't an issue, but there are plans to remodel this during Christmas time to increase capacity. Kitchen and food pre areas are clean and functional. Fishing areas are good with most having a good bait area, rod and beer holders. There are plenty of good storage for fishing gear and drinks in the downstairs hold, but limited upstairs fishing gear storage, but a great big drinking fridge on deck that kept the beer/rum/scotch just lovely. We did discuss the storage of fishing gear with the owners (they grabbed some of us afterwards for feed back) and there are plans to improve this later in the year. The current system isn't bad, but could be improved. There is plenty of rod storage in the racks under the back deck roof. Lighting is good alround and there is a good stereo system, flatscreen TV and DVD player. The boat generally very clean.
Rating 7.5/10
DORIES:
It carries 3 x 4.2m dorries with 15hp yamahas (changed every two years) on the back. Each dory has a radio, flares, seat cushions, rod holders, esky and a bathiscope. They went well. I made up a portable sounder that worked a treat, but it would have been good for each of them to have a basic sounder setup to assist with drifts and finding dropoffs.
Rating 9/10
FOOD:
Everyone commented on how good the food was. Plenty of it, on time and tasty as. Was great to sit down to a great feed three times a day with snacks, etc at any time you want during the day. Some blokes were worried that we would be eating fish every day, but there was not one fish meal. Closest we got was prawns and bugs one night.
Rating: 10/10
CREW:
We had Laurie as a skipper and Murf as a deckie. Both were very competent, good blokes and extremely helpful. It was sometime hard to hear calls for lines up,etc as Laurie is quietly spoken, but that is about all we could comment on. Oh, and Murf can't play cards for jack as Mark/I wiped the floor with him and Shane.
Rating: 9.5/10
Overall, great trip and good operator that I would have no hesitation in going again with them or recommending them to others.
I will add some photos of the boat and interior shortly (once I get them)
Steve
THE PRE TRIP DEALINGS WITH THE OWNERS:
I must admit that I am a bit of a serial pain in the arse with regards to hounding the owners with question when I am organising a trip, so given a previous bad experience with another company quiet a few years ago, I haven't changed my ways with this trip. The shore based support for this trip by the owners were first class. All questions were promptly answered by email or phone and this made them a pleasure to deal with. Cassy/Treacy were a big help and very eager to assist in anyway they could. Ron, the owner (Cassy's dad) was an older bloke who had been around and keen to build the business after he bought it two years ago. He came along for the trip (we requested it) and was great to have aboard.
Rating 10/10
BOAT:
The Norval is about 40 years old and 60' long. Although she has some age to it, the boat is in generally very good condition and well looked after. It has stabilisers which certainly smooth out the ride and when at anchor/drift, however they can get in the way when drifting in a decent sea and the boys fishing in the middle of the boat did have some issues and I donated 50m of braid and a big fish to being sliced off by the stabiliser. The boat rides in a decent sea very well and is quiet comfortable. The 10 bunks for passengers were in a 2x4 and a 1x2 combination and all air cond making them comfortable enough. There are two showers aboard which are tight but provided a nice hot shower when needed at the end of the day. There is also two toilets aboard which are electronically flushed. Unfortunately, one packed it in halfway through the trip and the last one died 48 hours out which made for interesting last couple of days. Losing both toilets on the one trip is near unheard of, but talking to the owners afterwards, they are planning to add a portapotty aboard to be stored in case this ever happened again. Seating in the lounge area is comfortable, but only seats six, so meals are in two shifts, which really isn't an issue, but there are plans to remodel this during Christmas time to increase capacity. Kitchen and food pre areas are clean and functional. Fishing areas are good with most having a good bait area, rod and beer holders. There are plenty of good storage for fishing gear and drinks in the downstairs hold, but limited upstairs fishing gear storage, but a great big drinking fridge on deck that kept the beer/rum/scotch just lovely. We did discuss the storage of fishing gear with the owners (they grabbed some of us afterwards for feed back) and there are plans to improve this later in the year. The current system isn't bad, but could be improved. There is plenty of rod storage in the racks under the back deck roof. Lighting is good alround and there is a good stereo system, flatscreen TV and DVD player. The boat generally very clean.
Rating 7.5/10
DORIES:
It carries 3 x 4.2m dorries with 15hp yamahas (changed every two years) on the back. Each dory has a radio, flares, seat cushions, rod holders, esky and a bathiscope. They went well. I made up a portable sounder that worked a treat, but it would have been good for each of them to have a basic sounder setup to assist with drifts and finding dropoffs.
Rating 9/10
FOOD:
Everyone commented on how good the food was. Plenty of it, on time and tasty as. Was great to sit down to a great feed three times a day with snacks, etc at any time you want during the day. Some blokes were worried that we would be eating fish every day, but there was not one fish meal. Closest we got was prawns and bugs one night.
Rating: 10/10
CREW:
We had Laurie as a skipper and Murf as a deckie. Both were very competent, good blokes and extremely helpful. It was sometime hard to hear calls for lines up,etc as Laurie is quietly spoken, but that is about all we could comment on. Oh, and Murf can't play cards for jack as Mark/I wiped the floor with him and Shane.
Rating: 9.5/10
Overall, great trip and good operator that I would have no hesitation in going again with them or recommending them to others.
I will add some photos of the boat and interior shortly (once I get them)
Steve