After the Storm

Well I have to admit that the heat has made me quite lazy so apologies that this is a bit of a catch up!

After a weekend spent in Hamble listening to the rain and wind the weather had calmed down a bit to enable us to carry on to Gosport with the promise of the heatwave returning later in the week. We knew we needed to spend some time in port as the skipper needed to service our trusty diesel and I needed to do some laundry. I did look at the laundry in the Hamble marina but sadly the machines smelt as if someone had been washing muddy dogs in them so I decided to wait! 

We left the Hamble river mid morning for the short trip round the corner to Gosport - we had decided that Gosport would be good for our purpose as the High Street was only a short walk from the marina and there was a large branch of Halfords where the skipper could buy some oil and other bits for the engine. We also wanted to take the opportunity to visit both the Mary Rose and The Victory whilst in Portsmouth.

Haslar Marina (Teteli is in there somewhere!) from the Spinnaker Tower - Isle of Wight in the distance

In the end we spent 3 days in Gosport but it was well worth it - the Mary Rose museum although a bit expensive is an amazing place well laid out and really informative. In fact when we got back to the boat we spent a happy half hour looking at the charts to see where she had originally sunk and thinking about the battle that resulted in her sinking.

The following day we went back to the dockyard to visit the Victory - again a brilliant few hours. We used the audio tour but we were fortunate to be able to tag along behind a naval group who were having a guided tour - so with a bit of loitering and eavesdropping we had a great tour. The volunteer guides on the boat are also a mine of information - along with the costumed “cast” who we bumped into during the morning as well.

Whilst in the dockyard in Portsmouth it is also possible to see in the distance the new absolutely massive aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth which is being fitted out in the harbour. It was quite mind-blowing to be able to see naval vessels from so many different ages all in one place! 

The next day full to the brim with maritime history we set sail again this time for the short trip into Chichester harbour. The harbour is a vast enclosed bay with inlets and anchorages and a shoreline ranging from beaches to woodland to pretty villages. It is well protected from the ravages of the channel so makes for a very safe anchorage and as a result is very popular! We made our way through the harbour to Chichester Marina where we intended to spend a couple of nights and visit Chichester a place neither of us had been to before. As we made our way to the marina we agreed that the harbour reminded us both of a cross between the Walton Backwaters and the River Orwell both places on the East Coast of England that we are very familiar with.

After the allotted couple of days in Chichester and a visit to the fabulous Chichester Cathedral we slipped our lines early on Sunday morning heading for Littlehampton. Now on a map this looks very straightforward but it was quite a complicated passage for us! The first challenge was to make sure we arrived at the entrance to Chichester Harbour with enough water (tide) covering the sand bar to make sure we could leave safely without touching the bottom! We then needed to ensure that we were off Selsey Bill at the correct time so that the tidal stream was pushing us east through the Looe channel - a narrow deep water passage avoiding the need to head 2 -3 miles out to sea to round the treacherous Owers Reef off Selsey Bill. This headland looks very benign on maps and photos but any sailor will know that it was off the Owers Light that Ted Heaths yacht Morning Cloud was wrecked and his Godson drowned - so it deserves to be treated with respect.  Fortunately for us the weather was good as was visibility - enabling us to spot the small Looe channel boys, our only problem was the wind it was a lovely F3 but coming from ENE - exactly the direction we wanted to go! We did have a few hours to waste so we tacked out to sea enjoying the sail.

Once safely around the Bill our final challenge was to arrive at the entrance to Littlehampton with enough water to safely cross the bar into the River Arun. By this time the wind had swung around a little and we were enjoying a really lovely sail along the coast, as we closed on Littlehampton southern breakwater we knew we were a little bit early so we gingerly edged in, but as we approached we saw a local fishing boat veer away which told us we needed to wait a bit! So yet again we turned tail and tacked out to sea for half an hour! After a glorious sail we headed back to the entrance and this time there was just enough water for us to enter (with about 8 inches under our keels!) the only issue we had were a couple of jet skiers who thought is was great fun to create a big wash around us - what they didn’t seem to realise was that the bouncing up and down in that wash could have caused us to hit the bottom with dangerous consequences. Despite that little bit of unpleasantness we were soon tied up to the Littlehampton Town Quay on a very sunny warm Sunday afternoon. Littlehampton is a seaside town with long sandy beaches a funfair ice-cream stalls and lots of places to eat fish and chips watching the sun go down - so we settled in for a sunny Sunday evening.

Alongside Littlehampton Town Quay