Stoppress 2026

I have got the same great deal on antifouling again, now called EU45, (as it was years back) identical to the old Marclear, made by the same man... Bill Robinson. For high strength navy blue, mid blue, red, black, grey and white Antifouling. (Workboat red has become just red!)

Ring the free phone number above and quote EOG. Bill will make a donation to the EOG as a result of owners buying...

Now the paint is being supplied as 2.5 litres in 3 litre size cans, so it is easier to stir.

Members if you would like it delivered all you have to do is ring the free-phone number to speak to Bill and quote 'Eventide Owners Group' If you are not enrolled join first or we will know and you will not get the discount.

You pay him direct by card, or bank transfer it will come direct to you within 48 hours!

March 2026 Update. Just heard that because of EU legislation this is now banned from carriers in the EU, so cannot be delivered inside EU, now only to the UK!

John

Scroll down for 2026 Stoppress pages...

So latest update at the top, under this header, earlier entries below.

Friday 27th February 2026.

OK its not till Sunday, but its close!

Gives me an excuse to show the Grandson's ship. HMS Dragon.

Chances are she will soon be hunting ruzzians!

Congrats to UK Gov. for donating the new 'British made' missiles to Ukraine!

Eventide News:- Again no new enrolments, but we have had a request for a set of Eventide drawings. Paid us via our PayPal link and DVD of drawings on the way!

I have been busy with 'Fiddler's Green', collecting bits and checking covers. Amazingly the temperature has suddenly risen to 18C here and the marina is abuzz with activity. I am still not rushing to remove the covers as the severe snow storm that hit New York could still make it here! The grandson will be on leave from HMS Dragon in a month, before they deploy, and is coming to assist me with the removal of covers and preparing her for fitting out! Antifouling ready to go.

A lot happening here, lots of preparations.. Will be able to tell you all more at the end of next month!

Getting ready for one last 'Hurrah'!

My Niece Esmée has a hidden talent. She has written a poem and set it to a film on uTube. Here is a link for you..

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/9e_XRqlRGME

I was impressed. Esmée is my late brother in law Barry's girl. Barry created this site and my Seagull site. These are two of the first ever websites and the originals are preserved on a server somewhere in America, with the first 1000 ever published. He was a sailor and a Sea Cadet officer. See the tribute to him on the home page. The love of the sea has rubbed off on Esmée.

Have to finish on a sad note. Had a message from Mike Field in Australia. Mike was a keen sailor, and 3Tonner owner, had a wooden boat shop in Australia selling useful bits for traditional boats. Long retired. He came to the UK some years ago and stayed with us, with his wife 'Jenn'. We all got on so well.

He tells me his Jenn was suddenly taken from him with a brain embolism. He has sent details of the memorial service, if anyone would like to tune in.

From Mike_ Things are all at sixes and sevens here, and this message might not turn out as coherently as I could wish, but here goes.

My other and better half, Jenn, passed away unexpectedly but peacefully, last month. She had suffered what the ED medical staff at Campbelltown Hospital assumed was a ruptured aneurism followed by massive brain bleeding. The damage was not diagnosable, treatable, and terminal, and she died late on Monday evening, 12^th January.

Even though there’s obviously nothing to be done I thought you might like to know.

We’re having a Celebration of Life service for Jenn next Wednesday.

Details –

DATE: Wed 4 March 2026

TIME: 1:00 pm

PLACE: Gold Creek Station, Victoria St, Hall ACT

The service will be live-streamed on https://attnd.com.au/jennifer-bedlington , and will also later be available for downloading. (You might be interested to hear that there’ll be a slide-show of pictures from Jenn’s life, and one of the shots will be of the interior of your kitchen...)

There’s an obituary on the Tender Funerals website at https://tenderfunerals.com.au/canberra/funeral-notices/

__________________

So there we are – the end of an era.

Sad to hear this news. She had an amazing life. Our condolences to Mike.

John

Wednesday 17th February 2026.

We missed Valentines Day!

Hope you and yours celebrated!

