Creeksailor

Extreme Rill & Ditch Crawling - Douglas Went Punt Photo

2012-01-24T18:04:00.060Z

Rill Punting Video Clip Added Below

A marvelous days punting, topped by a sighting of a Hen Harrier, literally 20 feet away. The owl like bird took to flight as we edged along the ditch - what a glorious sight. Many other ducks were resident, in large flocks not seen in these numbers for some time. All were observed from the punt.
The punt is two inches under 16 feet long which makes the tiny ditches great fun poling through the tighter extremes of the bends.

With their small cruisers tucked up on trailers, two Blackwater small boat sailors take to extreme 'rill' crawling in the duck punt. The River Blackwater is full of places like this, where you can get real close to nature. The punt has come into its own this winter, being well used to its advantages. Does not get any better than this for a winter ditch crawl.

Creeksailor takes his punting seriously. A vintage flavour to duck punting.

Practising waterman skills in the duck punt. We eventually reached the foot of Linnets little cottage garden. These photos are quite historic in themselves being the first time in many decades that a punt has been photographed on these marshes.

On the saltings. As part of our homage to Walter Linnet it was only right that we produced a Creeksailor 2012 take on the classic 1939 Douglas Went photograph.

My punt is named Marsh Duck and she is pretty typical in appearance of many Blackwater punts that were built at waterside locations such as Maldon, Heybridge, Tollesbury and Mersea, being an open punt.
I love animals and wildlife so use her for shooting photographs and ditch crawling but they would have been used back in another world, now long gone when the weekly food shop would have had to be pulled in off the marshes. Some punters or 'sea-gunners' preferred decking with coamings, which gives them a little more protection from shipping water.

However If you know what to look for they can still be found. They peep pointed ends from behind wooden sheds. They lay in saltings waiting for a tide, or covered by tarps on edge against walls. Their painted battleship greys give clues to a common trait, stealthness. A few of them crowd front gardens or lay abondoned-like in corners of compounds lashed to trollies until the alarm call of high water sees them off down the lanes to the hards of Blackwater creeks where spritsails are often set for small-boat cruisng adventure.

Other East Coast rivers produced punts and to compare a friend has a fully decked, almost kyak like punt 22 feet in length which is absolutely huge in comparison to Marsh Duck, that was built in the fifties by a well known punt builder on the River Stour.
Punts were also used prolifically on the Norfolk Broads where today they appear perhaps a slightly lower profile and fuller beam and are now sailed like dinghies. South of the Thames I would have thought Kent had its punters to, being as there is an abundance of saltmarsh around but to date I have not read anything about Punting in the county or of a particular punt. Although it may be because I have not looked for any either.

For the traditionalist and practical man who is useful with hand tools such as a carpenters saw or the smoothing plane and sharp chisels, punts are a very realistic and to an extent economical way to self produce a local boat with a history that dates back generations. I built Marsh Duck to the exact specification of her plans which were drawn up by retired Blackwater shipwright and boatbuilder John Milgate for his own use, a lovely man who's connection to the magical creeks of the Blackwater could well date as far back as those Roman oyster fishers who tended these creeks 2000 years ago, and who helped me over many frosty but sunbathed days, a couple of winters ago, with her construction. This was invaluable as to the layman the boat may look simple enough but in fact there are many little subtleties that make it what it is a Milgate/Wyatt type gun punt. For this type of punt plans may now be obtainable at duckpunt.org If you are thinking of going to the trouble of obtaining plans, to ignore them, well you would be ignoring the whole meaning for owning one of these punts, you may as well go and buy a canoe as this is a hell of a lot easier and less costly even. Build your punt to spec and you will have a sturdy craft to last you many years. One that not only can take an 8 or 9 foot gun (if that is your thing) but can be sailed, rowed, paddled and poled, all without falling to pieces.

Considering building one of these gun punts? Just a few things worth thinking about.

The basic material costs can be around £130.00 but choose marine grade ply other oak strips etc and this nearly doubles. Potentially £300.00.

Ok so you have made a start what comes next:

Paint/epoxy/ primer etc can well cost more than the basic building materials IE up to £180. Its your choice but having spent 60 odd hours lovingly building your boat, do you want to lash it over with cheap inferior paint that will peel, on or even before launch day. For not being a 'tightwad' a few pounds more and you may be able to get the right stuff?

Genuine duck punts are quite heavy - they are built to take a gun! you will need a trolley? They will roof rack and I manage this single handed but a trolley is needed for maneuvering any distance. Cost anything up to £150.00?

Oars £?

Rowlocks?

Other trim such as fore and aft brass keelband?

Punts can be sailed:

If you have resisted the urge of 'I know better syndrome' and not discarded the plans thus far. You just may fall here as now there may be an urge to slap ponced knackered sails up the mast? A viable quick fix that is sure to get you across the water, the Internet and Youtube within minutes. But hold on...

Remember all those hours of lovingly building and painting your punt - well done so far. You have gone a long way in maintaining the integrity of this type of punt. This decision depends on whether you intend doing much sailing in her or punting about under 'oar and tide'. Milgate type punts can use the oppie rig. Tatty old sails are perfectly alright but new sails will set you back another £200.00 and do your sailing gun punt the justice it so rightly deserves. Ok you may have to use tat and of course do not have to use an oppie rig. You may want to set a cotton lugsail as the punters of old would have done, to pull you up the creeks.

Leaving your punt outside in the compound? you may need a cover? professionally made cost up to £200?

As you can see to build a genuine punt that you can be proud of its lineage, its tradition, does involve a little more of an investment in time and money. But you can be sure it is worth it as now the fun begins!

I hope this answers some of your enquiries regarding this type of punt. I have a full archive of Marsh Duck's build photos taken at various stages while at John's boatshed, that point out some of the detailing particular to this punt. I will display here at some point in the near future but they should also be found on the duckpunt.org website.

If you would like to use any of these photos, or any from my large archive do drop me a line.

Small Boat Sailors Boat Stickers

2012-01-20T14:26:00.023Z

The Small Boat Sailors boat stickers are now available. These exclusive boat stickers are 75mm in diameter, vinyl and are a colourful, light hearted way to show your support and membership of the group. The stickers perpetuate the memory of A C Stock (as does the group) and are a symbol of the spirit of fun and adventure to be had cruising in small boats. They have also been seen and given the nod of approval by the man himself Charles Stock.

This specially commissioned design is available in limited numbers and for this season only.

Stickers are available from me in person for £1.5o

By Mail:

Cost: 1 sticker £2.50 including postage. 2 stickers £4.50 including postage
All UK only.

Payment to be made via PayPal to smallerboat at hotmail dot co dot uk

Give your full address and post code,

boat class and length overall, boat name and your cruising area.

These are a must have for all creek crawlers, ditch sliders, shoal water or deep sea specialists so come on all you small boaters, lets see these stickers on display along every strip of waterway in the land.

For a bit of fun a signed copy of 'Ceeksailor Ready About On The River Blackwater' is up for grabs later in the year, to the person who sends me the most interesting picture that includes one of our stickers. It does not have to be on the boat either as these stickers can be placed on mooring buoys, boatsheds, Scooters, cars, vans, lorrys, aeroplanes..., doors, windows you name it? etc.

Best wishes
Tony, SBS

Alone on a Windswept Sea-Marsh

2012-01-13T20:30:00.014Z

A poem from the Essex marshes by Tony Smith

Marram grass laid horizontal, ironed flat by relentless winds and browned by days of hot suns. Thick spume skims across creeks that interweave softened ground, searching, creeping and inevitably finding ways into vast inland spaces, quiet places, long abandoned but home to the yellow horned poppy that sit hidden but from the glance of a casual coast wanderer. Once again a sea, arriving from far, far away, trickles its brown salt waters to become smooth shining silver, dazzling one’s eyes before slicing through fine cuts and filling small rills, the numbers of which too numerous to count and from where brent geese sit gathered, huddled tight. They watch its swishing, hurrying and winding, gaining pace to glint as it bathes sea purselane, glasswort and seablite passed on its journey before finally it topples the rooted green blades that decorate the shadows afoot of that mighty barrier of the sea-marsh, the seawall.

Bleached driftwood sits limp, cast high to muddy sides, still just out of reach. Beyond the seawall, farmland, spread by yeoman craftsmanship, billiard board flat to span unending misty acres until interrupted, a solemnness broken by a brick shell, defiant but baring scars from a generation of unrelenting storms, gone unseen in this remoteness, its rusting roof panels bizarrely torn, awkwardly pointing upwards and seaward.

Veins now beat with the excitement of nature, of life; nostrils tingle to smells of sea fauna and crustation, of tended earth. Suddenly salt waters ebb, flowing, swooshing. Brimming creeks ripple evocatively to the power of wind and the suck and pull. One now hears the roar of fleeing salt spray spilt back whence it came, crashing, escaping, carving its exit. Voles scurry into holes, Geese squawk and cronk, shuffle and shift as the hen harrier hides among hedgerows that line the ditches, now reddened by fading sun light that fights, battling with dense stark clouds and the richness of a deep blue sky streaked white haphazardly to the round ends of earth.

Salt now burns dry, scalded and crystallised. White painted mud cracks and splits to the last of the tide. Godwits bend and peck, arrow grass wavers while cord grass stands bolt upright. Across the seawall stonechats move from bushes and just then the tide has gone. Seaweed remains strewn and tangled with shells - the wild birds feast on cloying mud. A strike of a match and the oil lamp is lit, hauled gently forward and cleated. The warm flame flickers as one climbs into the cabin to zip up into the snug and fluff of the sleeping bag to lay gaze fixed at its glowing, alone on a windswept sea-marsh.

Shoal Water Sailing

2012-01-01T11:30:00.028Z

Much of Englands East Coast, in particular a stretch from North Foreland, that piece of Kentish land that points towards the Dover Straits and marks the southernmost limit of the Thames Estuary, and northwards to round the tip of East Anglia, unlike our islands deeper blue water southern shores are in the main a murky soup of mud, sand, gravel and shipwrecks. To seaward, amongst this brown broth, huge sandbanks appear on falling tides creating a mirage of illusions on warm dreamy days. But often localised clear patches of water can be found where the water has an aquarium like quality offering the viewer scenes of the seabed that are the norm to our southern county neighbours. Set in the middle of this coast is the county of Essex which just happens to have one of the longest coastlines in Britain at roughly 300 miles long. Not a continuous straight line of coast but a fascinating maze of inland winding rivers that twist, sometimes busily with shipping , but in the main they are quiet like the hundreds of smaller creeks that branch off peacefully to become calm backwaters that are havens to estuary dwelling inter tidal wildlife. Fond memories of childhood play here are of paddling a dinghy or fishing for eels along the borrowdykes below the seawalls, or jumping the ditches that interweave the miles and miles of saltmarsh and on getting a wellyful meant blistered feet during the walk home. Climbing the wrecks and getting splinters, or crabbing off the sluice gates beside the creek with stringy bits of bacon set on rusty hooks. Running as fast as you can around the foot of a Martello tower to see who gets to the doorway first. Counting the squares of rag walling before falling into the sea to be nipped by crabs or stung by jelly fish. Happy days! 47 years on and having travelled the world I am still playing in the same places although now in the comfort of a small wooden sailing cruiser. Some things may never change though as I still get the odd welly blister.

Today the hundreds if not thousands of us boaters that are based on this shallow coast enjoy the myriad of tiny creeks. This is the realm of the 3 ft depth waterman, perhaps the ultimate domain of the self-respecting ditch-sliders, shallow sailors, thin water sailors and ditch-crawlers. Some call it mud hopping, the Americans like to call it gunkholing, whatever term you wish to describe it we are all the ubiquitous creek-sailor. We amble along them on the whims of the wind wondering at the whys and hows of a shoreline that can blend so beautifully into the surrounding marsh meadows and farmlands. Seeking adventure where to some they have become a sanctuary where faith is restored in an often twisted world. A common sight is to see a skipper of a small cruiser stabbing ferociously into the depths a garden cane in search of more water, the stick is waved almost as a magic wand to produce even murkier, pasty swirl, to take him even further into his idyll.

This Shoal Water sailor carries an armoury of hand tools to help him in his never ending quest for that thinner piece of water, ‘thirsty water’ near dry sailing, giving entrance to the thickest of muds or the most sheltered of sandbanks where no other boat has ventured for decades, if at all! The auxiliary, if of any help thus far, has been long clipped in its up position and forgotten. If one has well fitted bulk head compasses they are now next to useless, but a snatched bearing taken quickly by hand is often fruitful.

No 12volt cabling sending haywire signals is of any use to this skipper, having tried an audible sounder I found I only used the cane so choose to cruise without an echo sounder for spending 90% of cruising time in ankle deep water 3ft or less it is of no use. In deeper than 'stick water' sink the lead, for now, here, the skipper is in all seriousness, at the very pinnacle of his chosen art, hands on, close quarter working, with bean stick sounding cane bought in bulk from garden centres as he can get through many in a season, thrashing to his favoured side, not clumsily but well-practised setting the stick at precise moments to read accurately, either from the knuckle in the cane or from the white painted markers set at foot intervals, he alternates this with powerful long strokes with the short oar in full command of his little vessel. Every now and then a short pause is made as the mud below grips his keel. Mainsails are now lowered or taken in with sail ties clove hitched, the jib can come in a little to, or stay set just in case. Suddenly a comprehensive array of tea making facility’s take over the main focus for a short while, and soon enough the little boat wobbles back to life. If not already worn water-boots or thigh waders are now donned in case there is an urgent need to hop overboard to free the boat. Frantic Jabbing movements are made with the 15ft long quant pole either from the side decks or cockpit often now to no avail as things overwhelmingly have become 'real dirty', and only those of a certain pallet, and they are few, endeavour on for they sense the rewards for thier effort is near. The rudder is now tied in her up position, the centre board is fully up cleated tight. A stiff jerking pull from side to side with the tiller in what remains of the ‘water due’ and the rudder throws thick ooze sloshing along the raised bank.

The boat now almost lying in resemblance to a stranded sea bass or mullet with dorsal fin rudder now hanging hopeless and next to useless. But all is not lost as this was your intention, you have achieved you aim, you are at the limit, the extremes of your salt water habit and surrounded by the glory of man and woman that is sea-country. Immediately the greeting call of the reed warbler rings out and shank scurry along wading the muds. The ever ready skipper cleans the tools that have become extension to the creek sailor’s arms as scents of mud aromas drift across creek and marshland. Can you ever leave this seaweed filled saltmarsh fringed murky coast? My answer is no. Elsewhere seas are bluer with whiter waves and warmer waters but it can never equal this brown shoal studded, mud lined creek haven, where one can run aground at will and put the kettle on for a brew. Good creek-sailing to all in the new year.

Part of my collection of close quarter creek-sailing tools which include a variety of paddles and oars. Note the boat hook also marked up to double as a sounder. Over the years I have got through many sticks through them falling overboard when healing in rough weather or through the heat of the moment carelessness. Often time is spent searching over covered ground in search of a favoured stick that has served so well. Its always a feeling of elation, or scoring a goal, if you do happen to find them again. I have played about with sticking pieces of lead or taping a thick piece of cork to them to stop them sinking through the really soft stuff. I have also tried with bits of line as a handle to hook onto a part of the boat. but its not necessary.
With an unbroken bond to the sticky Essex muds I am truly fortunate to have been taught pea stick sounding skills first hand by the grand master of the shoal water art Charlie Stock, who's last sounding cane used I now have proudly in my possession

Classic East Coast mud. This patch of mud is still as pure as nature intended. Learn to love this stuff. The sounding cane gives reliable readings when prodding and the technique is to sense the bottom with 'feel'. Surprisingly enough a thin bean stick stops an inch or so in when under its own inertia. Trying to weigh up its texture and depth before attempting to cross it on foot is a good practice. Wading through deep mud is never an exact science, but sweet and 'smelly' in its most endearing sense it is. I guessed correctly (this time) that this would go at least knee deep and be a patch of welly stealer, a Dick Turpin of the low tide sea-ways. Here is a substrate where maintaining movement and agility is everything, a pair of wooden splatchers would slow down the sink effect considerably to. Then again play safe and find a harder patch nearby.

A minimal draft of 12 inches allows one to dwell in the habitats only accessible by waders. These turnstone are not in the least concerned by our presence. Even in the punt I am not able to get this close. I put it down to the bowsprit and rig, as I could get just as close in Huffler. Maybe to these lovely little creatures the boat must have a motherbird like look about it. Its probably more a case of they are so used to seeing Shoal Waters about the margins here in a foot of water that the boat no longer poses a threat to them.

Health N Safety

2011-12-28T17:15:00.015Z

I have some very interesting pictures I wanted to put up but I couldn't resist just a little rambling spun-yarn.
It seems that even along the quiet backwaters of the Blackwater, in time forgotten creeks, where seawalls are seldom trodden but by the true ditch-crawlers and marshmen, deep admirers of this wild place, a place lost in time but held as sacred. Ghastly iron works are appearing overnight as if by some kind of crop circle like sorcery.

