Swale Barge Match, Sat 29 July
Month: January 2023
CA Talk: Sail repair and maintenance by Cindy Parker from Wilkinsons Sails, Thu 9 Feb
A must for all sailors. Experienced yachtswoman, sailmaker and CA member Cindy will guide us through sail care and valeting and emergency get you home repairs.
This meeting is open to all and there is a fee of £3 per person for this talk and pre-registration is required, please click the link here to register
Our meetings are held at the Dog and Bear Hotel in Lenham, the talk starts at 20.00, if you wish to eat before please phone the Hotel on 01622 858219 to reserve a table and mention you are attending the Cruising Association meeting.
Sail on Blue Mermaid in the Medway Barge Match, 27 May
Sea-Change Sailing Trust is a charity that takes young people and vulnerable adults on life-skills-building residential voyages on board our Thames sailing barge Blue Mermaid. We like to enter Blue Mermaid in the annual series of historic Thames sailing barge races (or matches) that take place around the east coast each year. On these occasions only, we invite a small group of up to 8 paying guests aboard for an overnight stay onboard and participation in the race. The funds raised on these occasions help to support the work of the charity. No previous sailing experience is necessary, and as we have a race crew of our own onboard, guests may either participate in sailing the barge, or find a place that is out of the way of the action, and just spectate. Racing can get pretty exciting with the winner taking home the coveted Match Pennant, and the race points count towards the annual award of Champion Barge. The cost of an overnight berth, an evening meal before the match, and a place onboard for the race itself is £160 per person.
Reckless jet skiers to face prison and unlimited fines after law change
The UK is introducing new legislation to crack down on the dangerous misuse of watercraft such as jet skis, with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) being granted more powers to prosecute perpetrators of accidents.
Peel Ports Conservancy Licence Fee Update
Please see the attached notice regarding the leisure craft conservancy licence fee and instructions on how to apply on-line.
Watery Trail: River Medway (1938 film)
Enjoy this curious couple’s epic quest to follow the River Medway – from its Sussex source to the Thames Estuary. This epic journey starts at a boggy Butcher’s Basin in the Sussex High Weald, past a mixture of rural and industrial views, features stately homes, uniformed RAC men, medieval bridges, locks, weirs, breweries, barges and overhead cranes. We sail past Shorts Sunderland flying boats, the Thames Queen paddle steamer and warships (inc HMS Boadicea) at Chatham, before finally arriving at Sheerness.
Sustainable Boating, talk by Bowman Bradley, 26 Jan at Strood YC
Thursday 26th January 2023: 7.30 for 8.00pm
Strood Yacht Club, Knight Road, Strood. ME2 2AH
Bowman Bradley, Chair of the Inland Waterway Association’s Sustainable Boating Group.
Bowman will talk about the work of the group, their vision of how inland waterways boating might be made sustainable in the future, how that vision has developed over the last two years and the intended work of the group going forward. Bowman will be interested in the views of members as to how they might contribute towards the vision and any suggestions they might have as to what the group might look at in the future.
Bowman is a retired mechanical engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has been a ‘canaller’ since the mid 1970’s and a narrowboat owner since 2005. Other members of the Sustainable Boating Group own a variety of canal craft ranging from historic narrowboats through ‘conventional’ diesel powered leisure craft to a state-of-the-art electric narrowboat.
Entry is free with a raffle to cover costs. All IWAKES events are open to non-members and you are encouraged to bring friends. Similarly, if you know a local club or society that might be interested, please do tell them.
Frostbite Race, 18+19 Feb 2023
2023 Official Sheerness and Chatham Tide Tables
Peel Ports have published official 2023 tide tables for Sheerness and Chatham online. You can access them via the links on our Tides, Weather & Cams page
The same page also has real-time tides and wind for Tripod, Garrison Point, Chatham and Strood. The page serves as a portal to the many webcams and weather stations hosted at clubs along the Medway.
The excellent Peel Ports tide table booklet for 2023 should now be available from all good local chandlers, marinas and clubs. You will also get a copy with your conservancy licence when you renew. It contains much useful information about safely navigating the tidal Medway and Swale.
Don’t forget to add an hour for British Summer Time when appropriate.