Ah yes, here is an edit to this post…

Attending the Pin Mill Sailing Club, for a little refreshment, I caught the part where the match report was being made … it transpires that the bowsprit and fast staysails did indeed go out to the Rocks, the slower class sailing a shortened course.” It was somewhat lumpy out there…” Peter Dodds of the Mirosa told me.

Geoff Gransden took his Edith May the wrong side of the Cliff Foot mark, sailing on for two thirds of a mile, he has told me, before turning back after a message came through from the Repertor … they would have clearly had an invincible the lead. But, you see, all was not lost: both Melissa and Niagara did the same, both however did not go back and were thus ‘disqualified’ … there being no third prize. So Repertor was awarded first and Edith May second… Ed, the Edith May’s mate, grinned broadly saying they needed to take more care of passing marks! Cally crew on the Repertor was well chuffed: she said our barge was going well and catching the Niagara…

The drama did not end there: in the slow class, Centaur was awarded first place: although she was so far back at the start she could not see that the other two in he class had gone over the line early … so she won! A good call eh!

Also at the event, Edith May was awarded the winner’s cup for the passage match and Niagara second place. The match was sailed as a ‘cruise in company’ because of the PLA’s reluctance to sanction sailing barges let loose upon there waters. It started from the Medway … why don’t they continue t do so and ‘stuff’ the PLA? The barge trades operated from Rochester (Gillingham as a start) … food for thought, surely!

Ah yes … we left Pin Mill in an absolute calm. There was the faintest of something or other stirring the bobs on several spritsail barges sleeping on the hard, but nothing like we needed to make it to the Deben bar a little after low water.

Pin Mill reflecting…

Our mooring was close to another classic, a fellow Finesse 24, Pippit. It was nice to be in anchorage with a sister … I saw a lovely varnished Finesse 21 in West Mersea a few days ago. The Deben, I knew held several of the fleet within her bosom and I was looking forward to meeting old friends.

Pippit.

Our passage up was largely assisted by the ‘iron topsail’ until the sweep of the river’s eager flow grabbed us. The bar was quiet, the shingle undisturbed, and one of the crew having only just awoken(!) exclaimed in ecstasy as we slipped in, the sun sparkling on the ripples and colouring the myriad of tide washed stones…

Waldringfield was our night time destination … we had all day! Where to I enquired of my brother. “To the top…” he said, eyes lighting up…  So, we went.

Kiboko off Robertsons yard.

By then a fickle north easterly had become more of an easterly with enough pressure to sail with absolute confidence: tacking was needed at times during the sail. We reached a little below Wilford Bridge at Melton some two hours before high water … then proceeded to reach and tack out! For a short period dark clouds shrouded us as jumpers were donned again … the breeze up the top comes in strange directions at times and this tested the helm from time to time. Just short of Waldringfield sails were dumped and we puttered along searching out a free buoy.

Tacking down past a delightful beach under the woods surrounding Sutton Hoo…

A buoy was found off the delightful sailing club where a couple of friendly members pointed me in the direction f the water tap. The buoys are not free’ though: a nominal ‘charge’ – a voluntary donation for the Life Boat Institution (a noble cause) – of £10.

Both us ‘boys’ enjoyed a an hour each sailing around the anchorage in the lug sailed tender during the late afternoon…

After a supper of a delightful fish stew cooked by my brothers partner we repaired ashore for a short walk … to the Maybush Inn for a jar.

Day one done. Grand.

Leaving my good mate at home I broke free of the Lower Thames and made passage down the Swin with my brother crewing … it was a partial darkness sail, well, light is relative and the dawn wasn’t far off for we could see the first signs lighting the tops of the low cloud that hung in the sky.

An easterly was forecasted, and sure enough it was there, but it was benign and feeble. We motor sailed with main up until reaching the Swin Bell we found we had a good slant. From then it was plain sailing to Bradwell. As is almost normal in the Swin we met one of Prior’s little coasters, deep laden with another cargo of sand or ballast for more concreting in London’s metropolis, other than her the water’s were quiet until we met several boats around the spitway crossing…

Down the Swin…

A buoy was ‘borrowed’ at Bradwell and two heads soon hit the sack! It wasn’t long though before our third ‘lad’ for the weekend neared: the good mate having collected our cousin at Rayleigh Station reported that she was on ‘passage’ to us … good girl eh! No sooner was he aboard and a cup of tea had, we set off for a quiet pootle across the Blackwater, by then sparkling under a bright sun, to West Mersea. After a beer and nibbles a supper was enjoyed at the West Mersea YC – fine it was too. My current crew said, “…quite right too…”

The Crew.

