During August, we’d popped up into St Osyth for a night after booking a berth with the yard at the head of the creek – home port of the spritsail barge EDME. Upon leaving we had a night in Brightlingsea to use the shower facilities and get a ‘shed load’ of laundry done! There are…

New flowers in early January when we were deeply in the second full scale Covid-19 lockdown were apt for what I was getting up to when not walking and varnishing dinghy bits and other stuff… Current projects: I do have more up my sleeve but when this will come to fruition, I cannot at the moment…

Autumn is properly with us now in my little corner of England and sailing out on a tide has resumed. First the Brent arrived and then the terns disappeared. Flocks of overwintering waders have arrived too. The Brent geese were a little early, I thought, signalling perhaps harsher conditions on their home territory. Home: I…

Abandoned vessels have almost become the norm around the Thames estuary shores. A news item recently in the maritime press – Leisure Marine – has highlighted the problem of the end of life for boats. See: https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/about/ Some interesting ‘stuff’ is discussed in this industry media outlet… It used to be common for old wooden…

Sailing towards Harty ferry during the first week of September we passed by the disused Turkey Cement Works Dock on Elmley Island between Ridham Dock and Grovehurst Jetty on the ‘north/south’ section of the West Swale. Earlier this year I had spotted a trailer-able yacht of around 26 to 28 ft out of the water…

Have a staycation, the Government, media and travel industry said. great, we always have a staycation in the summer… It was all a very good idea for the many people who normally chuck bucket loads of money into a foreign holiday. That money has been fuelling a boom in house renovations, camping, caravanning and boating…

Some while ago I wrote about a few of the barge-yachts I knew about and of the lovely Tiny Mite which I’d learnt had then come onto the market. The little ship has been extensively rebuilt, sadly, however, the owner no longer has the health to enjoy his years of work. Walking past the Leigh-on-Sea…

Wow, what a success this year’s Queenborough’s Traditional Festival was. The weather was kind and puff-ball clouds slowly crossed sunny blue skies after early morning high grey cloud cleared away. A late summer carnival atmosphere soon enveloped us all, with people wanting to visit the assembled fleet… I’m told that nearly 2000 people visited the…

While visiting Brightlngsea I had a walk around the hard standing within Morgan’s boat yard. Over the years I have followed with my camera the progress, or not, of long term projects. It has been at least three years since my last walk around and changes have happened. The yard has undergone a few changes.…

While enjoying a couple of days tied up in Fox’s Marina at Bourne Bridge just below Ipswich, I spotted an ‘old America’s Cup yacht parked up among some other craft being worked on by their owners. As I wandered the extensive down river end of Fox’s lay-up facilities, I came across two further America’s Cup…

It is always sad to see craft laid up ashore awaiting the return of an owner to carry on. It is clear that very often these little ships are doomed. Ragged covers flutter around against hulls with peeling paint and open seams. Sometimes the covers no longer exist. The collection shown are all up the…

On Thursday 15th July I sailed into Conyer with my sister and two friends as none of them had been up the creek before. We had food aboard and one of the crew got a bolognese sauce on the go on the way round the Swale. Visiting the Ship Inn, for a pre-dinner beer or…

A little while ago I had a conversation with the current owner of the Finesse 24, Seaden. He asked if I could help with her sale… At the time the owner was suffering from a ‘back ailment’ and was waiting for an operation. I advertised her on the Finesse face book group page – private,…

Sailing into the anchorage at the South Deep a week or so back, I noticed something didn’t look ‘right’ on a boat that has been moored up on the mud flats below Butterfly Wharf for a number of years. Later, after the mate had had a row in the tender, I pottered off after supper…

Wanting to take two sets of friends on trips to Conyer, a Finesse group from the island YC and my sister and friends’ trip, postponed from last year, we contacted Swale marina for a berth. Swale Marina was closed to visitors for the Covid-19 Summer of 2020 and had remained closed since. I had booked…

During a recent week away pottering around the lower Medway and around the Swale we enjoyed a couple of days up Faversham Creek savouring the delights of the historic town sitting at the creek’s head. We berthed at iron Wharf, having pre-booked our visit. We were placed alongside the spritsail barge Ironsides upon which Toby…

My yen to read more of E. Arnot Robertson’s work came about after reading the delightful Thames Portrait, about a trip down river from the source to the sea. It was written by Eileen and illustrated by her husband Henry E. Turner. Eileen had written many novels by this time. Her husband, Henry, was the…

During the Covid-19 crisis, there has been a persistent ‘bleating’ on the media by people who have not been able to see their elderly loved ones in care homes. This has been an experience many of us have had to put up with for a very long time. The furore is understandable to some extent,…

From Australia, yes. And too, from closer to home, less than 100 miles across the North Sea! An ‘old’ Leigh man contacted me recently from far off Australia. The chap, Derek Ellard now lives down under having settled in He was endeavouring to make contact with an old friend who had once owned the barge-yacht…

For many years May Flower’s cabin lamp has hung in the last two of my mother’s homes, decorously, but never lit. My sister found a new shade/reflector glass for it some years ago too… A couple of years ago, I asked my mother (after talking to my other three siblings) if she minded ‘me having’…