I first noticed the new additional furnishing to the creek last year, over on the east seawall. I remember a few of us spoke about it in bewilderment at the time but it appears they are being placed at every outfall/sluice along the river and in some instances on both sides of the seawall. I cant fathom why but it seems that an operative will now be able to traverse the wall without the indignity of a crease in the ironed pant-line.

All joking aside I can only view this as Health 'N' Safety gone bonkers. Trying to convince otherwise - maybe they are a good landing point; a modern day dock for the workaday leisure cruiser who likes to load hay and the like. And as we have a rich history of smuggling inside the river maybe they have been put there to aid the modern day smuggler, no longer content to roll up the odd barrel of rum but who now wants quick exit for boat loads of people to scramble up even? And as for that staple kit of the creek-crawler, a pair of sea-boots, the unthinkable..., now no longer needed? Now this is getting serious...

At the end of the day we shall get on with our boating, continue to cruise the creeks sample the delights of the ditches and ignore as much as possible the glaring statues of modern bureaucracy, but you cant help but wonder apathetically are these structures really necessary in such a fragile, naturally beautiful environment?

Be warned these monstrous structures are appearing overnight in all areas of the Blackwater and quite possibly in a creek near you soon. This most recent has been placed roughly 10 yards from a slipway which is to the right in this image and roughly 15 yards from a seawall stairway which is to the left in this image

This little area is so special not only to me but to many others who know of it. Surely there must be another more needing cause to spend all the hard gathered tax payers cash on. I cant help a little sarcasm as I have been hopping down this little wall for years but now an operative will need to undo the chain and pass through the posts holding tightly to one side. But what if the operative slips and hurts themselves on the hard metal, metal which now has to be maintained and is now open to vandalism...

Fitting Out 2011

2011-12-16T12:46:00.031Z

Fitting out and maintenance of Shoal Waters 2011

The boat has been out of the water for eight weeks now and sits out in the open on her trailer but well dug in for winter. In return for all her fun and enjoyment given she has been getting one or two little maintenance jobs taken care of.
We have been lucky up to now that it has been rather mild which has helped with paint drying and the like, and just making things bearable. Every Saturday and some mid week time has been spent methodically working through a list of small jobs and going over things that back in the season came to light and were made note of. Everything has been removed from the cabin to allow me to paint the sole boards and bilges. She will now sail at minimum 5-8 knots instead of her usual average cruising speed of 3 knots.

Number one on the list for this winter was to take a look at the center plate. I remember vividly the first time I raised and lowered the centre plate while sailing with Charles up to Maldon and thinking this plate has sung its tune as it scraped over every sandbank and mud shoal in the Thames Estuary, and Charlie laughing at me for raising and lowering it a dozen times for no reason. I just wanted to get real feel for it... Ah happy memories.

The rusted centre plate being eased out from her casing. I had chocked the boat over a tree stump which did not help as it had to be dug through to enable the plate to be lowered enough to remove. These type of obstacles are sent to try us!

Not bad for nigh on fifty years of faithful service. Although I air hammered the larger chunks of corrosion away I needn't have bothered as the next process takes good care of it

As good as new. The centre plate after shot blasting

I chose the thermo galvanising process rather than the more traditional hot dip for two reasons. One the galvaniser is up the road from me and two I am interested to see how long it will last. I have read conflicting reports that it could last from 10 to 40 years but to help matters the shot blasted metal plate was given an extra thick layer of zinc. I followed this by a thick coat of absorbing epoxy followed by two coats of primocon and now she is ready for some hard anti fouling.

The thermo galvanising process used to re zinc the centre plate. Apparently it has been in use for 90 odd years so nothing new.

Other cost and works carried out in 2011.

No I have not got shares in International paints. But I would gladly receive any sponsorship offered, as at roughly £18.00 for a 750ml tin its bloomin expensive stuff!

Pre Season work:

Sand and varnish all spars, including quant pole. Paint decks and hull. Sand and varnish cabin and cockpit.
Paint White Danboline to internal of port side cupboards in cabin.
Below waterline: Rub down and apply red anti fouling with white boot line.

Post Season :

October: Two new tyres for trailer wheels. £60.00

November 2011 :

Removed centre plate and took to shot blasters.
Shot blasted back to bare metal and re galvanised by thermo zinc coating process £48.00.
Followed by sealing coat of epoxy then layers of Primocon, followed by anti foul.

Replace casing base with new oak strips epoxied and screwed. Screws £4.00 (precautionary works)

Replace 3 feet of forward brass keel band using epoxy and screws.
Re sanded bilges and boards and painted with Grey Danboline.
Cockpit bilge and lower sides of centreplate casing Red Danboline.

December 2011:

New mild steel gammon iron made to same spec as bronze original (precautionary works). Thermo galvanised extra thick ccoating and fitted with 6 new ss 2.5 inch screws and epoxy. Paint finish. £46.00 total.

Other consumables/materials and costs:

Throw away paint brushes: four packs of five brushes £ 2.00 each = £8.00
Sand papers £5.00
Masking tape £3.00
Gloves £2.00
Anti fouling £30.00
Boot line£20.00
Danboline Grey/ Red/ White 750ml £ 18.35 each = £55.05
Epoxy 501 o.5 ltr x 2 @ £ 25 each = £50.00, micro fibres £6.00
Cream Interdeck paint 750ml £22.00
Primocon below the waterline primer/undercoat 750ml £18.95
Varnish 2x 375ml international original @ £9.00 = £18
New duck canvas cockpit cover (North Sea Sails) £105.00
90x12ssbolt £5.00
Shackle £2.00
Renew Main halyards: 16 plait Marlow rope £43.30

Work still ongoing.

East Coast Sailing December Edition Out Now

2011-12-06T18:40:00.003Z

Once again the lads over at East Coast Sailing have produced a wonderful online magazine - and still available to read for free!
For small boat fans there is a particularly lovely piece about a YM Senior 'Nancy D ', a fine example she is too.
Also there is some interesting info regarding the moorings in Salcott Creek, and for the book fans among us professional author, photographer and editor Colin Jarman casts his seasoned eye over some latest offerings.

Click on the link in the side bar or right here

A Sailing Season In Shoal Waters

2011-12-02T19:50:00.008Z

I wrote this article which appeared in Tollesbury S C's Windward newsletter; November edition, but I know some of you will be interested to read it.

Well, the sailing season has come to an end again, all too soon for most of us I’m sure. For me, 2011 began with the purchase of what is for the cruising sailor perhaps one of the East Coast’s most iconic little sailing vessels, the 16’6” wooden gaff cutter Shoal Waters. Taking on any boat has its responsibilities but a wooden boat does have to be tended to that bit more, especially the older they become.

Shoal Waters was home built by the venerable Charles Stock in 1963 after purchasing the ready formed Fairey Falcon hull which were made of cold moulded agba veneers.

Charles went on to sail her for 47 glorious years covering over 75000 nautical miles, all without the use of an engine or modern gadgets such as depth sounders or GPS systems, before his retirement from sailing in 2010 due to progressive ill health.

The previous season I had explored every creek in the Blackwater with my 16 foot pocket cruiser, also gaff cutter rigged, Huffler (now gone to a new owner). This culminated in the publishing of my book which describes my type of creek sailing, called ‘Ready About on the River Blackwater’ back in July.

During the very first cruise I took in Shoal Waters, it had dawned on me the sheer magnitude of Charles’ achievement in covering all those cruising miles in such a tiny little boat without the auxiliary back up and the other modern gadgets that many of us have come to rely on.

After a season sailing her, I can confidently say that each time I got down to my mooring in the creek, to go cruising, she had not been away somehow magically sailing more sea miles but was sat still, awaiting her skippers next command, for although a boat may be capable of covering a fair coastal passage it is only the enthusiasm and energy of the adventurous skipper that makes it happen. Exactly what Charles did during all the memorable years he had with her.

Since her launch through the’ Hatches’ at Goldhanger Creek I have cruised to most of the creeks inside the river, my current favourite being Mell Creek, right up beside the old dock. Like many of my other haunts, I never see another boat in here. As well as the farm on the picturesque hill beside the creek where pretty white cows moo contentedly, and the wildness of the nearby wick marshes from where I have seen an owl fly over the creek in broad daylight, Mell Creek is especially handy for a trot up to the village to gather fresh supplies of bread and milk at Freds Stores in Mell Road.

When the weather has allowed I have made passages out of the river and over the mudflats to squeeze through the Rays’n and visit the rivers Crouch and Roach where a myriad of moody, evocative creeks and desolate islands lay waiting to be explored.

The River Colne also has some interesting creeks that I have visited three or four times this year and one of the highlights for me has to be reaching the top of Fingringhoe Creek, under sail in little more water than a heavy due. This pretty little waterway is better known as the Roman River and is set in a delightful valley. The sight of the former tidal mill as you round the last tight bend is reward indeed for one’s efforts. I have also ventured up to the Walton backwaters, where I spent a wonderful couple of nights, out of 33 nights spent onboard this season, beside a group of seals. Other enjoyable trips were visiting old navigation markers such as the Buxey Beacon or the Wallet Spitway.

On the 15^th of October, the day after a mini cruise inside the Blackwater that can only be described as a creek sailor’s dream. I took her back through the Hatches for her layup which will no doubt be a winter of much TLC.

We are truly fortunate that the Blackwater estuary has so many creeks, waterways, inlets, beaches, Islands and historic maritime villages which make it an ideal base for the cruising sailor. I hope you have all had an enjoyable season at Tollesbury Sailing Club. You certainly have your fair share of magical creeks close by.

All in all I could not have asked for a better first season with my new boat Shoal Waters. I have got to know her subtle little ways and already she feels like a part of me that I could not do without.

Let’s hope for some good sailing in 2012.

Tony Smith,

Creeksailor, gaff cutter Shoal Waters

Link to Tollesbury SC website

Lets Go Creek-Sailing

2011-11-20T00:21:00.001Z

East Coast Sailing Article

2011-11-03T08:40:00.015Z

Shoal Waters on the front cover of East Coast Sailing magazine

The November issue of East Coast Sailing magazine is available to read online now (for free).http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

This months issue has a feature article on small-boat cruising and is illustrated with some very nice photographs. I hope you will enjoy reading it.

If you have not come across the magazine previously I recommend you take a look. The online mag covers all forms of sailing on the East Coast and can also be viewed and conveniently downloaded as a PDF.
How the lads manage to produce it for free is beyond me so give them your support by grabbing your copy now. Click on the link here

Longshoring

2011-10-14T19:29:00.021+01:00

THE ALARM went off at 04.00 hrs - Bleep Bleep Bleep, up I jumped hitting my head on the coach roof. Shaken to life I peeped out the companion way into darkness and thick fog. I was hoping to get out of the river today, taking Shoal Waters for a little coastal cruising, but there would be no chance in this weather, this was down right miserable and would be lunacy to venture out in.
Disappointed I reset the alarm to awake at 06.00hrs, on the thinking that the breaking day light would help matters. This was a bit of a gamble, leaving it very tight as the boat touches bottom again at around two and a half hours after HW. I had got to the boat at 15 minutes before midnight in preparation for high tide at 03.25hrs as when heading down river or out of the river it is always good to try and get in front by leaving as early as possible. The forecast was for the hottest October day in years but with the preceding days easterly winds, the sudden arrival of thick mists would not be any help to the eager small-boat sailor, even worse there was no wind at all this morning. Determined to get some cruising in I climbed through the hatch and released the mooring lines from the Sampson post, instead of our usual gentle drift away we were stuck fast, hurriedly I donned the sea-waders and flew over the side with literally minutes to go before being left dry again. I heaved and pushed Shoal Waters by her bowsprit, she scraped through the mud until floating freely again. I hopped aboard and put the kettle on in celebration we were under way, gently and silently we drifted slowly through the darkness.
I soon began frantically searching through the wet foggy mist but could not make out the outer boat moored in the creek mouth, for in an instant I had lost all bearing of my position and in which way the boat was pointing or heading. The week before the first flock of wintering brent geese had landed noisily in the creek but only oyster catcher and terns could be heard nearby. The Seagull auxiliary now hangs in reserve from the transom, but I use it sparingly, much prefer the physical struggle propelling the boat under oar. I wiped the mist off the compass and paddled until we were heading south by east, making way through thick fog and darkness. At 06.30hrs, the dark shape of a boat came into view signalling a position further east than I had thought. Being springs there was a good knot of tide that could be made use of. I made a quick mental calculation of boat speed under 'tide and oar' and decided that we would be somewhere near Lower Collins Creek at low water - around 09.30hrs.

The sound of the odd motor car could now be heard in the distance which meant we were nearing the south shore, birds became louder-this does worry me at times, just like when night sailing as you know you must be very close to a shoreline or the saltings. I was startled by a boat coming from Maldon way, which was somewhere in the abyss over my starboard side, blasting his fog horn for what seemed ages before its sound slowly faded away into the east. Still nothing could be seen and Shoal Waters drifted over the crafts wake. Flotsam in the form of weed and straw, had accumulated on mass in a dark line that disappeared under the fog which clung to the seas softly rippled surface. A dark shadow caught my eye on the port side, it hung over the water in a patch of clearer mist. I paddled towards it, guessing I was somewhere off of a line of moorings and out of the main channel. A tractor could be heard trailing up and down a shingle beach which I thought may be launching boats at The Stone. I had been drifting for over two hours now and still visibility was down to a few feet all around the boat.

Drifting through morning fog

The white light of the morning sun could be stared at with the naked eye and the earlier shadow to my port side had developed into a visible shoal, an enormous one. I made a beeline for it and stopped the boat in two feet of gin clear water. I donned the sea-boots and hopped over into the freshness of the calm sea. I comforted myself in the thinking that there is no safer place to be in a fog than physically sitting on a shoal, and hopefully larger craft which may have chart plotters and the like just may know where they are and will be keeping a wide birth.

I layed out a fathom of chain and set the anchor before I took to walking around the boat giving her a good look over, all was in order so I pulled her a few feet nearer until she touched bottom, then I tried to careen her but she was not having any of this nonsense while being so laden. On looking up the mist had cleared enough to see the moorings over at The Stone, and as if by magic everything around suddenly became visible. A haze still hung in the air but the sun shone brighter and the blue sky appearing seemed to lift my spirit.

Shoal Waters was surrounded by her namesake, shingle shoals spread out for miles. In the distance two fishermen shuffled along a shoal sifting for oysters. I took a compass bearing which indicated I was in Lower Collins Creek. What a wonderful place, even more so in this eerie mist I thought. I walked along the edge of the creek pulling Shoal Waters along in tow by her painter.
In a way this was not practicing good seamanship, but I was having fun and well aware of the consequences if I were to lose the painter and she would drift away; or one may trip and fall even? The following flood tide will undoubtedly drown a duffer.

There is something special about walking along a shoreline with your boat in tow. My type of creeksailing involves a lot Longshoring, not in its stevedore context but in that of the ditch and creek-crawler, marshman or coast rambler who spends much of his time alongshore working his habits and hobbies of the sail in wild places.

I had located the the fish trap that can be seen here with relative ease due to there being a very low water spring tide. Silently I stood and observed the posts. Kneeling down I felt a line of soft wooden stakes that lay flat beneath a foot of clear water. These were thinner timbers of three feet in length, below their spiked tops they were interwoven with even thinner lengths of wood approximately an inch in diameter and would have possibly been the wooden netting. This was attached to the thicker short stumps. Careful not to disturb anything I held the stakes and was connected to another time. It is highly likely this piece of wood has not been touched by mans hand since it was first worked and carved by Saxon man over a thousand years ago. This trap dates to 5th or 6th century, and would have been Saxon style fishing on an industrial scale. This would also have gone some way in helping fuel the gathering of sea salt, for use as a preservative, from nearby salt pans that would have been in use around that time.

Ancient timbers lay undisturbed on the seabed

I moved along the creek marvelling at this wonder of mans making, wading through varying depths as I followed its contour until back near the main channel of river again. The sun gleamed off the clear, still water as it slowly made its return on the morning flood. I continued to walk along the straight line which reached west for what seemed like miles in the sea-boats I was wearing, but was perhaps just under a mile in actual length. Areas of shingle have banked up over many centuries, covering areas of the trap but its length is amazingly preserved and a visible treat for potential explorers.

Longshoring, walking the length of the Collins Creek Saxon fish trap with Shoal Waters in tow. The trap extends in a straight line as far as the eye can see in this image

The flood tide was now moving noticeably at a couple of knots but still I waded along with boat in tow, the tide forming eddys as it raced inwards between the slowly disappearing shoals.
I was now in danger of losing Shoal Waters and becoming a duffer, so I set Cold Nose the hook and hopped aboard for a refreshing cuppa.
Noting the time I then took a reading from the sounding cane which read 2 feet six inches.
15 minutes later three feet five inches, within an hour we were floating in eight feet of water-incredible tides.

A nice breeze was up after lunch which meant I could sail off to longshore another area and a little beach combing of the tide-lines.
I searched for concrete boulders that I had discovered on previous visits, I knew they would be here laying somewhere along the shore. I have often passed these and thought how dangerous they are, or would be to landing craft. These could well be WWI or earlier footings for posts that would have been part of a pontoon or gantry. I gripped them to gain a sense of their volume and was able to move one slightly which revealed an old enamel teapot. What a find. The pot was concreted into the boulder so it must have been discarded at the time for whatever reason by the men who would have been building this structure. Anyone for tea? The enamel teapot was found set in the concrete boulder that it is pictured sitting on

Colne Barge Match

2011-09-26T12:03:00.014+01:00

A few images from the River Colne barge match.