Eventide News. No sooner I said nothing had happened last week, we got a new enrolment! Welcome to Sandra in Portugal with the 1979 built, timber and glass sheathed Golden Hind 31 'Almitra' ex 'Gabriel'.

(Hope you removed a bit of the old boat and replaced it with new before renaming!).

Sandra has her in dry dock for a few weeks and is wanting to inspect keel bolts. She cannot work out what thread was used?? Whitworth, UNC, or Metric.

Does anyone with a timber Golden Hind 31, who has of course inspected their keel bolts, know...?? Most common thread used for keel bolts here for decades was Whitworth, but I have no idea what Terry used. Can anyone help??

The boat is cutter rigged and Sandra was looking for advice on the sails. Not sure as yet if it has the short bowsprit, nor what the sail set up is. Most popular today is the roller reefing genoa and small staysail. Some later boats could have had the taller 'Light airs rig'.

We are waiting on photos.

Still had nothing from Jason, wanting to sell his Eventide. Bit of a project I understand. Hope he is OK, he was poorly.

I visited Tollesbury yesterday and looked at another Eventide project there. 'Glass Tide' is laid up ashore there and gathering lichen! She is in desperate need of a new pair of hands to bring her back. The basic structure is unique in our circles, as she is GRP. Properly laid up with a GRP deck and cabin top too. At the moment she looks terrible, but a couple of hours with a pressure washer would make her look nearly 100%. The external timber on the gunwales and toe tails needs replacing, then the modified bilge keels and tabernacle, the mast and rigging, the reconditioned GM10 motor 'just' need to go back on her. Any takers.. See her on our For Sale page.

Were I 10 years younger I would have leapt at the chance. Here is an Eventide that I know sails very well and with no danger of wood rot ending her days, what's not to like??

I was browsing through some of the paperwork relating to building Fiddler's Green the other day, when a slip of paper fell out.

It had been cut from an advert in one of the sailing magazines of the day. I remembered. I had left my building notes book on the table in the canteen years back and one of my wag mates altered the Hagar cartoon. I had kept it. Still think it as valid today as back then when I first launched her.

Click to enlarge!

Here in Essex the weather has not been half as damp as elsewhere, but today it has turned really cold. There is an artic NE blowing here fit to bust, just destroyed the Boss's twirly washing line! Suspect it is going to get a lot colder yet, so check those covers, you do not want snow blowing under the covers!

Ever the optimist I am still hoping the latter part of March will be warm and dry, antifouling weather.

We will see,

John

Tuesday 10th February 2026.

Eventide News. Not had a single mail nor an enrolment this week. Come to the conclusion that boat owners are hibernating!

The incessant rain has meant extra trips to the boat to check the covers, glad to report all good. I did have a conversation with John Stevens the Database Manager about covers, he needs to recover his. False economy using those cheap woven poly covers, they shred in weeks. I wasted a lot of money on those! I eventually found an agricultural supplier that sold super heavy covers, Black one side, silver the other. Over winter black side out, in summer silver side out!

The covers on FG have been on her for 4 winters and apart from a couple of small holes that I had to repair with gaffer tape, all good. But then I pad every sharp bit with old carpet. As the mast is up this time that means I use the boom as a ridge pole and have to pad the winch, the cleats and the reefing point attachments. Easy enough to do. I have a big plastic storage box full of carpet off cuts and string. Takes myself and a helper an hour to pad everything. The guardrails are padded with that split pipe insulation for 1/2 inch copper pipe. That has worked.

Check out the firm I found, highly recommend their heavy duty ones:- https://tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/farming/tarps/topgrade-tarpaulin-200gsm/

The BBC have gone to lengths explaining why the rain has not stopped. The Scandinavian high pressure stopping the low pressure moving away, but to most people it is just extremely wet weather! Here in our little bit of east Essex we do have large puddles in fields, ditches full, but nowhere near the amount of rain other parts of the country have had. But then where we are is the driest part of the country, by far. Apparently some parts of the Sahara get more rain than here! Which is probably why Beth Chatto created her award winning 'Dry Garden' not far away.

Told the reservoirs need more rain here!!

