Tom Cunliffe is an RYA yachtmaster examiner. EXPERT ON BOARD He has sailed hundreds

of thousand of miles PHOTOS: GRAHAM SNOOK UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED around the world Tollesbury’s marshes are an important nature EXPERT ON BOARD reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest Ian French’s fin-keeled Sabre 27 safe in the mud, upright on her first

Settling into the ooze

To produce some real-world These two guys are maestros pictures of authentic mud- at this sort of thing, and it was a berthing in the raw, we travelled pleasure to be aboard and watch to the marshes at Tollesbury on them operate. Essex’s River Blackwater. We arrived at the berth half Here, our friend Doug presides an hour before the top of the over some of the nation’s finest tide, with a bigger High Water half-tide moorings. With the promised for tomorrow, just in help of Ian French and his Sabre case. She touched the bottom a 27, we entered a berth that couple of boat’s lengths out and had lain unused for some time, literally ploughed her way in. giving us the genuine McCoy in Ian was on throttle and helm the way of soft, virgin ooze. while Doug called the shots in

A long way down, but it’s important to take a look at low water before settling on a berth

the cross-. We came to rest alongside the tiny staging, ran our lines to posts How to take a mud berth driven into the sedge, shut down the engine, closed the seacocks and put the kettle on. Two hours later, we were bolt upright, high and dry. in a fin-keeled boat Half-tide in a neighbouring berth. The water’s coming back! Thanks, lads. A proper job!

known as ‘Debtors’ Jetty’ on the tide, where deep-water berths What might The berth I occupied on the usually ended up with my boat simple expedient of standing Tom Cunliffe explains the techniques you’ll need Hamble where, compared with are not an option? These latter be included? Hamble fell between these blowing half-out of the hole she them on their heads. the ‘quality’ berthing in nascent solutions are often a choice that At the lower end of the scale of extremes and was, I believe, fairly had dug herself and me sleeping Then there was the gangplank. to use when attempting it for the first time Moody’s Marina next door, our rent goes unconsidered by a world muddy luxury, all you’ll be offered typical. My neighbours and I lay on the saloon floor. In all normal Because of the heights involved, was a pittance. where the Yachtmaster syllabus is fifty feet of ooze, and a bit of stern-to a jetty with a range of tide conditions, however, we rose and the only chance of scrambling ud. For most people, it’s Big-class racers whose names are So much for ‘official’ mud opts to ignore such realities of life grassy bank, a slippery footpath that rose about eight feet between fell so sweetly on the tide that aboard when dried out was via an enemy lurking at the still household currency passed berths. What of the ‘casual’ on a tidal . What follows are or a rickety staging. You’ll have to High Water and the two scaffolding boards half-tide edges of our their winters laid up in the mud in equivalent – a place where a sailor a number of thoughts from an old lay out moorings ahead and drive drying point. We secured joined by battens on pilotage: ‘Everything Cowes, the Hamble, West Mersea, might dry out the yacht on the hand at mudlarking. I hope they a couple of hefty spikes into the our sterns to the jetty with ‘You’ll be offered fifty feet of ooze, both sides, with a went fine until I stuck Rye and Pin Mill to name may prove useful. for your stern lines. Getting two stout quarter-lines. and a bit of grassy bank, a slippery rickety handrail nailed Mher on the putty!’ Each of us who a few. In the late 1960s aboard will be either by dinghy Our bows were hooked to one side. The affair sails in the oozy regions of our land and early 1970s I spent Permanent via water or mud, or a gangplank, up on either side to footpath or a rickety staging’ rested on the dock from time to time has been there. three years living aboard in mud berths but you’re going to love the deal in moorings laid well out in at one end, loosely If we haven’t, we simply aren’t various mud berths, with There are still a surprising these times of fiscal hardship. the mud by some long-forgotten unless you checked over the side secured so it couldn’t fall in. trying hard enough. But If we can neighbours as famous as number of these around for The best-appointed drying philanthropist who, so far as any of to see if the water had gone away, At the boat, we would lash stout think outside the knee-jerk box of Velsheda, Lulworth and those prepared to look for berths may deliver a well-secured us could tell, seemed to have done you’d never have known. four-by-four timbers across our never running aground at any cost, Endeavour, and as infamous them. Usually administered pontoon to lie alongside, power, a decent job. We were somewhat Power and water were on the sterns and hook the gangplanks however, lovely, clean, soft mud as the elderly gent and his by a local boatyard or club, water within reach of your hose exposed to south-west gales at jetty and we were given domestic onto them. It was, at best, dodgy, takes on a whole new dimension. longshoreman son who they offer assorted facilities and even a rustic lock-up gate High Water Springs, so when the electricity meters on which the and incidents best forgotten did Until the recent proliferation shared a tiny motorboat. and demand varying between the boat and a clean breeze really kicked in I would yard kept a rather desultory eye. occur, usually after late revels of marinas, mud berths were a A crowd of us sailed Ian French, the owner of Apogee (centre) with local degrees of initiative from gravelly track capable of taking a row out a long line to a pile in the Unlike modern marina meters, in the Jolly Sailor, but it all realistic option for thousands. regularly from a rickety pier moorings manager Doug (left) and Tom Cunliffe their holders. car when you really need it. river. Indolence in this respect these could be defused by the worked very well, more or less.

