Recent content by Cobra

A shame that Jaywick is not just a bit closer!

Very sad, but a life lived to the full. I was fortunate enough to have known Jim for most of my adult life and it is fair to say that he was probably the last of the Sailormen. If you haven't read it yet, I would strongly advise getting a copy of his excellent book, London Light a fascinating...

If you wanted to relocate your sailing to the best waters on the East Coast (aka The River Colne!) pontoon moorings in Brightlingsea for the season just gone, start from £87 per metre up to £119.50 per metre. Regular water taxi service all season, 10 minutes from moorings to the river...what is...

A lot is going to depend on the ground tackle and sinkers that you are planning on using! ultimately if you have a motor boat and a bilge keeler rafted alongside each other but allowing enough scope for the motor boat to dry and not dangle from the side of the bilge keeler, then you should be...

I was crewing for a friend in his Wivenhoe One Design last weekend and there were a couple of 28 - 30 footers on the outside of the pontoon...they seemed to have water around them at just after low water, so you should be OK.

Maybe Brightlingsea Harbour could take a leaf out of their book! At present those of us with moorings/berths at the upper end of the South Channel seem to be paying for the dredging and upkeep of the main pontoons and the channel around them!

I sail out of Brightlingsea and have only ever had Bilge Keelers (O'Day 22, Cobra 850, Hurley 22 and currently a Colvic 26). Moorings have varied between drying, full tide and pontoon and have never had any issues. There are always arguments for and against in the old Lifting Keel/Bilge Keel...

You forgot the Roman River Mike...although to be honest I cannot think of any moorings up there other than a fishing boat right in the entrance. Then of course you have Ray Creek round the back of Second Beach which would have a hard sand bottom on either side with muddy sand as you get further...

An Update! After a lot of thinking and consideration, the decision is that taking the tank out is going to be a bloody nightmare involving cutting part of a bulkhead away and even then not 100% certain if the tank would come out without dismantling a quarter berth completely. So, the plan is...

For what it's worth and having raced dinghies on the Medway on many occasions, I would recommend that you made Hoo Ness YC your starting point! A very friendly club with decent facilities. Were I to ever think of moving to another ditch, the Medway would be first choice...as it is I prefer Gods...

Also bear in mind that the A12 is undergoing major works between the M25 and Ipswich with restricted flow and overnight closures this CLICKY LINK will tell you what and where. There are more works happening through the course of the year by all accounts!

Thanks for your thoughts on this guys! Having read of Bouba's saga with removing a fuel tank and having had a closer look at what can be done without major surgery, I have decided to go with a combination of Westernman and Sandy's (without the tank removal bit!) thinking. Hopefully that will...

Looking for some opinions here (dangerous I know!) on fuel tanks. For the past two seasons we have been having serious issues with diesel bug in our 50 ltr stainless steel tank. Tried all types of preventative treatments but to no avail...usually 30 minutes motoring and power begins to drop off...

Out of interest, where are you moored? We have a pontoon mooring at the upper end of Brightlingsea South Channel and the keels sit in the mud at low water...still hoping that one day the Harbour Commissioners might agree to dredging our part of the ditch!!!

Fouling was dire last year in Brightlingsea Creek! Not wasting money on the likes of CU-Pro or Tiger as I used last year...going back to the cheap and cheerful Flag self eroding and a couple of scrub offs during the season!