We have seen encouraging signs of spring already. The snow drops are out in full flower, as are some of the daffodils and crocus. Our resident black Headed Gull is beginning to get his glossy black plumage, and that to me is the best sign Spring is on the way, that and the smell of cans of antifouling being opened at the boat yards!

Winter colours...

Seen here is full summer plumage.

Looking forward to getting back on one of my motorbikes when it does dry up, June maybe?

Stay dry.

John

Tuesday 3rd February 2026.

Devastation in Ukraine, and now the damned ruzzians are freezing the population to death, and hardly a word in the press???

I despair. How can anyone do this....?

Eventide News:- No new enrolments this week.

Local news from the Blackwater area. I caught a snippet on the BBC news last week, about a number of ex Thames lighters being sunk, full of mud and gravel, to build a refuge for wading birds and protect the eastern end of Northey Island from further erosion. Something to watch out for come spring. Then I wondered... I bet I have stood on the decks of all those barges! In my days on the London river there were fewer and fewer Thames lighters about, they were being shipped to all corners of the globe to help build new harbour facilities and pontoons, some even as bases for houseboats. The remaining few hundred were moored and most days we would board them, walk over them and check and re-secure the mooring warps. It was a lot easier to do this than catch one when it went adrift and tow it back to a place of safety! So I can almost guarantee I have been aboard these in another life!

See this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5zw5l42xo

At the same time another BBC article caught my attention, again about the Blackwater area. Dredging's from Felixstowe docks were again being used to protect the saltings, but I was surprised to see the amount of spoil that has been dumped this time, encroaching on several of the navigable channels Bet the approaches to Mersea and Tollesbury silt up sharply as a result. No more creeping behind the Nass sands near low water!

See this link:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yxvrj5enjo?app-referrer=webview

Had another mail in from Dick and updates to his East Coast pilot.

Latest News and Updates from East Coast Pilot

January 2026

Dear Subscriber

Welcome to all our subscribers, including those who have recently signed up to these very occasional newsletters.

This time can we just call your attention to the News and Updates sections of our website, highlighting more recent additions since our last newsletter.

Latest News Headlines - go HERE for details -

Yacht Wreck off the Deben

Fox's Marina announcement

Approaches to Lowestoft

Yantlet Secondary Channel extended

New Survey of the Spitway

Thames Barrier Test Closures

Use of the Black Deep

Book Updates - go HERE for details -

New Rolling Road diagrams for Lowestoft approaches - available to print.

Ferry Boat Inn phone number.

Waldringfield moorings.

Royal Harwich YC details.

Walton and Frinton YC details.

Black Deep navigation - details.

We continue to update the website as usual all year round. And these days we also use our Facebook page to tell those of our readers who read social media - we used to use Twitter, now X, but the Facebook page has attracted a far bigger following, now with over 3,300 followers. But our website remains the ultimate and complete source of any new information - we encourage you to look at it regularly to see anything new.

Our next newsletter will probably be sent out around Easter time to announce the publication of updated chartlets for the Deben and Ore entrances. These chartlets are the result of a unique agreement brokered some years ago between Trinity House, Imrays and ourselves, and indeed we understand that these are the only minor river entrances surveyed by Trinity House on such a frequent basis. We sincerely hope that Trinity House will feel able to carry on with the arrangement into the future, it being of immense value to the leisure boating community. And of course Imrays, now 'FB Imray' since their merge with an Austrian mapping and charting company, will continue to support this.

We do welcome any news of changes in the area that we may not yet have heard about. It's easy to email us via the website (or PM me via Facebook) and you will always get a prompt reply.

And so it's back to our boat maintenance, and looking forward to some warmer and drier weather!

Kindest regards,

Dick Holness

Co-author and webmaster

East Coast Pilot.

Header photo - Pin Mill, the classic location on the Orwell.

If you no longer wish to receive our newsletters you can

unsubscribe using the link below.

Well that's about all for this week, I continue to gather gear ready to launch FG this spring. Covers checked OK again and just as well as it is tipping it down! I am still pretty sure we are gong to get another cold snap, and I bet we are not going to be so lucky in avoiding the white stuff this time, remember the 'Beast from the East' a few years back. brr

But not as cold as Ukraine right now, and we have power and heat.....