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A quiet Tollesbury mud berth An hour before High In our berth on Safely dried out, awaits our approach as the Water, and here we top of the tide. and satisfactorily tide slowly rises come. Ropes already The deep fin keel upright on Low rigged ashore is actually in the Water number one mud by a few inches

Mud berth pros and cons GRIBBLE PHOTO: ALAMY. LEFT: DICK DURHAM he question many would rarely reached in one go, if at like answered is, do you all, especially in non-virgin mud sink into the mud straight that is being re-used. The first The downsides of a mud berth Here’s one who’s missed her away, first time? No you two or three , the boat will Pass the bucket! Gribbles berth as the tide leaves her, Tdon’t, I’m afraid, unless the mud dig herself a hole which, as the Probably the most outstanding These wretched but no harm is done is exceptionally accommodating. weeks and months pass, will fit inconvenience for any family little shrimp-like Mud-dwelling In this context, really good mud her better and better until in the with a mud berth is that the beasts lurk in certain gribbles feed happily can be viewed as a fluid, and any end it is a perfectly formed cradle. heads don’t work until the boat areas of mud and on wooden hulls yacht, whether deep or of In the early stages it’s important floats. If you have a holding munch quietly away draught, will obey Archimedes’ she always takes the ground in tank and reasonable freshwater at wooden boats Principle, which explains that: the same spot, so keep an eye on capacity, this isn’t a problem. whose owners have been ‘An object totally or partially the moorings and note a couple Simply switch the discharge cavalier with the bottom coatings. immersed in a fluid experiences of accurate, short-range transits, to ‘politically correct’ and flush Gribbles work from the outside in, an upthrust equal to the ßweight one abeam, one ahead or astern, with drinking water, via either as opposed to the deadly tropical of the fluid displaced’. to give her the best chance. the shower unit or the kettle. teredo. You can see what they’re In other words, she floats If this isn’t an option, it’s the up to, but they can still do a lot in the stuff. Unfortunately, RIGHT: Mud berths have a salty, bucket for you or, of course, the of damage. If your planking is Damage to stern tubes I have never heard any mud- this perfect state of affairs is colourful feel lost in a marina yard loos if there are any worth timber, keep an eye open and the Tiny particles in mud contain dweller complaining about making a dash for in the rain. paintbrush handy. gritty elements which aren’t good stern-gland damage. for stern gear in the long term. Perfect support it is. Somehow, the mud stops The price is right Inconvenience Sleeping at an angle However, cutless bearings are Boarding The upsides of a The fact that the boat is effectively weed and most other things from Say no more. with tides However able a mud pilot you water lubricated and will soon I’ve described some of the floating in a glutinous medium growing, apart from exceptionally Having set out my stall about may be, there will be times when self-flush, while any of the various horrors of boarding, but each mud berth is great news for owners of old persistent and troublesome pests Good neighbours the benefits of always working the boat misses her hole. This types of stern gland available mud berth is so different that Carried by the tide wooden yachts that may not be such as gribbles (see right). This is supposed to be a with the tide, I do accept that isn’t generally too dire and it should, so long as they are it would be nonsense to try to Typically, a useable mud berth quite as strong as they once were. technical piece about the perils modern living doesn’t always doesn’t happen often, but it’s not watertight, also be mud-tight. offer specific tips on mitigation. floats for perhaps four hours It does no harm for a modern Low Water shelter and benefits of mud berths, mitigate in favour of this ideal uncommon to end up sleeping at However, if you’re the sort of out of every twelve. This may yacht either. The support of mud is Once you’re dried out, the wind and not a social commentary, plan. The mud operator either a 10-degree slope. The only advice person who might try your hand appear a disadvantage, but like mother’s womb. It’s all around can blow a hurricane and the but mud is so organic that it learns to live with a cosmic I can offer is to make sure you’re at this most creative of boat because the best mud is often you. It has no hard spots. You just sea may be houses high, but it attracts rather more of the rhythm he cannot change, or first aboard so you can grab the lee parking methods, you’re also safely at the top of the river, you can’t beat it. can’t get to you as you sit playing sort of characters that fill the he goes elsewhere to a handy berth. Against staithes or stagings, likely to be one who relishes a can usually plan your trips with cards by your bogey stove. At waterfront with interest than boat park and pays up. It was on where the mud is stiffer, or challenge. I have seen successful the ebb carrying you to the sea A clean bottom High Water, of course, things may you’ll find in marina berth Z99. Debtors’ Jetty that I learned to perhaps where you are effectively systems varying between and the flood wafting you home A yacht sailing from a mud be different, but at least you get This may, of course, not be read the tide from the moon. starting off a mud berth, you may lash-ups Heath Robinson might again. The spin-off is that you berth, where she repeatedly sixteen hours out of twenty-four to your taste, but experience I could, and still can, tell the time be able to lean the boat and use a have been proud of, to superbly save the price of a pint in fuel dries and floats, generally has a to chill out, which is more than the suggests that most Yachting of High Water at Portsmouth mastline (a halyard or breast rope engineered retracting gangways every time you don’t buck the clean bottom to sail on. I don’t guys who opted to pay more and Monthly readers relish a slice of within half an hour just by around the mast) to keep the boat Experience suggests stern gear that would be the envy of any tide up those last few miles. know why this is the case, but stay afloat can say. the unexpected. looking out the window. relatively upright. is undamaged by mud berthing modern cruise liner.