After returning to Bradwell on Sunday, my good mate did taxi service again … leaving us to enjoy a walk to St Peter’s on the Wall, a circuit of 7 1/2 miles…  We bought our dear old mum a post ard (not posted yet…). Now if you haven’t visited St Peter’s when in the area of Bradwell, you should. It is fascinating place, even after many visits. It was my brother’s first… We had an early night: a four-o’clock departure was planned (and implemented…)

Now this is a first for me … we had to motor-sail most of the way to Harwich to ensure the tidal gate was made. The winds were fickle to non existent. We did get around two hours of ‘sailing’ if that is the correct term: the tide was doing most of the work … but entering Harwich a nice gentle easterly wafted us up the pretty Orwell where we rounded to a buoy off the hard at Pin Mill.

Sun rise over St Osyths.

Bless his little cotton socks: no sooner had we finished a light repast, my brother was placing fenders and pulling the tender alongside … it was two hours before he returned. I watched as he crept around the sterns of several spritsail barges before sailing along the shore beneath those gorgeous woods … he’s just like me!

The crew captaining his own ship…

Upon visiting both of these places recently I found some changes:

For the Queenborough All Tide Landing, the charge for craft up to 27 feet is now £10, larger craft remain at £12.

The trot boat is thrown in… The boat does finish running relatively early though and it is prudent to use own tender if planning to enjoy the longer evenings ashore…

At the Medway Yacht Club there is now a charge of £5 for visitors.

Skippers/owners should make contact with a ‘boatman’ or the Bosun – who is often around the waterfront – and check mooring availability.

Payment is made at the club’s office whereupon the code for access through pontoon gate (when locked) and into club compound will be given. This code is for the shower units as well.

The charge is probably long overdue: apart from being a useful resource, they do of course have to be maintained!

The MYC floating pontoon on a late September afternoon with a somewhat threatening sky … it didn’t stop the dragon crews from racing though…

By the way, many of the dragons are now dry moored ashore, freeing some moorings. The boatman, when I was last there, told me that the boats kept ashore, and thus clean, tended to have the edge … this system is gaining popularity around our coast.

Smallgains Creek at the eastern end of Canvey Island has recently gained a new addition to the small fleet of craft fishing commercially from here. The boat, a clinker wood ‘Hastings’ type, is something of an oddity in the area. She’s a functional, neat and smart looking thing with a pole mast that is possibly designed to set a lug sail, but I didn’t see one when she passed close by my mooring as I was stowing sails a week or so back.

Canvey’s ‘new’ fishing boat…

I’d seen the boat in the distance some days earlier and wondered where she was based … seeing her up close and clearly heading for home confirmed answers to my questioning mind. I had a camera to hand too…

It looked as if the boat was being used for crabbing or, more likely, gill netting: I’d seen her along the shallows along the Chapman bank. I’ll have to try and catch her skipper and ask…

She certainly adds charm to my little mud creek.

A little job:

Out recently I looked aloft and spotted a wee problem developing to a batten pocket on Whimbrel’s mainsail. I’d gazed upwards to check the sail’s set –  a little after putting a reef in the main on the day we sailed across the Thames to watch some of the Medway Barge Match. I was sure it hadn’t happened then, and during a couple more squalls nothing more untoward was seen to be happening so we let it be, but no matter it clearly needed attention…

Later that day we goose winged across the last of the Thames ebb, down off Shoebury, and edged over from the Richard Montgomery to Southend Pier then up the Ray to a spot along the sands clear of a group of basking seals. Once anchored out came the needle, twine and palm.

The inner end of the batten pocket had clearly caught on something and he stitching had broken out, fortunately the cloth wasn’t damaged … just a case of following the machine stitching holes. Within a few minutes the job was done – ready for tea!

A stitch in time…

This is one of the skills I was taught by my mother when a mere child: it soon became my job to help and finally make repairs to May Flower’s heavy flax sails – see, The May Flower A Barging Childhood…

Well, it had to be done … the night before I’d been at the Oval cricket ground watching Essex dismantle Surrey, though reading the report in The Times, I was clearly at a different match, however… In the Medway barge match and the others that take place during the season, reporting tends to of a more accurate nature … Surrey’s team of allstars including ‘KP’ struggled to 151 … the great man thumped a sure six straight down the ground … only for it to be snatched from the air. The Surrey fans were up on their feet waving ‘6’ banners … the catch was met with a huge chorus of jublation around the ground – was this a home game, I thought as I stood chanting for Essex! Essex looked on course to knock these off in around 15 overs, but still strolled to a grand victory.  Hey Ho!

KP in full flow – second ball – before lofting a catch!

