Here is a lovely picture of the tranquil outlook from HISC John sent me (Richaard) early yesterday, his report sounds anything but tranquil.
A low turn out possibly due to the various high wind forecasts or was it the probability of getting lost without our leader Richard. It was only David Rabbetts, Nick Kidd and myself setting off from HISC at 11:10am and Martin Brooks who had messaged to say that he would sail from Emsworth and meet us on the water. I did reply "how will you get back with no water" but he didn't read it. When we started the water was still entering the harbour and a strong NE meant challenging wind against tide conditions. With wind now blowing at 15kn and a fair bit more in the gusts it was testing conditions until the tide eased and we had a bit of land cover as we approached Emsworth. It was very busy and the tide had now turned so the four of us broad reached back from Emsworth and then made our way to Northney where David decided a long run down Langstone harbour was best avoided and made the sensible decision to stop. Now down to three we negotiated the bridge and once past the old railway bridge supports found plenty of wind for long sequence of broad reaches all the way down Langstone harbour. Now with wind with tide we attained some good speeds and must have been sailing at over 20 kn in the gusts despite the spaghetti seaweed which was often attached to the fin.
Nick and few minutes later myself landed by the Ferry Boat Inn ready for lunch and whilst waiting for Martin got a message to say he was sailing back to Emsworth. Following a well earned lunch were we where joined by David. The remaining two of us carried on out to the sea front. Nick went out to the end of the sand bank whilst I decided to try and get across it nearer shore. It turned out it was much quicker to sail around than drag kit through the shallows so I then followed Nick on a reach along the seafront. It was still blowing offshore at about 15kn with a few gusts but also full of holes so it was with a feeling of some relief when we got to Sandy point. Having sailed further out Nick was the other side of the bank when I carried my kit over about 5m of sand to join the main channel back to HISC. I finally landed about 4pm.
Meanwhile Martin had got back to Emsworth where the water had disappeared but that's his story.
It was a tough but interesting day and I learnt more than I wanted about the currents over and around the sandbanks.
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