Brighton to Chichester

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.

Back in the U.K.

At last the weather forecast showed signs of improvement and we were able to set off back to England. The chosen destination was Brighton, largely because it was the closest and has a safe harbour with a good marina. The tide goes up and down the English Channel so, because we were going straight across the tidal stream, it was not possible to time our departure to gain any speed advantage. We therefore left at 09:00, which was convenient for us and also meant that we were likely to arrive in Brighton when the tide was suitable for an easy entry to a marina that was new to us. As usual, half way across, you meet the big ship traffic lanes. These are charted passages for large vessels going up and down the Channel – of which there are many. The rules of the sea are that you travel on the right so the first vessels that you meet are heading east. We could see a number of ships on the radar and, because of some fine rain and mist, they appeared on the radar before we were actually able to see them. We then had to carefully time our passage so that we went behind one ship and well in front of the next one. A little while later we met the traffic heading west and played the same game with them. However, between the two was the reassuring site of the Greenwich Light Ship which marks the middle of the lanes at the place we travelled across. I had marked a waypoint on the plotter just to the west of the light ship and it is always reassuring to be able to confirm that you have arrived at the correct spot in the middle of a 70 mile crossing.

At 12:15 we arrived safely at Brighton marina. We then refuelled and, after some discussion about who actually owned Jomima (the previous owner was already registered on their computer) we tied up safely for a few days rest.