Other than this picture of Decima sporting the Tiptree logo on her tops'l, which I think is brilliant to see today. The theme of these images was to include a piece of the barge from where they are taken.
It is similar to the Through The Porthole images in that I am framing the subject. This is something I like to play with when taking pictures as in many instances I feel the viewer has a better perspective.

For the weaker willed sailors among us the romance of sail can sometimes be cruely shattered. To have to wake at 04.00 am to do a spot of winching,(raising the anchor)which lasts for about ten minutes and is best described as a full blown cardio and muscle endurance blast, is not everyones cup of tea, but it gives a good insight to the working life of the crew who would have lived aboard these old barges in the heyday of working sail.

Decima's tops'l fills as her mainsail slowly unbrails.

Marjorie and the cute little farm barge Cygnet. Note the tiller steering on Cygnet

Observed through this giant fairlead the luffing begins on a beautiful morning

Smacks were first to take off, the gun cracking half an hour before the barge start

Sea Country

2011-09-16T19:17:00.008+01:00

For boaters with a hunger for the picturesque scenery that makes up a large part of our sea country, a few images to ease us into the autuminal loom. Can it get any better than this? I wonder. Not going to mention any names but some of you may recognise these creeks. For countryside lovers, bridle-path walkers and sea ramblers alike, an amble along a waterway such as these is all that is needed to send you rushing home completely rejuvinated, to tackle that mountain of ironing or that stack of paperwork at the office.

Street Punting

2011-09-06T20:06:00.035+01:00

THERE are not many boat owners that would choose to have their inaugural launch on a road, but that is just what I chose to do with my hand built 16 foot wooden gun punt named Marsh Duck. Readers of the Creeksailor book will know all about this punt, she is a John Milgate/Wyatt type punt and is no 20 of only 22 authentic gun punts that have been built.

Since building Marsh Duck a year or so ago I have longed to get her in the water. Time spent with Shoal Waters and barging has meant she had to be put aside, but high spring tides and some free time allowed a good opportunity to get some punting in. This type of punt can be sailed, rowed, paddled or poled and are ideal for pottering around the saltings on the top of a brimming tide. Gun punts are traditional hunting boats that were used on the East-Coast rivers and creeks, probably since the first gun evolved, in search of wildfowl for the table.

There has been a renewed interest in this type of punt for pleasure use and today they are built to race under sail and oar, or to cruise about the many creeks found inside the River Blackwater. For a naturalist and small-boat sailor, who is also an avid fan of our traditional working boats, owning a punt allows you to combine all three elements each and every time you venture afloat.

The extra ordinary spring tides this August were perfect for the launch. After lowering the punt from the roof-rack onto the street beside a yellow traffic line at Woodrolfe Hard the car was moved to a safer area up the road, out of the way of the advancing tide. On my return I was relieved she had no parking tickets stuck to her chine, and within minutes Marsh Duck the duck punt was floating. With waders on I stepped aboard, and like a duck to water began poling my way along the street.

A street launch. The rising spring tide soon reaches Marsh Duck for a spot of street punting

Like a duck to water, I was soon rounding the first bend in Woodrolfe Road

Beside the yacht stores in Tollesbury. Update: very soon after this article the first loft seen behind me in this image has become The Loft tea room. The setting is unique and I recommend a visit for fine teas, cakes, sandwiches etc. The Loft is also my official 'sail by' inside the Blackwater where draft permitting you can grab a cuppa while dinghy cruising on the move. On the top of the bigger tides of course.

I was able to punt up to the old yacht stores, which are now used as offices, before heading back in a few inches of dew to cross over Woodrolfe Road and Bontins Creek to play around on the saltings, which by now were completely covered.

Crossing Bontins Creek while heading out to the saltings

The Trinity light vessel in Woodrolfe Creek

Cruising The Essex Sunshine Coast

2011-08-27T18:13:00.043+01:00

THIS STRETCH OF COAST starts at the River Colne with its historical Cinque Port of Brightlingsea, where small creeks reach further inland through glorious countryside to waterside communities such as St Osyth, a village once reliant on the daily tides bringing supplies by barges that would pole their way around its tricky bends to reach its quayside or water mill. Further up the Colne small creeks take you far inland to places once made home by colonies of Romans, who built great cobble stone roads and walls to march triumphantly along. But even today, many, many centuries after those sword wielding Romans with their shrilling trumpeters disappeared; the small Fingringhoe Creek is called the Roman River. At the head of this creek today an 18^th century tidemill, built using recycled barge masts, is found in a setting that would be the envy of any artist. Across the Colne the classic tidemill at Tenpenny Brook, the very top of Arlesford Creek can be found, another idyllic country waterway where All Saints church sits high above the fertile valley.

Today boats rarely venture to the top of Fingringhoe Creek, better known as the Roman River. The two refurbished buildings are an immaculate example of days gone by

Shoal Waters was built to travel along all the old trade routes of the Thames Estuary, the Essex Sunshine Coast being one of them, and I am only to happy in keeping up this tradition, here reaching Tenpenny Brook and Thorrington mill, the very top of Arlesford Creek. This scene is typical of the beauty that can be found and enjoyed by venturing deep into rural sea-country
Leaving the River Colne and Point Clear, the small isolated community of Lee-Over-Sands can be seen just over the rising sand of Colne Point. Here is perhaps one of the remotest communities in all Essex; it has a small waterway called Ray Creek that takes you right into the heart of its 30 or so dwellings along Wall Street. Part of this area is a nature reserve where rare plant species as well as migratory birds can be found.

After passing nature lovers hiding among sea blythe and dunes on the unspoilt golden sands of Colne Point and St Osyth Beach, the tide continues to take you seaward, up a fabled waterway known as the Wallet. For millennia its brown sandy waters have ebbed and flowed between the shore and Gunfleet Sands, and only in recent times have men from other places came and built a vast modern wind farm, changing the once unobstructed and evocative seascape for generations to come. Now traditional seaside towns such as Seawick, Jaywick and Clacton-On-Sea come into view. These towns once had the regular calling of a sailing barge quietly landing on the beaches, lowering sails to deliver the raw material for the building of their foundations. Now there are caravans, bungalows, beach huts and art deco buildings, broad promenades with colourful flower beds set in manicured gardens that are a picture in full bloom, all protected from the onslaught of south easterly gales that once smashed these shores with up to twenty foot high waves, by the building of groynes which also protect the beautiful sandy beaches that can be found here, as well as the lollies, ice creams and candy floss.

Martello Towers abound this stretch of coast. They were built to repel Napoleon armies, but today the circular brick built structures are wondered at by armies of holiday makers, who come to these accessible shores from big cities and towns such as London, a mere 50 odd miles away.

Passing Clacton pier the cruising sailor comes to realise that the soothing sound of the seabird is exchanged for the joyous screams of merry fair riders echoing across the waves. Behind the screams the ring of arcades are heard followed by wafting smells of salt and vinegar soaked chips filling the cockpit, causing you to swallow anxiously to a sudden hunger.

Enjoying The sunshine coast, passing Clacton pierA south westerly wind soon moves your little boat and the sounds become distant. Again seabirds can be heard and the skies are as wide and as high as you are likely to find anywhere in England. Like most of Essex, for every busy place there are a dozen quieter, such as Holland-on-Sea, with its little sailing club, (named Clacton-On-Sea SC) and greens of mowed grass to picnic on, now comes into view.

Take a compass bearing from Ro Mast and Frinton is found. After checking the mainsheet cleat, a look through a pair of 7x50s shows the spectacle of battling kids settling scores over who has the biggest buckets and fattest spades, while parents lay sunbathing beside wooden wave breakers that span the wide widths of the flatland beaches that were the favourite of Victorians at low tide. Above the beaches kite skateboarders fly the endless lawns. Behind them an isolated tower block, which at its planning stage must have been thought of as the next wheel, gives a handful of residents the most magnificent views across the North Sea.

Walton-On-The-Naze is soon reached. Another pier and a feeling you are in the very heart of unassuming England. Brightly coloured beach huts nestle in the cliffs and along promenades where chip paper once blew along windy kerbs. The wide beaches have ample room to lay striped deck chairs where one can sit in and drink fine teas. The Georgians liked it here so much they built a model of their London streets in the form of a row of three storey terraced housing-oh the pleasantness of it all.

When passing Frinton, Walton soon comes into view
Heading into Walton beach for a closer look at a fine example of Georgian architecture

Shoal Waters lays anchored in two feet of water while I take time out to explore Walton seafront. After a swim off the boat we weigh anchor and continue cruising up the coastAt 86 feet high the grade two listed Naze Tower has been in view for a while but now gives a fine bearing to take you into the sailor’s playground of Pennyhole Bay, but not before you head inland to scrape your keel while you take a closer look at the Jurassic Naze cliffs which are SSSI registered. These cliffs are packed with fossils, so are of interest to seasoned or budding archaeological explorers and walkers who can also stroll along the Crag Walk. The Tower was built in the eighteenth century to aid navigation, being used as a bearing marker for ships entering the busy port of Harwich. Although now a stone’s throw from the eroded cliffs, it was originally a quarter of a mile inland.

The Tower gives a bearing into another inland waterway, the Walton Backwaters where a myriad of inter tidal creeks, many made famous by writer Arthur Ransome, who used them as the base for his novel Secret Water, may be found. For some sailors spending a night at anchor in the enchanted Hamford Water or Landermere Creek-in fact any of these creeks can be akin to playing a living part in the story. The sea finds its way even deeper inland passing saltmarsh and farm fields, wild birds and swimming seals before its termination at the quiet head of a former sea farers trade route, Beaumont Quay, which is found along the abandoned Beaumont Cut, a hand dug canal in the small parish of Beaumont-Cum-Moze. The stones of the quay were taken from old London bridge when it was demolished in 1831. This monument to the coastal barge was built to serve the trading to and from London. Its condition could be described as remarkable.

Just like Huffler, Shoal Waters has never towed the luxury of a dinghy on her cruises which makes reaching these difficult places so much more rewarding. Now in The Walton Backwaters, heading into Beaumont cut, a shallow hand dug canal. Electric cables are overhead so high masts beware if you come up here in the dark
Shoal Waters in her cruising grounds, and at home again settling for the night in the comfort of the mud
The quality of the stone built quay is impeccable, to think this was once part of Old London Bridge, spanning the River Thames or the 'London River' as the ol skippers would say. This little farm wharf has a lot more to dicover such as an old lime kiln which is interesting in its design and barge hulk, as well as the ever present wildlife
Dovercourt with its high lighthouse inhabit the coast northwards to the deep water haven of Harwich and the River Stour. Further inland, maritime towns such as Maningtree and Mistley can be found fronting the River Stour.

For the cruising sailor who takes his views from the sea, The Essex Sunshine Coast can appear an unassuming coastline, one that is unpretentious in its architecture, yes there are one or two blips but this is a stretch of coastline that is an unspoilt scratch on the map of a wider area called the Tendering Peninsular and packed full of historical and interesting places, just ripe for exploring.

Barging

2011-08-16T10:44:00.029+01:00

Although I like to admire these old girls from a distance when cruising the tidal rivers and creeks, I also like to get involved at a hands on level with there general upkeep.
The Phoenician has had much work done on her over the last six months while sat along the quayside. This has included replacing certain areas of her deck, as well as a new topmast.
Jobs like these are best done by professional shipwrights, but most of the work involved in keeping the old girls afloat does not need that level of skill.
One of her last jobs before this passed weekend's shakedown sail was to replace the hatch covers. Although the hatches have Houdini windows fitted, they are all individually removable to allow access to the hold, just as would have been the case when she would have been a working barge.

Here insulation board is fitted before boards are laid over. This is then followed by the fitting of a soft underlay before the new waterproof cover, which was supplied by North Sea Sails can be fitted.
Finally the Houdini windows are fitted with mastic used to create the rubber seals.

The weekend 'shakedown' began with the 'crew' assembling on Friday evening, before a little midnight motoring from Maldon's Fullbridge Quay down to Osea and 'The Bay', to drop anchor and sleep. An interesting start as half of the buoys are not lit.
I had been allocated the aft quarter cupboard berth which had laying headroom. The polished hardwood doors are vented by ornate fretwork allowing one to breathe. The other plus of this berth is that the joint of the 12 inch by 2inch thick planking to the barges framed transom can be used as a raised pillow area. It has to be said, a lovely couple of nights were had here.
A cooked breakfast the following morning was followed by a glorious sail down the Blackwater, and out of the river to the Colne.
We found a spot to lay anchor just above Brightlingsea Creek. Once the barge had settled and began swinging pendulant to anchor, two crew abandoned ship via the barge boat in search of the bright lights of London.
A peaceful night was had anchored opposite Batemans Tower. Sat on deck after dark the mast tops of a dozen or so yachts could be made out. They were lit candle like, and lined Pyefleet Creek. Being the beginning of Mersea Regatta week, a few fireworks went up over the island. Leaving the River Colne the following morning around low water, the barge was motored back to the Blackwater, passing the Bench Head buoy.

By the time we had reached Bradwell a classic F4 wind over tide was blowing. In my little ship this livens things up considerably, but is hardly noticeable on the barge.
I was given the helm and took her from Bradwell to Heybridge Creek. This was no mere doddle as fleets of dinghies buzzed across the bow like gnats coming out of nowhere while passing Stone. All good fun which was repeated at Hillypool Point as BSC racing dinghies criss crossed the narrow channel simultaneously as a fleet of Squibs and three or four cruising yachts, along with 84 foot of ourselves converged on the little red port hand buoy. After motoring the barge down from Maldon in the dark this was comparatively easy, at least I could now see who I would be flattening!

It will not take long to wear the new hatch cover in?

Unmistakable, Osea Island while heading into the Narrows in a F4 headwind

The River Pant

2011-08-10T23:56:00.021+01:00

Historically the tidal Blackwater was once known as The Pant and even today some people around the Blackwater still call it The Pont or The Pant. Inland the fresh water river is still called The Pant.
While researching for the Creeksailor book I took a ride out in search of this small tributary. Clad in walking boots I rambled my way to the very source of the Blackwater, roughly 30 miles deep inland.
When I realised I had found the beginning of the Pant I had mixed feelings, almost an anti climax even, I wasnt sure what I was expecting to find but there I stood 400 feet above sea level surrounded by farm fields. I had ended up in a small field just outside the Essex market town of Saffron Walden, standing over one of the main sources of the River Blackwater, the River Pant, and at the exact spot where the river begins its journey.
My observations as a creeksailor say that at this point, this small river could be likened to a grass covered rill cutting through the mud, a very unexciting one at that. But when you actually think about this little trickle of fresh waterway winding its way seaward alongside bridleways flanked with mature trees such as the mighty oak, flowing under small brick built victorian arches that span quiet tracks that are the haunt of the yeoman; passing great country halls and peacefull hamlets, building in size and glory the further east the river flows, the excitement begins to build inside.

Here are a series of pictures of The Pant culminating at the mighty arm of the sea-The River Blackwater.

Not your everyday farmers hedgerow. The Pant begins here.

Another view of the very beginning of The Pant

Slowly beginning to grow. 2 inches deep? Could possibly get the punt in here

Just navigable in a dinghy perhaps

Bridge over the River Pant. The colourful daffodills are a clue to what time of year.

Still deep in the Essex countryside and more bridges

A typical field bounding The Pant near Wimbesh

Another delightful little bridge. The Pant noticably getting larger now.

The Pant passes through the small village of Radwinter. The excitement builds in more ways than one, I actually ended up in the Pant here. While changing my camera's SD card it fell into the River.

The Pant eventually enters the Blackwater and chelmer Navigation making its way to Heybridge. Before the canal was dug out It would have entered through Heybridge Creek which is now dammed.

The fresh waters of the Pant eventually pass through Heybridge lock gates to become open sea water. Incidently this image also shows how close you need to keep to the withies when comming into or leaving the lock

Islands And Creeks

2011-08-02T08:32:00.025+01:00

Yielding to the seaward pull of Shoal Waters bowsprit, I headed out of the Blackwater, turning south-east to admire the unobstructed sea view that reaches far across the North Sea.
How many of us must enjoy the trance like state that open sea sailing can put you in as repeated waves move the boat up and down and from side to side in an endless soothing motion. Every once in a while a splash of spray comes over the coach-roof soaking one side of you, as if acknowledging your joy and contentment but simultaneously reminding you that although you hold the tiller, nature has a hold on your destiny. With the sails set on tack it is all to ogle the horizon and settle back, relaxed to enjoy.

