The TOA were meeting at The Folly, on the Medina, Isle of Wight, for a Saturday evening dinner, and we were planning a trip to Bembridge, so there was a possibility of meeting them, if not with our boat, at least in person.
The favourable tide from Newhaven started at 04.00. We got up at 3.30am Saturday morning to begin our day and coincided with Ruby and Alex finishing their Friday night!
All stores and bedding loaded on, we set off as the sun rose above the eastern arm of the harbour.
With the wind from the North East we streamed away towards Brighton.
By the time we had got level with Shoreham, the wind had changed to East and we were experimenting with sailing on a dead run. Somehow, we find this quite a challenge, is it the boat or or poor seamanship?
By Littlehampton, we had been going for 6 hours and were now expecting to meet the tide against us, should we go through the Looe Channel or the long way round the Owers beacon?
The right answer, in retrospect, would have been; neither. A better plan would have been to pull in somewhere, Littlehampton if we could have got there a bit earlier, or Shoreham, and wait for the tide to change again.
Anyway, we chose to put on the engine and peel off south west towards the Owers.
This is because getting round Selsey Bill has to be done with careful consideration. The tide flows in an easterly diection from low water to high, and westerly from high to low. There are many rocks and sand banks in the outfall from the cliff and they extend in a south and south eastly direction about 4 miles as far as the Owers beacon, which is the point at which you can turn into the Solent.
Water gets choppy over shallow water, and it gets choppy if the wind is blowing against the flow of the tide, so we had double choppy and little speed.
At one point we did get a wave over the stern which was a bit of a shock, but eventually we rounded the beacon and headed for smoother water, John went for a sleep.
I adjusted the sails to give us movement, rather than direction, so the grey smudge on the horizon that was our destination swung to the port bow and we cracked along at over 6 knots.
2 hours later the Sussex coast came into focus and I tried to identify Chichester Harbour. Thinking to surprise John, I called him up to take the tiller, and went to look at the chart. it was me that got the surprise.
we were exactly at the start of the Looe Channel, we had done a long detour and were where we would have been 3hours ago if we hadn't gone south! The easterly tidal flow had made sure that our progress, although pointing North west, had been almost precisely north.
Anyway, by then the tide was changing to be more favourable again and John swept down to the Nab Tower and round it to Bembridge Harbour.
By 6.00pm we were berthed, and had a cup of tea, and had called a taxi to take us to Newport.
The Folly was packed, (when is it not?) but we found our compatriots and had an enjoyable and informative meal with Peter, Gordon, Ian and Bill. Later we were introduced to Jacob, Bill's grandson who had been competing in an Athletics tournament, and we thought of him again this weekend because he also had been picked to take part in the Jubilee pageant aboard Gypsy Moth IV.
There was still time for a brief browse of the assembled Tommies who were in the prime spot moored on the Folly pontoon.
Three Tomahawks rafted together.We were sorry Mahaskah wasn't there.
