COASTAL ANCHORAGES .sx HARTY FERRY .sx Harty Ferry is one of the few remaining places on the East Coast that can still offer real peace and quiet , as JACK COOTE discovered .sx Frank Cowper , in the second volume of his Sailing Tours , tells us that " the Swale used to be far more important , being part of the highway to the Thames .sx When vessels could sail through the Wantsum , between Thanet and Kent , they avoided the Thames Estuary , and passed up a series of straits to the Thames , opposite Canvey Island .sx " .sx Today , most yachts on the Swale are gathered either near Queenborough , at its western end , or at Harty Ferry , to the east .sx Despite its convenience , few people would describe Queenborough as attractive , whereas Harty Ferry is one of the few remaining places on the East Coast that can still offer real peace and quiet .sx It is also a very useful spot in which to await a tide or shelter from bad weather , provided it is not coming from the east or north-east .sx Since the ferry no longer operates , very few people visit this isolated and sparsely populated part of the island , and yachtsmen have it pretty much to themselves .sx Harty is not even a village as such and there are really only two buildings to visit .sx The first to be reached after landing is the Ferry Inn , whence a fine view over the anchorage can be enjoyed while pausing for refreshment .sx Then , no more than a mile away to the east is the church of St Thomas , next to Sayes Court Farm .sx This tiny church is one of the oldest in the country , probably dating back to the Norman Conquest .sx There is a famous early 15th century chest in the chapel bearing a carved scene of two jousters in action .sx It is said that the chest , which has been stolen and recovered , was originally found floating down the Swale before being saved by a beachcomber .sx The quiet is so intense inside this remote building that someone has been prompted to leave a notice reading .sx " Stand and listen to the silence .sx " .sx There are no facilities on the south shore , except an emergency telephone near the top of the ferry hard and a freshwater spring .sx The surprising thing about the spring is that its water is quite untainted , despite its close proximity to the salt water of the Swale .sx For services and stores it is a walk of rather more than a mile to the village of Oare .sx Hazards and marks .sx As with almost any anchorage in the Thames Estuary , the principal hazards are surrounding shoals .sx Whether approaching Harty Ferry from the west , along the north side of the island of Sheppey , from the Essex shore or from the east , via the Overland Passage , there are few landmarks , apart from the tall granary building near the quay at Whitstable and the small group of houses on Shell Ness .sx There are two shoals to avoid at the East Swale entrance ; the Columbine Spit , extending for two miles to the north-east of Shell Ness , and the Polard Spit , extending for a similar distance off the Whitstable shore .sx .sx When approaching the anchorage itself , care must be taken to keep off the Horse Shoal , which reaches out half a mile from the north shore with its western end almost abreast the ferry landing .sx Anchoring Anchor just to the west of the ferry landing on the north shore in a spot that will leave you 2-3m and be out of the strongest flow of tide .sx Shallow draught craft may be able to find enough water between the Horse Sand and the shore , just east of the landing .sx The bottom hereabouts is a mixture of sand and mud that provides good holding .sx Tides Swale tides must be taken seriously .sx At times they run very strongly , reaching 3.5 knots during the early flood or ebb at springs .sx As might be expected of a watercourse with two entrances , the behaviour of the tides in some parts of the East and West Swale is complex , the point of division moving as the tide rises or falls .sx However , off Harty the streams behave normally in relation to High and Low Water .sx Winds and swell .sx The Harty anchorage is well protected , except in strong winds from the east or north-east , when wind over tide conditions can make things very uncomfortable and dinghy work inadvisable or even dangerous .sx It can also be bumpy with westerly winds over tide .sx Approach In order to clear the outlying shoals , it is necessary to commence an entrance to the East Swale from the Columbine Spit buoy ( Con G ) situated 2 1/2 miles NNW of Whitstable and about a mile to the west of Whitstable Street buoy ( N Card VQ) .sx An entrance gate is formed by two buoys ; the Ham Gat ( Con G ) marking the eastern edge of the Columbine Spit and the Pollard Spit buoy ( Can R QR ) off the end of that spit .sx From this position it will be difficult for the newcomer to make anything of the entrance , except that a course of 230 degree M will take him close to Shell Ness before leading to the Sand End buoy ( Con G FIG 5s) .sx Although narrow , there is plenty of water in the channel ; as much as 7m , compared with only 2m out near the Columbine buoy .sx It will usually be possible to see the next pair of buoys from abreast the Sand End , but they should not be approached directly ; instead the same course should be held until a buoy marking the Horse Shoal ( Con G ) bears about 260 degree M. After that , course can be changed to pass between that buoy and the north cardinal buoy off Faversham Spit .sx The line of moorings off the south shore and the hard on the north shore will now be in sight .sx Leaving The best time to leave the anchorage will depend upon whether you are bound west into the Thames , north over to the Essex shore , or east along the Kent coast to the North Foreland .sx It is High Water at