Freshly invigorated by the open seascape I slid through the Ray Sand Channel swatchway, and passed the Ray buoy to enter the River Crouch for the second time this year. New navigation buoys stood out like brightly coloured lollipops beside the setting sun which was a blinding picture of a warm summer’s evening, slowly fading into the west and directly ahead. Regulars to the river will know there is not much in the way of life as we know it along this stretch of lower Crouch, so when the lonely little tree that sits on the skirt of this flatland of plains and marsh comes into view, you can’t help but feel sorry for it. To the north, the strange and almost pyramid like pill box added to the landlocked isolation I was beginning to feel. I was not alone for long, as out of nowhere two magnificent powerboats, as tall as a London bus muscled past. On the Thames Estuary macho scale my little pocket cutter Shoal Waters must be the aqua version of a 2 CV Dolly, and I would not have it any other way.

Their wash was in fact a help and pushed us in the direction I had wanted to go, into the River Roach and the beginning of what was to be some of the most enjoyable creeksailing so far this year.
I had a fair tide under, sailing close-hauled, precise and seaman-like, into the oncoming southerly wind. How well I had come to know Shoal Waters and her little ways. Each tack called for incremental adjustments to her four sheets that trim her two small headsails. Taking full and wide boards, using every inch of the Roach to methodically make way. We soon passed a few boats anchored by The Quay opposite Wallasea Island. The last time here you were able to get often much needed refreshment from the timber clad George and Dragon public house, but no longer as the remote little watering hole closed in 2007. I was soon turning at Smallgains Point and Devils Reach, where again I was heading into a blistering sunset. Here the sheets were eased for a gentle reach. Standing at the helm I scandalised the peak of Shoal Waters gaff to a sudden gust that came howling over the rooftop of a building, stood alone on that flat terrain of reclaimed salt water marsh. The landscape remained bleak; a contemporary art form, added to by a scattering of lonely little signs, painted danger red, emblazoned with warnings and erected along empty seawalls where the footsteps of man rarely tread.

This is a land of the farm field, of cows, pasture and prairie, seals and sea birds. A positively isolated one-far from anything normal that may be found through adventure in or near towns and great cities. It has been eight or nine years since I last came to this archipelago of islands and creeks under sail, so it is a visit long overdue and gives one the extra added feeling of excitement often accompanied with covering new ground. The small sea-port of Paglesham lay just ahead, a place steeped in smuggling history and the oyster. Bizarre tales hang in the mists of many creeks and during the 1950s a tropical swordfish was caught and fished out of the creeks here. Resurgence in oyster fishing has once again brought a certain magic to these creeks.

I could sail on up and drop ‘Cold Nose the hook’ to seek a sea-man’s beverage over the bar top of The Plough & Sail, that classic Essex country Inn, once a haven of the oyster fisher…hmm, a difficult call to make, but made easier by the milk-crate I had filled with brews of canned refreshments below, and the croaking call of a friendly seal in the water beside me.

I soon took another turn to port, into Yokesfleet Creek, an even smaller waterway where the wind insisted on following the bow for a heavenly beat down its length. A solitary yacht lay floating at anchor half way down, aboard were a couple sat enjoying the ambience of the creek on this classic summer evening. I waved as Shoal Waters glided gently by and we spoke in passing, sharing a magical moment. The time was now 18.30hrs with high water expected at 21.00.

I had been sailing since 05.00 am this morning, after awakening in the Leavings, back in the Blackwater, where I had spent a dreamy night. The day’s creek-crawling had begun by taking the tide deep inland, up into the Tollesbury creeks, even sailing through the breached seawall off of Johnny's Creek and beside the dead trees in a foot and a half of water. The season so far has been very erratic weather wise but what trips I've managed to get in have been really enjoyable and productive.

This evening conditions could not be better, a magical recipe of light winds, blue and red skies shaped with interesting cloud forms and warm temperatures. Basically I was taking what I could get by sailing on and on and on, through flat calm creeks with surfaces rippled by swimming seals whose puppy dog faces appeared merrily all around the boat, there calling ringing out over the whole length of the creek. The call not unlike that of a young teenage son who awakes one morning to suddenly speak haplessly the husky tones of a grown man. Yokesfleet Creek is what I class as one of the ‘glorious creeks’ that have that extra special piece of magic! But don't tell anyone else.

Shoal Waters was now completely bounded by islands. To port lay uninhabited New England and Havengore Islands, and the wide mass of Foulness with its empty and barren landscape, inhabited by so few and not only by military goings on, but masses of white seagulls that also flanked the entrance to New England and Shellford Creeks. Both of these creeks have been shut off by the building of the road onto Foulness, but would have at one time exited into the Thames Estuary. Before the building of this road the only way onto the islands would have been by boat or across the Broomway, which is an ancient tidal road, marked originally with broom sticks and running along the adjacent Maplin Sands to reach the Heads of these desolate Islands. To starboard was Potton Island, another flat and baron land that is commanded by military but inhabited by cows grazing on the low marshland. The sounds of wildlife were everywhere, and at times I was not quite sure whether it was the seals who were calling or the cows.
To think this spartan paradise was once earmarked to store government nuclear waste, a shuddering thought. This whole area is under constant threat from damaging floods that in 1953 caused havoc and destruction. The beguiling seawalls that hide this enchanted wilderness are in constant need of repair and a Potton Island farmer has come up with an ingenious idea which involves the use of helicopters, which are able to move heavy loads of rock quickly, accurately and probably more importantly today cheaply, to any newly appearing breach.

In our wake sat Wallasea Island, where ships still visit from the deep water of the Crouch, a busy wharf, haunted by nearby aged and forgotten Lion wharf at the head of the salty little Lion Creek.

I passed through the Middleway where a stray dinghy lay abandoned high on the salting fringe of Potton, ahead was Rushley Island which I almost speared with the bowsprit while my gaze fixed upon its nothingness, before taking another turn to port and into Narrow Cuts, a creek that does what its name implies. Still beating on very short and challenging tacks I was barely maintaining any ‘way’. A port marker sits at a metal staircase on the seawall in Cuts and I was punished for not keeping close enough to it. Franticly dancing about on the bow I began jabbing the quanting pole to free Shoal Waters from the mud. Being so close to high water I would never get out of here if I became stuck fast at this state of tide. This is a scenario often played out in the silence of a lonely creek and one that ShoaI Waters, with her heavy load of cruising gear down below does not take to as freely as did the nimbler little Huff. But stubbornly she just moved into freer mud, but not before I had been hit by the clonking hardness of her boom amidst the kafuffle.

Warmed around the collar by the sudden activity I was able to relax a little. I wondered at the bank of the creek along Havengore Island and which was to port. So very harsh, and seemingly inconsiderate concrete tiled affair. The creek has withies that are placed at many points along its stick thin length, but unless you are familiar with them you take your pick as to what they are placed for. I have improved somewhat over the years at playing this guessing game with the withies, so took the challenge of this wonderful little creek with relish. There were further moments of sudden activity as we slowly passed through the creek. I now had sight of Havengore Bridge with its rows of lights which if viewed from the angle I was at looked like a spaceship from another world. From the sanctuary of Havengore Creek, the hum of the massive Thames Estuary, just beyond the bridge could be felt, a fantastic feeling.

Now in Havengore Creek Shoal Waters began dancing in the night breeze. Just across the creek was an old brick works where fleets of barges once came alongside. The light was disappearing quick and the tide had just turned, but the wind still blew. I was planning a ceremonial pass through the bridge to anchor for the night on the sands and return to the Blackwater by the open sea route, but was put off by the earlier 19.10hrs weather broadcast of F 5-7 later and instead anchored back up at Shellford Creek, a haven for wild seals in the very thick of islands and creeks.

The Roach

Potten Island as seen from Yokesfleet Creek. Part of an unobtrusive landscape

Residents of New England Creek

Shellford Creek has a nice length of navigable water before you reach its dam. Its muddy banks are the home of many seals.
Narrow Cuts Creek begins with a harsh looking seawall to one side but is made up for by sheer silence and emptiness.
Havengore bridge spans Havengore Creek and is manned near high water

Creeksailor Book

2011-07-13T13:18:00.073+01:00

Creeksailor
Ready About On The River Blackwater

Exploring the creeks, ditches and shoals in a small boat

YOU can almost smell the salt-impregnated marshes and feel the oozing, gurgling, cloying mud when you read this affectionate little book.

Here is a rarity among sailing tomes, a pocket-size book written exclusively for the pocket cruiser sailor. Tony Smith does not pretend to teach you how to cross the Channel or navigate a sleek modern 40-footer in blue water.

Like his great mentor, Charles Stock, whose iconic pea-green gaff-cutter Shoal Waters he know owns, Tony has sailed, pushed, shoved, poled and rowed up every inch of every creek of the River Blackwater.

Some of his haunts are connected by what could be described more accurately as a ditch, a few so remote that intrepid shoal-draft adventurer Stock himself has never navigated them.

One thing remains crystal clear amid these murky, muddy waters. It is that carpenter Smith, himself a skilled craftsman, retains a respect for those old traditional skills . . . a yearning for past ideals . . . and an unashamed love of the Blackwater.

32110 words
124 photographs; 101 colour 23 mono, plus 1 colour illustrated map
18 chapters
148 pages
Size A5 paper back
Published by Smaller Boat Publications
ISBN 978-0-9569030-0-6

Read tales of small-boat adventure, in and around an incredible 62 named creeks that can be found and navigated in the River Blackwater. The book is a must have for all mariners and outdoor explorers heading to this fantastic cruising area.
Foreword written by Charles Stock.

Price £11.99

plus postage UK £2.80

UK buyers can use the PayPal button below. There is no need to have a PayPal account.

Overseas buyers will need to have a Paypal account. It is then a simple matter of sending the correct postage with the book cost to smallerboat at hotmail dot co dot uk address.

RE: AUS £6.50 USA £6.50

Other overseas buyers please email first for correct postage.

What readers have said:

26/08/2011
A thoroughly enjoyable little book by a man whose obvious love of the "Path Less Traveled" shines through on every page. A must have addition for anyone who yearns for the smell of the mud, the sound of the birds and the solitude that still exists under the big sky country of the Blackwater Estuary. by P Mullings

04/08/2011
Dear Tony

I wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed your beautiful book.

My son and daughter-in-law ordered a copy for me, very soon after it became available, having noted my enthusiastic comments about your Creeksailer blog some while ago.

What a good idea they had!

Your book is a sheer delight. It encapsulates much of what I enjoy about sailing, and I appreciated it even more having very recently started to sail a Lune Whammel. A result of downsizing from larger boats that I seemed to sail less and less. Skylark is a refreshingly simple craft - shallow long keel, gaff sloop rig, and a pram-hood tent to give you a two-berth canvas cabin. Basic, but it does the job very sweetly.

We live on the south coast, and usually sail in Chichester Harbour, but visit Mersea Island from time to time - my father had a boat there for some 25 years or so, and I have many fond memories of sailing on and around the Blackwater.

Not sure I'll manage it within what's left of this season, but your book has certainly inspired me to tow Skylark up to the Blackwater area for a week or two in the not too distant future.

Thanks again for your delightful, evocative book, and I wish you every success with it.

And I'll keep reading your blog!

All the best
Simon

07/10/2011

Gavin Atkin at intheboatshed.net reviews the creeksailor book, here's what he has to say.

Ready About on the River Blackwater is a delightful little book by Creeksailor.

His real name is Tony Smith, but as his self-chosen name and title suggest, Creeksailor is a small boat enthusiast fascinated by the creeks and shoals of the northern part of the Thames Estuary and of the Blackwater in particular.

It wouldn’t be too much to say that Tony adores the place, but I only discovered why very recently. I have once sailed on the Blackwater but it was an open water sail and, naturally, I came away thinking it was a pleasant and sheltered estuary with some interesting features that should be seen at closer quarters.

Fair enough, you might think, but one evening this summer, by chance we found ourselves standing on the seawall at Goldhanger Creek where – bang! – it came to me. Finally I saw what Tony sees: an extensive sheltered area of inlets and creeks waiting to be explored and few people to disturb the peace.

We have our own creeks and ditches around the Swale of course but some day, when there’s time and the right weather, I hope to sail over and have a good look round from our own shoal-draft boat.

In the meantime, what does Ready About on the River Blackwater have to offer?

It opens with a foreword by Tony’s guru, legendary East Coast sailor and navigation expert and teacher Charles Stock. What follows is not a guidebook, but describes a series of visits and a series of places, which Tony does pretty well.

He’s informative, gives an up to date picture of how things are on this coast, takes the time to tell just enough of the history, and, like many earlier sailing writers on this area, has some good stories to tell. It’s quite enough to get anyone interested in sailing the Blackwater, and will be well worth taking afloat to re-read for points of local interest while waiting for the tide. Handily, it’s a fairly slim volume that’s easily carried.

But what Tony’s book offers that most earlier prophets of East Coast sailing could not is photos – lots of them, and in colour. With earlier writers, you have to close your eyes and half-guess half-interpret what’s being described – which is difficult for beginning sailors, and those who only sail keelboats. Just how small can a creek be and still be navigable?

With Ready About in your hands, it’s possible to see what he’s so enthusiastic about, and make your own judgements.

The book could have done with a bigger map (in two parts, perhaps?), and that here and there it might have benefited from slightly sharper proofing (as could this weblog, no doubt). But these are tiny things: it’s a super little book, and when I finally closed the back cover, I wanted more. I hope Tony goes on to write and publish more of this kind of thing.

PS Creeksailor is also a busy weblogger, who’s well worth following. Read his weblog here - I guess it’s also the best place to find out where and when copies of Ready About may be bought, and I gather there a new print run is just about to arrive on Tony’s doorstep…

22/10/2011
Thanks for letting me know of this link as I am truly humbled by this review of the muddy little book by Bill 'the ultimate blogger' Sergeant. Bill actually gets what the book is about and his term the 'crown jewels' is absolutely spot on. You can read what Bill thought about Ready About on the River Blackwater here Bills Log

The little muddy book has had no marketing as such other than what you see on this site, and yet it has reached discerning readers who occupy the far corners of the globe.
Thank you to everyone one who has purchased a copy. I can only apologise to who ever has the task in your respective households to the washing of muddy clothing and wellies from here on in.

The best place to buy your copy and help support the muddy cause is right here on this site.
Buying a copy here means I can deal with you direct, even signing copies with my mud print if you insist, as some have.
I have tried to keep the cost of the book as low as possible in the hope that more will come to know about the beautiful creeks as possible and Creek Sailing in general.

I have received many emails from readers who have enjoyed the book along with comments from the really afflicted that they cant put it down. With their permission I have been able to place one or two of them here.

The book illustrates my type of creek sailing and ditch crawling giving the reader a true glimpse into the magic of minimalist small-boat cruising. As well as traditional sailmaking and traditional boatbuilding the book contains a chapter on the duck punt, the Mersea punt in particular, and has generated a bit of interest in the boat which is great news as they are fantastic little boats.

26/11 Copies are available from Den Phillips at "Salty Dogs" in Maldon high Street.

East Coast Old Gaffers

2011-07-06T11:56:00.038+01:00

As Shoal Waters began to float, I let go her mooring lines and began a gentle sail down river over the incoming tide. Beside Gore Saltings I found the wind was not blowing enough to push the old girl through, so I had no choice but to fire up the Iron Tops'l.

It was Friday the 1st of July and the East Coast Old Gaffers weekend meet had already started with a voluntary passage race to the Nass Beacon. This was to be followed by an early lunch at the old oyster Packing Shed, in Thornfleet Creek.
As I entered Thornfleet, many sails were raised and boats were already leaving for Brightlingsea, where the weekend gathering was based.
I was just able to motor sail over the spring ebb, up the creek, to land right beside the Shed where I stepped ashore to say hello to the remaining Gaffers.

I was soon off again, drifting down the creek in searing heat and still with hardly any wind.
Although I had decided to spend the coming three days and two nights in the company of fellow Gaffers, I had already thought about potential opportunities of reaching the head of one or two solitary creeks that can be found near to the Colne Yacht Club base.

Shoal Waters had been at the first 13 years Old Gaffers events, winning her race on the second year so it was a joy for me to be able to bring her along once again. Although she would not be racing it is a good chance to celebrate the glory of gaff rig, and just wallow among acres of traditional canvas.

Heading out towards the River Colne I found myself in company with a few other boats on course for the Cocum Hills beacon. With the pace this slow it is helped some by being able to admire a pretty yacht or a classic smack drifting/sailing nearby.

When East Mersea Church came into view on the high ground, I cut across the Cocum Hills heading straight for Brightlingsea Creek. There is a small creek along this stretch of the Mersea shore called Fen Creek. The creek is one of those remote, high tide creeks, that if coming to visit it from far up either the Colne, or Blackwater rivers you will probably have to go against the ebb to get back home.

It was not long before I was in the Colne and sailing up Brightlingsea Creek. On reaching the pontoons I dropped all sail as a water taxi came to greet me. I said I was with the Old Gaffers, upon which he kindly pointed where to raft and helped me get across the rapidly flooding creek.

Stepping from my own boat onto a pontoon is something that I have not done for years, so it felt strange not having to reach for the wellies. As did paying a water taxi to take me over to the Yacht Club. Immediately I felt a yearning for the more familiar muddy marsh-lined bank to scramble up. After a fish and chip supper washed down with a few beers in the club house all was well though, and I retreated to the boat (via water taxi). The immediate neighbours were very nice people who had came from Bradwell marina, and we chatted until way after dark.