Early on Saturday, a little bleary eyed, we arrived at the boat and were away from our mooring in Smallgains Creek a little before high water. We made a fast passage across to the Medway and made comfortably over the ebb inwards. I had to tack near Cockleshell Beach: I wasn’t going to clear the Gas Jetties sticking out into the slackish water here … Going across to Blackstakes the sky, a uniform grey with a sun peaking out earlier had turned a deep blue/black … I called to my mate, below, that we needed to reef. It was a good call for we were soon bucking short sharp seas that threw up showers of stinging salt – the mate muttered (a little) about what we were doing. My mind was on the barges approaching from the murk ahead of us…

The fleet approaches off Burntwick Island – note the rain bouncing off cabin top! Fleet then led by Niagara, followed by Cambria with Edith May chasing (she caught up quickly…) then there was the EDME…

Edith May sweeps past the Cambria in the squall…

We were soon amongst the barge fleet broad reaching towards us at some speed led by the ‘Medway Queen’ the Niagara, closely followed by the lovely Edith May… Cambria and Edme were hot on their heels with Adieu, and then Repertor, strangely, lagging behind. Her anchor seemed to be below her forefoot: surely a hand brake of sorts … I saw four men eventually heave it up… By then the rain shower and squall had gone a brightness quickly followed. It lit the Repertor wonderfully…

EDME powering past as the rain went as suddenly as it had come…

The Mirosa…

The Adieu…

The ‘hand brake’ was now off…

We were following by then, and I slid over towards the ‘no go area’ off the gas jetties to give the Repertor more room. I hope her skipper noticed! A Finesse sloop hasn’t a hope of keeping up with a barge in the conditions and with a reef in we pottered on behind with the Centaur slowly overhauling us … we caught her up for a short while, then she went away and all were gone. I shook our reef out…

The fleet heads out past Sheerness (Garrison Point)…

We then followed out to No.4 buoy. By then the sun was beaming down on us from a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. Beautiful…

I watched as all the barges rounded, some clearly doing better than others. The EDME then powered up and began to out run her sisters with Mirosa gamely hanging on. I was pleased to see Edith May make up on the Niagara (I’m not biased…) and, it has been reported, win her class.

Perfect sailing weather…

A big well done to all participants should be recorded … I was a little saddened to see a similar sized fleet sitting quietly in St Katharine Dock on Friday afternoon … clearly they weren’t going to take part. Why? Wouldn’t it have been grand to have seen fourteen … sixteen barges out there. Oh well!

Oh yes … I left my new panama hat at the cricket ground … the mate is going to buy me a new one, saying, “as long as you enjoyed yourself…” It was a great two days!

I’ve mentioned the Finesse Rally at Chatham Marina over the recent Bank Holiday weekend, but that was just the first part of our mini cruise covering six days. The mate was in raptures: in the past ‘school reports’ have hung like the sword of Damocles over her head taking up the largest portion of a schools nine day break, with the weekends. For me it is bliss too. When I worked as an engineer officer deep sea I missed most of those traumas!

During our stay in the marina I took the opportunity to take a good look at the fleet of Dunkirk Little Ships that were also meeting over the weekend. Whilst many of the boats are relatively robust and clearly intended for sea/coastal passages, what is so surprising is that so many of the craft are so small. It did mean of course that these little motor boats were able to reach into the shallows to pluck so many weary soldiers off the beaches, but even so. The operators were clearly brave people indeed. It was treat to view them from close hand…

Looking over the fleet of Dunkirk Little Ships…

Anyway, upon leaving Chatham’s safe enclosure we cast ourselves to the ways of the tidal world again, making a passage to the South Deep. It always surprises me to note that, when one has to go down to the Fowley Spit buoy, it is 19 nautical miles… The last part of our journey was somewhat drizzly and making fast to one of the marina buoys and getting the cockpit boom tent over was a blessing!

On the way down river off St Mary’s Island we spied our old friends aboard their barge, the Edith May, with a group of day trippers enjoying the waterway. Leaving them astern we cut straight through the back of Hoo Island – before that I’d failed to see the secretary of the Medway & Swale Boating Association waving wildly at me from his ketch … I’ve humbly apologised after it was mentioned in rally correspondence!

Working sail on the river…

After a quiet night in the company of a rather dapper Dunkirk Little Ship we sailed under jib up to Conyer, for a rest day at the Swale Marina. I’d promised the mate a dinner at the refurbished Ship Inn: rally organising is just a little stressful and ‘she’ deserved a treat… Getting into our berth we had a minor hiccup, an unusual event on our part I must say, but we’ll come to that later.

Sailing, under jib, up Conyer in a light drizzle … the sun was trying too!

After a very pleasant evening at the Ship and another quiet night we departed for Queenborough after saying goodbye to the always helpful staff at the marina. Wind in our favour the sails were hoisted by the time we were passing the house barge at the old Conyer Marine site. With the sun doing its best to break through the cloud layer we turned across the Swale in a series of long tacks, shore to shore, keeping ahead of the sailing barge Greta, short tacking by Elmley to let them through… It was grand.

