As I have been away from home I haven’t been able to see a copy of Rochester to Richmond in the ‘flesh’, however, now I have: my good mate, wife Christobel, has purchased her own copy… She was in floods of tears as she showed it to me! Silly ‘old’ thing! Rochester to Richmond: A…

One of the joys of cruising the east coast is the way one often meets with old friends. These may be people or craft in my mind. Here though I shall specifically refer to various craft met before. One of the places I really enjoy is Woodbridge. Not for the town alone: along the shore…

In the past couple of weeks we have been subjected to a few cases of poor etiquette, so it has occurred to me that perhaps this is an area of sea going lore that is on the wain, or sadly, has died. Currently we are sailing on the River Deben. We had sailed up to…

‘Let’s go to Bridgemarsh,’ I said to my Mate when planning our last few days on the Crouch and Roach. Bridgemarsh marina (boatyard) sits up the named creek inside Bridgemarsh Island which was flooded many years ago. It was once farmed and also had a brickworks. The old hard still runs across. The island is owned…

My dear wife and Whmbrel’s Mate had given up her place to allow my sister and two friends to sail aboard the good ship and one of the places we wandered into was Wivenhoe, a place I’d not been to for some while, favouring Rowhedge! We’d spent the night in a quiet little spot beneath…

Well, the full cover pdf has arrived. One small change to wording of the blurb in hand, but I have decided to post as is… Rochester to Richmond Full Cover   I hope all can open the ink. It’s marvelous what can be done out at anchor these days, I was talking earlier to a…

Long ago a chap from New Zealand contacted with words of support and admiration for my writing – something I always find difficult to handle! During the intervening years this fine fellow has fed me with snippets of information and sometimes whole ‘e’ books found on the web. Some years ago I took the chap…

Last weekend we sailed away from our home waters and made for Queenborough – it was my birthday weekend. I fancied a pie at the Old House at Home. Which we did, after sampling the brews at a new little mico-pub on the lane leading to the creek harbour. Huge numbers of Dutch yachts were…

How many times have you leant awkwardly over the bow of your craft to reach down to a mooring buoy with a boat hook to catch an eye? More often than not the ‘eye’ is a shackle which is resting on its side. The bow is moving up and down to wash and wind waves.…

It all seemed a very long time ago when I said to my wife and shipmate, that I would like to make a go of a passage up the London River to view the tall ships which were due to congregate for a parade start to their seasonal voyaging. This year the series runs in a…

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…

Last week on holiday in East Sussex I had a free few hours and had a gander around Rye Harbour sniffing along the water’s edge. The Mate was otherwise engaged, so I was alone. The fish quays along by ‘The Salts’  in Rye Harbour were busy with boats. I watched as one boat lifted some…

Well, what a week we had here in the southern foot of Essex. Temperatures up to 18 degrees and another dry period. Having not got a lot of sailing under my belt so far this season (I was out of it for February due to illness!!) I sneaked out for a couple of hours last…

My tip if you are like-minded with a traditional looking craft, or even are caring for a historical maritime gem, is go to Faversham this summer for the Maritime Festival at the head of the creek. The Faversham Festival takes place on 22nd and 23rd July but many craft arrive on the Friday tide. The…

One of the joys of winter sailing is the huge flocks of birds encountered. These come in many forms in my neck of the woods ranging from tiny little grebe to, unfortunately, Canada geese, but of those I saw none on a stolen sail at the end of this last week. It was an age…

The little ship yard of C. Toms & Son of Polruan down on the Fowey had news of a new Cornish fruit schooner being planned on its facebook page. That’s interesting, I thought. The vessel, a replica of the Jane Slade, is to be built from steel … I wondered if the yard had had…

Two major maritime events take place on the Thames and Medway this year. They are both in their own way of historical significance too. The first is in April and is at Greenwich on the River Thames. The waterside town is hosting tall ships for a maritime festival which kick-starts ‘their’ sailing season. Vessels will…

A Finesse colleague called and asked if I could advertise the sale of his treasured Finesse 24. It is something that will surely come to me, eventually. The owner wrote: I am reluctantly putting Dream of Baloo up for sale and wondered if her details could be added to the For Sale list? Due to…

Farewell 2016, you have been kind to me, the Mate and Whimbrel this last year. But, I know it hasn’t been the same for all sailors: this last year we lost a good sailing friend a keen and long standing Finesse 21 owner, Terry. May Terry sail upon a sister on a sea perpetually soft,…

It comes but once a year … Christmas. Some hate it, others love it, but it should be celebrated for all the right reasons. For nearly 15 years one of the chaps who attends our local church has given ‘us’ the top cut from a tree felled in his ‘tree field’: he used to grow…