Some weeks ago a new member of my yacht club shocked me with a report that the Blackwater Marina was being closed down. This struck me as odd: I keep my ear close to the ground and had been looking ‘them’ up fairly recently… The informant has kept his vessel on the Blackwater for a number of years and is a member of a local club, so the bells began to ring: we like to ‘pop’ in to the place during summer cruising.

The marina has a full range of craft from those being refurbished ashore, smart smacks, trad yachts and GRP types as well as a few live-aboards. It has a fantastic slipway and a drydock which accepts spritsail barges. The village has all one needs to live well afloat…

There wasn’t anything on the marina’s web site to substantiate the claim so I contacted…

The Blackwater Marina – unfortunately I took this for the ‘abandoned’ boat I’ve featured before… 

From the manager I received a humorous reply. He said:

‘I have absolutely no idea where the rumour came from … any site planning application is for the portion formally owned by Straight Edge Mfg … and has nothing to do with us. Please inform your source that it (the marina) will be operating as is with some improvements for years to come, at least until Essex sinks into the North Sea!’

So, there we have it. Thankfully…