The Faversham Festival for traditional craft is approaching well, it’ll soon be upon us. The event is taking place over the weekend of 23rd and 24th July. Events are open between 1000 – 1800. Various craft can be viewed and visited. Those wishing to book berths for their craft need to contact www.faversham.org Berthing is…

The good ship is still propped up ashore looking ‘spick and span’ for this year’s rally. We still have a bit of her decks to finish, but the camera couldn’t see that! The Skipper hard at work… The finished result with lines cut in! Anyway, we left off doing ‘bat work’ for the weekend. On…

We had been getting on with the spring maintenance for several weeks, interspersed with sailing on the tide and our over joy, walking. But this year we decided the top sides needed a little attention – mainly because a number of fastening heads had ‘popped’ spoiling the finish! So, booking a lift out at my…

I received this email from a Finesse group member living ‘up north’ who has, for personal reasons, got to sell his beloved craft. This is always a sad event and we will all have to at some point (as my family keep telling me!) in our lives. I can only wish them well… Hi nick,…

Blog updated Tuesday 7th June with news from a reader, Leigh man Norman, owner of Shearwater, the SK23 pictured within… I’d not been well over the weekend, spending most of Saturday prone… So, feeling a little better on Sunday, but not ready for a ‘long’ country walk, the mate and I drove down to Old Leigh for a…

Out on the water one often sees lots of different boat types. Sometimes I look at the way boats are seemingly left, rotting, on their moorings. There are a number of these up my own creek, clogging a berth for someone who might be waiting for a berth, but that’s a different problem, however connected.…

A couple of weeks ago I spoke of my belief in the immanent arrival of spring. Well it has definitely arrived. My Mate and I got out on the tide, after I’d fitted a new oil lamp below – leaving the Mate getting the boat ready! We’d gone creek-wards laden with a generator, drill and…

The Wapping Group’s annual show is about to start … it runs from Monday 29th February to Saturday 4th March 2016. It is at the Mall Galleries, just off Trafalgar Square. Times are 1000 – 1700 Monday to Friday and 1000 to 1600 on Saturday. Call Mall Galleries on 020 7930 6844. www.mallgalleries.org.uk Also see…

Ah yes. My good mate was off on a wander across country driving a cousin of mine to see my aunt. It was an errand to help out a cousin of mine, in the main, but the mate has a soft spot for her and my aunt too… Bless her. So, when the cats away…

Hi All, So very sorry … Swinging the Lamp is going to be late off the press. I’m disappointed, yes, but since, as I said to someone recently, I’ve been working on this project for a considerable number of years and after having to wait upon my other main publisher for qualification of a ‘verbal…

I’d forewarned a friend of mine that today looked good for a sail … I’d got out on Tuesday this week rather unexpectedly, which made it all the nicer! My friend popped ’round’ after my return having been hard at it, up the road from me, digging his allotment… We had a pot a pot…

Favourite ships, well, perhaps not in the complete sense: one, the dear old Cutty Sark, isn’t actually a ship any more. The other is an imprint within my childhood memories of life on the River Medway, the Arethusa, or as she is known now, the Peking, a German built nitrates carrier, before she became TS…

Tall Ships Festival – Greenwich: Two items have come to my attention, well, I’ve known awhile, but the latter is now going to happen too, rather than being an idea. In 2014 the Tall Ships came up the River Thames to Greenwich – Whimbrel was sailing down river as most of the vessels came up…

Swinging the Lamp – Thames Estuary Tidal Tales Publishing date is now 25 February 2016. Here is the publishers press information sheet…

From the Cruising Association – Kent Area secretary Clifford Mickleburgh.  Winter Warmers 2015 – 2016 [2nd Thursday of each month starting after supper at 8pm] both members and non-members are very welcome and are held at: The Dog & Bear, The Square, Lenham, Kent, ME17 2PG. Tel: 01622 858219. The members usually meet for a…

Ah yes, I’ve been on the verge of becoming fractious: we’re half way through the season of Advent, well on the way to Christmas and my inner self, never mind the mind, knew that it had been a little while since I’d communed with my little boat … other than resealing a couple of windows.…

Goodness me, hasn’t it been a windy month! One good thing comes from this aspect of the past month or so: I’ve done a lot of work towards my next book, the one to follow in the path of Swinging the Lamp. Although it isn’t folowing in the same fashion as my previous works: that part…

These two ‘old girls’ were found whilst taking my mother around some old haunts and then on another day into a well known ‘garden centre’ (come general store…) in South Essex. The first, in Leigh-on-Sea, looked decidedly like a Walker Dinghy – mahogany clinker in structure and sad looking indeed. She had a name plate with Swatch…

I was sent tickets (for myself and the mate) for the annual show of art works by members of the Wapping Group – this year held at the Minster Gallery in Winchester. At first I thought we’d not be able to go, but looking at our planned route for a holiday in Dorset, it conveniently placed…

Here is some news of my latest book – Swinging the Lamp: Thames Estuary Tidal Tales. The new book is to be published on 18th February 2016 by Fonthill Media. It can be preordered on the link below: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swinging-Lamp-Thames-Estuary-Tidal/dp/1781554986/ref=sr_1_10_det?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446117597&sr=1-10#productPromotions Colour Section: Fonthill Media, my latest publisher, has seen fit to place the bulk of the…