Chichester bar conditions on Sunday

Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

Who says that Chi isnt in the Solent? Rumour has it Selsey parish council wanted to get Millenium funding for a bridge between Selsey and IoW - to 'put Selsey on the Map'? I seem to remember they were to apply on 01.04.2000... never heard the outcome /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Seriously though, if you have a mobile phone with WAP or GPRS, call up www.chimet.co.uk/wap and you will get an instant readout of current wind speed and wave height at the Bar Beacon. Very handy if deciding whether to head for Chi when conditions are borderline
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions always

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. . . deciding whether to head for Chi when conditions are borderline

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So when's borderline? Have you, or anyone else, actually avoided coming into Chi because of alleged conditions on the Bar?

I see finkeelers trying to cross at LW Springs who seem surprised at going aground and get very ratty at having to anchor for a couple of hours, only to prolong their stay by anchoring in the shallows instead carrying a kedge into deep water - that's if they anchor at all! How such lemmings avoid major disaster has always baffled me.

Luck is a fickle mistress . . .
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions always

I've only ever been over the bar in a powerboat, and while quite lively at times, has been great fun. What should you do if you ground a sailboat there?
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

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Very handy if deciding whether to head for Chi when conditions are borderline

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I've kept a boat in Chichester for many years and never worry about borderline conditions. We probably leave or enter 40 times a season in all conditions. Just avoid the ebb with an onshore blow, simple as that
 
Re: Stuck on Chichester bar?

1 a/c 180, lotsa engine welly and go back the way you came, if necessary with all crew on one side or on bow to reduce draft depending on how many keels you have (assuming that you know.)

2 wave furiously at passers by (there are bound to be lots) offering beer and/or wine as incentives to tow you off when they've run out of film.

3 call Solent CG and report position as uncharted hazard to navigation, at no point intimating that you are in distress but implying availability for helicopter and/or lifeboat exercise. (Local knowledge - mine - reveals that Wednesday evenings is a very good time for this.)

4 at same time advise CG that passage plan has been amended -you don't want 'er indoors to panic at late return and initiate widescale search possibly resulting in helicopters colliding overhead with subsequent media exposure which may result in the crew/au pair being cited as co-respondent.

5 enjoy a few beers, ignoring any bumping and scraping but prepared to evacuate when acid fumes from overturned batteries become offensive.

6 in the last resort wade ashore and knock on door adjacent to flagstaff and request shelter having first agreed to tarif displayed outside.

7 watch proceedings through (hired) binoculars and prepare to address crowd gathering beneath balcony making particular reference to the generous hospitality lavished upon you by yours truly and the forthcoming publication of my memoirs.

8 spend enforced leisure time scouring yottie mags for replacement boat having already contacted brokers with instructions to sell on an 'As is, Where is' basis.


Get the picture?
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

Neither do I Tome - been crossing the bar 37 years on and off, and have yet to have a problem ('cept when SWMBO is aboard!). But the poster is worried about it, and the WAP site (which i use regularly to find out what the wind is doing outside) does give wave heights and frequency when its blowing. And that is what Centreboarder is worried about.

But although the likes of you and I 'know' the bar and can make a common sense decision about going - we both know it demands respect (and avoidance) at certain times. I know of several lives lost out there - either by knockdowns or by boats dropping on to hard sand in wave troughs.

I never understood the recommendation 2hrs before to 1 hour after HW that seems to be the norm. 95% of the time theres no problem unless you have an exceptionally deep draught when a bit of discretion is needed around LW. Of the remaining 5% - at least 3% depends on the size of boat and the skippers skill. The remaining 2% is the no go area. Its an amazing place in a SE 9 on the ebb!
 
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The yacht is a Sadler 34 so lively conditions should not be a problem.

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"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"
sailroom <span style="color:red">The place to auction your previously loved boatie bits</span>
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

I think the official definition (i.e. the point beyond which you have to start making a passage plan /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif) is the line between Bembridge and Southsea.
 
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So, based on your forecast, top end of F4 & probably gusting F5+, it may get interesting.

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Simon's weekend forecast is for F6 gusting F7. But at least wind direction is looking more like SW than S.

Windguru is forecasting less wind than Simon, but now predicting even larger waves. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
 
Re: Chichester bar - the penultimate word?

