Top Sailing (1979)

This film was the second in the 1980 series of Top Sailing, titled as 'Creek Crawling' and also known from the script as 'Creek Crawler Extraordinary'. Michael and his son Richard Bentine meet up with the Pebble Mill host Donny MacLeod and cartoonist Mike Peyton for some fine sailing and reminiscences amongst the creeks of the Suffolk coast. The voyage in the 26-foot cutter Kylix II of Maldon, designed by Maurice Griffiths, commences at Gashouse Creek in Harwich. Sailing tips and wartime anecdotes pepper the cruise as the companions take in the Stour, Deben and Orwell rivers. The culmination brings them face to face with the famous Thames sailing barge race starting from Pinmill and leading in a majestic procession to the sea-bound Medusa buoy and the setting sun. Michael picks out one graceful vessel, evocatively named 'Reminder', and muses "It is a reminder, it is a reminder of the ethos of Britain: it's something that we're in real danger of loosing, I think. It would be a tragedy if we did." A grand and stunning sight.