Waves & Wine: Night Sailing to a Secret Vineyard In Essex

Hi & Welcome to East Coast Sailing. In todays video, rather than trying to sail as far away from my home port in Tollesbury in Essex, I'm actually exploring somewhere on my door step which I have never sailed to. I'm sailing to Maylandsea also located on the River Blackwater, in Essex. The sailing journey is only 10 NM. As the tides were very low (Neaps) we sailed into the night and anchored off Osea island near Maldon on a beautiful calm night. The half moon gently the water. After a good kip I made some of the best fresh coffee & changed some of the running rigging. We waited for the for the tide to come in and motored into Maylandsea. We were made to feel very welcome at the Blackwater Marina where we began our alleged 3 mile walk to reach the Crouch Ridge Estate Vineyard. Were not big wine drinkers but we did have an amazing time sampling all the wines. We also tucked into an antipasti board. It gets extremely busy and we weren't able to book onto a guided wine tour however we paid for a self guided wine tour which was relatively inexpensive. So if your struggling for inspiration for your next sailing trip, hopefully this gives you some great ideas or if you’re just visiting the area. Also the Drone footage will help you navigate into Maylandsea. Maylandsea itself is very tidal and dries out. Our boat is a lifting keel and only draws 1.4M. I wouldn't attempt to arrive at Maylandea after high water, if you ground you wont be getting off for the next 12 hours. There was also a much closer marina to the vineyard on the other side of the peninsula along the River Crouch called Bridgemarsh Marina which was only a 15 minute walk from the Vineyard. This marina however is also tidal and has some draft restrictions. The other marina option is Burnham Yacht Harbour which is accessible all states of the tide and has great facilities and good restaurant. It also has a lot more going on than Maylandsea. If you have any questions just ask. All the best Rob