Posted by Mike F. on October 10, 2000 at 01:20:58 from 203.18.21.200:
In Reply to: The geography of "Secret Water" posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on September 25, 2000 at 05:48:45:
A rather late reply, but I've just received an email from thne president of the Wooden Boat Association here, recently returned from a pilgrimage to the UK.
An AR fan, this is what he had to say about the east coast --
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The trip was a success, probably more than I had hoped for. It was not without disappointments, though, and sadly the Norfolk Broads topped that list. Potter Heigham was awash in plastic cruisers, not a wooden boat in sight! Pin Mill was another disappointment. It is a cluster of houses and a pub at the end of a lane, about half the size of Cannon's Ck! I didn't mind it being small, but the foreshore was cluttered with the derelict remains of boats, too rotten to ever be restored. It owes its existence to the "hard" which, although still covered in the ubiquitous soft grey mud, allows people walk in gumboots without "splatchers" while they work on their mostly plastic boats. It is beaut to have a waterfront pub like the Butt and Oyster, except that the view from the windows is of derelict wrecks. For attractive, give me Rutherford Inlet and its mangroves, etc., every time! There are lovely wooden boats, but they seem to be secreted away in hidey-holes, and you have to know where to look. I found one of the hidey-holes, at Heybridge Basin, quite by accident. Two pubs and lots of gaff smacks and other lovely boats!
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(The references to Cannons Creek and Rutherford Inlet are to places here on Western Port where I live and we both sail.)
It looks like you have to go Heybridge Basin, Andrew, if you want to renew some old memories.