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Something for the weekend?
If you're in Devon for the Bank Holiday you could do worse than stop off in Topsham on the eastern shore of the Exe estuary. Â The Bridge Inn was always worth a visit, and while it's getting on for 20...
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Lands End Hard - Slipway Saturday
The lane runs past the Jolly Sailor and down to a dead end at Lands End hard, which is still in use as a launching site.A few years ago the council put in some some sculpted oak benches in which make a...
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Aero
If you've been reading the Tillerman you will know that he's taken delivery of one of the first RS Aero dinghies to be delivered to the Boston fleet.I spotted one on the Lymington river over the bank...
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Petrel
I spotted this launch down in Birdham Pool marina, the chap who was working on her was the local boat builder who had restored her, but was now getting her ready for the water on behalf of the new...
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Hurst
Hurst Castle in the fore ground,the Needles off to the right in the distance and the cliffs of Allen Bay to the left.Take the coastal footpath out of Lymington, though the marina on the edge of the...
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Happy kids and pirate treasure
Hamble River Sailing Club held their annual camp away sailing weekend at Fairthorne Manor on the banks of the upper Hamble where the creek leads up to Botley.There were a load of boats ranging from...
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Opps
Not a good way to park a tender.Then again it would be hard for someone to steal, so maybe it's a good low water spring, security move.
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Slipway Saturday - Hill Head
Hill Head Sailing Club have a nice, though private slipway over on the Meon shore which lets members of the club launch into the protected water inside the harbour.The club's catamaran sailors don't...
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Blue Boats
I'm not quite sure if it was coincidence or some subliminal guidance, but looking through some photographs I'd taken while walking around Chichester marina I realised that the whole series was of blue...
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Slipway Saturday - Emsworth
How cool would it be to have your own slipway like this waterside house in Emsworth.For those who only wish to visit launching is from the nearby public hard which has good access with parking nearby.
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Best friend
This clinker built, center board dinghy "Best Friend" was pulled up on a drying mooring above Dell Quay. The builders plate indicates she was built by Tucker Brown Burnham on Crouch, so definitely not...
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Moths
I'm a regular reader of Moth enthusiast sailors Earwigoagin and Mid Atlantic Musings so when I spotted these boats with their matching, multi coloured sails, sailing on the pond at Salterns SC near...
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Slipway Saturday Hamble
All that's left of the public hard at Hamble which 100 years ago stretched pretty much all along the foreshore.The main street in Hamble runs right down to the slipway which is wide and easy to launch...
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The train waiting at platform 5 has just been eaten....
Commuters to Waterloo found a new distraction last week, instead of (or perhaps in addition too) late trains, crowds and queues  trying to get to the tube, the latest station centrepiece is a trio of...
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Wicor
While Joseph was at a party at the Fareham leisure center recently we took the opportunity to explore a part of the Portsmouth harbour shore that I've never visited.There's a path which follows the...
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Bursldon High Street the heaving metropolos
A work colleague was in Winchester recently, so I took the opportunity to take him for dinner at the Jolly Sailor. As we drove through Old Bursledon he commented "Bursledon has a High Street?".Indeed...
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Sea hopper
The convenience of an inflatable dinghy as a yacht tender is well understood, with the ability to roll it away to be stowed safely below on passage. But as anyone who has used an inflatable will know...
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Barracuta
We visited some friends in Belgium recently, they have this delightful model ketch in their living room. If money were no object I'd rock up at one of the better, traditional boat yards and say "build...
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Slipway Saturday - Kingsbridge
In the very to the center of Kingsbridge in Devon is a municipal car park which runs along the head of the creek. Trees line the river bank and it's a great place for a picnic or to sit and watch the...
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Tall masts
The thing about tall masts is that they normally go hand in hand with deep keels, like this Open 60 which has been a bit of a local landmark, towering above the surrounding boats while moored out in...
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