Harty Ferry 1 1/2 hours after Dover .sx When bound westward , the last hour or two of an ebb should be taken so as to be clear of the off-lying shoals before the flood starts into the river .sx If the wind happens to be fresh from the north-east , be prepared for a bumpy five miles or so .sx When bound to the north or east , a start can be made on the first of the ebb , remembering not to cut corners while passing through the Gore Channel on the falling tide .sx If anchorage is untenable .sx In strong easterly or northeasterly winds a nasty sea builds up at Harty Ferry and during a spring ebb it may prove impossible to get out into the Thames Estuary .sx Under such conditions it will be best to move a couple of miles to the west into the protection of South Deep , between Fowley Island and the mainland shore just east of Conyer Creek .sx The entrance to South Deep is close south of an unlit east cardinal buoy and the run of the channel will be seen from the moorings .sx If bad weather persists and it becomes necessary to leave the yacht , a mooring and a rail connection could be found at Queenborough , about eight miles away at the other end of the Swale .sx ONE MAN AND HIS BOAT .sx If there's living proof that sailing keeps you young in mind and body , it comes in the form of octogenarian Harold Hone .sx The maxim might equally apply to his boat , Wren , a comparatively youthful Deben 4-Tonner built in 1947 .sx Together , they have cruised the waters of the Solent for thirty-three seasons .sx Harold and his wife Rita were weekend refugees from London when they first began sailing out of Lymington in 1948 .sx After working 12-hour days at their East End furniture factory during the week , they found peace from the stresses of business life by exploring the creeks and harbours of the Solent in their first boat , a 2 1/2-tonner .sx Even to - day , long retired and now living in Lymington , they know no greater pleasure than a sunny day's sailing on their beloved Solent .sx Wren came into their lives in 1958 , when the Hones , tiring of the cramped accommodation of their 2 1/2-tonner , decided that a boat with standing headroom and a little more interior space would be a good thing to have .sx The search for the right boat , constrained by their budget of pounds1,000 , occupied most of a pleasant summer .sx After visiting almost every yard on the South and East Coasts , claims Harold , they found Wren at Sparkes Boatyard on Hayling Island .sx Compact , at 22ft overall and 19ft on the waterline , and with a shoal draught of 3ft 6in , she was perfect .sx and the standing headroom under the doghouse was the deciding factor .sx Harold recalls the bitter disappointment the couple felt when they learned that the boat had been sold , for pounds800 , only an hour before they first set eyes on her .sx Three weeks later , still no closer to finding a boat , Harold heard from the yard that Wren was back on the market .sx The following weekend , the boat was theirs for pounds720 , and Wren's interesting history began to unfold .sx She was one of a long line .sx sixty-four all told .sx built to a design by W M Blake at Whisstocks in Woodbridge , Suffolk .sx The first of these was built in 1931 , and the last in 1955 ; Wren was one of the early post-war boats .sx Her first owner , Percy Woodcock , was a regular contributor to Yachting Monthly , and in the January 1948 issue he told how he came to buy her .sx Woodcock had definite ideas , having had most of the war to contemplate his ideal 4-tonner , which would be used " mainly as a day-boat , but with enough accommodation for a few nights on board when I feel like " .sx .sx This was certainly achieved .sx With only 7ft of beam Wren is on the compact side throughout , yet her accommodation is comfortable and inviting .sx There is standing headroom under the doghouse by the split galley , with a gimballed two-burner stove facing the sink and small locker space across the companionway .sx At some stage before the Hones bought her , Wren was fitted with the doghouse which transformed both the appearance of the boat and her accommodation .sx In her original form she would have been a bit cramped , though Woodcock professed himself well pleased with the raised decks .sx " There is full sitting headroom over the whole of the seats , and one can lean back with no neck bending to avoid a crack on the head from the coamings " , he wrote .sx Now , two people can stand under the well finished doghouse , which also lets in considerably more light .sx With the removable table in place below decks , the snug saloon seats four adults comfortably .sx Harold's first voyage in Wren , the delivery from Chichester to Lymington , was a rude introduction to a new boat .sx He and a friend met a westerly Force 6 , gusting 8 , while trying to stem the Solent tide .sx The Stuart Turner petrol engine packed up , and only after hours of beating into the chop did the drenched duo limp into Lymington .sx " I learnt that day that the boat could take it if I could .sx Next morning we took my wife for a sail and we met the ferry coming up the river at low tide , with no place to go except on the mud .sx I asked my friend what a good yachtsman would do in that position , and he replied that a good yachtsman wouldn't be in that position .sx 'So I learned two lessons , and in 33 years of sailing Wren I have never forgotten them .sx " .sx While Percy Woodcock was forever popping across the Channel in Wren , the borders of the Hones' cruising grounds were defined by Chichester and Swanage .sx They would arrive on Friday night , exhausted from the week's graft , and sail across to the Isle of Wight , where their favourite anchorage was , and still is , Newtown .sx