Shoal waters
Follow creek-sailor Tony Smith’s tips for a slower, quieter pace of life
Great reasons why you should try engineless sailing
Sailing without an engine is not unusual. After all it takes place almost every weekend during the summer months at sailing clubs throughout the rivers and creeks of the East Coast. And at a guess, by thousands of very skilled sailors who will likely be able to turn a boat on a sixpence. However, there are generally a set of operating procedures in place and rescue boats standing by in case of emergency.
Now, to take a small dinghy or yacht away from this environment, to go cruising around the estuary, is another matter. Things change dramatically for the cruising sailor who sets off alone, as the danger level is automatically raised. No matter how many times you annoy the coastguard for radio checks and the sound of a human voice on Ch16, you are – for all intents and purposes – by yourself with the unknown just around the headland, or that sharp bend coming up as you head downriver.
So, now you’ve moved on from simply enjoying the thrill of sailing to having an experience of high adventure.
Getting started
Cruising is for everyone and boats can be adapted and customised to suit all shapes, sizes and levels of ability. As long as you’re strong and fit of mind, you’re halfway to becoming a successful engineless cruiser. Study the tide-tables, learn the chosen area – I’ve done many wintertime scouting visits to target destinations – and choose the weather wisely, not sticking too rigidly to a plan.
Learning to sail is easy enough and can be done in a safe and controlled way on any stretch of water on a calm day outside your club, be it on tidal water or on a lake. And while we can read all the books in the world about cruising, and watch videos of others doing so, it’s only by trial and error and the sheer volume of hours spent on the water that we can grow and build our bank of cruising knowledge.
Where I live – on the Thames Estuary – I’m forever learning. You must be ready and willing to be governed by the tides and the winds, even if that means missing the fortnightly mowing of the lawn!
You’re training your mind to react to pressures by outside forces, and it’s this non-control – or fear of it – that inhibits most people from sailing without an engine. I realised early on this is far easier to accept if we put our destiny in the hands of Mother Nature and Father Neptune.
One step at a time
I began by using a stepped approach – sailing on top of the tide from one side of my local river to the other; from my home creek to the next, or from the bottom to the top of a river.
Lucky for us sailors based on the River Blackwater in Essex we have two islands to circumnavigate: Osea Island and Northey Island. You can progress north to Suffolk – where the trees come down to the shore – or south to Kent and its cliffs on the Isle of Sheppey. You can cruise along the coast from one river system to another.
During this process I eagerly studied tide tables and leafed through charts and Ordnance Survey maps until my thumbs were sore.
I became completely absorbed by weather reports. I’m not averse to a little danger, and it helps having a certain measure of guile and zest for adventure.
By taking small steps and constantly learning I found my courage (sea-legs) grew bit by bit. It’s a very different experience to going to sea on a big yacht with a crew. I had done this too, but to be alone with no one around if things go wrong, with the wind in your hair and sea spray washing gently down your cheek, is an altogether different experience.
What type of boat?
There’s a vast array of boats to choose from and I’m no expert in their design but I do know what’s important for my type of engineless cruising.
In the last 20 years I’ve owned less than a handful of sailing cruisers, though I know some people change their boats on an almost seasonal basis. For singlehanded engineless cruising my boat of choice is a 16ft 6in wooden gaff cutter.
Shoal Waters has lifting centreplate and rudder for scraping over sandbanks and through swatchways and shallow creeks. She’s well documented and known throughout the East Coast. She was built in 1963 so is no spring chicken – more a fat duck when she’s sitting contently on the mud. With her miniature stature, green hull and wrinkles, she imbues a charming sense of workaday readiness, often attracting pleasing comments from passing boat owners.
Given her age, she does take quite a bit of keeping, and as well as painting and varnishing there’s always a line or two to be changed or renewed due to wear. She’d rather anchor on saltings with curlews and avocet than do time in a marina, and has covered so many thousands of nautical miles that I gave up counting them.
There’s very little I would change about Shoal Waters but I have commissioned a new suit of sails for our 10th anniversary. When you consider sails are our driving force and will harness free wind power for another 25,000 to 40,000 miles, the cost per mile is minimal.
I’m careful to live within my means in as stress-free way as possible, and small boat ownership fits this ethos.
Other than the muscle stretch felt in my lower back on entering the cabin, nothing about my boat is too stressful.
Just the simple acts of moving around inside is equal to a gentle yoga workout and it has helped keep me flexible well into my late 50s. Her manoeuvrability and handling on the water in confined spaces is every long keeler’s dream.
Laying up she can be pushed about on her trailer or towed by a small car and stored in a convenient place, and the mast goes up and down fast and easily.
Of course, everything is relative and the trade-off with my boat is her living space. More than two people on board is a crowd so one day I may borrow something bigger, just to take the whole family along on a month-long sojourn around the estuary.