Brighton to Portsmouth

Before the journey it was time for passage planning. For those who are beginning to think I am a little neurotic about passage planning and spend a long time on it you are right and I do. I have decided that sailing over to the Netherlands is a heck of a lot easier. It's just a long journey over a lot of Sea and the tide can take you one way and then back the other. In our journey down the south coast there are tides that run strongly and mean you aren't travelling very well as you are "pushing tide",  there are various headlands and depth constraints.

Today's challenge was Selsly Bill, you have a choice, go the long way round or try for the sort cut through the Looe Channel. To go on the short cut you need to get the tides bang on. This was also complicated by the fact that you can't leave Brighton two hours either side of low tide. You also need to hit Portsmouth at the right time.

We came out of Brighton at the right time and did have a good journey towards the Looe channel. It was good to see five yachts in front of us and a couple behind. It showed we had the right timing. We actually sailed, which is something we've not done a lot of this journey. As both the wind and tide were with us we bowled along at over 6 knots. This was fast for us!

As we went through the Looe channel we were looking for two buoys to go through, either side of these buoys and there ain't a great deal of water. We sighted the buoys but also something far more scary, fog. As the yachts in front went through they seemed to disappear. The fog was very thick and it is eerie to be able to see nothing then we could hear a fog horn. I could work out that it was coming from a cardinal buoy. As we have AIS we could see that there were no boats around us but we still kept a very good look out and had our fog horn ready. We could hear another foghorn but couldn't see anything either electronically or visually. Then suddenly a big grey object came out of the gloom. We realised later he was boarder force and they didn't have their AIS on. He would have spotted us on our AIS and was a good distance from us. He quickly went back into the gloom.

Eventually the fog began to lift and we could make out the Isle of Wight, it was good to know we'd nearly completed our journey. The last bit into Portsmouth was not the most pleasant as the tide had now turned and we were beginning to push tide coupled with the wash from lots of ferries and pilot boats. It was good to tie up at Gosport Marina. We were pleased with our timing 8 1/2 hours but were tired. Whilst travelling through fog I had stopped making hot drinks so we also needed refreshments. Whilst at Brighton someone on the pontoon had recommended a pub, come out of the Marina and turn left. So we logged in at reception, got our fobs and turned left out of the gates. There we saw the Caslte Tavern, the food was everything we had hoped. Good quality home cooked food. We both had pie, the only snag was the portions were large and we couldn't do them justice.

The ferry over to Portsmouth only takes the maximum of ten minutes but at the cost of £3.50 not the cheapest. We noted that in Amsterdam the ferries were free. Portsmouth is a super place to visit and we always enjoy visiting.  With the help of a very helpful man from 3 I sorted out a sim for my iPad. Now we can have internet even if there is none at the marina. This is important so we can at least get weather.

As well as tramping round Portsmouth I also had the opportunity to catch up on the laundry. Cheapest laundry yet £2 a wash or £3 for a super wash. The drier however wasn't that efficient and was £1 for thirty minutes.

John also worked on the sender again, which shows our fuel consumption, we think he's cracked it. We will know when we refill with fuel.

By coincidence my friend VIV and her husband Iain were coming back from France. Their ferry would go past our marina, John and I found a place to stand and wave. We could see them but sadly they couldn't see us.

These pictures show Viv and Iain obviously looking for us. Even though they were small dots we knew it was them and once I magnified the pictures, I had been looking at the right people.

Here are more pictures of Portsmouth that we couldn't take coming in. The majority of these were taken from the marina.

The historic ship yard is always good for a visit.

 We walked to Southsea, quite a stretch of the legs, but I have always wanted to see the D Day museum and the Overlord Embroidery.  We got there but it was closed for refurbishment and wont open until spring 2018. I was gutted.

Next stop Isle of Wight.

Sailing information.
£35.04 per night
Good facilities.
Cheapest wash yet - choice of £2 or £3 wash - huge machines. Driers a bit weak.
Good entry to marina
Self service fuel station
Two chandlers nearby
Ref to Tom Cunliffe's Channel Guide - now it's not for me to argue with the great man as we use his book as the bible to move around BUT he's got it totally wrong about the Castle Tavern. One i'm pretty sure it's not part of a chain. Two, the staff are incredibly friendly and efficient. Third, the food is super - we ate there twice. My only complain is the portions are enormous we couldn't finish them.
Distance from Brighton - 43.4 miles. Time 8 hours 50 minutes.