Tag: sailing barge

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’.

Spider T sails from Keadby Lock on Humber to Arbroath – the full story

Spider T returns to the Humber following the Arbroath Sea Fest

Mal Nicholson and the Spider T crew will have more to chew on than most when they consider their summer’s adventures, having sailed a 1920s Humber sloop from Keadby to Arbroath and back.

The purpose of the boat’s trip was to attend Arbroath Sea Fest, and join in the marking of the 200th anniversary of the building of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, by Robert Stephenson. (I’m pleased to note a connection here – in building the Bell Rock Light, Stephenson was assisted by John Rennie, whose son Sir John Rennie was responsible for the New River Ancholme Drainage Scheme, which created the river that provides Spider T’s home berth.)

As you’d expect, their trip was marked by a series of minor mishaps and fascinating encounters, unforgettable landfalls, great thundering dawns and glorious sunsets. A series of posts here at intheboatshed.net recorded the northward trip, but you can read about the whole thing on a special page on the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society’s website.

A series of local newspapers covered the story of the Spider T’s visits to ports along the way, including this one recording the moment when the boat and crew called in at Hartlepool.

PS – Dig the great photo on the HKSPS homepage showing a keel skipper working his boat out of harbour using a sweep, with his rudder hard over and a tender in tow. Now there’s a challenge, yotties!