I would like to thank every reader for their support this year and wish everyone a very happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. Tony
Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Wednesday, 4 November 2015
Audacious Audacity
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Audacity 21 - Creeksailor |

After having a little delve into the second-hand yacht
market I was fascinated to learn one or two Audacity 21s are still sailing and
for my money they are one of the unsung and rare classics of small, wooden boat
building.
The standard rig was Bermudan sloop and I can only guess
they sailed well not having sailed one but, if I’m honest, since I found and
photographed one at various intervals in the progressive stages of rotting away
on the saltings in the back of a lonely creek in Essex a number of years ago,
I’ve become more interested in who actually built these boats.
My memory was jogged
again one wintry
day after climbing onto the seawall after taking some further photos and I set about trying to find some info on the boat. I happened to find out, by accident, that it was a firm very close to home who I already knew of and I actually knew people, who were now in their 80s, that had spent the best part of their lifetime working there!
Who built it you ask, well, the Audacity was built by Walter
Lawrence & Son LTD who was a long-established building firm (Est 1871) with
a large joinery works on the banks of the River Stort, in Lower Sheering,
Sawbridgeworth. Now, Sawbridgeworth is a small, former maltings, town in
Hertfordshire that by osmosis straddles the bordering counties of Herts and
Essex. To add a little location twist; Lower Sheering is in Essex and is also
seen today as being in Sawbridgeworth which is in Herts…
The company no
longer exists and their workshops have long since been demolished and a
waterside housing complex, called Lawrence Moorings, put in its place. Like many inland towns throughout England that
grew out of the banks of a waterway, the River Stort, passing through
Sawbridgeworth, was the lifeblood of the town and most building materials were
brought up through the river and canal system by barge. Initially these barges
were towed by horse until engines were fitted and finally lorries, run on quicker
and more efficient new roads, took over.



If you own one of these boats and you’d like to tell us how they sail, or if you worked at the yard, comment below or get in touch.
Special thanks: All W Lawrence images curtsy R Marshal.
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Saturday, 17 October 2015
The Wonder
The wonder is that magic places still exist
just across the way, around the corner, beyond the seawall. Some are blind -
seeing mud a spartan and sticky gloom - a hostile landscape of salt and sea,
wild marsh and lonely prairie. But those that know - they return every year to
wallow in the song of ducks, to smell the sea winds on the great flats, to wade
the tide-lines with shank; tread the vast sandbanks in solitude, and to witness
the melody of a new dawn and smile - invigorated by all that glitters -
sleeping sound at the day's magical end... Tony
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Blood Moon & Ghosts
Something just swept past down the mud and slid away over to Fingringhoe Marshes, heading in a Tollesbury direction. It came straight off Rat Island... A friendly warning to anyone on the coast roads or in a boat: Black Shuck could be out tonight👻:-h
Saturday, 15 August 2015
Worth Ditching The Engine For?
A look on the Ordnance
Survey map shows us that there are, on the East Coast, a dozen or so tidal
rivers that indent the coast from North Foreland in the south up to Orfordness
in the north, where inside can be found hundreds of smaller creeks just waiting
to be explored.
I have slowly been making headway to all of
the above mentioned places single-handed in my 16 foot cruiser Shoal Waters during the last two and a
half years since I chose to cruise engineless. The associated niggles that go
with running an engine such as servicing, obtaining petrol, storing the stuff
on board, reliability problems: I could go on and on. They all disappeared in a
flash the moment I decided to cruise engineless. This is a whole new concept
for the majority of cruising sailors, who use engines as a matter of course, that
is in fact an ancient one as our ancestors got around quite admirably for centuries
using wind and tide alone to transport commercial cargo, and in the Thames
Estuary the practice was carried on right up until 1970 by Bob Roberts, who
skippered Cambria, the last sailing barge to trade commercially under sail.
You
might even find yourself scratching your head looking for engine problems
because it takes a while to get used to the novelty of not having any? And,
although I felt quite naked initially, I quickly adjusted to a slightly
different mind-set, where instead of being one step ahead I was now thinking
two or three. Charles Stock liked to use the phrase “low animal cunning” to
describe what is needed to cruise successfully in an engineless yacht and I was
amazed at how quickly I had adopted some of these attributes.
