The tides are also at unfriendly times, and strong so we have to get them right. Low water Portsmouth is at 04:56 BST, so we needed to be away from the marina at 4 to take the last of the ebb out of the harbour and pick up the flood to take us east. We were clear of the Royal Clarence Marina by 04:10, and motoring towards Haslar marina when Julian suddenly realised we had not turned the running lights on. We did have our AIS transmitting though...
The harbour seemed very quiet, but we kept over in the small boat channel anyway, and were glad of it when a cargo ship, escorted by pilot boats, loomed out of the dark in the main channel.
We turned to cross the channel by the Horse Sand buoy and went onto a course of 120°M, heading for the Looe channel. The wind was almost dead astern, but strong enough to be useful, so we raised the main sail then turned off the engine at 05:30. The sun was rising, but the air was cold. It felt good to be sailing, even though a run with swell coming from behind is not the most comfortable point of sail.
The swell was rather uncomfortable, and got worse as we neared the Looe channel. I had laid the course rather close to the Medmery Bank and sailing a very broad reach rather than a dead run had put us 2 cables inshore of the planned track so even closer... conditions eased as we got back into deeper water.
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| Ship anchored near Shoreham |
We entered the Looe channel at 07:30 and our speed immediately went up to 7 knots from 5. We could see breaking seas to starboard and very short seas ahead, but steering remained easy and both speed and waves soon eased.
By 10:30 the wind had dropped too much to be of use, so we centred the main sail and put the engine on, and George was soon given the helm. We had over 25miles to go on the same course, with very little to aim at except a wind farm and an anchored ship, so the swell moderating enough for George was very helpful. We lowered the main sail a couple of hours later, and kept motoring with the stay sail up.
Occasionally George would start heading for Brighton rather than Newhaven, but the rest of us much preferred our intended destination and made sure George did not take Robinetta astray! The Brighton entrance is horrible, and we wanted to see what Newhaven was like.
I had a look at the CA almanack (2017 version) just to check the entrance lights. I had researched them on the internet but wanted a reminder. What I got was a shock, as the almanack said that the visitor pontoon was only available for 2 ½ hours either side of high water. I had been sure it was all states of the tide.... A quick phone call to the marina reassured me. There was all states access for Robinetta, and plenty of space on the pontoon. I was also reminded to call Newhaven VTS for permission before entering.
The wind freshened again around 14:00, but it was still from dead astern. After our early start neither Julian or I felt up to hand steering for two hours on a dead run, so we stayed under engine.
As we came closer to the shore the swell increased, and George was struggling to cope, so Julian took the helm instead. I went below to call the VTS as we got close to the end of the breakwater, and was denied permission to enter harbour. Apparently a cargo ship was on its way out. We spent an uncomfortable 10 minutes circling slowly in the swell waiting for the ship to appear. As soon as it was clear of the harbour mouth VTS called us up and gave us permission to come in.
Despite this delay outside the breakwater the Newhaven entrance seemed a lot easier than Brighton.
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| Entering Newhaven |
We headed up to the marina office to pay and get the codes, then had a walk along the coast then up to the fort. It felt good to stretch my legs.
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