Orkney Longliner & Sussex beach boat

Clive shares his local knowledge on the best way to travel from Rye Bay upriver to Bodiam Castle in East Sussex - including his choice of open motorboat and family activities en route

- CLIVE MARSH

Most sailboats that moor at Rye have a fairly narrow tidal window. By the time they can get off the mud and push against the flood tide to get out to sea, it’s time to come back again unless they want to stay out at sea.

If you want a reasonable length of time out at sea and return to get under the bridges all the way to Bodiam Castle, near Robertsbridge, you really need a shallow and low air draught motor boat. Then, with a little planning you can spend a few hours at sea, fishing or messing about in the bay before returning to take a further five hours for the river trip to Bodiam.

This is a good day out for a family of varying ages with interesting stops every few hours. Each year more small boats cross the Atlantic than sail from Rye Bay to Bodiam so you can expect a quiet time.

I’ve found that two of my boats, the Orkney Longliner with its little cuddy and the roomy Sussex Beach boat, both have their advantages.

Orkney Longliner

Orkney Cuddy-style fishing boats are excellent sea boats. I’ve owned three different models but found the Orkney Longliner 16 to be ideal for this type of little adventure.

I came across my Orkney Longliner at a yard in Lymington and had her delivered to my home in East Sussex near Rye where I kept her on a road trailer.

She had good seaworthy lines, no fuss or unnecessary extras. She had a 9hp 4-stroke long shaft outboard motor which was tiller operated and with a remote tank. I sat aft to keep an eye on the passengers.