The following morning I made way down the creek, passing Bateman's Tower where the guns fired off the start of the race. There was hardly any wind but those carrying tops'ls seemed to glide magically to the front, and beyond of the fleet. After a slow start the sea breeze kicked in for the sail back to the Blackwater to round The Nass and back again.

Returning to the Colne, boats began mooring along the pontoons again but the wind was now just perfect for a spot of creek-crawling. I would not be 'pontooning' it tonight, no, enough of civilities, pomp and pageantry. With this wind I was able to sail along the eastern stretch of Brightlingsea Creek past the moored boats and took off, up St Osyth Creek.
Something that constantly amazes while cruising the East Coast is the ability to move in a very short time, from a very busy stretch of waterway, to an almost millstream waterway without a soul in sight.

While crawling along St Osyth Creek it can be hard to think that there is life at the top of this little winding waterway. The creek has many turns, where Shoal Waters became stuck once or twice, which is all part of the fun of Creeksailing.

I was able to reach the Mill Dam at the very top of the creek. The last bend before the handful of finger mud moorings has a small, low lying port marker staked into the bank, this is hardly noticeable but which you have to keep very close to indeed. This was pointed out to me by a mooring holder shouting and waving frantically to warn me I was crossing a 'fools only' shallow area. He could not have noticed the sounding cane waving wildly beside me, signalling I was in 18 inches of brine.
A special treat for me was to see Edme sitting beside the Mill Dam. This was the icing on the cake, there were other craft dotted about but her sitting there allows you to glimpse at another time, she made the whole scene.

Water does not stay long at the top of the creek, but I had decided to creep back down, through its playfully sticky bends. To think barges still come up and down this tiny creek! I passed Pin Cushion Island and back into Brightlingsea Creek. Being such a beautiful evening I sailed inland, along into Flag Creek. As well as avoiding mud shoals, motor skis play along here, but Shoal Waters was again in familiar grounds, and keeping to the withie markers was able reach the derelict Wellwick Wharf, which once handled sand and gravel.

I was tempted to dry here for the night but stayed floating and made way back to Brightlingsea Creek and the pontoon pageantry opposite the yacht club. With many boats packed alongside I sailed into the shallow water of the hard to drop anchor. Drying here will allow me to use my own taxi dinghy in the form of size eleven waders.

I was soon in the smack dock sipping fine cider and ale among fellow Gaffers again. This was folowed by an evening in the clubhouse bar.

Fully topped up with refreshments I was able to use my 'taxi waders' again to climb aboard for a sound night.

The early morning tide took me out along the coast to Clacton pier, stopping on the way at the two Martello towers that can be seen along Jaywick. The Jaywick Martello Tower is over 200 years old and is one of 103 towers, built to repel invading Napolean armies.
This tower has been restored with a glass observatory on its top, for the view across the wallet alone it is worth visiting. Another interesting note is that the 750,000 thousand bricks used to construct the tower were delivered by coastal sailing barges.

Shoal Waters Rafted at the Pontoons in Brightlingsea Creek

Sailing along Brightlingsea Creek

Nearing the head of St Osyth Creek

Flag Creek at Wellwick Wharf

Shoal Waters sitting on comfortable ground at Brightlingsea Hard.
Colne Yacht Club is directly ahead.

Gliding through the fleet with full Tops'l

The Glory of gaff rig sailing, heading towards the Colne

A slow start

A horse comes to see what all the fuss is about at Mersea Stone

1st Small-Boat Sailor's Rally

2011-07-06T11:31:00.008+01:00

The season it seems is moving along all to quickly. With the Small-Boat Sailor's event last month taking the full force of the dreaded number six and above weather forecast. All was not lost though, as three small boats were able to attend, rafting at the very top of the creek in unbelievable flat calm. The sun shone as the obligatory steak and kidney puddings were being cooked in kettles, as sheer throth raised havoc on the main river, a mere few hundred yards away.
Thanks for turning out chaps Im sure you will agree that in light of the dreaded forecast a pleasant day was had.
Thank you to all who sent emails in support for this meet but were unable to attend due to the weather. There will be more oportunities to meet up later so keep an eye here for further dates.

Ditch-Crawling In Shoal Waters

2011-06-13T19:52:00.010+01:00

DITCH-CRAWLING in Shoal Waters to some of my favorite haunts has been very enjoyable indeed. She is already feeling like a home from home. Especially having the 12 inch draft like Huffler, which means she can get in all the ditches and tiny creeks as I could in Huffler.
Like Huffler I have probably sailed her for 70% of the time in less than three feet of water, which is classic Creeksailor territory. Every Friday night has been spent on board as well as other midweek jaunts, not yawnfuly clocking miles but rather spending 'quality time on board,' either floating or sitting in the mud of one of the beautiful creeks. I suppose we are fortunate in that when it is blowing force five or six there is always some cruising grounds to potter in, where conditions are more civilised. This photograph shows an area of ditches which has small flocks of terns dive bombing for fish. And they are not shy, even resting on the bowsprit between dives.
To find out where this wonderful little creek is you will have to purchase a copy of the Creeksailor book, which will be out and for sale in two weeks time.

With the pocket book 'Creeksailor Ready About on The River Blackwater' now at the printers I am already gathering new material for the next title and Like Ready About On the River Blackwater it will be packed with useful information and many photographs that illustrate my type of creek-sailing/ditch-crawling.

2012 Small-Boat Sailors rendezvous.

2011-06-09T17:16:00.009+01:00

First rendezvous this year will be held late May beginning of June 2012. Three suggested venues are Mell Creek spit, Osea Island beaches (north or south) and Goldhanger Creek. Any further suggestions etc please email. Date still to be confirmed.

Just a little info for those that do not already know of the Small Boat Sailors group. We are group of small boat enthusiasts formed at a gathering with Charles Stock on his mooring at Ballast Hole, Heybridge 2010 on his retirement from sailing.
Our aim is to celebrate small boat cruising for the sheer fun of it by rendezvousing in the memory and ethos of Charles. No restrictions on class of boat, but all attendees are asked to bring the obligatory steak and kidney puddings to be cooked the AC Stock method, in the kettle. and as we are a group of friends, by hanging wellies of of sterns and attending you do so at your own risk. If your boat can take the ground this may be of benefit as we anchor in very shallow water and may also beach.

Small-Boat Cruising

2011-05-29T22:05:00.029+01:00

What is the attraction with small boats, and cruising?
'Less is more' is a term sometimes mentioned in small-boat cruising circles.
I understand this term to mean you get more enjoyment from cruising in a small boat than you would in a big boat.
The reality of this can not be true, as the man or woman who owns a 200 ft yacht, fully crewed and cruises the worlds remote tropical islands is sure to be enjoying themselves.
Therefore 'more' must mean something other than a material gain in cabin size, sq foot of sail, or length of waterline.
Exactly what 'more' is will vary with each individual boat owner. Putting aside any financial restraints stopping you from owning that 200 ft liner, why do many of us enjoy owning a small cruiser?
For the purpose of this article I will refer to a small boat as being an open boat or cabin cruiser of around 20ft or less that has restricted headroom and cabin space.
Cost is a factor for most people when buying a boat, but this is only one reason people buy small, as I know of very wealthy people who choose to own a small boat.

If we accept there is only one potential negative of owning a small boat and that is its limited space inside the boat, we quickly move on to take a look at a few of the many pluses of actually owning a small boat: The ease of handling when sailing; the mast on most small boats can also be lowered and raised relatively easy. The ability to sail single handed; the enjoyment of being on a big sea in such a small craft, the ability to reach the most awkward of tight places and waterways. The trailer ability, the cosiness of the cabin, less time spent maintaining the boat, less equipment needed to be replaced.
The fun that is there to be had with a small boat is just the same in a £1000 GRP standard build as a £25000 hand built wooden classic. The difference in cash terms being mainly cosmetic.

Other more meaningful reasons to own a small boat may be to limit your carbon footprint, or to cleanse your spirit even with minimalist delight, by making do with a small cabin space, in which there is crouching room only and no running water or toilet facility's.

To the yachtsman who owns a 30 ft boat, with space below for a six berth caravan all draped in net curtains that twitch in cul de sacked marinas, this small boating caper must seem a hardship beyond belief.
It is only after trying something for a period of time that we realise how we can do without many things in life we have come to rely on, and how refreshing this can be. Agreed this can work both ways.
Cooking on a small boat presents a challenge that can be a pain or a pleasure. This is one area that I feel makes a big impact on the comfort level felt by the small boat skipper.
To arrange a small boat's galley to some kind of order could well involve taking ideas from that 30 ft yacht, or the kitchen 'in door's'. Personally I delight in seeing how people deal with this area in such creative ways.

There is another attraction to the small boat rarely mentioned that has similarities to the garden shed. Every man or woman who has a little shed at the bottom of the garden uses them for a million and one things, but one of them is escaping to a small world where everything seems to be manageable and in its place. The basic 6'x 4' wooden shed has to be the ultimate in minimalist sheds-ville. But Ive even seen net curtains screening tiny shed windows, and heavy duty electric cables disguised under cabbage and runner bean leaves, fed to wired in light bulbs and electric boiling kettles etc, yes you know who you are!

For some, this shed connection is felt in the small boat but with the freedom to roam the waves of an estuary or river, or length of coastline before pulling the boat up a peaceful beach and camping out under the stars. This is a tonic hard to beat and is another major draw for the small-boat cruiser.
If you haven't already tried it I fully recommend it, Small-Boat cruising.

Shoal Waters minimalist cabin space. With full crouching headroom(while seated). The fully equipped galley is to port with kitchen utensils and tins of food stored in a milk crate. The bread larder is on the port side as are full tea making facility's. All surfaces are wash clean varnish and the luxury sleeping arrangements are to starboard, as is the red cushioned lounge area.
Spare tools used for close quarter creeksailing such as paddles and sounding canes are stored foreward.

I carry two kettles on board, this one is also used to continue the ships long tradition of cooking Steak and Kidney pies in.

Collins Creek Targets

2011-05-26T13:26:00.013+01:00

THE Targets just north-west of Collins Creek are two contorted, twisted and torn steel wrecks that give another glimpse of days gone by. The wrecks were used in WW2 as target practice. It must have been a quiet time on the river shipping wise while these were being shot at? Many working craft in and about the river at the time would still be under power of sail only. The Targets are marked by two Black and Red isolated danger buoys, placed north and south of the hazard, and for most of the time the Targets are covered. To keep well clear of the buoys makes a lot of sense.
I use the north of the two buoys to navigate when creeping up Thirslet Creek. But at low water springs the wrecks are an interesting feature. These images were taken about an hour after low water when enough salt to let me get in real close. Although I avoided throwing the hook over the side as you never know, it could just land on something!

Ray Sand Swatchway

2011-05-14T08:45:00.066+01:00

Exploring The Ray Sand Channel

Between the rivers Crouch and Blackwater a small swatchway known as the Ray Sand Channel can be found.

For mariners perhaps the main feature of the channel is that it enables a shorter passage when passing between the rivers Crouch and Blackwater. To use the swatchway today one must work the tide to his advantage as the southern end of the channel dries at low water. The natural movement of sand over a period of 100 years or so has gradually filled in what was once a twelve feet deep channel at low water.

The swatchway is encompassed by vast plains of drying sand banks;Buxey Sands lies to the west, Foulness Sands to the south and Ray Sand to the east. Along with Foulness and Maplin Sands further south of the Crouch the area makes up some of the most naturally wild and remote cruising areas in Essex. Heading south into the Raysn at 10.30 hrs. Low water at Southend 11.08. I have not bothered to fit an echo sounder in the boat as yet but with the channel at this state of tide the cane was most suitable.

At low tide the sands and mudflats are uncovered spreading far out from the deserted wilderness that makes up the shoreline. At this time rippling patterns in the mud can be seen, the patterns are repeated again and again as they disappear into the horizon until lapped by the breaking waves of the sea, an incredible two miles away. To the observing eye these naturally formed shapes resemble a work created by the artists pallet knife, and are often wondered at.

A first glance when heading south towards the channel from the Blackwater it appears navigation marks are few. Using traditional navigation methods the cruising skipper will soon find that as Mersea Island slowly disappears in the mists of his ships wake the Buxey Beacon on the horizon to the southeast of the channel becomes clearly visible.

The Buxey Beacon is soon found to the southeast.

To find the yellow Ray Sand buoy that marks the channels southern most point will take a more patient skipper though as not until you are fully bounded by shoal water, being funneled towards the deep waters of the Whitaker Channel and the outer Crouch will the elusive Ray Sand buoy be located.

Other useful bearings can be found nearby to landward as The Dengie and St Peters Flats are home to four iron shipwrecks that were placed here during the war to enable firing practice by pilots from the nearby Bradwell Bay airfield. A small railway was used to get out on the mudflats to service these targets. The former targets are sited in pairs, and marked with unlit east and west cardinal spars.

The outer most of the two southern wrecks that can be found. Being around low water neaps the wreck is just partly covered. Although I ventured within fifty feet or so it really is not recommended unless they are fully covered.

Along with the targets another useful feature is the wavebreak that has been placed at the shoreline in the form of steel barge lighters about midway down this stretch of coast to help protect the eroding marshland.

The very nature of the underlying seabed diminishing rapidly the further south you go is in itself an experience not to be missed, but add to this the landward side of the channel offers the small boat adventurer opportunities to discover isolated cockleshell beaches backed by saltmarsh. This saltmarsh abuts a seawall that like the majority in Essex were built around the 17th to 19th century so as the enclosed land could be used for agriculture or building purposes. The seawall stretches 10 miles from the mouth of the River Blackwater to the entrance of the River Crouch.

12.20hrs. Wavebreak 300 deg, Buxey Beacon 90 deg, three feet water, wind SE F3. The lighters forming a wave break can be found roughly five miles south of Sales Point. With most of the passage south being in three feet of water and against a south east wind a repeated tack out to find another foot or so was the order of the day.

Some time later. Even though I had located the elusive Ray Sand buoy which was within half a mile away, Shoal Waters could go no further. With knowhere else to go to find a few more inches I hove to a waited for the incoming tide. The trusty sounding cane has become a third arm. I often loose these over the side when things get too hectic which is heartbreaking when the little peice of stick has served you so well. For this reason I have resorted to buying them in bundles and marking them up in bulk to carry spares down below.

The tide line south of the wavebreak has a number of small creeks indent the marsh. These outfalls reach inland to the seawall where thousands of acres of level farmland spreads west under big open skies towards the nearest villages of Southminster, Tillingham, and Bradwell On Sea, a good 4 or 5 miles away.

The unspoilt nature of the area makes up a nutrient rich environment where migrating wildfowl and wading birds find food and shelter. For the creek sailor this is perhaps a number 1 ingredient for a prime cruising ground. With creek names such as Hoo Outfall, Grange Outfall, Bridgewick and Glebe Outfall, Sandbeach Outfall and Marsh House Outfall the possibility's for adventure are many.

Approaching The elusive Ray Sand buoy. This leg of the passage is the shallowest of all with no deep water escape route. Crossing the sands towards the buoy I was able to find a little more water just north of the buoy.

St Lawrence Bay

2011-04-19T21:11:00.006+01:00

Facing NW, the river viewed from the high ground overlooking St Lawrence Bay. The rich green fields and bold blue sky take the eye away from the playground of water the through the centre. Click on the image to enlarge. Yacht moorings can be seen at Stone and appearing mudflats can just be made out to the right as can the Thirslet .

Shoal Waters Changes Hands.

2011-03-28T20:09:00.017+01:00

Picture. B Goodbourn

CHARLES STOCK and his little 16ft pea-green gaff-cutter Shoal Waters have for nearly half a century been an integral part of sailing life on the river Blackwater. Sadly, because of ill-health, Charles, 84 this coming August, has been forced to give up sailing.
I feel deeply privileged that it is to me that Charles has decided to pass on Shoal Waters, which will in future be moored at my club in Goldhanger. I hope, too, that by continuing to sail her on our lovely river she will in some way perpetuate the memory of the man who has graced these shores for so many years.
As a tribute to Charles, Ian Barratt, a fellow Goldhanger Sailing Club member of mine, has written the following article for the club website, and I am delighted to reproduce it here.

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ONE of the most recognisable yachts on the river Blackwater for nearly half a century has been given a new home at Goldhanger Sailing Club.
Shoal Waters, a 16ft topsail gaff-cutter, which since 1963 has been owned and sailed by that incomparable small-boat adventurer Charles Stock, has been taken over by club member Tony Smith.
When re-launched this spring the famous little pea-green boat will replace Tony’s blue-hulled Shipmate Senior, Huffler, on his mooring at the creek entrance. Huffler has been sold and is moving to Morston, near Blakeney, in Norfolk.

Charles Stock, who first sailed on the Blackwater in 1949, has covered more than 75,000 nautical miles in Shoal Waters and is known and respected throughout the UK. He built Shoal Waters from a bare Fairy Falcon hull, since when she has been moored each season at Blackwater Sailing Club.

Because of ill health, Charles, now in his 84th year, has sailed very little recently and, after being diagnosed with anterior horn cell disease, a neurological disorder, he has decided to retire from sailing. Anterior horn cell disease affects the nerve cells of the spinal cord that makes it difficult to use certain muscles, especially the hands.

