What is the ideal distance from the boat...

FullCircle

FullCircle

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We are about to move house, as SWMBO has secured a new job as Southminster's Gladys Emmanuel. Now obviously we can live right on the coast, even gaze out of the window at the boat bobbing about on a mooring.
However, we wonder if this detracts from the anticipation of going sailing, or adds to it. When we leave our current house to go to the boat it is 40 minutes by road, and anything that is forgotten or left behind, stays that way for the rest of the weekend, and neither would I go back for anything other than the direst emergency.

So the question is, what is the perfect distance from the sea/river to get to the boat, and should you have sea views or not?
 
I find living about 100yds from the pontoon pretty convenient, and now that autumn has arrived and the leaves are falling, I'm also getting a sea view. All-in-all it's pretty close to perfect.
 
We've moved the boat so it is just 10 minutes from work, 15 minutes from home ... (just for winter) ... its superb - I find I'm down the boat far more often than in summer! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I live with views over the Thames Estuary and boats bobbing about. It is wonderful to see the sea - there is such a sense of peace about water even on a day when sailing is elusive. We keep our boat at Bradwell to escape the tyranny of tides and no landing places. The Blackwater is marvellous. The drive is worth the 45 minutes we used to spend parking at Westcliff, lugging a dinghy down the rack, fitting the outboard, ferrying stuff out to the mooring and getting a wet bum. SWMBO is much happier..........
 
I'm also 30-40 mins from my boat, i find it's far enough to be somewhere different from the gardening and teenagers but not too far to be a chore getting there and back. I've often wondered about a nice 'pad' next to the water perhaps looking at the boat but as swmbo often comments, once we start donning boots and loading the dinghy we are, refreshingly, elsewhere and somewhat disconnected from the normal routines.
 
I live about 100yds from the lock at Heybridge Basin, Essex's best kept secret.

Been here for the last thirty years. We have always had boats, including a Leigh-on-Sea cockle boat, Marie Louise which we had for twenty five years.

My brother used to race home from school, throw his school bag up the drive way, and then went straight up to the sea wall to see if his gaff rigged dinghy was afloat. If it was, we never saw him till the tide had ebbed.

Fantastic life growing up on the Blackwater. When we were children, we all had dinghies, Winkle Briggs, And as early to late teenagers used to go and spend the weekends and holidays off of Osea Island. A real Swallows and Amazon kind of time.

No ASBO's for us!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tina x
 
We live just 10 minutes away and love it.

Don't buy a house with a sea view because a) it will double the house price b) The [--word removed--] will tax it. c) spend the money saved on a bigger boat or a basket of goodies.

Lived 2 hours away for 20 years and could drive it asleep and sometimes did. We DID go whatever the weather and even slept in the clubhouse a few times when it was too rough to go out in the dinghy! Being local for the last 18 years we still go regardless, but now we have a marina berth and if needs be a full cockpit canopy, heating and TV...
 
I'll second that. I've often gone out for a sail, left the mooring, decided I'm going to be to hot and popped onto the museum jetty to come home and change into something cooler.
The museum is changing hands so we may not have the same arrangement in the future. But it's no big deal, I'll just have to pick up the mooring again and row ashore.
If I suddenly decide I'm going out for a sail I can be out of the house and on the boat in 10 minutes.
I don't know how I would cope with a long drive. I nearly left the boat on Coniston at Water Park which is a lovely little harbour amongst the trees, but it's nearly 20 miles from our house and we don't get that much time in one chunk to go sailing so near to home suits us better.
 
We live around 50mins - 1hr from the marina (we could be in one less than half the distance away, albeit we would then have some tidal restrictions, but chosen not to) and usually spend at least 2 days on the boat each week. We don't do day sailing as we get our pleasure from cruising for weeks at a time, so going for a sail doesn't come into our decision really - but if the boat was close we would probably spend less time on it while it was in the marina.

The boat is also in a handy place as can use as an "apartment" closer to the CBD.

If they built a marina at our front door (ain't goin' to happen) I don't know if we would change or not, probably would but mainly because it would bring us into much less rugged waters.

Regarding living on the coast, we have had a number of houses right on the water front and have always found it to be a major pain. The beach sand and salt water driven over the house (major maintenance issue so had to be very careful of fittings and finishes) and into everything was not worth the candle for us even though we love the sea. In the end we decided we hardly ever looked at the view in any event, spent a couple of days on the boat "in the sea" each week anyway, so moved again to a house around 80-100m inland and "protected" by the first row of houses along the beach front but with direct walking access to the beach and have never regretted it.

