Hayling Cruise completed

On the 24th September 6 of us met at HISC for our last cruise of the season. Those sailing were Dave R, Martin, Simon, Steve, John E, and myself. We were also joined by Andy who cycled round and kept an eye on us from the shore, reassuring from a safety point of view, thanks Andy. It was fairly chilly as we launched at 10.00 for a clockwise rounding onto a confused looking Chichester channel caused by the 10/12mph NE wind over an incoming tide. Once clear of the entrance it flattened out and we had a broad reach all the way to the Langstone harbour entrance, here the predicted 15mph wind kicked in as we headed N in lumpy water towards the Ferry, where we had a short break to regroup.

The next leg was a fairly demanding beat across Langstone harbour with a gusty 15 to 20mph wind and lumpy water. Once at the bridge the local advice was to land on the mainland side and walk under the bridge. This worked fine and we reached the Ship Inn for a well earned lunch. Andy managed to catch up with us here, having just missed us at the Ferry.

Having spent an hour sheltering from the wind during lunch, we launched again and were surprised to find the strong wind that had been forecast for the whole day had abated, and we had a fairly leisurely beat along the NW channel led by local sailors Martin and Simon to our next stop at Emsworth. On the way there John who had been unhappy with his sail choice all day decided to head strait back to base. Andy managed to get lost cross country, and also headed back. They both missed a very pleasant break at the Flintstones tea shop

in Emsworth, where Steve kindly treated us to tea and tiffin as a birthday treat.

The last leg was a straight run /broad reach back to HISC. It was a comfortable 10 mph with sunshine and we we were able to take in the scenery, including the sight of a Spitfire completing a loop just above us. As we got closer to the club the wind picked up again and we enjoyed a nice blast back the last half mile to the finish. According to Simon’s track we had covered 20.7 miles, and as someone commented afterwards it had been a proper cruise!

It's never easy sailing round Hayling with strong tidal flows at either end, but with good seamanship and planning we can make it work even in gusty and changeable conditions.

Richard