I have learnt that sailing single-handed and
pure has to be one of the best feelings in the world. Just as a boxer in a ring
would do as blows come his way, I bobbed and weaved as weather conditions were
dealt to me. That stiff nor-easter was like an overhand right that I ducked and
yielded to, and went with its flow. On one particular occasion I had done so
when a break in the weather allowed the 33NM mile passage up the inshore coast
to explore the forgotten wharf in Johnny All Alone Creek in the River Stour. (You
can read about this passage in my book Sea-Country). And on leaving a
day later I dodged ships in the river and Harwich Harbour while heading out and
scraped over the Deben Bar to get up to Woodbridge. I left on the same tide and
went boldly offshore to skirt the Cork Sand and then scarpered back down the
coast on a glorious run passed Walton and Clacton. I was feeling on top of the
world and began thinking how wide Shoal
Waters wings had again spread around her cruising ground in the manner she
was accustomed to.
However, I would also learn that, depending
on what your expectations are, engineless cruising has as many down sides as
up. I then crossed the Colne Bar and could just see the mouth of the Blackwater
opening up ahead, when with half hour to go before high tide and suddenly
mother nature swung a below the belt blow and the north-westerly was cancelled
out by the sea-breeze coming from the south-east. Maybe if I hadn’t gone out to
the Cork I would have been safely inside the mouth of the Blackwater by now and
would have anchored by the Mersea shore as planned to await the following tide
upriver?
The
next hour sat in the doldrums would feel as desperate as a set of fingernails
scraping on a chalkboard. High tide came and went. I had begun a hopeless drift further out to
sea. I passed the North -West Knoll going the wrong way. I was in deep water in
more ways than one. And then the flashbacks began of sweetly popping two
strokes coming to the rescue – if only… In all truth these were the exact type of
situations I wanted to face alone. This was my chain of thought at the time anyhow,
as perhaps only then would I emerge from the sea-forge a diversified sailor.
I
remained calm and was about to sling the hook over when after what seemed like
hours the north-westerly came back in with vengeance and all hell broke loose
as sails flogged wildly until I gripped the sheets, reigning them in until
taught-rigid and Shoal Waters shot
off like a cruise missile. My heart raced as thrillingly I blazed over the ebb
into the Blackwater in a 10NM mile trail along the slack margins, and into the
shallower northern route of Thirslet Creek, in a record time of three and a
half hours when I could go no further and had become stuck-fast in mud
teasingly in the lower end of my home creek. Alas, I completed the trip by
coming in on the evenings tide around midnight. Not every trip ends with a white knuckle ride
of course but to practice the art of sailing a small boat around the Thames
Estuary under the whims of the tide and fickleness of the four winds does require
certain strength of character and resolve.
There is an aspect of small boat cruising
that is likely to appeal to every normal sailor on inland and coastal waters.
From my experience, the past time presents an endless mix for exploratory
cruising where a spice of uncertainty adds enormously to the pleasure,
gratification and satisfaction of undertaking a passage from A to B in an
engineless yacht. Good sailing, Tony Smith
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Clouds in Whitaker
Monday, 27 July 2015
Smell The Cotton - East Coaster Clothing: Traditional Fisherman-Type Smocks
At the last count I had six different sailing smocks and so have
pulled out two of the better conditioned for a closer look. As I look around I see
every conceivable form of dress is worn on board a sailing boat today. And
throughout the last 40 or so years of technological advancement in waterproof
and wicking clothing, with all the big name brands that spend huge sums of
money on advertising in the monthly mags, there are those sailors, boating
types and people in general who withhold an affinity with nautical things of
old and still favor a simple piece of cotton that is the traditional fisherman
type smock.
This simple smock remains a staple garment of choice for fishermen
and boating enthusiasts, artists and manual workers and evolved from fishermen
around our coast hundreds of years ago who would have a heavy-duty work over garment,
often made using the same canvas material as the sails on his fishing smack (boat).
Both smocks appearing in this review retail at around £25.00 and are made in England, and
are, respectively, the Yarmo smock (Breton red) and The Smock Shop smock (Navy
blue).