After a protracted wait for the bridge – maintenance – we still made Queenborough in good time. No sooner was the dear little ship tethered and we were rowing ashore for some fresh stores … for a delicious coq-au-vin. The club wasn’t open it seemed that evening so we stayed aboard enjoying a tranquil evening … the tender had a run out, of course.

Meeting an old friend round the Swale – Windsong of Leigh

Our last day dawned resplendently bathed in sunshine. The mooring was cast off around seven with the engine silent and we crept away quietly to beat the fresh flood out of the Medway’s entrance, before bearing away for our home shores. It was a grand sail. Nearing Southend Pier the mate was sitting on the foredeck, legs dangle overboard, watching for Porpoises or any other sea creature. She was in raptures! We did see a group of seals though, in their usual place, on the side of the Ray Sands. We brought up, nudging the bow onto the shallows, just above them. I went over the side, water felt surprisingly warm for time of year – as we found out the week before when scrubbing and antifouling the boat’s bottom… I wanted to scrub the marina grime from the sides.

Searching the sea…

Later, after coffee and cake we sailed away from the anchorage and went directly into Smallgains Creek, shooting the sail down short of our mooring … we nosed in … within ten minutes we were tied up. Both were exhilarated…

Earlier, when over the side, I was able to get a ‘proper’ look at ‘our little hiccup’ of a few days earlier. Going into our berth I got caught by a cross current and the wash from a big motor yacht on the approach. Seeing it was going to go ‘wrong’ I went full astern and scuffed my rubbing strake on the thick hard edge of a GRP yacht’s transom. No damage to the other boat, thank goodness: I feel bad enough anyway… Our damage was skin deep. A bruise… It’s been cut out and small graving piece let in, glued and screwed … with several coats of varnish already.

The ‘patch’ will act as a reminder that although ‘we’ have sailed Whimbrel for thirty-one years, the thirty-second still shows that one’s awareness needs to be constant!

www.edithmaybargecharter.co.uk

www.mdlmarinas.co.uk/mdl-chatham-maritime-marina

www.swalemarina.co.uk

Wow, did we ever have a fantastic rally again with weather that was, for a Bank Holiday weekend, reasonable. The weather controls so much of our lives and we had a good share of the sunshine around.

Mariette joins Whimbrel in Stangate Creek…

We had three boats collecting in Stangate Creek – Whimbrel, Mariette, both F24s, and Ivy May, a F21 – and enjoyed a pre-dinner drink with nibbles together. There were six squeezed into Whimbrel’s main cabin…  Two F21s, Alwen O Wynt and Seamew made it to Queenborough. Moon Song, a F24 went straight up to Chatham. I had a rather lovely after supper sail in Whimbrel’s tender as the evening closed in…

The three ‘Pickles’ from Mariette and Ivy May aboard Whimbrel…

On Saturday, the Stangate crowd set of a little later than ‘planned’ with the two other boats going on ahead. The three of us sailed up in a line to the Lock at Chatham’s MDL marina and locked in with Seamew… I was a colourful and exciting sigh with many sightseers loitering around the locks railings… We soon berthed with the two other craft. Penny of Leigh, a F21, joined a little later along with Martha IV.

Whimbrel arriving… Mark Milsom.

The assembled fleet before Martha IV arrived. By Mark Milsom F24 Pippit, based at Pin Mill.

A convivial BBQ was enjoyed with some seven other boat crews who had travelled by road. The ‘rally cake’ was cut by Terry Cotgrove, Penny, and daughter Zara. Terry has owned Penny since her build 46 years ago … a fitting tribute, we all felt.

On Sunday there was a relaxed day with plenty to interest punters: a dragon boat race event was taking place in the middle basin of the old dockyard. Some took the opportunity to visit the historic yard museum, others nattered and snoozed… Alan Fuller, yard manager up at Robertsons of Woodbridge also visited and was delighted to see so many well maintained craft  he loves wood!

The Rally Fleet early on Sunday morning…

A Chinese buffet meal was enjoyed that evening, as before…

As the evening moved on people drifted to their bunks … most were off early. We left around 1100…

It was a great event, as said. I’d loved to have seen more of the class present. We have yet to entice a F28 out to join in. Do please come along…

Thoughts were aired about next time. All want one. With my mate we have given ourselves the task to organise the next … then it’ll be a job open to another.

See also:

http://www.eastcoasteventsguide.co.uk/events/event-report-catch-up-on-what-has-happened

http://msba.org.uk/?p=1611

The all tide landing is up and running again … this will be good news for many people.

On my last visit we resorted to using the concrete hard … a return to life as it used to be. Exciting…! See earlier post of 6th May 2014.

Well done to all concerned.

See: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Queenborough-Harbour-Trust/113577585430643

The Clipper Yachts in Queenborough last September with the GB entry alongside the All Tide Landing.

See also, http://msba.org.uk/?p=1591 which has ‘just’ gone up…