I AM NOWHERE, I AM HERE

Marina

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In a neglected post- industrial town, the £60 million Marina shows hope for the future of Hartlepool. The waterside restaurants and bars at ‘Navigation Point’ are always bustling and ever changing. This lively scene on the quayside is appeased by the gentle sways of berthed boats. They nestle next to one another in slumber under the ambient lights which spill into the curls of the water. Unlike the fastened vessels it ports, the Marina slips anchorage to the dismal aged image of other parts of Hartlepool. It provides for all of us Hartlepudlians, a type of escapism where you could forget the rest of the town and imagine a future identity.

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Yacht Club

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The yacht club is located in between the Marina and the promenade. Now I’m a passer-by, cutting around with my dogs to get onto the beach front. But when I was 16, it was where I would climb into a sodden wetsuit once a week and march into the sea with my sister, my friend and her sister, driving a small yellow yacht named ‘Colonel Mustard’ into the bay.

I loved the responsibility of sailing. This crew of teens navigating the waters and yelling commands over swift sail movements and knot-tying. Walking past the bay now, I chuckle to myself at the image of our yacht capsizing and like the amateurs we were at the beginning, having to swim back with wellies on: which immediately flooded and sank our flailing legs to the sea floor. Such a chaotic scene was unravelling whilst our parents were sat in the club café, sinking a pint instead.