Tony, like Charles, has an affinity with traditional wooden boats and runs his own website, Creeksailor, which is dedicated to the many creeks, some well- known and others almost forgotten, that are dotted around the Blackwater. Charles particularly wanted Shoal Waters to remain in the Blackwater and was delighted that she has been passed on to someone who will treasure and nurture her. Because of his debilitating illness, for which there is no known cure, Charles has been unable to pay Shoal Waters the kind of attention he has in the past, but Tony, who runs his own carpentry and joinery business, is confident she will soon be back in pristine condition.

Charles Stock has been best known for the phenomenal sea mileage he has recorded over the years, every inch without an engine, and almost always single-handed. It was not unusual for him to cover in excess of a hundred miles in a weekend, stopping for just a few hours sleep, or occasionally anchoring in the lee of a rising sandbank to brew a cup of tea.
He last sailed out of the Blackwater in 2009 but last summer, while attempting a trip to Osea Island and Lawling creek, noticed that he was having difficulty handling the ropes, so had no option but to call it a day.

In June last year Tony Smith organised a small group of Blackwater small-boat sailors to rendezvous with Charles near to his Ballast Hole mooring at Heybridge. They spent an hour or so rafted alongside chatting with Charlie about his amazing life over a cup of tea. A few weeks later Shoal Waters was lifted out and put on her trailer, thus marking the end of an era for this iconic local sailing figure.

Charles is not known for making epic ocean voyages, though he did sail down to the Solent for the last Royal Spithead Review in 1977. What he has done, however, is year after year . . . sail and sail and sail. In 1970 he covered over 1,000 miles by June and five years later he sailed for 40 weekends in 1975 and covered 3,220 miles. In all his years he not once failed to return to his Blackwater Sailing Club mooring on a Sunday evening because of a lack of wind.

Over the years, his knowledge, skill and ingenuity have earned him enormous love, a recognition and respect that has spread far wider than the Blackwater shores.
He has very much been his own person, some might say a little eccentric, perhaps old-fashioned. But, nevertheless, a Blackwater legend, and for the hundreds of today’s yachtsmen, especially those who have benefited from his experience at sailing and navigation classes, it will be difficult to come to terms with the fact that he will no longer be seen sailing up and down his beloved Pant, even though that distinctive and unique little red topsail will still occasionally flutter in a gentle breeze.

When Charles left Chelmsford Grammar School at the age of 16 he worked for a time at the Admiralty in London. For two years at the end of the war he was in the Royal Marines, then trained as a farm manager. In 1969, however, he switched careers and became a tax collector.
He has served on the RYA Council, been a local councillor and spoken as a trades unionist at the Conservative Party Conference. He has written more than 60 articles for a variety of magazines, not only in the UK, but also France, Germany and the US. For many years he taught sailing and navigation locally, as well as the Isle of Wight, York and Manchester.

His book, Sailing Just For Fun, was printed in 1998 and has sold more than 15,000 copies. It is one of the best and most endearing manuals of small-boat cruising ever written and includes a meticulous log of his voyaging and costs, an authoritative book simply bursting with good advice and encouragement for owners of small sailing boats.

It goes without saying that in his home waters here on the Essex coast Charles Stock long became a sailing legend. An unforgettable, irreplaceable character; a man to whom so many of us small-boat mariners owe so much.

SB Ardwina

2011-03-27T12:54:00.019+01:00

The Thames sailing barge Ardwina visiting Fullbridge Quay recently. She later went into a dry dock here which is a huge iron lighter type hull. The hull is filled with water which enables a boat to float in. Before filling with the rising tide waters wooden Blocks are set out and lashed to the bottom to avoid them floating away. After the tide has retreated the water inside the hull is released which leaves the barge sitting nicely on the blocks enabling a thorough survey or any necessary work to be carried out at leisure.

The Ardwina was built at Ipswich in 1909 and can generally be seen at her mooring in St Kathrine's dock on the River Thames, London. Lady Jean can just be made out behind her.

Fullbridge Quay, Maldon. The river here is actually the River Chelmer.

Ardwina looks in good shape.

Ardwina again looking in fine form. Locals may notice the former naval ship Defender in the background who can usually be seen at her mooring just above Heybridge Basin.

Saltings

2011-03-20T16:36:00.009Z

Beautiful country. Across the saltings into the distance the trinity light vessel can be seen.

I had previously sailed up the creek while listening to a little music by an artist who's music reflects his love of nature and wild open spaces, though sadly no longer with us. It was John Denver's Calypso in fact which I find compliments these wild and remote places beautifully. Then suddenly stumbling across this image.
It seems no matter how difficult and remote a place one reaches in his small boat the scar of human intrusion on this fragile habitat can still be evident.
Maybe this cyclist floated in on 'two tyres and tide' for a peaceful night but somehow got into difficulty? Who knows.

John Denver's Calypso, written about the adventurous marine oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Calypso was his ships name. If you are of a similar age to me you would have been glued to your screens for this series as it was big in the seventies.

Wallet Spitway Buoy

2011-03-05T09:11:00.005Z

The eerie tolling of the Wallet Spitway buoy over the fabled sandbanks and swatchways of the Thames Estuary.

The Glorious Edme

2011-02-25T19:34:00.004Z

Salting Wrecks

2011-01-26T22:22:00.011Z

A peaceful end.
These wrecks sit quietly in a small area of saltings.
This kind of image is one of the attractions of the east coast. Similar scenes can be found all along our shores. Like a fine wine matures with age, the more weathered and decayed the wrecks become the more charming they appear. We grow up seeing wrecks like these on our beaches, in our rivers and creeks. We climb on them as kids, some of us even as adults. The obsessive 'clamp and tow' culture found with other modes of transport seems to thankfully pass by our creeks. The East-Coast I fear would not be the same without scenes like this. Studying the sections of rotting framed planks or the peeling paintwork one wonders of the vessels once busy life, full of the excitement and springiness of youth. Serving a once caring skipper, who would have lovingly sanded and freshly painted to the gunwale, and when coming up river saluted proudly whoever passed to port.

A ramshackle mess? Or a picture of wild rugged beauty?

Weymarks Beach and Sales Point Lighters

2011-01-17T21:28:00.019Z

Weymarks beach. From Weymarks to Sales Point is a great place to anchor if there is any south in the wind. Not only that it is also a good place to dry if you need to scrub off mid season. At high tide the beach is mainly cockle shell white with a scattering of wild green saline plants which gives it a Bahamas in Essex feel. As long as you remain looking east any how... What this image shows quite nicely is the hazards that are dotted along this particular stretch. Stumps litter the beach close in so it is risky landing here but not impossible. The beach shelves quite steeply so I'm able to float over most of this near to high water and still get ashore. In the distance, on the far right of the picture you may just make out the outfall pipe. This is marked on charts with a spar. After this pipe to the Sales Point lighters it is void of stakes so safe to pretty much land anywhere. The image also shows a few rocks that you may come across if drying out a bit further off, which I know one or two larger cruisers like to do. At low water you also have good protection from that beast of a southeaster that can come rushing up from the Dover Straights via the Kentish shores, spilling that fresh pot of tea and cakes.

Stakes at Sales Point lighters wavebreak. This image shows quite clearly the dangers even for a shoal draft boat of cutting inside the lighters. In a choppy sea these stakes do not take prisoners. The wave break was placed to help fend off the eroding effects of the sea. The height of the barges are about two meters so there is plenty of depth to get close to them when in the river near high water. This lighter is the first in line heading east, they all cover at springs. What the image also shows is how clear the access is to the shore along the left side of the stakes.

Barges and Bikes

2010-12-11T17:32:00.008Z

Found these sunny images of a visit to The Hythe at Maldon back in the summer.
The Barge and Bike event ads a refreshing dimension to the boaters calender.

Creeksailor's Blackwater Beaches

2010-12-02T14:18:00.008Z

Beaches within the River Blackwater.

This guide was created for and on behalf of the Blackwater Small Boat Sailors Group.

The River Blackwater in general may not be an obvious destination for a beach holiday but Mersea Island and its beaches are a favorite destination for many visitors. The country's most easterly inhabited Island, Mersea has an influx of holiday makers during the summer months. Many of these visitors enjoy family days out on the hut lined beach where there are facility's such as parking and toilets. They may also own or rent a caravan on one of the sites that front the beach. In relation to the beaches at Mersea Island I would not describe the Blackwaters other beaches as used, or as well known even. The beach at Sales Point to Bradwell for instance is one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen but one that has very few visitors. Further up river there is a small picturesque shell beach on pewet Island which is a nature reserve, followed by the shingle beach at St Lawrence Bay which reaches along to Stansgate. Home to two sailing clubs as well as fronted by houses and bungalows, this stretch of beach doe's see some summer visitors but nothing like the numbers at Mersea.

Further up river, across to the northern shore Mill Beach has a small stretch of sand that is used by caravaners there. Opposite Hilly Pool Point, just in Colliers Reach, past the Sailing club towards the basin there is a very small stretch of beach at half tide. Apart from Sales Point beach and Pewet these beaches are generally easily accessed by the public.

There are small beaches elsewhere that take a bit of walking to reach but are easily accessible by boat. With your cool box filled and a bit of imagination (and help from our weather) these stretches of sand can become your own idyllic south seas beach for a day.

Surrounded by sea and marsh, one of the Blackwaters picturesque little beaches.

Other than the small beach at Mundon Stone Point which is on the rivers south shore at the entrance to Lawling creek, there seems to be a ecological phenomena as most of these evocative little beaches including the Shingle Head, Mill Point and Thirslet shell shoals mentioned in the Creeksailor book are located on the rivers northern shore line.

From the Mersea Quarters there is the beach up the Ray at Ray Island as well as on Cob Marsh and Packing Marsh Islands which have delightful little stretches of beach. Around Pennyhole Creek to Tollesbury Creek and up river to Goldhanger there are also quite a few small beaches that can be reached. Between Shinglehead, Mell Creek and Old Mell Creek are tiny inlets of golden shingle and sand. At most of these a wilderness of saltmarsh merges with the shingle in an unspoilt example of nature and its way of intertwining land and sea. A study of this relationship reveals a constant struggle resulting in compromise and fusion of the elements. On breezy days these stretches are best visited with a northerly wind as then the waters edge becomes flat calm and gin clear, the sea gently lapping at the shore creating the perfect little idyll's.

Just further up at Thistly Dock is a tiny shingle beach which deepens quickly. Tucked in the corner of the surrounding seawall it is an oasis along this remote stretch. Just further along, between Rolls and Decoy farms, Rolls Creek has a picture perfect beach which sits on its western shore. Other areas of fine sand can be found at the foot of the 'cant' a term used to describe the edge of salting and sea which resembles a miniature cliff. Across the creek mouth of Gore Saltings is Bulhams Beach which stretches out on a spit into the saltings. There is a small creek inside the spit called Bulham Creek which can be navigated at the very top of a spring tide, even enabling an exit into the river again near the isolated beach hut here which is private.

The next beach along here is at the eastern entrance of Joyces Creek, a beautiful tiny beach which has summer lambs visiting on occasion. Inside Joyce's Creek is another small beach. while over on The western side of Joyce's has a large extending sand spit which is a particularly good place to land if in company as there is plenty of room with protected deeper water inside the spit.

The next beach is at Highams beach or 'The Shoe' as it was once known, which is at the eastern side of Goldhanger Creek mouth. This small beach is also an old barge hard but is still used by the pleasure barges on occasion. A nice place to spend some time if a barge happens to be visiting. Entering into the upper limits of the creek a narrow beach lines the sea wall here.
All along here is good for landing and swimming with just the odd rock or two.
Across the creek mouth on the western shore and along the seawall, another small beach is tucked away. This little beach gets plenty of use by locals during the summer months, although I wouldn't choose to dry out in the boat here as its quite rocky below the shingle line.

Continuing along the seawall there is a pleasant bit of beach dotted with saltmarsh about mid way along. There are some withie poles here that indicate a former farm barge dock just after which you enter into Wilkins Creek. There is a tiny little patch of sand amongst all the mud in here which would cater for one or two, as said earlier you may need to let your imagination wonder a bit.

The other beaches are located on the private island of Osea.
On the north western shore there is Shipwreck Beach. The wreck sat high on the beach for some years but has been moved just recently and now covers at high water. To the east, past the mouth of Dead Mans or 'Death Creek', and Bawley Creeks is a pretty little stretch of sand which is fringed by saltmmarsh and Samphire.
An Elm crowned bay of golden sand at Osea's east point is the stretch of beach that most yachtsmen who come up the river will see. Not many people actually step onto this beach but it is this beach that probably creates a lasting impression on many visitors to the river.
The southern shore of Osea is also lined with a nice beach which is quite steep, and gets many visiting boats during the summer. Small-boaters able to dry out can dig in past ther pier towards West Point to dry out on firm sand.

Note: If intending to land consideration must be given at all times to wildlife and private land.
The shinglehead stretches of beach at Tollesbury Wick marshes are Wildlife Trust, who advise not to disturb during the breeding season.

Pocket Cruising

2010-10-12T17:12:00.034+01:00

MUD MUD and more MUD, I was told by a fellow club member that I am the only sailor he has ever met who prefers to take pictures of his boat in the mud rather than under sail... Im not going to argue with that. Having your boat moored in a creek on a drying mooring is not every ones idea of heaven as it does have its limitations.

Only a guess but I would think at least half the boats moored on the Blackwater are half tide or less, which would mean a lot of us dry out. Spring tides in our area occur around midday and midnight, with neaps occurring in the early evening and morning.

The incoming tide at my Goldhanger mooring gives roughly a four hour window in which to get a sail in and return to the creek, with just enough water to still float. This is fine for the day sail cruising locally as long as your anchor doesn't get stuck while in your favorite creek. Its also fine for the dinghy racer, who having upped the spinnaker will be round the course in ten minutes and back home for East Enders.

To venture further afield takes a bit more consideration as you are now working out a minimum of three tides. Battling against wind and tide can be a disheartening experience and putting the engine on seems to miss the point of going for a sail. With these in mind I try to use the tide as much as possible, preferring to spend the night in a creek somewhere so I often favour neap tides. Neaps enables me to take the Ebb tide away from my creek in the morning giving a minimum window of eight hours sailing. After a belly full of sail the following flood tide can be used to reach the head of another creek, or to get back to the top of the river, still in daylight during the evening.

Although favouring neaps I have had some truly memorable day sails visiting many forgotten or lesser frequented creeks.

One could be forgiven for thinking that creek sailing in the river is an easier past time than a complicated navigational passage across an open sea.
Having done both I have found the planning and coming together of all the ingredients are the same. Arguably creek sailing could be deemed safer, but then you can drown in a couple of inches of bath water. They are both truly enjoyable and both have a set of ingredients that need to be taken into account for a successful outcome.
Many ingredients such as time, tide, wind direction and strength, sunset and sunrise, and ones ability to get away from work. Added to these a large amount of energy and enthusiasm as many of the forgotten creeks or quieter places are just that because they are to difficult for the majority to bother reaching them.

Ready About

2010-10-03T20:03:00.015+01:00

This one of my favorite images taken this year.
Sadly this is all that remains of the two barge docking posts that have been on this stretch of river for over a hundred years.
After such a long history both posts have vanished on separate occasions this season.
Very early in the season one of the posts had somehow been broken in half and this ladder appeared to mark it. More recently I found the other huge post washed up on one of the north shore beaches.

Classic Blackwater sunset at the Tide Pole

Bobby's mark, West Mersea.
Heading into Buzzun.

Rinky Dink at Heybridge

High tide markings on one of the sail loft step ladders.
I regret not visiting Tollesbury on this day as Huffler would have sailed right up the high street.

Would you really want to dry out here?

St Peter On The Wall and Gunner's Creek

2010-09-24T17:11:00.011+01:00

A recent three day cruise in the foot steps of eighteenth century smugglers.
On leaving my mooring in the creek I was able to navigate Deadmans Creek in both directions before exiting the creek at the very shallow East Point. Continuing on a leisurely meander down to Bradwell Creek was had. Turning to Starboard at the Tide Pole Huffler was sailed into the creek and past the marina.
With a pint in the Green Man waiting I wiggled back through the moorings, running Huffler up onto the sloping mud bank beside the withering poles of the barge dock.

After dark Setting sail again for a midnight passage alone under moonlight.
My final destination was the tiny Gunner's Creek.
The creek is reached by a high tide passage out of the river mouth and south, over the shallow mud flats. A remote creek but with such a special atmosphere. Also a very narrow creek it sits below the chapel of St Peter On The Wall, as well as Wild Fowler Walter Linnets former cottage.
a fabulous night was had here.
Definitely not for the faint hearted (even more so at night) as there are many obstructions beneath the shallow breaking seas at high water but well worth the effort to reach it.

The full account of this magical cruise including the moonlight passage can be read in the Creaksailor book.

Winkle picking on St Peter's mud flats the following morning.

Southend Barge Match

2010-09-19T21:03:00.015+01:00

Ropes on Reminder. A clear deck is a clear mind.

