High winds stranded us for several days in Brighton. There is a high harbour wall around the marina and this offered us protection from the rough seas, spray from which came over the wall at high tide. The marina itself I would describe as adequate. A large supermarket, within walking distance helped but the general noise from the 42 restaurants and bars did not. We were therefore quite pleased to be moving on when the wind dropped just a little.The forecast was for a F3 and smooth seas. Unfortunately, yet again, they were wrong. It was a F4 when we left but I deliberately set out with the wind and tide together against us because that made for a more comfortable ride. As the miles progressed under our keel, the wind increased to a F5 and a course change meant it was now on our port quarter. We had long since slowed from 18 knots to 12 knots to reduce the slamming but we now began to slide and roll off the bigger waves. This was not a comfortable ride and I had to concentrate on steering around the worst of the waves.
We arrived at Chichester harbour entrance shortly before high tide, as suggested by the almanac, and began to approach the waypoint that I had set up for the approach over the sand bar. Today is a Sunday and, at this point, a fleet of fast sailing dinghys came out of the harbour straight across our bows. I managed to avoid them and, as I was setting myself up for the approach to the entrance, they all rounded a yellow buoy and proceeded to sail straight back at me. I therefore adjusted my speed to the same as theirs and entered the harbour in the middle of the dingy racing fleet. Once clear of them we began navigating from buoy to buoy along the channel towards Chichester. It was a great relief to find a sheltered floating pontoon to moor against for the night.