Brighton to Chichester

[Powersalt]

Hi Folks,

I am just doing my sails and chart palnning for a trip from Brighton to Chichester next weekend. But it seems to me to get the favourable tide at Brighton I will be wrong for the loo channel ?? Any frequent users of this route agree??

Also if I wanted to halve the trip to make it easier I would have to pop into Littlehampton and again doing this would mean fighting the tide. So whats the safe time to enter Littlehampton??

So my reckoning is thats going west means a big fight with the tide and having to avoid Littlehampton so 8 hours sail.

Any guidence advice would be appreciated

 

[Lucky Duck]

I have done this journey a couple of times and aim to leave Brighton against the last hour or so of foul tide and then carry a fair one for the rest of the journey assuming a reasonable boatspeed . Unfortunately if bound for Chichester you will be fighting the ebb out of the harbour when you arrive at the entrance.

 

[Powersalt]

Yes so it would seem you fight the tide somewhere. I would assume a boat speed of 4 knots so a stop in Littlehampton would make it a doddle but then I have to be there on high water I think to be able to get in on slack tide.

 

[johnalison]

Other things being equal, it is usually better to buck the tide at the start of a journey and arrive with the tide - it is better for the morale. In the case of Brighton-Chichester this is also better because the tide runs so fast through the Looe channel, so, unless it means arriving in the dark or some inconvenience, start against the foul tide as suggested. There always seem to be a lot of pots around, so it isn't easy to get out of the tide by heading inshore off Shoreham.

 

[Blueboatman]

The 'deal breaker' IMO is the Looe channel so why not work backwards from hw slack at that place factoring in your realistic cruising speed?
It's a nice all day sail.
Btw the prevailing winds being westerly, often an early first light am start gets you motoring with good progress before the air warms up, the winds pick up, the sea gets lumpy, and wind over tide at Selsey becomes an unpleasant consideration.
So, I aim to reach the Looe just at hw, the tides east of the Solent are much less than in the Solent. A good sailboat will sail into Chichester against the strong ebb but you will have to wait to lock in to the marinas, no biggy.

 

[dslittle]

Have just looked at my log of previous trip. We left a couple of hours after HW Brighton which gave us a couple of hours fair tide to start the trip then foul tide up to Owers. We were sailing to get into Southsea over their cill. Southsea is VERY tight but will knock an hour or so off your trip if you want to stop a bit sooner. As has been said earlier, you will have foul tide for some of your journey anyway and I preferred to fight it earlier and have a rising tide on my arrival. It looks as though you will have nice winds but they will be right on your nose (as normal!!!)
PM me if you want to have a chat before you go.

 

[Powersalt]

Many thanks for your comments and guidence.

High water Sunday is about midday and in view of what has been said i am of the opinion to get out of Brighton early, fight the tide, even hold inshore along the coast and then have the tide with me at the Looe channel.

Being only 21 foot with an outboard I can only reckon on 4 knots for passege planning but with a good breeze she will easliy sail at 6 knots. Lack of wind and motor is a pain in the ar.... at about 4 knots and outboard overheating etc etc. Long range forecast looks like too light winds ( circa 6 mph)for my best but still southerly that would be very helpful.

So from what I have gleaned I dont think its worth stopping on route in Littlehampton and all the probs of strong tides and exit times but to push on and try to do it in one day. Will keep my eye on the we3ather progress and hope

 

[benjenbav]

Have you looked at how the tides work if you went outside the Owers? Obviously would take longer but might just be enough to guarantee the tide with you both out of Brighton and into Chi.

 

[Powersalt]

Yep, Your right except that on this coming weekend it would help to leave at 2 hrs before hw dover and then fight it a bit. Keep options open to go outside if the wind picks up, but that seems ok at the forecast mo.

Arnt we lucky to be able to look at passages like this in March with temps at circa 12 degrees. Wouldent have even thought of it at zero

 

[benjenbav]

Absolutely, I was out on 1 March: Lym to Swanwick to Cowes to Lym and wearing a polo shirt and sunglasses until the sun went down.

 

[brianhumber]

Do this trip as a weekend jolly from Chichester 2/3 times a year and had fishing boat in Littlehampton.