Some images from the recent barge match.
I had been invited to take part in the match as crew aboard Phoenician. The previous evening I had been up to my knees in mud down the creek after a late sail when the phone rang giving confirming orders from her skipper to board at Southend pier end by 10.00hrs, for the race start at 11.00hrs.
After an early rise from the bunk I headed down the A130. From walking the seawall the barges were a pretty sight sitting way out on the mudflats. The mile long train journey to the pier end is very enjoyable with the views bringing back memories of sailing to the Blackwater from the Medway. I had arrived safely and boarded the barge where I wasted no time in making a cuppa for a couple of the lads and I but somehow before the start gun went off I had ended up aboard Reminder. I was doing well, a visit aboard two old girls in one day. This was a great start to what turned out to be a fabulous day.
If you have not had the opportunity to be aboard one of these vessels in a force five and six with full sails, it is recommended and truly memorable.
Under her Skippers command Reminders young crew worked tirelessly with the physical task of trimming sail or raising and lowering her giant Lee boards.
A great days sailing on the Thames Estuary.

Reminders crew in race mode

Acres of canvas, Reminder racing at Southend

Sb Phoenician racing off southend

The view from Reminders stern of Edme, close on our tail with the fleet following.

Guest Writer Swallow

2010-09-15T21:59:00.006+01:00

A new section to the creeksailor site for sailors of the Blackwater to share there cruising experiences on the river. Many thanks to fellow Blackwater cruiser 'Swallow' (pen name) for this article.

(Describing Swallow’s experience one day in the mid 199tees)

Some summers back on a high spring tide, Swallow and I took the ebb and sailed down the Blackwater past Bradwell and out to Bench Head. With no definite plan in mind we ran back with the easterly wind against the tide and anchored up in Thirstlet Creek. By this time the shell banks were well exposed and the creek was emptying fast.
I rowed the dinghy to shell spit taking my metal detector with me and was surprised to find quite a lot of Aluminum. This was all in fairly small pieces, very crumpled and badly corroded, but there seemed so much of it. It made me wonder where it could have come from!
For those who don’t know, when the tide goes out, it leaves a large shallow lagoon within the shell banks, deep enough to float the dinghy, and a very safe bathing and paddling pool for kids. Make sure the children have water shoes as the shell bank has no respect to bare feet. Pick the right tide, the right day and you couldn’t find a better spot for a picnic, exclusively yours providing no one else has the same idea. If you do go to the shell banks be sure to take a couple of decent sized buckets with you. That is if you like seafood. One bucket for oysters, the other for mussels. A couple of delightful hours will soon pass as you browse the banks, make sure you also take the sun cream, especially for the children, I nearly fried the day I was there.
The Blackwater water is classed as “Class 1 Water” by the Environmental Health Agency, or was when I worked for the local Oyster Company, but this can change of course, they used to take sample oysters every month from various locations within the river for testing. This means the mussels and oysters you glean can be eaten straight from the sea. All oysters sold by the local Oyster Company have to be purified for 24 hours in special facilities to comply with “European Law”. Please note, you eat at your own risk, Swallow takes no responsibility for any tummy upsets.
After my metal detecting, no Saxon gold alas, I noticed a large black lump appear as the tide receded over towards the salting and further up the creek. Intrigued, I dumped the detector back on Swallow then rowed up the creek and over towards the mysterious object. The dinghy grounded so I left it where it was and waded bare foot through crystal clear warm water to the object. Being of a certain age, I recognized it at once as being the remnants of a WW2 V2 rocket motor. It was intact, the combustion chamber still perfectly round, terminating in the large flared outlet cone. It was heavily encrusted after all those years and well embedded in the creek bed, but you could see right through it. You could make out quite a bit of detail, pipe wrapping round part of it and various openings here and there. It is in a very delicate condition after all these years and crumbles to the touch. There were some loose bits of it lying about and I took a small piece home, but this turned to dust when it dried out in my workshop. It’s beyond salvage now sadly, as it would make a unique BBQ stand if it could have been retrieved. For anyone looking for it, it’s located on the North shore of the creek approximately opposite Stone Sailing Club to the South, it only shows at very low tides. At the time I had no camera with me, and to this day I don’t possess a GPS, but it’s over there somewhere near where I have described.
Returning to my dinghy, I refloated it and rowed up the creek as far as I could. Further up I could see things sticking up out of the water, so waded up in their direction to investigate. The objects turned out to be the remains of an old steel Target Barge, blown to pieces either by very accurate bombing or purposely destroyed after the war. The outcome is horrific, with jagged metal distributed over a large area, the main piece being the stern post which is about five feet high. Having sailed from Stone since 1965, I have always been aware of this hazard and avoided the area, as it can easily be seen at low water. I cannot believe it remained unmarked for so long, as the two Red Marker Bouys have only been introduced quite recently.
As I was wading around the debris in ankle high water, the water was teeming with grey mullet. I don’t know whether they were spawning or just enjoying themselves, as some were leaping out of the water and others water skiing on their sides with tails thrashing. There were many hundreds swimming around and it was a spectacle worthy of a David Attenbourgh film. Although they were brushing against my feet, trying to catch one was impossible, they were all about eighteen inches to two feet long, extremely slippery and mega fast. As I have said I had no camera to record the incident but the memory is indelible printed in my mind.
By the time I had finished watching the Mullet at their play, the tide had turned and my dinghy was floating up towards me. I rowed back to Swallow, changed into my trunks and enjoyed a wonderful swim in the new flood tide . Invigorated once more I sat and watched the tide come in for an hour or so before hoisting sail and beating back out of the creek and rounding that big green bouy and running back to our mooring. When I described my experience in Thirstlet, the Thirstlet Bouy was much bigger than the one there now, the new one being a mere shadow of its predecessor.

Article copyright: Swallow

Navigation Buoys

2010-09-05T17:29:00.006+01:00

Wallet Spitway Buoy

Tollesbury creek east cardinal buoy

Mersea Quarters Spit east cardinal buoy

Inner Bench Head buoy

Cocum Hills east cardinal spar

Colne Point Buoy

Colne Fishery buoy

Bawley Emma

2010-07-10T20:58:00.010+01:00

Having spoken to Emma's owner Vic he was able to give me some updated information from some further research he had done on Emma.
Emma was originally a clinker built hull, which was discovered when the carvel planking was recently removed. This pre dated Emma to 1850 as this was the time when Bawley construction changed to carvel planking.
She originally had a Maldon reg no until crossing the Thames to a new owner in Whitsable.

Bawley Emma in the smack race on the Blackwater 2010

Emma was built for cockling and shrimping and continued to work out of the Kent creeks, being purchased by another new owner in 1928 and given the Faversham reg no F22 where she continued to work for shrimps and cockles.
When Vic purchased Emma in 2008 she had been sitting in the creek for a couple of years.
After giving Emma a complete restoration during which a wet hold was found in the hull, which indicates she may have kept the catch live until getting to shore.
Vic will be leaving the nets ashore this season deciding to race her at the classic East Coast events and sail her for pleasure, so lucky for all working boat fans we will be seeing a bit more of her up and down the east coast.

Smack rigged bawley Emma sailing on the Blackwater

Working boat enthusiasts may notice Emma is smack rigged not bawley. Vic says that is because most or all the Faversham based bawleys found it easier to navigate the meandering Faversham creek with smack rig.

Dinghy Cruise to Shipwreck Beach

2010-06-19T14:43:00.013+01:00

Dinghy Cruise to Shipwreck Beach

A southerly wind was blowing as we readied the 12 foot Cormorant dinghy for its first cruise on the river. Manoeuvring her well found bow into the wind while on her trolley made the task of lacing her tanned gaff main sail a little easier. The small boat had sat patiently for months among the many dinghy's fronting the beach, today she would come into her own. Placing the un stayed wooden mast in its through deck seat, attaching the boom and high peaked gaff came next followed by roving the halyards through the deck blocks and aft, to the roomy cockpit.
High water would be in half an hour which hastened the stowing of the day bags beneath the forward deck space. At the same time we rolled her gently down the short stretch of deep shingle beach here at The Stone. She floated off her trolley into the tide rode water all set.
I stepped aboard first followed almost immediately by her skipper, giving a thrusting foot off we drifted away from the weather shore as he climbed aboard.
Heading to the main channel through the large yachts swinging at their moorings. I lowered the lifting rudder, an essential piece of kit for any serious dinghy cruising and took the helm guiding us through the seemingly over sized yachts. As the skipper raised the yard, racing Catamarans and jet ski bikes began criss crossing our path causing us to gybe in a flurry of activity.
The Cormorant's single cat style rig began filling nicely, we quickly gathered pace as we headed up river to more 'quieter' waters.
Being a Sunday lunchtime the river was dotted with fleets of racing dinghy's from the surrounding clubs chasing the thrills of the cans, we had other plans as the Cormorant with its sturdy build and comfy seating arrangements would be cruising at a more sedate pace.

With the now rising gusts from the south we took it in turns on the helm gaining a feel for this ideal estuary ditch and creek crawler, even standing at the helm, which is nice to do every now and then when cruising in ideal conditions. Enjoying the sail we had soon neared the tranquil shores of a quiet stretch of river, our destination, Shipwreck Beach, one of my favoured hidden gems on the river to land at.

The tiny stretch of golden sand shining brightly in contrast to the dull clouded sky, the beautiful Shipwreck Beach was in front of us now. The skipper lowered the yard and we drifted the 20-30 feet or so towards this idyllic salty shore.
After raising the centre plate I climbed onto the foredeck just as the boat gently came to a halt on the soft sand, stepping off into ankle deep clear blue sea. pulling the Cormorant up the soft sandy beach to lay just below the wreck.

Like a few other secret hidden gems on the river this place is a mere trice of sea miles away from the busy hustle and bustle of the nearest towns streets, but yet a whole world away.

After some beach combing and soaking up the tranquil setting we eased the Cormorant into the clear blue sea and climbed aboard. This was almost a repeat of the earlier launch but without commotion and gybe. We headed further up river, the wind coming over the port bow giving us plenty of opportunity to tack the Cormorant, beating across the river making an extra couple of tacks to the round the Ford Creek buoy just for the fun of it.
Sailing past the pier remains on a close reach we took the Cormorant into the fast ebbing, rippling currants of the narrows, below the Stansgate Abbey where her relatively heavy lay up gave a smooth ride. Reaching back down river passing the many moored boats on this stretch and back towards The Stone.
The Cormorant had proved herself to be a good dinghy for cruising. There is heightened sense of adventure one gets from cruising in simple small dinghy's and boats which she gives in abundance with crew or single handed.

Smacks and Bawleys

2010-06-11T09:26:00.034+01:00

A beautiful Bawley.
Possibly Emma's first visit to the Blackwater this year. Emma has had a recent extensive rebuild.

F22 Emma of Faversham, built Haywards Southend 1850, LOA 25'

The Blackwater Estuary is as Harvey Benham once wrote the Last Stronghold of Sail. If like me you sail your home water which has many craft like these you can not help but be inspired to preserve the timeless ways of gaff rig. The sheer beauty and elegance of a craft draped in fine canvas coated in rich shades of ochre but is yet so functional. Craft that have fetched the tea and fed family's of Britain for nigh on a century of summers. Its a way that must be preserved as these boats are a window into a chapter of our nations maritime history. I still remember images of the tan sailed smacks and barges as a child looking out across the wallet from the beaches of Clacton, Frinton, Holland, Walton and Jaywick. The craft then must had been sailed by enthusiasts as being in the late 60's and 70's the fishing in them had long since ceased. The people that own and maintain these fine craft are not mere sailors they are living a lifestyle, one that is all consuming, one that has sadly all but disappeared.

To be among so many in the same waters that they would have fished drifting nets or dredging over the bulwark for oysters gives you a real feeling for what it was like back in the heyday of east coast working sail. If you are short of crew for a day please do contact me I may be able to lend a hand.

East Coast fishing smacks racing on the River Blackwater 2010

The letters preceeding the no' on the side of a fishing smack show the home port to which it is registrered. Some of the East Coast letters are
MN- Maldon
CK- Colchester
LO- London
HH- Harwich
LT- Lowestoft
F - Faversham

CK 213 Boadicia built 1808 Williamson Maldon LOA 30'

CK328 Sunbeam, built Howard of Maldon in 1881, LOA 50'

LO 502 Mary Amelia, a bawley, built Haywards Southend 1914,LOA 34'
Even though in colour these two images are timeless classics.

CK46 Skylark built in 1877, Howards Maldon LOA 35'

More detailed information regarding east coast smacks and bawleys can be found here by clicking on this link Smackdock

Blackwater Barge and Smack match 2010

2010-06-09T16:52:00.025+01:00

Down to the creek on Friday evening in readiness for the following mornings high tide and the start of the barge match at Osea Island. After preparing Huffler a very nice evening sail was had along the Osea shores followed by a night in the mud managing to keep hold of my new mud boots this time. It was a nice sight to see a couple of barges creeping down to Osea from Maldon late evening to anchor near the start line in readiness for the match in the morning which added to the anticipation for the Saturday. The morning brought mirror like calm conditions with warm sunshine but the forecast was for f3-4 winds from the east later. The turn out was good, such a wonderful sight to see so many barges and smacks together with all sails luffing and filling to the light morning airs.
Barges racing were SB Victor, Reminder, Repertor, Decima, Phoenician, Edme.
Barges also in attendance were SB Cabby, Hydrogen, Kitty, Nellie.

It wasn't long before I had left my mooring and while sailing over to Osea the start gun cracking off. The huge topsails were visible through the trees on Osea as I made way towards the Marconi buoy to get a good view of the start. Huffler had all sails set and was in her element now, huffling amongst the big hulks of the east coast.

I had planned to meet two fellow Blackwater pocket gaffers on the water to later anchor and raft at Sales Point beach for some lunch while watching the ongoing match.
Images taken while out on the river in Huffler sailing down with the fleet in company with a Cornish Shrimper and a Winkle brig.

SB Victor, first off the block and eventual class winner.

SB Repertor Staysail class with SB Edme Bowsprit class beyond.

SB Dinah

2010-06-03T22:45:00.002+01:00

SB Dinah, River Alde

SB Blackthorn

2010-06-03T22:37:00.005+01:00

SB Blackthorn at Snape on the river Alde.

SB Cygnet

2010-06-03T22:33:00.003+01:00

SB Cygnet on her mooring at Snape on The River Alde today.

From The 'Other Side'

2010-05-08T13:10:00.010+01:00

Navigation Master Class From An Old Sea Dog.

Referring to more experienced sailors as 'old sea dogs' I do so with the uppermost respect and use the term endearingly so it was nice to be invited to join a particularly salty old sea dog on what was his 49th trip to the same port over on 'the other side', the port of Ostende Belgium, sailed to from the River Blackwater Essex. That equates to 98 crossings of the North Sea in a relatively small sailing boat and this does not include the many other crossings to other continental ports that he has made over the years. That is quite an achievement in my book as many a sailor on this river has not even seen the other side of Bradwell Power Station.
Big sea or blue water sailing is really not my kind of sailing as I would much rather be meandering and pottering one of the solitary creeks but it is an experience not to be missed in great company of Tony G and Sam L and a capable yacht.
The trip began like last years trip to 'the other side', at the boat Thursday evening but with an even earlier start on Friday at 01.00 am for the outward passage.
The sail to Ostende takes approx 16-20 hrs which involves a considerable amount of time sailing at night which is an altogether different experience, especially in a yacht that draws 1.8 mtrs negotiating the swatchways at low water.
The forecast for the outward crossing was f4-5 increasing 6 later with some rain showers and cold.
The week previous I was able to launch Huffler in idyllic conditions with blue skies and glorious sunshine and a balmy 14-15 degrees but as the weekend approached a low pressure system had developed over the North Atlantic and Ireland threatening to make its way over the UK and towards the South East.
The sail over was fantastic, the big seas pitching and rocking the boat as she ploughed on undetered by Neptunes moans with the windex recording a maximum of 24 knts of wind over the deck.
On arrival at The Royal North Sea Yacht Club harbour the wind had eased which gave the impression that the low pressure system my have moved further north instead. But on further investigation the next day the five day forecast was for F4-5-6 increasing 7 and gale 8 gusting 80km for well into next week, not good for the planned Sunday crossing home so retreating to the yacht club bar to weigh up our options.
If the wind stayed around 6-7 we could head for Ramsagate which would be a shorter crossing back or head down the coast to France where a crossing could be made to Ramsgate the following day then across the estuary to Essex, kind of shorter sails that being rough we could tolerate but on further consideration it was decided to sit it out as it was just to rough being unable to even walk to the end of the pier the wind was so strong. The sea was a carpet of froth with one or two board surfers making the most of the huge breaking waves.
Being Storm bound in Ostende harbour has very few benefits but one of them being the bar of the North Sea Yacht Club where we waited for another two days. Tony G had to get back to England for an important work commitment so had to catch the train to Calais where the ferry was still stubbornly running over to Dover.
The following morning Tony G was able to phone over the latest met office forecast for our area which said the wind would decrease to 4-5-6 on Wednesday but gales would be continuing Thursday and Friday. The ease in the weather on Wednesday was the window we needed to get back.
I had brought along an old chart of the North Sea which I had the passage laid on.
For the return trip there would be Sam L and I so being the very thorough skipper that he is Sam was eager that I was familiar with everything on the boat including my navigation as although the boat has GPS we could not and do not rely on it alone.
On seeing me studying the chart Sam insisted I tell him where he will end up as we are going to steer a course of 306 degrees to the Long Sand Head.
Hmm..My first thought was the tide will be taking us adrift of the course steered to our destination, the Long Sand Head which in theory would be the case as laying a line from Ostende Harbour to the Longsand Head is exactly 306 deg, but hold on that's that is 50 or 60 mile of open sea with a running tide to consider?
Pencil at the ready patiently I plotted each hours position with the tide offset, can I catch this old sea dog outI thought. As I got halfway across the chart we were already 6 miles or so off track, surely he will have us running onto the sands?
At just over half way the tide very conveniently turns so each of the following hours plotted we are brought back to our original track, leaving us just inside of the longsand Head Buoy!