The Yarmo smock material in this review and pictures is 100%
Sailcloth. Yarmo are based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk and sell a large selection
of sailing and fishing wear as well as work-wear.
The Smock Shop smock in this review and pictures is made
from 100% drill cotton. The Smock Shop in Penzance, Cornwall sells a
comprehensive range of traditional and contemporary smocks.
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Traditional sailing wear - smocks |
The style of both smocks is V-Neck and both have a 4 inch
collar which can fold down or up to suit your mood or the weather. Both of the materials
are hard wearing and tough and withstand, quite remarkably, the abuse they can
get in the everyday working aboard my small cruiser and yet retain enough softness
so is comfortable to wear over a tee shirt and against bare skin. The seam stitching
is close knit and straight with both smocks having reinforced stitching on the
tops of pockets.
The Yarmo smock has a 1.5” easing in the lower sides whereas
the Smock Shop smock has not. In use, while beating or close hauled, the V-Neck
can feel open and a little exposed without a neckerchief on and after one
chilly northerly passage I fitted a teak toggle button to the Breton red Yarmo
smock, while sat at anchor awaiting a tide, to give the option of closing it. I
also just happen to like adapting things like this but it would be no problem
to slip a scarf round ones neck for a time if you felt it is needed.
Both garments are made of one piece front, back and sleeve
panels with collar and pockets sewn on and are, if laid flat, T shape. What I have found with my smocks in general is
the reinforced stitching is so thorough at the pocket tops that if you do get
them caught in anything the tendency is to rip a small hole in the main
garment cloth as opposed pulling undone the stitching.
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Breton red sailcloth Yarmo smock |
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Navy blue Smock Shop drill cotton smock |
Both smocks have two front pockets; the Yarmo: 7” wide x 6”
inch deep. Smock Shop: 7” wide x 7” deep therefore are roomy and come in very
handy for small tools like pliers, a torch or a knife, food and nibbles even,
while working around the boat. I find the pockets so handy in fact that it’s
hard not to overfill them and end up with a swinging weight around your mid-section.
For the maintenance season, and doing
any painting, smocks make a great overall and the big pockets are useful for spare
brushes. For sailing, I wear a round neck smock as well. This traditionally has no
pockets and you might find this type is better for working around the boat in
confined spaces or when doing any kind of wood-work as there is nowhere for any
wood shavings to collect and nothing to get caught on those awkward fittings on a boat such
as a cleat or bungee hook.
Sizes: Smocks are an over-garment so are meant to be roomy therefore
be realistic when considering the size you choose. If you are around six feet
tall and average build a Size Large will suffice to wear as a shirt would be
worn, however, when the weather turns chilly and you put a woolly jumper on under
it, when hoisting sail or shipping 10 fathoms of anchor chain, you could do
without any restriction in shoulder and arm movements therefore Size Extra Large
would perhaps do you a better service.
V-Neck collar detail Smock Shop |
V-Neck collar detail Yarmo (custom) |
As far as 'wear' goes a smock becomes similar to a favorite pair
of denim jeans. They fade in colour and can last for years. If you have a few
in rotation they will last indefinitely. A smock can also become like an old friend that
has seen adventure with you - the good passages and the bad, and in this respect
it can become a part of you…
Custom toggle |
Pocket detail |
If you are unlucky to be holed through your beloved smock
being a natural material this can easily be stitched up again or, as I have done on
one of my smocks, I have used one of the pockets as donor cloth to patch over a
tear that happened getting off the boat one night while sliding over a cleat in darkness
with my heavy backpack on.
Aesthetics: Well, that’s a very personal thing to each and
every one of us but, personally speaking, a smock has a timeless look about it
and an old boat coupled with a skipper in an old smock will, perhaps, always have
a certain old England charm that continues to appeal. If, or when, you slip one overhead
and ‘smell the cotton’, take a moment’s thought before you set about the deck,
for wearing your fisherman’s smock you are partaking in a seafaring tradition
that has carried on for centuries. Good sailing, Tony
Side relief in Yarmo smock |
Pocket detail |
No relief in Smock Shop smock |
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