(Well, it can't be the LAST word can it, not until Centreboarder actually does it on Sunday and reports back . . . )

Deceived by today's midday lull - wind down to SW 15 knots - I plodded round to Hardway to collect some gear from the chandlery there. Left before HW, bit choppy on the way, nothing untoward. Returning at HW+1 Pompey entrance wasn't very nice, nor was Hayling Bay, and ahead I could see rollers on the West Pole Sands and some hairy windsurfers, always a sign of rough conditions out there. The wind had piped up to 30 knots but short of time (it was HW+2) I didn't go round the Beacon, cutting across the sands at 9 knots: quite wild, surfing at 13-plus, grateful for flattish bottom which skids out of a broach but little control over turning sharply right or left when digging into the troughs.

Prudent? Wrong place you'll say, but I know my boat. Had I been sailing I would have stuck to textbook guidelines, stayed further out before running in slowly under reduced canvas. For me that's dropping the main, but there are other strategies. Washboards in and harnesses on of course.

Coming out were a 35-foot sloop very snugly reefed down, a large MoBo and a small sports boat, but it was entering that was far more iffy - sorry, I still think the word 'dangerous' is OTT, altho' I'll admit that it was the first time that I haven't phoned SWMBO to say "Look out of the window".

Does the above add to the debate? Even if not it does remind me that lashing down batteries and securing gas cylinders should move up the priority list!!
 
Re: Chichester bar - the penultimate word?

Sounds about right, you know the bar well enough to take sensible liberties though not sure that the lashings should have waited so long?

I'd usually carry the main up the harbour unless S'ly. Quite enjoy the jibe around West Pole

As to whether it adds to the debate, yes it probably does. In the same way that I enjoy reading about places where I'm less familiar
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

tome/Chuggin just in case I ever find myself in that position would you enter in any conditions on a flood tide? What would be too much on the ebb?

for arguments sake say we are talking a 32 foot fin keel; yacht well found.

PS my batteries are bolted down /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

It's a narrow entrance which has to be factored. In a true blow from the South I'd consider carrying on up the Solent where I'd enjoy the lee and shelter. Plus the seas would be easier on the crew

Having said that, I never have had to.

Would I take the same approach to Treguier or Lazardrieux, which I don't know so well? No, I'd be more cautious

A well found 32 footer should handle almost any conditions on the flood provided you'd studied your pilotage but a good skipper would make up his/her own mind
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

Generally i err on the side of caution . I think I know what you arer saying.

PS how are the EBB?
 
Re: Chichester bar - reducing the rig?

Some people have argued cogently in these colums for running under a deep-reefed main sheeted hard in and NOT just a small headsail, but IMHO conditions out there today were condusive to surfing however slowly you came in - simply being bodily lifted up and pushed down the wall was bound to happen once or twice if you were that late on the ebb. It's that 'stumble' at the bottom of the trough which can go one way or the other, and with a preventer set up (because of?) it's a lopsided mess to get out of, possibly leaving you pressed over and gunnel under with the main aback. Harnesses essential!

Personally I would usually drop the main somewhere near Chi racing mark to avoid just that situation, hoisting again once things quietened down. ("Cripes, I'll not crew for 'im then . . .")

Unusually, today the seas were rolling in as far as the lifeboat station - no significant shelter off Eastoke beach, such was the Southerly element.
 
Re: Chichester bar - reducing the rig?

No experience of Chi . but generally on a cruising boat with a strong mast/rig I think that jib only downwind in strong winds keeps the bow pointing in the right direction and avoids some stressfull moments.
 
Re: Chichester bar conditions on Sunday next

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PS how are the EBB?

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Jez was able to explain the bruise on his forehead from the plateglass door as the heroic rescue of a fellow sailor in St Vaast

Derek isn't going back to Iraq and is now available for local plumbing. Still prefers a kebab to fancy French food

Tom is back behind bars and wondering which RYA course to go for.

Their wives and girlfriends are ever so grateful that I got them back safely - popping round to thank me personally in a mo!
 
Re: Chichester Bar - they\'re rollin\' home right now!

Nothing untoward happening out there if you MUST come home with 35 knots up your transom. And we have the whole gamut of combinations - but we know that sailing is a sport for individuals.

I don't understand the yottie who has motored since he left wherever, not even a burgee flying. When does he use the sails then? Another has a bit of genoa pulling but the main is still under the covers.
What happens when something goes wrong? It would take some time to get the boat under control again, NOT a situation to tackle in a narrow channel between sandbanks.

Those with both main and genny hoisted seem surprised that with wind from the South they're swerving from one gybe to the other as they surf downhill. Bit late to sketch tacking downwind on the back of an envelope!

Don't know where our poster is, hope he hasn't chickened out - boring!
 
Re: Chichester Bar - they\'re rollin\' home right now!

At least they'll all be coming in on the flood this afternoon.

Too late to set up a webcam from your window I suppose?
 
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