East Coast Rivers Cruising Companion

Comprehensive rivers pilotage and nautical guidance for cruising sailors, covering anchorages, facilities, and signposted Thames Estuary waters.

Maximise your enjoyment of cruising on England’s East Coast rivers, from Lowestoft to Ramsgate, with this 70-year-old guide which has been significantly revised for its 21st edition.

Since Maurice Griffiths described this book as ‘the East Coast yachtsman’s bible’ it has been guiding cruisers up the rivers, curlew-haunted creeks and intricate shoals and swatchways with comprehensive pilotage and navigational information set in the context of their history and unique character.

The extensive revision and reformatting of this latest edition add to these much-loved aspects of the book by providing:
• New details about where to anchor, moor or tie up
• More information about the facilities available
• Enhanced guidance on where to provision, eat out and what to do ashore
• QR codes to give quick access to the latest information on harbour and marina websites

Over 200 colour photographs (most of them new to this edition) and over 70 chartlets illustrate the text, making navigation easier and enhancing the cruising experience.

You will not only be able to navigate the waters safely but also to absorb the history and atmosphere, allowing you to enjoy this extraordinary sailing area to the full. It provides local knowledge ashore and afloat and is truly your friendly companion in the cockpit.

Table of Contents

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: Lowestoft

CHAPTER TWO: Southwold

CHAPTER THREE: Orford River

CHAPTER FOUR: The River Alde

CHAPTER FIVE: The River Deben

CHAPTER SIX: Harwich Harbour

CHAPTER SEVEN: The River Orwell

CHAPTER EIGHT: The River Stour

CHAPTER NINE: Walton Backwaters

CHAPTER TEN: The River Colne

CHAPTER ELEVEN: The River Blackwater

CHAPTER TWELVE: The River Crouch

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The River Roach and Havengore

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The River Thames

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The Medway

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Swale

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Cross Estuary Routes

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Ramsgate

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Seventy Years of East Coast Rivers

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Janet Harber went afloat from a very young age, starting on her father’s cruising boats. In the 1950s her father, Jack Coote, wrote a series of articles on various East Coast rivers for Yachting Monthly magazine, which were soon published in book form – in the first edition of this cruising companion. During this time Janet and her sister Judy spent their childhood weekends and summer holidays exploring the rivers and creeks of the Thames Estuary in the family boat Iwunda, helping with the research for East Coast Rivers. As a teenager she sailed with Ocean Youth Club, and, after training as a photographer, lived and worked in London where she raced Merlin Rockets on the Thames at Ranelagh Sailing Club in Putney. While working at Yachts & Yachting magazine Janet kept her family’s Hunter Europa, followed by a lifting-keel Hunter 701 at Paglesham on the River Roach, and cruised the East Coast rivers in the summer holidays. She also crewed on Sonatas and Impalas and raced at Burnham and on The Solent. Janet shared a Twister and later a Dragon with her father, and in recent years she and her husband sailed a lifting-keel Fox Terrier on the River Ore. Nowadays Janet sails on her sister’s lifting-keel Parker 325 based on the Deben and Orwell rivers.