The Blackwater Estuary is an ideal waterway for dinghy cruising with a fascinating selection of islands, creeks, towns, villages and beaches to visit with excellent tides to help you on your way.
The Marconi Sailing Club is well positioned, low enough down the river to have access to the water at all states of the tide, so one can head upriver on a flood for a pint or an ice-cream in Maldon or downriver on an ebb to Bradwell, Mersea, Brightlingsea or beyond.
The other estuaries on the Essex and Suffolk coast – Colne, Stour Orwell, Deben and Alde to the north and Crouch to the south are all within reach for an organised dinghy cruise.
The dinghy cruising group aims to do as much of this as possible. We run a monthly cruise, almost always on the first Saturday of the month. We typically meet up on Saturday morning and head up or downriver, returning around the middle to late afternoon. We also organise longer cruises, either from the club or by trailing the boats by road to another river or estuary, usually using a friendly sailing club as a base. Around once a year we host a cruise in the UK Wayfarers Association programme.
A great advantage of the group is that we can mix and match sailors so that each boat has an appropriate range of ability for the conditions.
To find out more, please email the Dinghy Cruising fleet on dinghycruising@marconi-sc.org.uk