Day-sailing and weekenders from Brighton Marina

As Wandsworth says Chichester Harbour, trailer it there or keep it there. I used to trailer mine from a similar distance to CHi, many do, no problem especially if staying aboard over two nights makes it more worthwhile.

Brighton sea can be horrible especially for young kids. Chi Harbour is perfect for them. They can play in a dinghy tied to your boat, anchor off and have lunch in calm waters, or cake and coffee at Dell Quay yacht club, explore the 18 navigable miles, go up onto the beach, see the seals, crabbing etc etc. Can launch at Chichester Marina, Northney etc no problem or shove it on a mooring in the Bosham Channel, there are three there at the moment. You could also keep it at Bosham in the yard if you don,t want to trail, many options. Your wife and kids will want to come out if they have fun things to do. Nice walks also when you need to stretch your legs...

Visit Bosham the car park is open, look at the boats in the yard (next to and part of the car park, speak to Tim the owner. At low tide walk along the beach from Bosham to Bosham Hoe with Itchenor on the other side to see the moorings etc.
 
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BobbyD said:
Ideally, we would like to join a club to meet others, get involved and use available moorings but that will not be until next year. For now, we will use Brighton as a base and learn the ropes!
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I used to race out of Brighton with the Club on Sunday morning just around the cans. Was great fun and not too serious, great way to learn.
SYC in Shoreham where I am now is a friendly club and have (usually) Saturday 'pursuit' racing and then Sunday races as well. I say racing but once the big boys have shot off you can sail at your own speed with similar boats and just have fun.
We're having new pontoons put it at the moment in the harbour. should look awesome when they're done. Once you've been though the lock 2 or 3 times its becomes no big deal.

As an easy sail for a few hours I would come out of Shoreham harbour head to Brighton pier then turn west and aim for Worthing pier which takes you across the 'bay' and then head back in. Might not be terribly interesting but when your learning (like myself) its a nice route.
 
BobbyD said:
Thanks all for your replies and suggestions. I had originally considered further west for mooring but trying to find somewhere and move was proving tricky so I've decided to take the simple route this year and leave in Brighton whilst we scope out options for next season. Ideally, we would like to join a club to meet others, get involved and use available moorings but that will not be until next year. For now, we will use Brighton as a base and learn the ropes!

It sounds like Chichester is an option for a long weekend but is it realistic to reach it in a day in a 21ft boat?
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Maybe not with bored kids on board!

Portsmouth harbour has many advantages - Chichester is then a destination, actually several destinations, rather than a base, and has several clubs, but I wouldn't join a club to get a mooring. My club, Hardway, in Gosport, has a waiting list for moorings - it's dead men's shoes, and the dead men refuse to lie down... Still, there are plenty of commercial moorings from places like Quay Lane and we're 20 minutes from the Solent. The downside is access; at peak hours, the A32 is no fun, which might be an argument in favour of Fareham, but then it's a hike down to the harbour entrance.
 
BobbyD said:
It sounds like Chichester is an option for a long weekend but is it realistic to reach it in a day in a 21ft boat?
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It's 30-something NM and unless your boat has the performance of an Anderson 22, you won't do it on a single tide. As Wansworth says if you end up at chichester entrance at low water you have the bar to contend with. You don't want to be rounding selsey bill with the tide against you. You can fight the tide to get just before selsey as the tide turns in your favour but then you have to think about whether there's enough water to get out of brighton. You also don't want to be trying to get into Chichester at full ebb (DAMHIKT). And of course you have to pick your day because the prevailing wind has a nasty habit of not letting you sail a straight line from Brighton to the Looe. Of course it's doable if you're determined but you need to do your passage planning *really* well, pick the right day and be realistic about how long it will take: You have to be in it for the journey, not the getting there. Your only place to pull into if you get fed up is Littlehampton and of course that's tidally restricted so you'd need to do all the planning for when you could get in there.
 
laika said:
It's 30-something NM and unless your boat has the performance of an Anderson 22, you won't do it on a single tide. As Wansworth says if you end up at chichester entrance at low water you have the bar to contend with. You don't want to be rounding selsey bill with the tide against you. You can fight the tide to get just before selsey as the tide turns in your favour but then you have to think about whether there's enough water to get out of brighton. You also don't want to be trying to get into Chichester at full ebb (DAMHIKT). And of course you have to pick your day because the prevailing wind has a nasty habit of not letting you sail a straight line from Brighton to the Looe. Of course it's doable if you're determined but you need to do your passage planning *really* well, pick the right day and be realistic about how long it will take: You have to be in it for the journey, not the getting there. Your only place to pull into if you get fed up is Littlehampton and of course that's tidally restricted so you'd need to do all the planning for when you could get in there.
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Having done that route several times in a 42'er I completely agree with this.

Just looked my last trip up. Left Brighton at 10:00 which was HW. Got the tidal lift along the coast, arrived W Pole about 15:30, low water. Had to waste an hour before risking an entrance. So a decent sail but not so easy in a smaller boat that probably wouldn't do 8/9kts.

For the OP, I think if Chichester or Portsmouth is of interest then I'd keep the boat there.
 
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A pleasant weekend sail would be to Littlehampton,lots to do there and a beach,good fish and chips and an interesting river with history,but get there before two hours after the ebb very strong ebb tide.
 
Many thanks all for your suggestions - it seems the general consensus to move it to Chichester!! but time won't allow this season. I will look at doing this next year. For now, we will look at building ours skills and perhaps visiting areas such as Littlehampton for a weekend as suggested.

Appreciate the feedback!
 
BobbyD said:
Many thanks all for your suggestions - it seems the general consensus to move it to Chichester!! but time won't allow this season. I will look at doing this next year. For now, we will look at building ours skills and perhaps visiting areas such as Littlehampton for a weekend as suggested.

Appreciate the feedback!
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Great. Plenty spots you can get to from Brighton for anchoring too. Although probably not overnight....
 
If you do get to Chi then take a look at Some of the smaller places if your draft permits eg thorny island or old Emsworth . Maybe Eastbourne is best place for local visits From Brighton though in terms of facilities. Most of the other places are limited in there offerings once ashore I suspect for family weekend trips if you want a happy crew .
 
Also, from Brighton, don't forget Newhaven, Eastbourne and Rye, all of which have nicer entrances and offing than Brighton. Ok, maybe the offing at Newhaven is nearly as bad! ;0)

I used to anchor not too far west from where Eastbourne marina now is. It is one of the better anchorages in our bit of coast. Sadly.

A smaller boat can also have fun tucked into the Bognor - Selsey lee.


What I have really learnt from sailing the bare bits of the south coast is that France is a lot nearer than you think and almost always a beam reach! None of this sailing to windward malarkey and moules marinier on arrival. (SWMBO & kids used to take the ferry and meet me in Frankia, now they (she) is sufficiently innured that she has even been aboard for the outward leg, the homeward leg being invariably easier if a little quartering)
 
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