Yet again, the Nautical Festival was blessed with idyllic weather, creating the atmosphere that we have come to expect; there was a wide variety of craft on the water including the steam tug Barking, the Thames barge Orinoco, the River Lea gunpowder barge, a Whitstable oyster smack, an iron Dutch barge, a modern gaff rigged sloop Crow, and the tiny but much travelled Linaea. Many others filled the creek to make it an exciting spectacle, and reminder of what the creek can be if more craft were to use it, and potentially what the Basin would look like were it to be opened. So a BIG THANK YOU to LENA from all at FCT
The Mayor, David Simmons, generously opened the event and Lena, the Organiser, on behalf of the Kentish Sail Assoc., introduced the boats and the exhibitors, which included the KSA, the Faversham Creek Trust, and the Cambria Trust.
Helen North
The music was organised by Martin Young, of Bowstring, and included Helen North, the Swalers, Labrynth, Faversham Steam Navigation Band and others, interspersed by Punch & Judy for the kids, young and old.
There was also a display of mast making by Alan Staley and Alison Sheffield, and the sailmaker Wilkinsons was open. On the Brents there were a number of stalls and a bouncy castle. The RNLI and the Marine Police visited at high tide on both days and several dinghies took the opportunity to sail up the creek.
Faversham Creek Trust 