06/09/2025
"You can't save them all"
I was 4 years old when my Dad walked me down the pontoon at Woolverstone Marina to look at the barge moored on the end. The memory is incredibly vivid - stood next to it's black tarry hull, it was ginormous, and when I craned my neck to look aloft, I was scared I was going to fall backwards off the pontoon and had to look away.
That barge was the Ena - always well presented, a regular at events around the East Coast. Then she was sold out of company ownership and the veneer of fresh paint fell away - in no time at all, she was dumped on the marshes at Hoo.
I'm lucky to have sailed smacks and barges since I was 8 years old and as I turn 40 this year, I can reflect on 32 years of highs (and lows!) - there is nothing else that can compare - the ships have a character that make them feel like old friends and so it tugs at the heart strings to see the steady decline of the fleet.
Many within the community are resigned to this - keen to collate around the strongest survivors that we have to ensure there is a small but sound fleet.
That is a sensible approach and would create sensible outcomes.
But is there another way that leads to something much more spectacular? When Ena was dumped, it stirred a desire in me to fix things so that her story was not repeated.
5 years ago, we opened Edith May up to the community and launched our free sailing trip model. Financially a terrible idea. Everyone said it wasn't very sensible. But look where it led.
We now have a decent membership base and volunteer group, dedicated barge wharves at Shoregate and Rochester, we have forged a great partnership with Intra Maritime Heritage, returned Lady Daphne to the East Coast and secured the future of Ardwina. We're helping Ethel Maud, Tollesbury and Raybel. Thousands of people have been introduced to sailing barges and the banks of the Medway are once again full of red sails.
It's been chaotic at times and certainly isn't perfect, but the momentum we're building feels like being carried on the wind towards our ultimate goal.
We've been having internal discussions this week about the next steps. Should we continue down this crazy path or consolidate what we have? Led by the heart or by the head?
We'll find out the answer over the next few weeks...
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