We had a successful Chichester cruise last Thursday 6th June, renamed the D-Day 75 cruise by David. It was a great team effort with John E producing the plans, David taking the photos, Andy acting as sweeper and John C doing the report.
Joe Coulson, Brian Tilbury, Simon Barker, John Ellis, Andy Lacy, Richard Williams, David Rabbetts and myself started from HISC a little after 11:15 but because of the strong wind (15 mph) and excellent prowess of the 8 arrived at Dell Quay well before the allotted time.
The only slight problem was that Joe was tied to the beach at Hayling Island Sailing Club (HISC) by rope left on the shore. Having escaped he and Andy travelled at over 20 mph across the bay and then up to the pub in time for fish and chips, more expensive than Brightlingsea at £15.50 and perhaps not as good but still very welcome.
We beat down the river to Bosham stopping at the entrance to that harbour to warm up on the causeway, hot from the sun, and to regroup. On the way we saw cormorants and herons. At Bosham we parked on the yellow lines on the flooded road and had an ice-cream each. Then a lovely sail back to HISC in time for tea at 4.45 bang on schedule. The total distance was 21.4 miles and the ideal sail a 7.5 Tushingham race; but Richard on a 6.5 Demon was just as fast.
John Chubb