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’…

The Saturday Times, 8 May 2021, has a piece about licensing to drive a boat, by Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Correspondent. This is expanded to state ‘…anyone seeking an engine-driven boat of any size would need to present a license.’ What does this mean? The powers currently do not exist and would require legislation, and…

We’d enjoyed an overnight trip to the River Medway with a stopover in Queenborough. It was our first of the year and we enjoyed sublime weather for it. A few days later, we were out walking around our local woods partaking of ‘morning exercise’ when I casually said to Christobel, ‘You know the main cabin…

On cue, on Monday 29th March, we, in England, were released from hard lockdown to go afloat on a ‘cabined’ craft, maintaining household bubbles. The weather was predictably windy but glorious drying sunshine poured down too – so some varnish repairs were stuck into. Lots more to do – a late start too! The fore…

During the summer of 2019 whilst berthed in Titchmarsh Marina, I did what I have done for many years and walked the yard looking at the craft. Some newer craft have an appeal and some of the older boats certainly, but it is usually the ‘graveyard’ that interests me most! A ‘graveyard’ section can be…

There is an organisation driving the acceptance of harbours as heritage ‘hot spot’ worthy of protection and an enhanced ability to attract funds. The forefront of this is currently bedded in the Thames Estuary area. The initiative held a meeting recently and interested persons should contact Brian Corbett at briancorbett@aol.com for further information and or…

A reminder of better days to come… After I had my sail on New Year’s Day, equally enjoyed by the mate and ‘boy’ it became increasingly likely that England would go into a full lockdown. We did! I got myself organised and collected various ‘pieces of wood’ from my little sailing tender Twitch and also…

Last summer when we were sailing out of Crayford Creek, we had to gybe more than was normal due to the nature of the bends and wind direction. It was also a little breezy. The upshot was that when I stowed the main on our approach to a mooring at the Erith Yacht club, I…

An email fluttered ‘onto the door mat’ yesterday from a disgruntled purchaser of goods from Anglesey Welding & Marine Supplies. Still not happy with my unit. Probably the worst buying choice of my entire sailing life! See my blog after my own experience of company – never sorted! A tale of woe came from Dublin,…

The Covid-19 crisis has meant that a large number of craft have spent the best part of 18 months laid up since being lifted out at the end of the 2019 season. Looking back, I seem to remember that many yards, club and commercial, seemed to be pretty full even before the crisis, so the…