First trip out of Chichester Harbour. IOW any good for this?

Jaguar 25 said:
Yes, that's the plan, the plan is to go out on the ebb and return in on the next flood tide. If we stay in the harbour I would have thought we need to keep to the channels which seems a bit limited in terms of sailing direction vs wind direction.
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There is plenty of sailing you can do in the harbour, hone your tacking skills up the channels, good fun. There is not going to be a lot of wind at all this weekend, we may just stay in the harbour ourselves, look out for us.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Sailing in the harbour doesn't look to be as difficult as I anticipated. However, we are in France at EuroDisney with our grandchildren for the next week so mid June looks to be our earliest next sail.
 
Giblets said:
They do indeed. And they have a nanny boat that will pick up and drop off. The moorings can be a bit lumpy with passing big steel thingies.
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ta for that.
I recalled a nice afternoon there, then realised it was some years ago, even in IoW time!
 
lw395 said:
ta for that.
I recalled a nice afternoon there, then realised it was some years ago, even in IoW time!
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As Giblets says it can be quite lumpy, but as a lunch spot it's perfect... if the club is open... worth checking... If you just fancy a little adventure consider a trip to the Nab... you can always come back via Seaview
 
Giblets said:
They do indeed. And they have a nanny boat that will pick up and drop off. The moorings can be a bit lumpy with passing big steel thingies.
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However, according to the Seaview YC website, the visitor moorings are only available to yachtsmen/persons that are members of another YC.
 
Jaguar 25 said:
However, according to the Seaview YC website, the visitor moorings are only available to yachtsmen/persons that are members of another YC.
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Well no one ever asked me which y/c I was a member of even when I rang and booked a mooring for an overnight stay.
 
Giblets said:
Well no one ever asked me which y/c I was a member of even when I rang and booked a mooring for an overnight stay.
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That's good. It may be worth a try. Not sure how you would prove it anyway. When we were members of Holyhead YC I don't remember having a membership card.
 
Jaguar 25 said:
That's good. It may be worth a try. Not sure how you would prove it anyway. When we were members of Holyhead YC I don't remember having a membership card.
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Just don't tell 'em you're a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron as a few SVYC members are RYS members as well! :D

If you want a lunchtime stop give "Seaview Deck" a call on Ch M1 to request a mooring.
 
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Why not try Seaview. You can do there and back in a day if you time it right. Pick up a visitors buoy off the Seaview Yacht Club - nip ashore using their courtesy RIB - have a quick bite and sail home. There is a small charge to take you ashore, but very friendly and welcoming Club.
 
Hi Jaguar 25, reviving your old thread as just brought first cruiser and in same position as you were 4 years ago! What did you find to be the best day sails fro Chi?
Cheers.
 
Martman said:
Hi Jaguar 25, reviving your old thread as just brought first cruiser and in same position as you were 4 years ago! What did you find to be the best day sails fro Chi?
Cheers.
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Hi Martman,
We never managed a full day sail, only out and back on one tide. Mooring was only available (with water) plus and minus 3 hours, so best we did was out to the fort and back again. We were very limited on my son's availability and have now sold the Jag25. I have downsized to a Leisure 18 which I am moving from Ullswater to Windermere this week, hopefully!
Good luck
 
Martman said:
Hi Jaguar 25, reviving your old thread as just brought first cruiser and in same position as you were 4 years ago! What did you find to be the best day sails fro Chi?
Cheers.
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Are you a member of Chichester Yacht Club ? There's a small boat cruising programme of day sails for boats LOA 26 or less going up to Bosham, Emsworth etc. And then there's the main cruising programme of overnight and longer trips. https://www.cyc.co.uk/on-the-water/yachts/yacht-cruises/
 
I think your defining length of day sails and your boat (cruising speed and draught, and keel configuation) would be useful, Martman and if you are in an all tide marina or on a drying mooring. You can't get too far from a drying mooring if you only have one high tide, and even if you leave on one high tide and return with the next for a full day sail you could struggle to access Bembridge or Ryde if arriving close to low water....... as earlier posters have said in the old part of the thread, you will likely be fighting the tide somewhere along the line. overnights make life a lot more fun.....
Welcome to the forum by the way. :)
Daysails for us with some tidal restrictions often means sailing inside, then popping out of the harbour, then returning to an anchorage for a break before returning to our mooring. That can take all day. We love Chichester, bit like Hotel California ........Welcome, but you can never leave....... (unless you overnight, have a speed boat or a crack organised sailing regime)
 
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I've sailed in Chichester Harbour for 49 years and had a half tide mooring there for 41, also had a deep water mooring for 4.