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Mud berths at Ashlett Creek on Southampton Water, an oasis beside Casual mud berths a power station you can o far, we’ve concentrated neither see nor hear on organised, permanent or semi-permanent mud berths. Many of us may Snever go that route, but it’s not unlikely that any adventurous spirit may at some stage dry out in a stretch of mud for a night or two. Most of the lessons hold good in both situations, but one or two additional points must be borne in mind. A casual mud berth can be alongside a staithe, as may be found in Maldon, Benfleet or Hollowshore on the Swale, for example, or even a drying marina pontoon such as those who venture into certain Norman ports may encounter. It may also be out in a wild creek with only the curlews for company.

Shelter Mud berths are often among the most sheltered you’ll find anywhere Because the boat is going to take the ground, it’s important to make the boat in, but if you are arriving leadline – applying a bit of goo to sure she is well sheltered. It’s not at the top of the tide in a strange the bottom of the lead before you as vital in mud as it is on a hard harbour, even one with a so-called cast it overboard will tell you what standing where any sort of sea can marina, you really don’t know the seabed is like. spell disaster, but if you’re hoping what to expect. to control where you lie, flat water In a river makes all the difference. Also, In a port If you’re about to anchor in a river, you may end up less than ideally Look at neighbouring yachts. Are knowing that the tide will dry you placed in relation to your anchor, they deep or shoal draughted? out, how confident are you about so lee become a real issue if Do any have tell-tale mud the mud bottom? With a bilge- shelter is poor. marks halfway up their topsides keeler or even a centreboarder, indicating that they have recently this is less vital. The worst that will Mud quality fallen halfway over? Is there an befall is that there is no mud at all This, as you might expect, is the intelligent-looking local you can and you either sit upright or are real test of any mud berth. Formal ask about the bottom? What does unlucky with your bit of bottom berths are easy enough to survey the pilot book say? And can you and heel a bit. Deep-keelers must at Low Water before you bring trust it? You can also arm your be sure of their ground. It’s vital unliffe C om

: T : Important points to remember

hoto Lash the helm P amidships to ask first and read the chart Hazards of the deep but if they foul the prop shaft or I once strained my rudder carefully. If you’re satisfied, lay Mud that’s not soft enough is rudder, it may be a different story. pintles by failing to lash the your anchor with care and let a serious danger to the casual, You are unlikely to find them up in helm. The tiller fell across the keel sink straight in. A deep, deep-keeled taker of the ground, remote creeks, but they do seem the boat in my absence and the narrow fin will often do this so well but with luck she will survive. The to breed at the bottom of harbour sternpost was raked, so when you won’t know it has happened. peril comes from any debris that walls where otherwise trouble-free the boat sat down in the mud, For the record, amongst other the boat may sit on, or even one’s mud berthing is available. The only she plonked her 10 tons hard experiences, I have dried out a own anchor. Fortunately, those answer is to anchor off, row in with on her rudder which was Sigma 33 in deep mud in Essex, who construct shopping trolleys the dinghy at Low Water and take already against the bump with no problem at all, on the have not attended the Rolls- a good look at your berth. Assess stops. The results were not say-so of a local fisherman. I have Royce school of engineering, so the mud quality with the boathook nice, so make sure you always taken the mud in my 22-ton gaff a respectable yacht can generally and, if all seems well, bring the lash the helm amidships. cutter drawing two metres in Sligo mash them up without noticing, yacht in on the next tide. Harbour alongside a fishing boat. As for fouling one’s own anchor, Seacocks - Make sure you lash the helm to The mud was so soft, I literally some mudlarks use a fisherman’s open or closed? avoid damage to your rudder would not know it had happened anchor with one fluke cut off, so if Mud is thicker than water. unless I’d looked, or flushed the the boat does come down on it,she When a boat dries out and outlet, or loo. This is never loo. I’ve also lain well over on won’t land on a fluke. If fouling starts to sink in, mud will be desirable. I have even known it my side in my first boat, a 22ft is even remotely possible, buoy forced into any open seacock. to clog up an engine cooling An interesting selection centreboarder made for the job, the anchor and make sure it When the engine, head, or any system. You really do not want of vessels dried out at by believing some drunk at the top won’t happen. W other device is activated on it in the impeller housing or Tollesbury. The berth of Wootton Creek one Saturday re-floating, the only way for making the loo disgusting – so, in the foreground looks night. I knew what had happened LEFT: The dreaded shopping the plug to go is up. The mud if you are ever in any doubt, recently vacated then alright, but only when I came trolley is probably the most then enters the machinery, sink always shut the seacocks. back from the pub. likely hazard in untried mud

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