Tag: Pin Mill

An Outright Win and Hilary’s on the case

July 7, 2013 / / 1 Comment

After my last post in which we drew attention to the tracking software, you may know that on that day, on the Passage Match 2013, Cambria, with Richard Tichener as Skipper and Hilary Halajko as First Mate (Cambria is back in the hands of the Sea Change Sailing Trust), recorded another heroic Outright Win.

Also, you may recall from last year that when Hilary is in the chair, this blog gets well supplied with Cambria Updates, for which many thanks, Hilary.

Passage Match 2013; Picture by Dave Brooks

The first of these is up on Facebook today and reads, “Update from sea change on Cambria. It’s been a very busy few days, we left Maldon on Wednesday evening with a fair wind so no need for a tug. A gentle sail to anchor just below the doubles and then underway Thursday morning bound for Pin Mill. A lovely sail, 7 hours from Maldon to anchor just below the SBA buoy. As we approached Harwich Harbour, Reminder was coming out of the backwaters and Mirosa getting underway from the Stour. So a lovely sight for anyone watching. We were able to launch the topper dingy and along with a rowing the barge boat everyone spent a pleasant hour or so in the setting sun with Mirosa anchored above us and Reminder above her.Those brave enough went for a swim, jumping off the bowsprit, that’s the easy bit, getting back aboard not quite so easy!!
On Friday Gus came to tow us to the blocks, no wind which made it easy to get there. Then 2 days of pressure washing, scrubbing, and anti fouling and boy did she need it, she was absolutely covered in barnacles!! The upside of being on the blocks is that we eat out in the Butt and Oyster!!
This morning Jonathan came to tow us off the blocks and down to the clamp house. A stiff sea breeze made it very difficult to pull her off and in the end we needed the barge boat and outboard alongside to make any headway. At the point when Jonathan shouted that his engine was overheating we already had the main and kedge anchors ready!!! we didn’t make it as far as the clamp house but were able to anchor in a spot where we could sail away before Jonathan’s boat finally packed up!! Bright sunshine a great breeze and tacking down against all those people who were sailing back up to return to work tomorrow, lucky us! We are now anchored just above Shotley Marina getting ready to go ashore for a BBQ , We are the luckiest people in the world right now!!”

We are green with envy, Hilary! What a way to earn a living!

Movements update

June 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Cambria drifts aft from Gillingham Pier on the dolly line. Picture by Dave Brooks.

The following update on Cambria’s movements comes from Dave Brooks. We must also thank Dave for this lovely pic of Cambria leaving Gillingham Pier under sail power. The barge is here being allowed to drift aft on the tide while the dolly line, controlled by those new-start sail trainees from Rotary Club, keep the bow on station. When the bow has cleared the pier and the tops’l simultaneously set, the line is let go at the Pier and reeled in and the bow drops to starb’d to let the sail fill with wind. The crew quickly brail out some mains’l and we are under way. The trainees have her under sail, partly by their own efforts, within seconds of casting off which is always a complete thrill for them, and is poetry in motion for anyone on the quayside.

Dave’s update reads, “We have just completed a series of successful Rotary charters and have also competed in and won our class in the Medway Barge Match. We have also experimented with a new berth at Gillingham Pier and it has been a great success. It is really something to watch the barge arrive and leave under sail. We are very fortunate to have an extremely good crew as it takes a lot of skill to do this in an engineless barge.

We are also very pleased to welcome our new third hand Reggie who has been learning the skills of barging from Skipper Ian and Mate Dennis and coming on really well. He is also a big hit with the kids on the Rotary charters.
Cambria will now be going off on her Sea Change Charter and she will be competing in the Gravesend to Pin Mill Passage Match next Saturday. She will also be competing in the 150th Thames Barge Match which has additional significance that it is the Mark Boyle Memorial Match who sadly died late last year. Mark was instrumental in the Thames Barge Match and also in the Cambria rebuild. The match is on the 13th July and can ben seen from Pier Road Gravesend and at the finish at Erith.
It is expected that Cambria will be at Pin Mill again on the 5/6th July to be prepared for the above race.
A few changes going ahead with Cambria’s programme. She was expected to be in the Colne Match but has not been able to get a charter. She will now be entering the 50th Southend Barge Match (25th Aug). The whole match can be viewed from the end of the pier. We may have limited space available for the match. We will also be entering Swale Barge Match (3rd Aug) will advise of spaces for this match as I have the information.

Will advise of further activity later”

Thanks for that and for the photo(s), Dave.

Barnacles

July 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

In the latest “Cambria Watch” from Hilary Halajko and the Youth Trainees of the Sea Change Sailing Trust, Hilary writes,

“Cambria Watch; update from the spitway: We were on the blocks at Pin Mill for 2 nights. There was a fair covering of barnacles on Cambria’s bottom but the pressure washer soon put paid to them! We have scraped and painted the topsides, anti fouled and painted the leeboards grey as they used to be. Getting the line correct was a team effort so no one can be blamed if it’s wonky!! Saturday night we were able to sample the food at the Butt and Oyster as no water means no generator which means no cooker! Sunday had a pull away from the blocks just before high water and a fast sail with several tacks down to Harwich Harbour and few more tacks to clear Walton Pier and a lovely fetch all the way to wymarks in the Blackwater. A lovely sunny sail and the captain was wearing shorts so summer must have arrived at last!! We fetched up in a beautiful sunset, hopefully photos to follow. Underway this morning at 7.00 again with the sun and shorts currently fetching through the spitway, better go now as we are going to set the jib topsail for the first time in 16 days!!

