Martlesham Creek

Just before woodbridge lays Martlesham creek, it is home to a hundred or so boats and a few live-a-board barges.

Here is a dinghy drift around the place.

This is about Sailing around Britain.

11 Responses to “Martlesham Creek”

  1. 24 September, 2017 at 1:16 amEd Bourgoine says:

    Looks to be a lot of sad and neglected boats mixed in with the the living ones.

  2. 24 September, 2017 at 6:23 amdylan winter says:

    I think that wherever you find a cheap place to keep a boat you will find boats that are on the cusp of a significant change. They will either be bought by another person and revived….. of be chopped up and chucked in a skip. The trouble is that boats no longer slowly rot away.

    Having said that there are a lot of very desirable boats hiding there among the decaying dross.

  3. 24 September, 2017 at 8:20 amTed B. (Charging Rhino) says:

    That big pilothouse ketch looks interesting. Whether it’s on it’s way up — or down — is hard to tell. She looks like she’s partially aground, or docked in really shallow water.

  4. 24 September, 2017 at 10:26 amdylan winter says:

    The tide was still on its way up when I went in there so it might still float every tide.

  5. 24 September, 2017 at 1:14 pmTim says:

    Sadly I’ve seen similar on the Medway and Kentish Stour where dreams have turned into nightmares.

    Can glass fibre be recycled?

  6. 24 September, 2017 at 6:38 pmMick says:

    It can be, but it won’t necessarily be. I looked into this before I bought my elderly Pageant as I wanted to know what I was letting myself in for if the boat was unsaleable by the time I had to get rid of it. Boatbreakers of Portsmouth will take it away and cut it up for about £1000 (probably more if you’re further away). Currently it goes to landfill, but it sounds as though there are other options including recycling which they’re looking into. Details here – http://www.boatbreakers.com/end-life-fibreglass-boat-recycled/

  7. 27 September, 2017 at 8:04 pmJonathan Sharman says:

    I had my boats down at Martlesham Creek for years, I only left because I could only get out at high tide and this meant that I wasn’t getting any use out of the boat. It was a shame because the creek is the friendliest place around and was great value.

  8. 27 September, 2017 at 8:19 pmdylan winter says:

    Boats….. Boats…. plural… not too many boats I hope.

    I like martlesham creek…. it is a very tranquil place with an amazing array of boating interest…. from thje big house boats to the little traditonal east coasters. I rather like drying places – they force you to stay out for longer periods. Rather nice.

  9. 29 September, 2017 at 5:39 amGiles says:

    Having moved from a drying creek to an all tide mooring on the Twizzle – been there a couple of years now. On the plus side I can come and go when I want. On the negative side, it costs more and I now feel out of touch with the movements of nature. My whole life was dictated by the tides. I used to refer to the tide clock in my hallway to see if I had time to get away – never look at it now. All I do is plan a passage when going on a longer haul trip or just pop out at any time to hang around the Walton Backwaters – it’s a hard life…

  10. 16 January, 2020 at 9:44 amAndy M says:

    One of our favourite places. We sailed our little Westerly Warwick bilge keeler there this summer, and based ourselves there for a couple of months. Reminds us of the north Norfolk creeks, with the same bird life etc.. Martlesham Boatyard is a really friendly helpful family set up. A weeks mooring is half of what a night’s mooring costs at Woodbridge Tidemill. There’s a basic but clean toilet shower block. Plenty of water hoses and leccy points. It is in a great location for bird-spotting walks to Waldringfield and Woodbridge. I think it’s cheap because it practically dries right out at low water and the (buoyed) access gutway is narrow & a bit tortuous. You have to plan trips away carefully to have enough water to depart and arrive.

  11. 16 January, 2020 at 9:51 amAndy M says:

    Incidentally, the catamarans are no longer there. The sad looking Pandoras remain. The owner said they were both abandoned and one sank. They raised it and put both on a buoy, where they remain. There’s a few other abandoned and neglected boats, the boatyard says the owners have died. The boatyard seem in no great hurry to have them removed. Quite a few liveaboards in converted barges and narrow boats. And at low tide the place is crawling with redshank, oystercatchers, little egrets and herons etc. picking through the mud.

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