John

Tuesday 27th January 2026.

It should never happen again.

But...... it is....

Eventide News. No new enrolments but an enquiry about how to seal keel bolts...

Nigel had removed a bolt as there was a slight weep. and is now replacing it. I suggested:-

With yours I would suggest greasing the length of the bolt but then using Sikaflex on the head and yes you could add a ring of caulking cotton and Sikaflex under any washer on the bolt head, as it will be underwater.

On the inside, just grease on the top thread, as no water should come up the bolt holes, if the keel bedded on sealant.

I remove a different Keel bolt every 5 years for my 5 yearly survey. So far every one has been as shiny as the day I put them in there!

Anyone else this rigorous? Lets have your stories.

Still not heard from Jason, hope he has not got WhuFlu, some of my family are down with it again, not funny.

Took delivery of a new SD card for the Lowrance plotter the other day, cheap at £50.00 I thought. It's for all of UK and Ireland and near continent. When was yours last updated? If you do not have an up today paper chart on the chart table, it should be renewed. I will be ordering a new Small Craft chart folio shortly, do not want to be too previous, or I bet they bring out a new one and the corrections for the old one cease!

Tip here, download and print out the corrections often! It's Free. Then when they bring out the new one, at least your old one can be corrected to that date!

Little else to report except the weather! Gales and very heavy rain over a lot of the country, hope your covers are intact. Checked mine Sunday, all good. Hoping we get a warm March so I can get the covers off and antifoul, want to be in early....

To finish off, I saw a few good cartoons about Trump and his zany threats and actions. Disgusted by his assertion that our servicemen kept away from the action... over 450 returned in coffins! He has to go.

Was he never told to engage brain before mouth?

John

Monday 19th January 2026.

The madness gets worse!

You really could not make this sort of story up!

If this sort of silliness is not stopped, none of us will be enjoying our boats soon, clouds are gathering!

Eventide News.

After my mention of the Cole and Wiggins boatyard, Chris in the Netherlands came up trumps....

(Oh dear that is now an unfortunate turn of phrase!!)

Chris sent in a couple of links to assist Sue.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Cole_and_Wiggins

and

https://krakenyachts.com/still-sailing-after-all-these-years/

Seems one of our own, friend of the group Dick Durham (M.G. biographer), is the owner of one of the boats, info that Sue did not have.

Here is Betty II launching at the Cole and Wiggins Yard at Leigh on Sea.

Acknowledgements to the Kraken boats site for this pic!

Other news. Heard from Jason with the Eventide 'Ermintrude', sadly he has been laid low with a bout of Flu. There is a lot of it about. Hoping he will get back to us with up to date photos so we can offer it for sale, when he is able to get down to the boat.

Me, I keep checking the covers on F.G. as I am certain winter is not done with us by a long chalk. Covers holding out well, this their 4th year!! Pleased to say though they slapped a darn great cruiser right in front of me, my winter solar panels have been 'just' in the sunshine, every sunny day that I have been there. So batteries getting that trickle charge. And every day the sun climbs a little higher now, so all good.

Heard from a couple of boat yards that the number of abandoned boats is increasing daily. Recall from one of our members in Gweek creek, where he runs a boatbuilding business now, that the creeks are becoming dumping grounds. Old GRP boats are being stripped of gear then towed out and abandoned. Getting to be a real problem. Sort of reminds me of 50 years ago when first sailing the Lower Thames and the Medway, the number of old barges and fishing boats in creeks rotting away. Essex creeks were the same... Most of them are nothing but a memory now, but the GRP boats are going to be a problem. Would be better to sink them in an area as an artificial reef... Home for fishes. But that costs money.

All for now, enjoy the warmer temperatures for the week, than watch out for a return of the white stuff!

John

P.S. I have just found and added a raft of photos to the WW page of the gallery, sorry for the delay Sandy. Wonder if anyone knows where 'Burnewin' is now. J

Sunday 11th January 2026.

Hoping for a lasting peace in 2026.

