Category: Swale

Queenborough Classic Boat Festival, 31 Aug – 1 Sept

The 4th Classic Yacht & Motor Boat Festival is open to any boat, large or small, designed or built before 1970 – wood, steel, aluminium, fibreglass, ferro cement, sail, power, steam or other, the bigger the variety of boats the better the show. If in doubt as to whether your boat qualifies please email a photo and a short description. Without classic boats, we will not have a festival, so we are delighted to offer free berthing for up to 5 nights for qualifying vessels that register with us before 2 August 2019. If you have any info on how to make this classic boat event even better than the last 3 we would be grateful with any suggestions. You must register by email and have received a confirmation email to attend. To register your Classic Boat please email admin@queenborough-harbour.co.uk. For visitors (by foot) entry is FREE, the harbour will be open to the public to view the boats and meet the skippers. In addition, we plan to run passenger trips around the harbour and visit classic boats on their moorings. Last year almost 1000 people attended and the atmosphere was terrific.

  • Opening Times:
  • Friday 30th Most of the Classic Boats arrive in harbour
  • Sat 31st        Festival open 10am to 5pm
  • Sun 1st         Festival open 10am to 2pm

Revenge meets her end in Faversham Creek

A sad end to the Revenge. After occupying Sun Pier illegally for months the ill-fated “pirate ship” fetched up in Faversham Creek before being cut adrift, whereupon she went aground with her masts across the channel. Peel Ports cut the masts off to reduce the obstruction and now someone has put a torch to her. From the look of her frames she was a well-built vessel.

Outboard thieves foiled at Queenborough

Recovering the stolen outboard from the Swale mud

Harbour Manager Emma Crompton tells us what happened. On the afternoon of 25 June, an alert mooring holder at Queenborough Harbour spotted three chaps in an inflatable dinghy removing an outboard from another boat. The harbour team quickly came over in the trot boat while the police were called. One of the thieves disembarked with the outboard in the mud by the coal washer, only to drop it in his struggle to get ashore. The other two went back to the slipway but when they saw the police they headed back to the coal washer area where they abandoned the dinghy. Their two vehicles contained marine equipment stolen from Devon the night before, though the three suspects, who were subequently arrested, were from Kent, though not local. The inflatable dinghy had been stolen from the tender park in March! Emma and some helpers managed to recover the outboard from the mud before the tide claimed it – see photo.

This just shows how brazen the thieves are and how important it is to be alert to suspicious activity.

It’s getting worse! Please report all PWC incidents

Although many owners of personal watercraft (PWCs or jetskis) are responsible, anyone can see reckless and irresponsible behaviour almost any day on the Medway and the Swale. These craft are usually launched from Commodore’s Hard at Gillingham, where the MSBA has installed a high definition camera (see video above), or near Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, where jetskiers have regularly tried to sink small craft on the boat club moorings presumably for fun. There have been several life-threatening incidents but the perpetrators are invariably abusive when challenged. At Gillingham the Medway Watersports Centre has had to cancel youth activities because of the jetskiers’ apparently drunken and dangerous behaviour. Peel Ports, as the statutory harbour authority, have a duty to enforce the bye-laws but will not do so unless we report all incidents. Please download the form below and use it to report ALL incidents to the MSBA and we will pass them on to Peel Ports.  Email your reports to secretary@msba.org.uk

Peel Ports PWC incident form

Do you recognise this boat?

Kevin Duvall of Kent Wildlife Trust has contacted the MSBA because no-one else was able to help trace this boat. For several weeks a blue cabin cruiser has been stranded on the shingle bank at Castle Coote between Whitstable and Faversham. There are no identification marks on the boat to enable tracing of the owner. Worryingly, it is very close to a nesting site for little terns, a bird almost extinct as a breeding species in Kent.

If you have any information please email info@msba.org.uk and we will pass it on.