Sister and bro' in law in another country again, did the same - living on waterfront, tried 2 locations, then moved a 100m or so back from the sea.

Along similar lines when we were children we had a second home at the beach - had been built originally by my grandfather and again was set back from the beach even though he had the pick of places to build it (the land was subdivided off for him by a farmer friend) - wondered why then, but now do know.

If a nice sheltered spot with no more than a gentle breeze ever and no major sandy beach, just rocks, and little ripples (or a freshwater lake or a nice river - grew up in a home on the bank of a river) then we might think differently. Don't think we could cope with a marina type apartment, or little place in a solid row, with no garden squashed onto the seafront in a village/whatever purely for the sake of a sea view or being near it.

Oh, and sea rise due to global warming - here the land is rising faster than the most dire seas rise forecasts - may be worth keeping in mind if of the worrying kind /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

In the end, all a pretty personal decision. Do have an empathy with Muchy's sentiments on getting to the boat means being somewhere different.

John
 
Good news about the job Jim , hope she's happy with it , and for my ha'pence worth , if you're twenty minutes away from the boat you're less likely to pop back for something in summer , but if you're within sight of her in winter you're more likely to take advantage of the extra daylight and have a quick sail in winter
 
[ QUOTE ]

I live about 100yds from the lock at Heybridge Basin, Essex's best kept secret.Tina x

[/ QUOTE ]
We laid up in the canal one winter many years ago, there were some real characters living on boats there. We were always amazed at one guy who would fill his kettle and saucepans with water straight out of the canal, he was still alive at the end of the winter so it can't have done him much harm. Went back there for the first time for many years last month, rather thought they had spoilt the pub at the top and lost some of the character, but the views over the water towards Osea and Maldon are still just as magical as ever
 
The guy your speaking of was, or is, Belgium George!!!!

Your comments with regard to the two Pubs, well, your opening a can of worms there!!!!!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I really like the people who run the two pubs, real characters, but I do agree, the spirit of the Basin has changed. I would say that it's more that 'youngsters' from outside the village now are trying to claim this area as their own. In doing this they scare the families away. It is really beautiful here, but to have these 'HOT Hatches' screaming down the road, and the language screamed at the most unreasonable time of the night by 'YOUNG LADIES!', the rubbish flying around, and glasses being thrown in the 'Gut Way' of the lock, is sad.

The really sad thing is that these undesirable kids will soon move on and we will have to try and put our village back in order. The Landlord and Landlady of both pubs,(meaning that they run both the pubs), are nice people, it's the clientèle that are at present abusing the picturesque privilege we have here of living on a spectacular estuary.

Time will tell, but I, and the fellow residents, miss our village /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The silliness is only at night.

Come and share in the beauty of our village by taking part in our charity row race. You'll see the /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gifvillage community spirit at it's best

But to the little S***s who abuse our home, please have a tad more respect.

Oops! This has turned into a rant, sorry /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

Tina x
 
One of the best views is of the land FROM the boat ...

S x

oh, no I've wriggled into SButt- Lounge closed for the night
 
I recommend a nighttime distribution of caltrops (known about by the whole village) when these erks have replaced their tyres a few times they will go elsewhere.

caltrop =
180px-Caltrop.jpg
 
We are in Woodbridge, about 400 yards from the Deben estuary and the club house, and can see it in winter once the leaves have fallen. So its about a 15 minute walk to the dinghy pontoon, then a good half hour, more or less, depending on tide, to get to the mooring.

The snag is that having a mooring in the last bit of deep water towards the head of the Deben means that it is practically impossible to get out of the river for a weekend once the nights draw in, because one is fighting the flood tide to get down to the bar. In summer, with long daylight, it is much less of a problem.
 
I live a 10 minute walk from the boat and work even closer to it, infact I see it every day!

It's a perfect arrangement for me. If I have friends popping by for a cuppa I'll often suggest we meet at the boat instead. Great just sitting in the cockpit and watching the world go by.
The downside though, if you could call it a downside, is perhaps that by having the boat so close by has meant that I've often 'downed tools' whether that be lawn mower at home or the varnish brush onboard, started up and gone for a quick sail, but ho-hum, what can't be done today can be done tomorrow! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Doug
 
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