I looked over to Sam who shouts 'come on tell me where we will be as i'm steering a course of 306 deg', " you old sea dog" I laughed "we shall be at the long sand head!"
The following morning at 09.30 hrs we headed off out into the open sea on a course of 306 deg towards the Long Sand where on arrival at 20.00 hrs we change course to the North East Gunfleet Sands, darkness was almost upon us now and we had another hour till low water.
Sam took the helm guiding us through the sands where we enjoyed a perfect sunset silently gliding amongst the shallow swatchways. This for me is the magic hour its a timeless hour, an hour that if you could bottle it I'm sure it would heal the world or sell in millions.
Sailing down the wallet under mainsl Sam guided us safely onto the Knoll Buoy where some anxious moments were had as the depth sounder moves into single figures, depths that I am well used to but not with a draft of 1.8m. Onwards to the Eagle Buoy, the North West Knoll, to the Bench Head, all Buoys that get you safely through the sands. Then coming into the main river where from here there is nothing to guide the deep channel other than the lights of Mersea and the power station. The Baffle has two red lights which we let come abeam as there are a couple of unlit racing cans on this side of the river that could do damage if you hit them. Under darkness In this situation the depth sounder is invaluable. As we neared Bradwell creek I went forward to the bow with the 1000 candle watt torch to pick out the orange cans to guide us in Sam and I shouting back and forth can you see the cann, watch out for that boat etc, I find it a bit of a nightmare coming through here in darkness as the boats are moored so close you can hardly decipher the channel and you have to think and react quick.
Just nearing the entrance to the marina it was 2.5 hrs after low water the boat came to a gentle halt as the mud rubbed the keel Sam just managing to throttle us through the mud and over the cill. Coming alongside the birth at 02.45 hrs, passage trip 168.1 miles.

Walter Linnet

2010-04-19T22:43:00.014+01:00

Wildfowler Walter Linnet lived a peaceful, solitary existence here in this cottage on the Bradwell shore. With a desirable aspect the small garden looks out across the wide reaching mudflats and across the North Sea. He was one of the last of the wildfowlers on the river earning a living working his gun punts at the top of the tide. A way of life long gone now, possibly due to a huge supermarket or two.

The cottage which is in remarkably good condition is now used by bird watchers.
Most people get here by foot on the long stretch of Roman road. I visited the cottage in Huffler via a small forgotten creek called Gunners Creek which cuts through the saltmarsh from St Peters mudflats.

Looking north across the saltmarsh towards Linnets cottage gives a feel of the remoteness here

Cockle Spit one of mother natures art works

The Dengie flats and the Raysand beyond.
Just visible are a line of lighters which are marked on the chart but rarely seen by mariners this close.

The Broomway

2010-03-09T20:31:00.010Z

The Broomway an ancient track and bye way which at one time was used frequently by local farmers and inhabitants of Foulness Island. This is a remote corner of Essex which remains unchanged even today. The Havengore bridge which is manned by the MOD is the way on to the island today but you will need an appointment to visit as this whole area is restricted access as the MOD use it as a firing range.
Wakering Stairs is the start of the Broomway and takes you out across the Maplin Sands heading north to Foulness Island.The very nature of the wide expanse of level mudflats means the tide comes in from a far very quick here and it is said lives have been lost by people using the track being caught out by the tide. A shortcut if conditions are right, used by sailors from the south heading into the River Roach or Crouch, or if heading south to the Medway or Thames is to cross these shallow sands at around high water, which can save a long passage out on the main of around 15 miles.
For obvious reasons the bridge is not in operation while firing is taking place so check prior to trying to get through here in a boat.
Wakering Stairs,at the start of the Broomway

The Broomway which runs parallel to the sea wall out on the sands

The wide expanse of the Maplin Sands

The Isle of Sheppy to the south in the distance

Havengore Bridge

Shivering Sands WW11 Towers out on the Thames Estuary

Sailing Barges

2010-03-03T21:31:00.015Z

Some images of local Sailing Barges including Hydrogen from a visit to the quayside at Maldon. Its nice to see these wonderful old hulks in there mud births where you are able to get a good look onboard and wonder at all the huge tackle and spars as opposed to sailing alongside or past while on the river. Hydrogen can be seen on the blocks beside Cooks yard. It goes without saying that the amount of work these historical craft need to keep them in such good working condition must be huge.
Each time I come here there is always someone onboard one of the barges doing some kind of maintenance task

The Hythe

Planking nicely stacked

Hydrogen's Shoal draft is clearly visible here at 3 feet

SB Cabby and Thistle stern

SB Pudge in her mud birth, the last time I photographed Pudge she was in dry dock under restoration in Lawling creek

SB Pheonician her holds well sealed against the elements now.
SB Wivenhoes deck can be seen to Pheonicians portside

SB Reminder the all steel sailing barge

Camping and Launching

2010-01-12T11:02:00.040Z

Anyone who has seriously cruised in a small boat will know that camping is a big part of the fun.
Cruising for longer than a daysail you will have to decide whether to make camp on shore or in the boat. Camping ashore means looking for a suitable piece of land where you are not trespassing. This problem is solved once you decide to camp aboard as now you can dry out in the mud or pull the dinghy on to the saltings or up a beach, making camp by erecting a tent in the dinghy or with a canvas boom tent in the cockpit of the pocket cruiser.

Here are some ideas for dinghy and pocket cruisers how to get on the water here and places to camp.
The information given here is in good faith to aid small boat sailors planning a visit here.
I have removed the 2009 prices so please do make your own checks as prices times etc can change.
Probably The most simple route to get a sail in would be to turn up at say Bradwell marina slipway pay your fee £? inclusive of recovery and parking. launch/recover between 08.30 am and 5pm 2 hrs either side of LW. So after launch, park up and off you go on a flood tide all the way up to Maldon and return on the ebb. Or stay the night camp on board, either pick up a vacant mooring buoy or dry out somewhere that looks muddy, returning on the following ebb.

Blackwater Marina which is in Mayland 10-15minutes less drive than Bradwell, also has a slipway and some parking with fees each way at £? including parking.
Tollesbury Marina has a slipway which is very reasonable at £? each way including parking up to a few days maybe a week depending on space. Its tidal here to and the shoal keel (12") can launch up to three hrs either side of HW. Tollesbury hard has the free public slipway which has no nearby parking due to yellow line restrictions. Next door The Tollesbury Marina has a slipway which is very good value and also cater for visiting dinghy and pocket cruisers coming in from the creek, who are welcome to stay for a few hrs at a pontoon for free. Just ring or radio to let them point you the best place to moor. Once in over the marina cill you will stay afloat so remember the creek dries out. for longer overnight stays fees are due.

For visitors by car the main concern is parking the car and trailer. This can be done safely at the marinas.
Another way is to get the tents up at a camp/caravan site then either use a public or marina slip.
For camping sites there is camping at Fen Farm East Mersea where you could base yourself and use the public slipway at west Mersea to get afloat.
On the south side of the river Steeple caravan site has a large field for visiting tents/campers which borders the sea wall and which Is good for large Groups and families and ideally has its own Slip into Mayland Creek entrance.

St Lawrence Bay has a caravan site and there is a slipway at the end of the main road next to the pub but not sure this is public but could be worth enquiring further. Eastland Meadow country park in East End Rd has room for small tents but for over 50s only, a tranqill static park close to St Peter On The Wall Chapel and Bradwell marina it could be a good base for some.

I am based from a sailing club so after paying the usual membership fees have access to launch and recover at will as well as camp in a tent on the club grounds. This could be the answer for a lot of visitors as when you way up the costs involved such as fuel/slipway and marina fees it could well pay you to join one of the many sailing clubs most of which will have their own private slip on the river which gives you unlimited access for the year even if you only want to use it for a week or two. If you would rather not become a member try contacting one of the many sailing clubs and ask if they could accommodate you for a visit you may be surprised this is not as cheeky as you may think, they all advertise that they welcome visiting yachtsmen.

Sailing clubs membership terms can differ so check but Another angle- most sailing club members are able to bring guests to use the facility's as a full member which means if you know a member you could bring your boat, launch and use the car park for free. They usually stupefy that the same person is allowed in for no more than four separate visits so have a friend here is another option.

For trailer sailors visiting the river looking for places to launch I do recommend studying a local map for your preferred place to be based as for sailing you will want to take the tide either from down river and up or from the top of the river down. If you find a slip at midpoint on the river such as say the top of Mayland Creek you will need to work the tide to your advantage and so you may not have a fair tide to get up to Maldon and down to Mersea and back up again to Mayland in a day.

Public slipways are few and are namely Tollesbury, West Mesea, Maldon. The use of these slipways are made more difficult by the nearby parking restrictions. At West Mersea the restrictions are lifted after 6pm (2010).
Even if you launch from a marina you could still have a visit to a welcoming sailing club pre planned where you could put up a tent for the night and use the facility's.
Osea Leisure Park in Goldhanger road were offering camping facilities on the Osea Meadows during July and August 2010.
Tollesbury Saltings can accommodate visiting trailer sailors but ring Doug who is the manager to book a place he will find you a comfy spot in the mud for overnight berthing leaning on the narrow pontoons dry out which is fun also has toilets and parking facility's reached by the narrow wooden walk ways (everyone should experience this) the fees are £? + vat per night including parking so launching here would be at the free public slipway. Another option is to ask Doug if you can park only as at £? is still reasonable.

Local Sailing/cruising clubs
Maldon YC
Blackwater SC
Tollesbury SC
Saltcote SC
Stone SC
Harlow Blackwater SC
Heybridge Basin Sailing Association
Maylandsea Bay SC
West Mersea YC
Goldhanger SC
Dabchicks SC
Marconi SC
Maldon Little ship Club
Mill Beach Marine Club
Tollesbury Cruising Club
Tollesbury Mud Club
Bradwell Quay Yacht Club
The Saltings Tollesbury

I hope you find something useful here, if you have anything that would be help full here I will gladly ad it.

River Blackwater :Creeks/map

2010-01-10T15:24:00.011Z

Gunner's Creek

The Creeksailor book has an ilustrated map inside with a symbol code for places to visit in the river. Many creeks have become forgotten creeks with certain names not even mentioned on a yachtsmans chart. The book gives a comprehensive list to the number and name of the creeks inside the river.

River Blackwater: Places

2010-01-08T19:29:00.019Z

Bradwell Creek

The Stone

Maldon

West Mersea

Packing Shed Island,Mersea

Looking East down river across the Stumble.
Image taken while sailing over the Osea Island Causeway.

Northey Island, view from colliers Reach.
The Manor house on Northey is available to rent for holidays.

Osea Pier

Mill Beach Marine Club

Marconi SC and the Narrows

Entrance to Mayland creek

Heybridge

Harlow Blackwater Sailing Club

Blackwater Sailing Club

Blackwater Marina

2009-12-11T17:59:00.005Z

Sailing Barge Wivenhoe

SB Wivenhoe and Pheonician

SB Wivenhoe at the baffle

S B Pheonician

2009-12-11T17:55:00.003Z

Sailing Barge Pheonician

SB Pheonician stern

SB Reminder

2009-12-11T17:50:00.003Z

Sailing Barge Reminder at the Thirslet

SB Pudge

2009-12-11T17:47:00.002Z

SB Pudge in dry dock at Lawling creek

Sailing Barge Nellie

2009-12-11T17:40:00.006Z

SB Nellie of Faversham passing The Stone

SB Nellie Stern

2009-10-17T16:33:00.005+01:00

sailing barge Reminder out on the river

2009-09-14T22:15:00.005+01:00

Norfolk Broads Classic Gaff Rig Cruising

2009-09-02T18:12:00.019+01:00

With so much sailing done this season on the river it was a refreshing treat to spend four days Sailing a classic 28 foot gaff rigged wooden broads cruiser, which has to have been the highlight of the year for me. We managed to sail the rivers Thurne the Bure the Ant and some dykes and one or two other cuts of water also visiting Hickling Broad and Horsey mere.

The Broads can only be described as a small boat potterers heaven. Sailing a 28 footer with no engine in some very narrow stretches of river is quite a learning curve after handling a 16 footer. As in the narrow winding creeks of the Blackwater the whole spectrum of sailing is brought into play each and every sail as you wind your way through stretches of water that you just don't want to end. Its a place I will be visiting again very soon. The ease of mooring your boat for the night as well as the closeness of the banks with the scenery the reeds, the birds. If you like sailing Small creeks you will love the broads although not as much mud as down here on the Essex shores at low water. You will find it here though as when you lift up your mud anchor or the Quant pole its covered in the stuff.
Some very hair raising moments were had when surrounded by inpatient motor cruisers not understanding the rudimentries of tacking a very heavy cruiser along the narrow rivers.
The Boat was a joy to sail and tacked gracefully through the wind, the stern just brushing the reeds and trees on many occasion.

There was plenty of wind over the weekend. The wind did increase even more by the bank holiday Monday and two reefs were put in the huge sail. A particular highlight was one glorious sunny evening with my son at the helm sailing a stretch of the Thurne from the pub at Thurne dyke, under jib alone with a following wind and to port up womack water to the staith. I stood by the shrouds on deck at the ready with the Quant pole but needed to use it only twice the whole way. With family games of cards under oil lamp in the canvas boom tent everyone was happy and came home with a revitalised vigour for simple sailing.

Blackwater Barge Race

2009-06-28T13:18:00.008+01:00

The Annual barge race which started and ended at Osea Island .

The barges come right up to moorings, using all the river width before tacking.

100 Mile week dinghy cruising

2009-04-27T22:25:00.021+01:00

Dinghy cruising being so much fun, if any unexpected opportunity comes up I will try and get afloat. A small cruise turned into a busy weeks sailing in caravella, trying to get in all the creeks that I had missed the back end of last year. I had not realised that I had covered a hundred miles sailing in and about the river. The cruise involved spending nights on board, taking in many areas up and down the river including Sales Point, St Lawrence Creek, Bradwell Creek and Pewet Island, among others.

The most memorable and exhilarating sail was reaching all the way to stone from Bradwell Creek at about 8pm, on the flood with a fantastic sun setting ahead, while standing. I think it was at this point I had realised I had totally tamed the Scaffie as she was obeying every touch on the tiller, being very forgiving when I sailed her hard on the wind, not daring to heel me overboard.

Bradwell Creek

The Scaffie, a great cruising dinghy with lots of room and readily adaptable for camping on board.

Sales point to the Baffle, Bradwell

2009-04-25T21:26:00.002+01:00

St Peters Mudflats

2009-04-10T09:52:00.014+01:00

Sitting peacefully at the entrance of the estuary is St Peter-On-The-Wall Chapel,
it was built in 654 by St Cedd on the site of a Roman fort called Othona. St Cedd who in 653 had sailed down the east coast from Lindisfarne and landed at Bradwell.
If you are sailing up from the Crouch or from further south you will spot St Peters before rounding into the estuary and seeing Bradwell power station. The contrast of these two landmarks could not be any greater really as the chapel sits in this remote corner of Essex facing out to the North Sea with its beauty and tranquility.

The shore here is a mix of seawall and shell beach and lots of mud. The old barge lighters that have been placed just north of the chappel are a sea defence protecting the shoreline.
For small boat sailors you can get very close to these at high water as there is about 2 meters but do please check your charts as the barges cover at MHWS, and they marked red danger and lighted at night .The pictures here were taken at about an hour before low water springs.
The mudflats go out for miles and there are great views up the Wallet and out to the Ray Sand channel and the North Sea.
You can also just about see the wind farm on Gunfleet Sands under construction which is going to be another huge local landmark for mariners.

Mersea Island across the estuary mouth, and further to the right a large structure can just be made out at Brightlingsea.

Gunfleet wind farm is just about visible left of this picture.
No reason why you couldn't dry out here for the night and get the barbi going.

Lots of mud

Thirslet Buoy

2009-04-08T12:23:00.003+01:00

Thirslet bouy.
The buoy marks the edge of Thirslet spit and the entrance to Thirslet Creek,
which like the whole estuary looks a lot different a low water.

Environmental issues facing the Blackwater estuary

2009-02-12T17:28:00.001Z

Free online series of video clips by the Open University presenting and discussing the environmental issues facing the River Blackwater estuary, and probably a lot of other coastal areas to.
There are some good Aeriel footage of the saltings and Osea in particular.