We Are Sailing

Today we have been offered the opportunity to go for a sail in Chichester Harbour, and this we gratefully accepted. The boat was a Southerly 110 and I was almost immediately told to take the helm while the owner did things with the sails. The fairway, as you head towards the sea from Chichester, is fairly narrow. As directed I tacked to and fro and enjoyed the experience. Eventually, as we got nearer to the sea, the request to tack was made a little late and we grounded on a shallow patch of sand. Fortunately, Southerlies have keels that can be raised. It was therefore just a matter of pressing a button, to lift the keel, and we were free and sailing again.

Eventually we reached the sea and more wind. This caused the boat to heal over a little more and Ann to get even more nervous about this sailing lark. We turned around and headed back up the channel. The tide was now against us and the wind behind. The owner therefore ‘goose winged’ the sails and, on an even keel, we headed slowly back into Chichester Harbour. Unusually, the sun shone and the wind was fair. A pleasant afternoon was had by all and we headed back to the mooring with the aid of the boat’s iron sail (motor) to help us on our way.

A Trip to the Pub

One of the pleasures of being moored on a river is that we get chance to drop our little dingy, fire up the outboard engine, and head upstream into shallower waters. The Hamble is a relatively short river and the headroom is restricted by the M27 bridge a couple of miles upstream. However, there are still 4,000 boat moorings in that short stretch of river. It is the largest boat park in the UK. Once we past under the low brides we entered a different world. Here there was an adventure park with a number of people making use of the available canoes. We had deliberately headed upstream with the rising tide so that we were able to get up the right hand channel to the Horse & Jockey public house for lunch. There is a double high tide on the river which means that there is a stand of about two hours. As a result we had plenty of time for lunch and a pint before heading back down river on the ebbing tide.

Hamble River

One of the problems of being within a vast harbour is that you can’t actually find out what the sea state is like until you have spent nearly an hour getting from your mooring out to sea. By which time you may regret having left your mooring in the first place. The forecast for the planned trip to the Solent and the river Hamble was fair with a F3-4 wind. I had timed it so that we got some help from the tide and so that there as sufficient water over the sand bar to make the exit fairly easy. However, as we got closer to the Isle of Wight the wind increased to F5 and the wind screen wipers were required to get the spray off the windows so that I could see to steer and avoid the many ferries and large ships coming in to Southampton.

As we entered the sheltered waters of the Solent the wind dropped a little and we again able to enjoy the journey. The reason for going to the Hamble was so that we could meet our son Jeremy, his wife MJ and our grandson Patrick. It was great to have them on board again and to see Patrick – complete with his two new front teeth.

Chichester Harbour

Chichester Harbour comprises an area of about 27 square miles of navigable water. Once you get over the sand bar, and past the narrow entrance, it opens up into a vast area divided into two channels. We have taken the one towards Chichester and it is most impressive. It is, understandably, very popular with sailors and bird watchers as well as walkers. The village of West Itchenor overlooks the Chichester Channel and the views across the harbour to Chidham, Bosham and Chichester with the Downs behind are excellent. It did of course rain most of the time we were there but it did not stop me from dropping the dinghy an exploring Itchenor on foot. Unfortunately, the weather stopped us from using the cycle path to get to Chichester.

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.

Fecamp

As you will no doubt have noticed, I have not included any photos of Le Havre. The town may well be on Unesco’s World Heritage list but the choice of building material – concrete – would not be my choice. However Fecamp, which was once the home of a large fishing fleet that used to fish for cod on the Grand Banks off the east coast of America, was much more to our liking.

One of the highlights was a visit to the Palais Bénédictine. The world famous drink is still distilled in this fantastic Gothic style building. We enjoyed a tour of the ‘factory’ along with being able to view their collection of old works of art, samples of spices and finally an exhibition of modern art – before actually tasting the product. Last night we went out for an excellent meal, in Fecamp, and enjoyed another ‘tasting’.