Brighton to Solent

[BobbyD]

Good morning,

I am looking at putting my day skipper course into practice and plan to move my 21ft Beneteau first (lifting keel) from Brighton towards the Solent over the upcoming bank holiday weekend (per the great advice from this group over a year ago!). It would be great to get your thoughts on my two options.

Option 1 - leave Brighton on Friday, 28th and stop at Littlehampton. It’s approx. 17NM so around 4.5 hours (assuming average speed of 4 knots). The window for entering LH is 2 hours before to 1 hour after HT so need to arrive between 1130 - 1430. This means leaving Brighton at around 0800 (just after low water) and going against tide.

On second day (Saturday), I would sail from LH to Bembridge but need to reach the Looe at slack water (around 2pm) - a distance of approx 11NM or 2-3 hours. This means leaving LH around 3 hours before the recommended window. This gives me the tide to carry me towards the IoW. Is this possible or does the incoming tide at LH make it difficult for a small boat to exit against tide?

Option 2 - leave Brighton Saturday, 29th and sail straight to Bembridge. it’s approx 40N in total so a long sail. I would plan on leaving Brighton early and sailing against tide to reach the Looe at slack (1400) - it would take around 6 hours so leaving Brighton approx. 8am (possibly earlier to avoid LW). I’ve read on the forum that keeping inshore will help reduce the effect of tide to some extent (so will plan on this).

I am sure many of you do this passage regularly and would welcome some feedback on the two options.

Thanks

 

[FairweatherDave]

I sail from Shoreham to Chichester and always leave in the morning around HW...... you seem to be going against things a lot. Ideally wait a week or leave nr HW. Littlehampton certainly complicates things and I'm not addressing that, but I have always fancied trying it.

 

[ip485]

I think either is fine. Littlehampton is not the best of entrances and probably best avoided. Bembridge is perfect. It doesn’t matter to much if you arrive early as late as there is good anchoring in the bay to the west of the fort. There is a useful water over the bar gauge that displays in real time on the internet.

Depending on wind and your average speed I would have thought you would want to go with the tide. Why don’t you schedule your departure even if initially with some adverse tide to get to the Looe with the remnants of the flow. By the time you get to Bembridge the harbour will be nicely filling, and I have just noticed, with a lifting keel you will need little water.

I did this trip many times in a similar sized GK24 and going down with the tide always worked very nicely.

In the summer even a night or part night passages is beautiful.

Only pointers are you can get a lot of pots through the Looe, and it’s worth making sure you are aware of the channel markers into Bembridge, the surroundings do get really shallow.

Infact thinking about it, it would take a lot for me to slog against the tide, especially when the tidal gate almost always is about the same as the passage making. If it must be those dates, (haven’t looked at the tides) do consider going in the dark, if you feel happy to, the days are long anyway, the nav. simple and the traffic few and far between. I appreciate you are a day skipper so if you don’t feel happy so be it.

 

[PilotWolf]

To be honest from long ago memory I wouldn't try either on first trip unless Bembridge channel has improved.

W.

 

[ip485]

Bembridge channel is very well marked now and not an issue I often take a 50 footer in. Also the o/p has a lifting keel.

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

Bembridge channel is very well marked now and not an issue I often take a 50 footer in. Also the o/p has a lifting keel.

Bembridge was fully booked for the first May Bank holiday (I haven't checked this time around) so while the OP might be able to 'squeeze in' somewhere I wouldn't count on being able to just rock up and get a berth.

 

[johnalison]

It is not my home ground but from what I remember the tide from Brighton to the Looe is not particularly strong compared to that in the Solent. You may want to get to the Looe around slack water if the wind is from the west but it will be less critical if you don’t have wind against tide. I would be more worried about lobster pots.

 

[TernVI]

Another potential stop might be the ECA moorings in Langstone entrance?

 

[White socks]

If Bembridge is full head to priory bay , much nicer than the harbour and safe anchoring.

 

[ip485]

Bembridge take bookings.

East Head is another alternative, not much in it.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Just looked up the Looe channel and the West going stream starts at Portsmouth HW-0135. So on Saturday 29th , with Portsmouth HW 14.26 BST your gate opens around 1pm, and stays open for say 4.5 hours. It is just after Springs. Sunset is going to be around 9pm. So on day 2 of the Littlehampton plan you have loads of time to leave although you could arrive at Bembridge with it too shallow to enter. So your real problem is day 1 and needing to arrive around HW as well as not having too much work to get there against the tide. If it is a W wind then maybe don't bother, but if you can get 4 knots against the tide to Littlehampton it works.

 

[Stemar]

East Head is another alternative, not much in it.

That would get my vote unless there's significant wind over tide in the entrance. Just remember to look at the chart before you get there if you aren't familiar with the entrance. You don't want to be too close in on the approach.

