Round the (other) Island

Isle of Sheppey cruise  - 19th to 22nd August 2016

A thoroughly enjoyable and at times testing three days in the Swale and a trip round the extraordinary Isle of Sheppey on a weekend characterised by 20 knot plus winds and spring tides.

Day 1. Friday - Gillingham to Queenborough. My crew Jamie Orrom and I take a gentle sail down the Medway in light but strengthening winds with forecast for much more.  The choice of anchoring in Stangate for the night or going on to a pontoon mooring at queenborough is easily made by the weather forecast and a wish for some creature comforts.  Don't look to Queenborough for marina standard facilities but do for a warm welcome and a happy stay. We moor up in the evening on the new pontoon little knowing how important the  excellent plastic protection for delicate boats is going to be. As the evening draws in the wind gets up and we are expecting a windy weekend.  Our plan to sail round the isle of Sheppey on Saturday has already morphed into a gentle cruise through the Swale to Conyer to wait out the storm over Saturday night.

Wind building over Queenborough

Day 2. Saturday - Queenborough. By breakfast time it is already clear that we are not going to get off the pontoon today with a strengthening south westerly blowing broadside onto the pontoon pinning us in. Time for a walk round Sheerness instead. The biggest car park in Europe(?), where all the car transporters come, is itself a sight with thousands of new vehicles and huge wind turbines rising out of the sea of cars. Blue Town, the old town at the dock gates, is fascinating, with a High Street facing a huge brick wall - pretty much all that is left of a busy town are the pubs. From this gappy urbanity to a fine Georgian terrace which must have housed the upper echelons of Sheerness society, now looking distinctly marooned. Right out at the tip of Sheerness, the fort and wartime lookouts or gun emplacements look out to sea like so many chess pieces. Sheerness is waiting to be discovered except of course by the very friendly and island minded people who have lived there for generations. 4 minutes train ride back to Queenborough where Snow Goose is bucking dangerously on her moorings. With gusts as high as 35knots this afternoon the boat is not a comfortable place to have lunch so after re thinking the mooring lines with snubbers we sit on the relatively still pontoon for an enjoyable afternoon of conversation with other boating people also pinned in by the wind.

Sheerness wartime forts - inaccessible 

Queenborough

Sheerness sense of humour

Day 3. Sunday – Queenborough to Queenborough. The forecast says it will be quieter and it is, a bit. The wind has abated sufficiently to allow us to get off the pontoon and leave at 0700 to get the best tides for a round the island trip taking in the Red Sands Fort on the way.  With wind speeds down at 20 knots we have a fast goose winged run out with reefed main and Genoa surfing the steep chop. This requires serious concentration and after a while we opt for a more relaxed broad reach diagonally across the waves.  

Running at 5.5 knots reefed

As we close on the forts it's time to drop the sails and on rounding up into the wind and waves it becomes clearer how rough it is out here. Clipped on with good reason, I drop the sails with the boat leaping about, dipping its bow in the waves even when stationary, and we motor up to the eery but strangely beautiful, (in an ugly kind of way), forts. How anyone got onto these in rough sea, or how they got from one to another is a mystery. It can't have been a popular posting, an isolated and dangerous place and a target for the Luftwaffe. 

Red Sands Fort

Eery and empty - Why are they still there?

We look for a while and motor away sobered by the ruins and by the state of the sea. An hour later we are in the relative shelter of the Eastern Swale. At least 30 seals bask on a sandbank as we motor past up to Harty Ferry and pick up a buoy for a welcome rest and lunch. Then a treat - a really enjoyable journey up the Swale surrounded by fine Sheppey and Kent landscape and huge skies. You have to be careful here, the channel is very narrow and it's easy to run aground.  We don't and in a short while are calling the operator of the Kingsferry Bridge who obligingly lifts the fine combined road and rail bridge for us to pass through. Then a very pleasant sail back to Queenborough which, despite a sudden gust causing another crockery disaster below, gets us there in good spirits for a well earned rest on a now much calmer pontoon for our third night.

Kingsferry Bridge - until recently the only bridge

Resting but its still pretty windy

Day 4. Monday - Queenborough to Gillingham. Just like last time I did this the wind is strong 18-20 knots and on the nose up the Medway which makes for an exciting beat up until I run out of puff operating the antiquated Gibb winches and we motor in to Gillingham marina. Once in the calm of the marina the temperature shoots up and we realise what a good thing it is to be at sea in hot weather.

A fast beat back up the Medway to Gillingham