As the world seems to have gone crackers, I do not hold out much hope, sadly.

Eventide news. One new enrollment, the first this year. Mrs. McCall has joined as the grand daughter of a 1920's boat builder, who built a few M.G. designs. She is trying to trace them. The only one I have so far is 'Maris', a 25ft centreboard sloop, built 1929. Believed a MG design. Anyone know her? Boat builders were Cole and Wiggins, not sure where they were based. Awaiting more info.

Not heard anymore from Jason with 'Ermintrude', he was wanting to sell. (At a bargain price!!).

The recent cold snap has called for more often visits to FG to check covers, but fortunately all securing cords have survived intact, and we escaped the snow.

With the colder weather ensuring I have retreat into the warm. I have spent a little time researching and buying updated Navionics SD cards for my Lowrance Plotter. The charts on it were 2018, so a long way out of date. A full set of UK Ireland and other side of the channel for approx. £50.00.

I do not rely on the Plotter for 'real' navigation, but on proper paper charts. The plotter is great for instant pilotage in the cockpit, especially if I have pre marked the days course on it so any of my crew can instantly see if I have strayed too far from the planned course. I shall be visiting the Maldon chandlery in spring to get an updated set of charts. I have been using the SC series Admiralty charts. (Small Craft). They are ideal as they fit neatly on my half Admiralty chart size chart table. They also have pertinent info for us leisure boaters!

Fortunately I do not have much to do before launching. I have already checked under the waterline, the rudder bearings and prop shaft bearings, no play! The Anodes have already been wire brushed and are good to go as is the prop, already cleaned and prepared, waiting for my final polishing with the little electric polishing mop! Like to think it will be mirror finished before we pop her back in.

On board the only job is an engine service. I have the replacement filters and oils all waiting. I had one little job to do in my workshop, that is to refurbish a pair of old brass screw in anode holders for the heat exchanger, and fit lengths of new zinc anode. Far cheaper to do that every year than buy new brass screw in holders already fitted with zinc, and so easy to do. All you need is a cheap pillar drill and a small bench grinder to shape the end of the anode so it can be hammered in to the plug.

Sails are all checked OK and stored, warps all OK, sheets washed and stored ready to refit.

Roll on fit out! Aiming to be afloat by 1st April.

John

Thursday 1st January 2026.

Support Ukraine!

Honestly I feel if we do not support them, we should be learning ruzzian!

The world seems to be an ever more dangerous place these days...

https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal

Tower bridge and fireworks, my old 'patch'.

Happy New Year, Eventiders, here comes 2026! Hope it brings peace in Ukraine and happiness to all.

*******************

Eventide News. As is normal over the Christmas period it has been quiet, but we have had one enrolment, from someone whose grandfather built at least one MG design. More details when I get to find more time to reply.

Apart from being away for the Christmas period I have been busy elsewhere, slowly catching up. All takes so much longer to do as you get older!

Today I took the opportunity to get under the bonnet of our car and replace a headlamp bulb that blew yesterday, before it got too cold and wet!

Really you need to be double jointed to get to headlamp bulbs! Like a good boy scout I keep a box of spares on board. But why do they always blow when it is freezing cold?

As it was not too cold, only 3 C, Brr, I also managed to remove all the garden Christmas lights too. Later this week we have snow forecast and minus temperatures.

Tomorrow I will be nipping down to the boat to check the covers. Snow is the worst thing to get on your decks! It gets everywhere if windblown and then thaws and refreezes, causing all sorts of mayhem with wooden boats!

So today I am busy in the warm, updating the pages of the website, opening a new Stoppress year and archiving and indexing. always good fun. And only last week Keith, my brother in law and crew spotted something I had not noticed all year. When you clicked onto the link for the Stoppress on the home page the last word did not take you to the correct page, but an archived one! How did I miss that....

Here is to a peaceful, happy and healthy 2025. Hoping we all get to spend more time afloat this year

John

Remember the Jumper I got for Fathers Day?

Look what I got at Christmas.

(Sadly one cat recently left us, she was over 18. So only 3 new kits now.)