On Tue May 3rd 11 Seavets arrived at HISC for the first cruise of the season, those sailing were, Steve, Bill, Dave, Maurice, James, Joe, Andy, John’s C & E, first time cruiser Martin Brooks and myself. We set sail for Chichester with optimism as the wind was showing signs of life, but as last year half way down the Chichester channel the wind disappeared completely, and we were again drifting with the tide towards Longmore point. After landing I called the pub to cancel our lunch booking as it was now close to our planned arrival time there, and we were still only about half way.
Once everyone had landed, we were standing discussing our options when the wind suddenly reappeared from the opposite direction, so we quickly jumped on our boards and headed at a good pace down the Bosham channel, towards the cafe where we had planned to visit on the way back from our pub lunch. Here we landed on the flooded road, and enjoyed some lovely pasties and sausage rolls while sitting on the wall outside, not quite the lunch we had expected but it went down a treat.
After this and with the wind still playing ball, we headed off through the weed that always gathers here, and had a lovely beat back up the channel and then on to HISC, landing about an hour earlier than originally expected.
It had been a disappointment not to reach Chichester for the first time in cruising history, but enjoyable as we were able to readjust our plans and have a decent day's sailing in this very scenic estuary.
Richard
Here is a link to Steve's Garmin track.