The busy quayside at Faversham Nautical Festival. Photo by Basil Brambleby

Dave Brooks adds that, “Cambria is due in Gravesend Wednesday to deliver beer to the Rum Puncheon pub. Then will remain on the Thames for the match on Saturday. She will then be going on the pier for a series of talks etc until Sea Change return to do the re-run of her last official cargo from Tilbury to Ipswich”.

Today’s picture is by Boss of Volunteers, Basil and shows the busy quayside down by TS Hazard in the Faversham Nautical Festival.

Tri-Colour Leeboards

July 22, 2012 / / 0 Comments

That well known ‘social networking site’, Facebook has become a rather lively, entertaining place in which to pick up the latest info on Cambria’s where-abouts and the comings and goings of plenty of other barges, including Edith May, Kitty, Thalatta, Xylonite and many more. If you don’t “do” Facebook, merely because you have heard bad things about it or you are nervous of it, then I’d urge you to go dip a toe in the water. You don’t have to open the flood gates to all sorts of idiocy, you can pick and choose who you would like to hear from and what you’d like to hear. Just join groups like “Sailing Barge Cambria” (or others) and all you’ll get is the “feed” from sources you like and respect.

Tricolour Leeboards; Image by Dave Brooks; painting by Richard Tichener and the Sea Change Sailing Trust

Lately, ‘we’ have been at Pin Mill where Skipper Richard Tichener has had the barge up on the blocks so that he could get the trainees hoe-ing barnacles off the bottom and lower sides, and painting. Roving reporter Dave Brooks took the opportunity to nip to Pin Mill and got these superb and unusual views of Cambria. Says Dave, ” The locals didn’t recognise her with the black leeboards so when in Pin Mill do as Bob Roberts would have done and paint them”. Tim Kent of SB Xylonite catches us up with the latest “youth-speak”, telling us that his 12 year old son says she looks “sick” but that this is a good thing, the latest modern version of “wicked”. Shipwright Ryan Dale chips in that it looked better last year with black leeboards on which was written “RYAN” in good gloopy brown Faversham Creek mud. (Nice one Ryan! Wonder how that got there!)

There are also some nice pictures posted of Cambria moored by (and then seen through the windows of) the Butt and Oyster pub in Pin Mill.

Annie Meadows

July 6, 2012 / / 1 Comment

Annie Meadows Pin Mill pic

I was asked by a non-bargin’ chum the other day on Facebook what was the difference between a smack and a barge. I had no sooner answered him than this lovely picture hove into view which showed very well to the guy what I had just said. It was taken and posted by one Annie Meadows who turns out to be a Maldon local and associated with the SB Kitty. She was good enough to let me borrow the shot to use here, so thank you for that, Annie. We can presumably all spot Repertor as the closest barge and Dave B was able to identify the others, but not the smack. Unfortunately I have deleted the mail in which Dave did so, so perhaps he’ll come in as a comment and tell me again?

Decima in Pin Mill Match. Photo By Dave Brooks

23 Barges!

July 3, 2012 / / 1 Comment

Dave B is making scurrilous remarks that I may have coerced this article out of him …”seeing as you practically forced my arm up my back”. What a suggestion! Anyway, seriously, I am delighted to receive the following from Dave describing his mission to Ipswich and Pin Mill over the weekend.

“We arrived at Pin Mill late in the morning of 29^th June”, says Dave, “to find just Edith May and Melissa present for the race though Betula was at her mooring by the Butt and Oyster Pub. A quick spin down to Shotley revealed the Reminder at Harwich, then back to the Butt and Oyster for lunch. Off to Ipswich Dock and things were much more promising, with Centaur, Lady Daphne. Ardwina, Marjorie, Victor, Lady of the Lea and Phoenician all present and soon to be joined by Thistle and Hydrogen who were waiting to lock in. We decided to head back to Pin Mill and on the way spotted the little yacht barge Rosie Probert at Stoke Quay. Pin Mill was still quiet but some of the Edith May crew were at the pub and it would have been rude not to stay for a drink.

On the way back to the car I stopped to ask a local where Bob Roberts had lived. He was somewhat bemused having received that morning a letter from Sheila Roberts telling all about the re-dedication. He asked our connection with Bob and we explained we were part of the Trust. His name was Ron Watts and he’d sailed with Bob on the Cambria in the past. He kindly walked us down to the cottage where Bob had lived.

On the following morning were headed off to the Butt and Oyster for Cumberland Sausage and Black Treacle basted Bacon rolls and coffee. Bring on the race. A short drive to Shotley and onto the point and somewhat surprisingly Mirosa was leading the Edme and the Marjorie in the bowsprit class. Edith May was leading the fast stays’ls but had been overhauled by Melissa, Repertor and Decima by the time they reached Lowestoft. Reminder was following and Victor we think started but then seemed to change his mind and joined the following Hydrogen, Thistle and Kitty. The slower barges were next up with Ardwina, Centaur and Lady of the Lea going well, but sadly a collision between Lady Daphne and Phoenician meant an early return to Ipswich for both. Cygnet, Dinah and Cabby (not certain if she was racing or following) were the last barges to pass us at Shotley.

Decima in Pin Mill Match. Photo By Dave Brooks

It was an interesting race and as the barges headed back into Harwich harbour Mirosa was leading with Edme appearing to follow the wrong course and having to double back in order to sail up the Stour. Mirosa did well and stayed ahead of Edme to win the Bowsprit class. Repertor overhauled the Melissa to win the stays’l class and Centaur held off Ardwina in the slower class.

All in all it was a very interesting race with good picture opportunities but sad that Lady Daphne and Phoenician came together early on.”

Thanks for that brilliant report Dave which certainly gives you the Record for most Barges “seen” in one blog and mentioned in one report. I make it 22 seen and Cambria mentioned, so 23! It was a definite barge-rich environment. Today’s photo is one by Dave of Decima during the match.