Category: Sailing in General
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Scottish Islands Peaks Race
Oh dear, here we go again. This time I am joining the crew of the Good Ship Brimble, a 27ft Twister. There will be more space onboard than Sumara but still pretty cosy with five runners and all the kit. I’ve been a bit disorganised this year struggling to find the time to sort out…
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Help to save London’s last working boatyard
It looks like Southwark Council are going to submit a planning application to build two tower blocks on top of South Dock Marina’s Boat Yard any minute now. Being fully aware that they would not gain planning consent if it meant the boat yard would need to close down they have come up with a…
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Getting Sumara ready for the sailing season
The Arthur Beale project has been zapping up all my spare time so some things are being neglected. Most of all I’m not getting to see all my buddies so that certainly needs to be rectified soon! But I realised the Good Ship wasn’t going to get all the love that she would normally get…
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South Dock Marina Boatyard – Southwark Council’s Vision
Once upon a time Southwark Council had a vision of a balanced community but sadly it has vanished now. What happened to all those jobs? Where did the 3/4 million square feet of industrial estates go with the 15,000 jobs? Now they want to build on one of the last remaining pieces of light industrial land…
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South Dock Marina Boatyard – a disaster about to happen
7th February 2016I didn’t attend the latest “consultation” about the plans to build two tower blocks on top of the South Dock Marina Boat Yard. Southwark Council still don’t appear to have my name on their mailing list. Actually they only seem to have three of the houses in Dockmaster’s Quay out of about eighteen so…
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South West Coast Path – Clothing
28th January 2016 As it happened it wasn’t cold despite being January. It was however wet and windy and it was interesting to see whether our clothing was up for it. My Montane jacket made from Event was already leaking during my bike ride to work so I decided to buy a new one. There was a…
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South Dock Marina Boat Yard Update
Southwark Council held their “consultation” meeting on the 7th and 8th of October. In their wisdom they decided to have a maximum of twenty people in each 30 minute session. The first day sold out quickly so they introduced another day. It was all pretty pointless as by the time the officials had said their…
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The End of the Sailing Season for Sumara
I’d arranged to have Sumara hauled out at the end of September. Of course it was sod’s law that the first few weekends in October have been warm and sunny with a gentle sailing breeze. At least the sails were packed away nice and dry. She will winter in Harry Kings Yard at Pin Mill.…
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South Dock Marina Boat Yard Under Threat
2nd September 2015 It seems that something fishy is going on. It looks like it will threaten the operation of the Boat Yard at South Dock Marina. Southwark Council held a “consultation” meeting at Canada Water Library at the end of July. The problem was that they omitted to tell us about the “consultation” meeting. They…
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Notes from the East Coast – Wrabness to Woodbridge
We left Wrabness to join up with Torsten on Folia in Titchmarsh Marina. It is a while since I’ve sailed in the Walton Backwaters and I’ve always had fond memories of anchoring at Stone Point. Torsten was due to arrive with a couple of friends late on the Friday evening so while we waited we walked…