Category: Sailing barges

Sail on Thames Barge Centaur

SB CentaurSB Centaur, originally from the Medway, is owned and operated by the Thames Sailing Barge Trust,  which is a member of the MSBA. The barge will be berthed at Lower Upnor (GPS yard), for a 2 day overnight cruise of the Medway and Swale area, with boarding at 7.30 pm on 14th August and returning by 3.00 pm on the 16th, costing £120 per head for 12 persons. Contact Chris Martin 07810 586318 for booking and other information. Please mention this website!

This local cruise by Centaur from TSBT’s recently acquired visiting berth at Lower Upnor is a first attempt to promote the Trust’s objectives again on the Medway, and the surrounding waterways of the local Thames Estuary, after a long absence.

Faversham Creek Basin Dredging Application

Faversham Creek Basin 2The proposed works are to restore the Basin as a working resource in the centre of Faversham, to enable traditional vessels such as Thames Barges to be berthed, restored and maintained there. This is part of a wider project to restore the whole Creek for the benefit of Faversham Town and its visitors, and to develop marine based employment.

The application to the Marine Management Organisation for the licence to dredge the Basin, is now out for public consultation. Please follow this link to the Faversham Creek Trust Dredging Application to find out more and respond with your support for the dredging application.

Kingsferry Bridge problems resurface

After a few years of much improved operation, we are once more receiving reports of excessive delays at Kingsferry Bridge, which is supposed to open once an hour on request. The bridge is operated by Network Rail. If you cannot get a response from the bridge operator on VHF channel 10, or you are held up for an excessive time, please contact Medway VTS on VHF channel 74 and ask for the incident to be recorded.

Delays at the bridge can seriously affect the viability of Queenborough Harbour as a destination for visiting yachts. It can also jeopardise the safety of boats heading for moorings in the Swale creeks due to their limited tidal access.

See also
Boat hits Kingsferry Bridge
Sailing barge Repertor hits Kingsferry Bridge

Sun Pier problem resolved

Thanks to everyone for your replies, which you can read below. Cllr Kelly Tolhurst (Vice Chair of MSBA) is working with Medway Council to ensure that officials do not make rash promises regarding use of the pier by commercial operators with large vessels. The council will be drawing up some rules to ensure that the pier will remain available for all, especially recreational boaters for whom the restoration was carried out at significant public expense.

Swale News

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the cancellation of the Swale Regatta were greatly exaggerated. Alan Thorne, Rear Commodore of Hollowshore CC, informs us that the regatta did take place on the Friday. It was a great race around the island from The Receptive Buoy, Faversham, to Queenborough. Only Saturday and Sunday races were cancelled. The prize-giving was held on Friday July 5th.

The Swale Smack and Sailing Barge Match, organised by the Kentish Sail Association, was exceptionally good on Saturday with ideal conditions.

The next MSBA Business Meeting, on Tuesday 8 October at 7.30 pm will be at Hollowshore Cruising Club. All our member clubs and organisations are invited to attend.

Faversham Creek: it’s not a street

At Faversham Creek sailing barges and other traditional craft are still moored and repaired, but for how much longer? Planners and developers seem ignorant of history and geography, also blind to what is lost if the edges of such navigable waterways are simply covered with housing and shops as if the creek was a suburban street.

Dr Arthur Percival, director of the Faversham Society’s Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre, has written a wonderfully eloquent letter to the clerk of the council on behalf of Faversham Creek Trust: http://favershamcreektrust.com/2013/06/30/arthur-percival-its-a-creek-not-a-street/