Gavin Atkin's weblog for the sort of people who like looking inside boat sheds. It's about old boats, traditional boats, boat building, restoration, the sea and the North Kent Coast
Barge enthusiast Laura Tomkins has kindly sent me some fine, smile-inducing photos of the Thames Sailing Barge Parade, which was held yesterday.
The event seems to have had the same dramatic skies and occasional showers my pal and I encountered out on the Estuary as we sailed to and fro through the Copperas channel, but don’t the barges look great! Thanks Laura!
This weekend’s Barge Parade, all tied up in West India Dock. Nine in a row isn’t a sight you see too often… Read all about it at the Barge Parade website!
Thanks for the photo, Nigel of Bexley!
PS – here’s a very nice time lapse video from Repertor during the parade.
This gallery of aerial photos of Thames sailing barges from the 1940s is an interesting document – not least because it shows clearly how far barges in those days would travel, as can be seen from the shot of Kingston upon Hull and the photo of three barges moored near Cowes.
By the way, the sparkling barge shot is of Repertor.
My thanks to the Thames Sailing Barge Trust for spotting this one.