Tide is quite slack inshore so I try to go foul when leaving Brighton and tack close inshore till off Bognor. In lightish SW winds you only have to look out for Brighton Palace pier, the under sea remains of old West Pier marked by a bouy, Lancing outfall, Worthing Pier, the tide monitor post just east of Littlehampton, and Bognor Rocks. Do not go so far west as to get mixed up in the Park with the sunk Mulberry harbour cassions. Short tacks make for a more interesting trip in a SW and water is flatter in my exprience.

Keep south of Mixon pole unless you know the inshore unmarked route through the sands off of Selsey Bill itself. Watch out for Pots anywhere but especially between Littlehampton and Mixon in and offshore.
At the moment, once you have popped out through the Street and Boulder you will find damm great barges in your way with tugs etc. The Environment Agency are trying to convert the coast between the Caravan Park west of Selsey and Witterings into a mini cliff with thousands of tonnes of boulders from Norway.

Biggest pain is stemming the ebb tide at Chichester entrance past the Lifeboat station.

I never go Owers, ebb tide licks up nasty chop against SW wind, and its all too easy to get swept into shallow banks if you are using the swashways. it may be bouncy in the Looe on a SW ebb but its deep enough and you will be moving quickly so its not for long.

Brian

 

[Powersalt]

Do this trip as a weekend jolly from Chichester 2/3 times a year and had fishing boat in Littlehampton.

Tide is quite slack inshore so I try to go foul when leaving Brighton and tack close inshore till off Bognor. In lightish SW winds you only have to look out for Brighton Palace pier, the under sea remains of old West Pier marked by a bouy, Lancing outfall, Worthing Pier, the tide monitor post just east of Littlehampton, and Bognor Rocks. Do not go so far west as to get mixed up in the Park with the sunk Mulberry harbour cassions. Short tacks make for a more interesting trip in a SW and water is flatter in my exprience.

Keep south of Mixon pole unless you know the inshore unmarked route through the sands off of Selsey Bill itself. Watch out for Pots anywhere but especially between Littlehampton and Mixon in and offshore.
At the moment, once you have popped out through the Street and Boulder you will find damm great barges in your way with tugs etc. The Environment Agency are trying to convert the coast between the Caravan Park west of Selsey and Witterings into a mini cliff with thousands of tonnes of boulders from Norway.

Biggest pain is stemming the ebb tide at Chichester entrance past the Lifeboat station.

I never go Owers, ebb tide licks up nasty chop against SW wind, and its all too easy to get swept into shallow banks if you are using the swashways. it may be bouncy in the Looe on a SW ebb but its deep enough and you will be moving quickly so its not for long.

Brian

Very re assuringly put . Many thanks for that and I see you did not advocate a stop over in Littlehampton ?

Also a slight change of plans for me now as if we arrive on the ebb at Chichester I think we may well go straight to Gosport

 

[haydude]

Hi Folks,

I am just doing my sails and chart palnning for a trip from Brighton to Chichester next weekend. But it seems to me to get the favourable tide at Brighton I will be wrong for the loo channel ?? Any frequent users of this route agree??

I have done the route Eastbourne to Gosport or Cowes and back several times and I have never bothered about the tide because my work leave and weekends are a greater constraint.
I leave always early in the morning and get to destination watherver the tide, knowing that it will be against for 5 hours over 10/11 in the worst case.

However in your case your destination is Chichester and the trip is slightly shorter. Since the entrance to Chichester is the trickiest part of the trip you have to time it to get by the bar accordingly, bearing with whatever tide you have when you leave Brighton, unless you want to get the falling tide from Brighton and anchor somewhere in front of Chichester to wait for the tide to get through the bar. It isn't worth stopping at Littlehampton because you would still have to approach Chichester bar with a rising tide, thus passing the loo against it.

 

[Powersalt]

ok, so iM leaving early am and just keep inshore.
Now I see the wind is tailing off Sunday, so Saturday is the better sailing day, but on Saturday I have a meeting about my daughters wedding. Hmmm how do I tell my daughter Sailing is more important ( interesting) than this meeting.

Its never easy,

 

[haydude]

ok, so iM leaving early am and just keep inshore.
Now I see the wind is tailing off Sunday, so Saturday is the better sailing day, but on Saturday I have a meeting about my daughters wedding. Hmmm how do I tell my daughter Sailing is more important ( interesting) than this meeting.

Its never easy,

It is too early to tell Sunday's wind and weather. It is March, it is the UK, it is going to change.

 

[Powersalt]

yes you are right of course. Why start a family row when it could all change. I will make plans Brighton to Chichester in one hop and see how it develops