Last Saturday – 25th March – saw Nancy Blackett being fitted-out for the 2023 summer season, following her relaunch about a mile down the river at Harry King’s of Pin Mill earlier in the week.

Job done – Nancy with her white sail cover, repaired and freshly-cleaned by Sail and Cover at Woolverstone. Photo: Peter Willis.

Back in her regular berth at Woolverstone Marina, her condition looked immaculate, and a team of half-a-dozen Trust members set to, in bright but blustery conditions, to bend on her mainsail and load all the gear put into storage for the winter – including the other sails, bunk cushions, crockery and cutlery, personal buoyancy aids (life-jackets), life-raft, inflatable dingy, the ‘library’ of reference and other books – plus a brand-new set of Imray charts to cover her planned passage-making this year, both locally and across the Thames Estuary to the Solent and further west.

At the mast: Neil Brooks, Stuart Morris and Tim Everson. Photo: Peter Willis.

Job done, we adjourned to the Royal Harwich Yacht Club for a beer, a bite of lunch and a chat.

Stuart Morris on the coachroof, with Mike Hawthorne, Mark Taylor and Ian McGlynn. Photo: Peter Willis.

Thanks to Neil Brooks (Boat Manager), Tim Everson, Mike Hawthorne, Ian McGlynn (Chair, Sailing Committee,) Stuart Morris (Chairman), and Mark Taylor (NBT Skipper).

– Peter Willis