Haven't felt this present for months': sail back in time on a Thames barge in Essex

A weekend cruise on the River Blackwater and Essex coast is being offered aboard the Thames barge Centaur, built in 1895 and owned by the Thames Sailing Barge Trust. The report describes how surviving skippers, including 86-year-old Barry Pearce in Maldon, preserve a trade that once relied on red-sailed Thames sailing barges. Their shallow draft and efficient rigging let them move about 150 tonnes with a skipper and mate, often with a guard dog, reaching far upriver. Today, only around 30 barges still sail. Centaur and another barge, Pudge, can be hired for private charters for groups up to 12 or booked for one- to three-day public cruises.