A bit of a delight was found under our Christmas tree, a present from my dear mate, a book. The book, Arthur Ransome Master Storyteller, By Roger Wardale, has been around for some while, however, it’s title hadn’t fell my way. Christobel said that she found it while we were away on holiday in Norfolk…

The start of the year was punctuated for us by the failure of our propeller key making it imperative for a lift out. This was our first at The Blackwater Marina. It all went swimmingly well and the team listened to my ‘foiballs’ about chocking up… Beccs, the manager, kindly gave me a telephone number…

The cockpit sole boards aboard Whimbrel have needed to be stripped back for a couple of seasons. The paint layer thickness was becoming excessive (notoriously tough resistance to sanding!) and in places adherence was breaking down. As an experiment, I had applied a single coat of a different non-slip paint from Teamac as I was…

There are many areas where a conservancy fee is ‘normal’ such as the Broads, inland waterways and river areas above the tidal limits such as the Thames and Medway in the south, but this news in the link below of what Peel Ports Clydeport wish to do is a bit of a shocker, or is…

Reading the article below reminded me of a ‘man overboard’ incident from Whimbrel with my good mate, Christobel, being the victim. We were berthing in Limehouse Marina during Easter week, April 2017. We had gone up for two reasons – to see a Passion Play at Trafalgar Square and see the tall ships which congregated…

Whilst on holiday with the Mate based in a cottage in Holt, N. Norfolk recently we came across by complete accident a lovely museum dealing with boats of the Norfolk coast. The museum, a working boatyard as well, is based at the former artillery training ground at Stiffkey. The site has all sorts within its…

The first tender to Whimbrel was a little 8′ Tepco GRP moulded dinghy. It was a great carrier with a full bilge, but sweet she wasn’t being a bit of a tub. In time after the demise of our Mirror dinghy, the tender was refitted with a dagger board and rudder made from the Mirror’s…

I had taken the two part pole for booming out the Whimbrel’s headsails home for refurbishment as the ‘main’ part looked distinctly crabby. Once dismantled I set too with a heat gun to strip the main pole of varnish. I quickly discovered the dreaded rot. The pole had to have a section cut off its…

Now, if you had said to me eighteen months ago: ‘You’re going to sail to a new home soon…’ I’d have laughed outright. The mate would agree for she too, with reservations, was enjoying the camaraderie of the part of the Island Yacht Club we inhabited. Weekend work party was a time to meet people…

During the early summer a film was released about ‘Wind, Tide and Oar’ by a film maker and ‘ardent’ supporters of the non use of propulsive power in the boat’s belly. The mate and I attended one of numerous showings of the film aboard the Sea-change Sailing Trust’s barge, Blue Mermaid, which had received a…

The mate had expressly asked for a visit into Tollesbury – it would only be an overnighter: tomorrow will be our penultimate day. Besides, I wanted to ‘raid’ the local butcher’s shop for a proper pork chop, cut to order!m. Our ‘last supper’ tomorrow night. We were only moored in West Mersea, so it was…

We were bound up the River Medway from Queenborough to Upnor. It was a calm start with just enough puff to fill main and Genoa. We crept slowly away from our buoy, gradually slanting across tide towards the shallows. Soon after beginning to reach up Saltpan, a rapid increase in the wind strength persuaded me…

It has been a very long time since we last had a night’s stop-over in Lower Halstow Dock, back to before Edith May’s days. I’d contacted Geoffrey Gransden to clear our visit: the Edith May was away sailing up the East Ciast. As we came abreast of the chosen mooring position astern if the TSBs…

Due to our move to a new mooring area, we did not sail into Faversham last year. Future visits are highly likely to be less frequent than we have enjoyed in the past. So, it was with seemingly fresh eyes that we entered the creek a couple of days ago, managing to largely lazily sail…

Familiar or what! The problem of unwanted craft around our UK moorings and boatyards along with discarded and abandoned vessels along creeks and riverbanks has been an increasingly sticky problem. It is something our European cousins have cottoned onto too. A figure placed on such craft sits at around a million vessels. Of what minimum…

Whilst in Scotland during May and early June, Christobel bought me a book she found in Fort Augusta about Scottish boat types. I wasn’t too sure, but looked interesting with a cursory flick through – ‘I am glad I said yes please…’ The author Ian Stephen has had a long association with Scottish craft, being…

The Mate and I have been on a two week heist to the West Coast of Scotland with a Northumbrian stop-over on our way home. We have had two sessions in the western isles waters aboard the fifty-foot gaff cutter Eda Fransden (One is told about in my recent book: Sailing through life…) After a…

Some while ago now I serviced the four lifejackets carried aboard Whimbrel and renewed our lifebelt. These jobs are just part of the well trodden list of ‘must do’ things all boaters enjoy! But, do all boaters do these ‘simple’ checks? When the RNLI is called out so often to people crewing vessels with shortcomings,…

‘So…’ my good mate began to say, adding, ‘what are you going to do when I’m in London on Wednesday?’ And without pausing, grinning wickedly, added, ‘why don’t you have a night down river with your mistress…’ Having recovered from a blush: I’ve never ever had ‘the enjoyment of a mistress’ I wasn’t sure the…

Something in a Marine Industry News bulletin came to my attention recently; Spirit Yachts of Ipswich are building a new ‘mini’ J Class. The class was known as the Q Class. These were an American designed yacht specifically used as club racing and as a test bed for the J Class yachts and their crews.…