Category: Medway, Swale and the Kent coast

Medway, Swale and the Kent coast

Fabulous new publications from Lodestar Books include classic yachting authors Conor O’Brien, H Alker Tripp, H Lewis Jones and WE Sinclair

Inshore of the Goodwins sample

Shoalwater and Fairway - H Alker Tripp - Christmas gifts from Lodestar Books Swin, Swale and Swatchway - H Lewis Jones - Christmas gifts from Lodestar Books On Going to Sea in Yachts - Conor O'Brien - Christmas gifts from Lodestar Books Cruises of the Joan - W E Sinclair - Christmas gifts from Lodestar Books

I have good news as we come up to the Christmas season – Dick Wynne’s wonderful Lodestar Books is republishing four more sailing classics that will make great gifts for the sailing man or woman:

  • Shoalwater and Fairway – The casual explorations of a sailing main in the shoal seas and tidal waters of Essex and Kent by H Alker Tripp, illustrated by the author. Click on a the image at the top of this post for a sample chapter
  • Swin, Swale and Swatchway by H Lewis Jones – Jones pre-dates both Maurice Griffiths and Francis B Cooke, and gives us the the Thames Estuary and the boats and characters inhabiting it in late Victorian times. His charming adventures and human encounters have an engaging immediacy, and are enhanced by the author’s many photographs, which provide a priceless glimpse of a time long gone
  • Cruises of the Joan by WE Sinclair – the cruises of an engineless, 22-ft Falmouth quay punt in the 1920s, first around Britain, then to Madeira and to the Baltic, and finally across the North Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland. Sinclair’s dry, phlegmatic humour and observation makes his accounts highly entertaining account – and one we might not have today if luck had not played its part
  • On Going to Sea in Yachts – Conor O’Brien’s distilled experience in selecting, equipping and handling sailing craft from the smallest beach cruiser to the ocean-going yacht. The author’s choice of topics and anecdotes, all related in a characteristically down-to-earth manner, makes valuable and engaging reading. His many clear drawings leave us in no doubt as to the practical details, which are born of his own experience over many years and many thousands of sea miles

If these aren’t quite what’s needed, don’t forget Lodestar’s previous publications, Francis B Cooke’s classic Cruising Hints – The Traditional Yachtsman’s Compendium and the outstanding Holmes of the Humber collection of material by and about legendary canoe yawl sailor, boat designer, artist  Humber Estuary figure, George Holmes. Get your great boating reading here!

Sailing barge film Red Sails free public screening at Faversham

Red Sails A4 free screening poster

Red Sails is a new Michael Maloney film that uses interviews and archive footage to explore the history and influence of the Thames sailing barge.

There’s a website to read here, and the film is to be launched to the public with a free public screening at the Royal Cinema, Faversham on the 7th December at 1pm.

Over generations, sailing barges had a huge influence on the development of London and towns, villages and rivers nearby and along the Thames Estuary and beyond, and this film looks at the craftsmen who built these amazing boats, their skippers, and the boys and men who crewed them.

For those of us who can’t make it (like me – I really should be working for a living that day!) there’s a page of links to preview Youtube clips here.

Kentish Sail Association takes the Sea Cadets out on a barge, and publishes its 2012 calendar

A group of Faversham Sea Cadets had a day’s sailing on board a traditional sailing barge in October thanks to the Kentish Sail Association.

The KSA is best known for organising the Swale Match each year, but getting youngsters afloat in traditional vessels in order to ‘introduce and encourage youngsters in the handling of traditional sail’ is also one of the organisation’s main aims.

The barge chartered for the purpose was the Greta. Strong winds were forecast but I gather the cadets were keen to get sailing and skipper Steve Norris decided to head out of Whitstable Harbour on the clear understanding that if the wind got too strong he would turn and run back in.

In the event they had a wonderful morning on the water: Steve got the boys setting the big sails, with even the smallest getting involved in heaving on the ropes, and they also took turns at the wheel.

Another development is the 2012 KSA calendar, which is now available. It features a selection of photos from last year’s Swale Match and a couple from earlier occasions. It’s available from outlets in Faversham, such as the chandlery at Iron Wharf, but can also be ordered by mail, priced at £10, plus £2 for post and packing in the UK. Write to KSA, 13 Abbey Street, Faversham, Kent ME13 7BE, making the cheque out to the ‘Kentish Sail Association’.