 

[laika]

This is a passage that I'm not entirely unfamiliar with but in a bigger boat (and I generally aim to end up somewhere other than Bembridge because I arrive at low water with a long fin keel). Seems like you know what you're doing so I'll just chuck in some things I'd be thinking about (feel free to ignore
* I was going to point out the whole "getting out of Brighton at low tide" thing before I re-read and saw "lifting keel". That's useful here , and as has been pointed out above, mitigates the "getting into Bembridge" part too. Also may give more berthing options in Littlehampton.
* You're right to base the passage plan on the Selsey/Solent part but the tides between Brighton and Selsey aren't entirely insignificant. I don't know how fast your boat is but 6 hours to the Looe against the tide would seem to be planning at over 5 knots
* Don't forget the wind. Not being able to sail the rhumb line to the Looe, as often happens, can mess up your plans. If your target is bembridge though, tacking offshore is not as onerous as if you were heading to chichester
* Are you intent on Bembridge or did you just go for the closest point? If you're planning to hit the Looe as the tide turns fair, you have lots of solent possibilities with a fair tide. I'm not sure I'd want the drama of Bembridge near low springs on a bank holiday weekend at the end of a long passage but YMMV and you do have a lifting keel.

Stopping in Littlehampton is never part of my plan but in your boat it doesn't seem a bad option. Leaving Littlehampton as soon as you have enough water, don't forget that you may have to tack to the Looe with the wind in the SW.

 

[RJJ]

Not that I have a direct answer to your question, but I think part of what you're trying to do is reduce stress. I've come to believe in training yourself to relax on long-ish legs, such that a long day passage doesn't need to be particularly exhausting. Compared to dropping sails, making a tidal gate into Littlehampton, mooring, paying, preparing for another departure etc...there's a heap of stress inherent in those activities that's hard to mitigate.

When you're on the open sea, it's about trying to find time to sit in the cockpit, breath nicely, enjoy the view and not fret too much. Keep your energy and concentration for when you need it. As a racer-turned-cruiser, I have genuinely struggled with this - I find it really hard not to jump around the boat checking everything's perfectly trimmed; next thing is I've tired myself out for no reason.

On that basis, I'd be leaning towards doing it in one. Leave a little earlier. Pace yourself for a long day getting to Bembridge, don't worry about the harbour entrance (anchoring outside is good), relax and pat yourself on the back.

Of course, it's so wind-dependent. If you can beam reach at six knots, it's so easy and suddenly the adverse tide doesn't seem so overwhelming, which definitely leans further towards the one-day strategy. In contrast, if you're beating against a spring tide in a 21 footer, it's going to be slow going...although at least you can expect relatively calm seas. When the tide turns favourable to you, it'll be against the wind: sure you'll be stomping along but it might be uncomfortable and hard work - and you'll need to add more leeway.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Of course if going direct to Bembridge you don't have to go through the Looe channel anyway.
Also can you dry out with your lifting keel? The beach on the inside on the left as you go in is great if you are concerned about the pontoons being booked up.

 

[ip485]

Quite right to chances are it will have a SW content, but I will be praying for an easterly or northerly - happy days.

 

[BobbyD]

Thanks for all the great advice - very helpful! To answer some of the questions

- am not set on Bembridge - the boat will eventually end up in Gosport on the Monday so just looking for somewhere convenient to break up the journey. If there are other options, would be happy to look at those too

- general advice seems to be leave closer to Brighton HW, perhaps an hour or two before to reach the Looe at LW but does that not mean fighting the tide into the Solent (Or is that not too much of an issue)?

- the boat can dry out although never tried it - we will be sleeping onboard so not sure if it dries out on it’s side or upright !

 

[sfellows]

If Bembridge is full head to priory bay , much nicer than the harbour and safe anchoring.

Any wind with East in it and Priory Bay becomes untenable.

 

[laika]

- general advice seems to be leave closer to Brighton HW, perhaps an hour or two before to reach the Looe at LW but does that not mean fighting the tide into the Solent (Or is that not too much of an issue)?

The tides at/past Selsey are the important ones so I'd do the tide fighting before then. From a tidal planning perspective you don't need to hit the looe at slack: you don't need a full tide to reach a lot of the solent destinations and you might as well benefit from a bit of fair tide before the looe, being mindful in a small boat of the wind-over-tide thing as the tide at Selsey runs hard (though I think some posters occasionally over-state the perils of the Looe). Depending on what speed you passage plan for this would probably mean leaving Brighton closer to low water (per your original plan) than high if you can sail the rhumb line but don't forget that whilst the tides may not be as significant between Brighton and Selsey as they are in the Solent, an adverse tide will slow you down (especially near springs).

 

[FairweatherDave]

It is 28NM from Brighton to the exit of the Looe Channel . So 7 hours at 4 knots. To give yourself a bit of room for error that would mean leaving Brighton by 10am absolute latest. As everyone has said it will be down to wind direction. You do have choices. The only bit I take seriously is getting the timings right for the Looe Channel. You can enter Chichester anytime with your draft as long it is not a direct Southerly over F5 and as longs as you don't want marina facilities East Head is perfect............with plenty of other options too.
Ha. Laika has beaten me.