There's not much difference re going places - and this includes marinas - as the tide dictates to all; to put it bluntly you won'tget all that far in a one day out and back sail - either just go around the harbour or if going outside just enjoy the view and treat it as practice.

It's when you start doing two day trips staying somewhere overnight that you can really work the tides to your advantage, as a boost - almost always to west and the attractive places, east is not so - then the same on the way back, say Sunday.

Cowes may be further than Bembridge but is MUCH handier - all tide access - nb modified small boat channel - and loads of places to stay, I'd recommend East Cowes Marina or the Folly pontoons, the West Cowes marinas are jostly and rather race / hooray henry oriented.

Remember Chimet.co.uk and don't chance your luck in Chichester entrance with a strong ( F5+ to start with ) southerly wind against the ebb - stay another day or leave the boat for the week and get the ferry & train to the car.

Bembridge is lovely but has the same tide times as Chichester; in reality this means setting off from Chi as early on the tide as poss, punching the flood in the harbour, then not hanging about getting to Bembridge.

The tide guage off the entrance is very handy as a real life check, have binoculars handy.

It's a long - but extremely pleasant - walk round from the Duver pontoon to the only pub, the Pilot Boat, which does good food; there's a ferry but not when the tide is out.

Chichester actually makes a brilliant base for weekend or midweek trips, but if stuck with one tide just enjoy it and don't stress about going places outside.
 
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This thread is making me somewhat nostalgic for my 18' bilge keeler that I had in a creek on the E side of Hayling ten or more years ago. On the very rare occasions I wanted to get out of the harbour, I'd move from my drying trot to Sparkes whenever the tide allowed on Friday night and that would open up my options.

Funnily enough, I have rarely returned to Chi since, by boat at least, but when the St Vaast Race looked a little too light we bailed and went cruising instead. Sure enough, I ran aground thinking I still knew the place but having added more than a metre of draft I should have known better!
 
Martman,

another way of doing a daysail and using the tides would be to use neaps which for us are morning and evening, springs being more mid day and midnight - ish.

So if you get on the boat asap in the morning you have all day to trundle around; punch the flood and get out of the harbour, then use the ebb to get west, off the entrance it starts going that way 1.5 hours before High Water; then when it turns say 4-5 hours later turn back.

It's quite possible to visit Cowes this way, but don't go that far to start with.

If you return earlier you'll have the advantage of the flood under you giving a boost, and it's always a nice feeling approaching a drying mooring on a rising tide knowing you have plenty of time in hand.
 
Hi, Seajet is spot on, use the neaps, leave early on the neaps get across to Be bridge and get last of the flood back up Chichester harbour, I probably do this trip 10 to 15 times a season but usually anchor to the west in priory bay, go for a swim, have bacon sandwich's and watch the world go by or read a good book, normaly a nice breeze pipes up giving a nice sail back, if you want to go in company just pm me.and we can sort something out.
Hope that helps.
 
At least last time I went to Bembridge, I seem to recall there was no scale visible on the tide gauge outside the entrance—just a digital one viewable by smartphone. May have changed, I've not been there a year or so—has it?
 
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weustace said:
At least last time I went to Bembridge, I seem to recall there was no scale visible on the tide gauge outside the entrance—just a digital one viewable by smartphone. May have changed, I've not been there a year or so—has it?
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Weustace,

a useful point, I haven't been to Bembridge for a while; the physical tide guage is / was so useful, the only reason I can think of removing it would be if silting or dredging rendered it inaccurate ?

I'll try to contact someone to find out the current state of play, please anyone interested do the same.

Meanwhile it seems not so much ' God is my co-pilot ' as ' my depthsounder and tide tables are my best friends ' ! :)
 
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